A packed day

This week I've taken time off work to do some jobs in the garden that needed doing. The next stage (placing weed control/a walkway round the cabin) was held up this morning pending the arrival of hundreds of kilos of ballast, and as the car was in the garage ('shop' for our American listeners), we decided to go for a walk from the house.

And what a bonus that turned out to be. Had we had the car we would likely have gone to one of our usual haunts, but instead we ended up exploring an area we haven't yet been to. The walk started off like one of our previous 'river walks' (the Hogsmill here, here, and here). But when we got to the nearest point where we could walk by the river, I remembered there was a tributary (the Tolworth Brook aka the Surbiton Stream) of the Hogsmill right there. We decided there and then to follow it upstream. The brook flowed through a pleasant woodland area at the back of a 1930s housing development in an area called Berrylands.

The brook was looking low on water.

View back downstream from one of the several foot bridges.

'Wildlife pond', off the track through a gate, presumably to keep dogs out.

These 'bullrushes' had me humming 'Moses was found in a stream' to myself (from the song Ain't Necessarily So). Loft extensions can be seen on the houses at the top - these are VERY common throughout this corner of London (if not all over).

Plentiful supply of elderberries. Incidentally, Wikipedia states that the name Berrylands does not derive from said fruit, but from the Old English 'beorg' and 'lands', i.e.Hill Land/Farm. Beorg is cognate with modern 'barrow' and the word 'berg' and similar in Germanic languages including Old Norse.

The banks were buttressed in places with bundles of fascines.

A 'bug hotel' styled 'Bugingham Palace' by the Margravina.

The best I could come up with for this was Volemarol Castle. Go on, you try!

One of the aspects I find very comforting about spaces like this, is that they often have buildings like 'scout huts'. Usually in mild states of disrepair, which adds to the charm. This was no exception. The old scout hut in this case was home to the 'Surbiton Pet Club'. I suppose I find it comforting because it's evidence of community, and there are places like this across the country. A throw back to former times.

Rather than attempt to follow the stream all the way to the source, we took the quickest route back home in order to collect the car. En route we walked along streets full of the typical 'Tudorbethan' style houses popular in the 1930s. Some of these had splendid herringbone brick patterns on the front wall of the houses. Not far from here (along Elmbridge Avenue, see map below) are several flat-roofed houses in the Art Deco style. Lovely stuff. 

Off to the west of the map, there is a road parallel with Ewell Road called King Charles Road and that forks off into Villiers Avenue to the north. Prior to the Battle of Surbiton in 1648, the rival forces marched from Ewell to Surbiton and I speculated on my post on the battle that King Charle Road and Villiers Ave were named after the action. For some reason, that post is by far the most popular post I have written since starting this blog four years ago, with 3 times as many views as any other. Most months it continues to collect hits and often it has the most in the month. I wonder why it continues to be so relatively popular.

I did a bit of 'research' on the area (i.e. I looked at Wikipedia) when I got home, and discovered that until 1980 there was a lido 50m by 27m just to the south of the word 'Berrylands' in the above map. This was the fabulously named Surbiton Lagoon. Oh, if only the clock could be turned back! I could cry at such an act of cultural vandalism. Between the Wars, virtually every borough had an open air pool built. This was due to a combination of work creation schemes and a fashion for health improvement. More on this and other such pools here: https://www.lostlidos.co.uk/2003/04/29/surbiton-lagoon-1934/

Anyway, back home having collected the car, we started some 'filler' jobs whilst we waited for the ballast. Whilst turning over the compost heaps, the Margravina spotted avocado plants growing! Note the large shiny leaves below. We've had shoots before from avocado stones but I don't think we've seen leaves before. They must like the heat generated in the heaps. We also had new potatoes grown out of old spuds deposited in the compost.

Finally, the ballast arrived about 3:30pm so I spent the next hour or so ferrying it from the front to the back and depositing it on the weed suppressant sheeting for the Margravina to tamp it down. We should finish the job in the morning.

Then the evening saw me participate in one of Jonathan Freitag's on-line games. This time a recreation of the Battle of Ilipa. It's fair to say that Napoleon Dave and I got a drubbing by an in form team. I won't say any more on that so as not to steal Jon's thunder, save to say that a good time was had by all. As if that wasn't enough, I am participating in the Jolly Broom Man's PBEM campaign set in S.Carolina in the AWI.

A busy and fulfilling day!

It's a landslide for the left!

Results are in and it's an overwhelming victory for the left option (30mm). There were no votes for 20mm, two votes for candidates that weren't on the ballot and one that declined to vote for either. Every other person said 30mm.

I was leaning that way anyway for practical and aesthetic reasons. All that was holding me back was the thought that I wouldn't be able to get as many cavalry bases as infantry ones in to a head to head melee. Thank you every one who took the trouble to comment. It really helped me make my mind up.

I based the figures, texture, painted and flocked the bases. All that remains is to shake off the excess flock and find some suitable flags. At the moment the grass is looking a bit too lush, but here's how they've turned out.

First 3 bases of 6mm figures are Hanoverians SYW and the rear 2 are Austrians. The 10mm cav look enormous next to them.

The Light Dragoons and Highland Light companies (complete with hat bands but without a tartan pattern). These are really super models - the pack includes 3 different stages of 'loaders' - though I'm not sure about them skirmishing with bayonets fitted.

Queens Rangers with the next phase of the project undercoated behind. Packhorses and sheep!

One final thing. Whilst painting I've mostly been listening to The Life and Times of Frederick the Great podcast that I mentioned recently. Well worth a listen. The presenter/creator is a young student (21ish?) who's doing it on a shoestring. His scripted style may not be to everyone's taste, but he gets over a lot of information and he digs deep into the background and context.  Right back to the TYW and the Great Elector, and even up to Great Britain and the after effects of the Glorious Revolution. The best bits are when he has guests on and it becomes much more conversational.

Feedback requested

I finished painting the figures I blogged about at the weekend*. And discovered a failure in the logistics department - I don't have any glue strong enough to keep the figures stuck to bases. The Quartermaster  is now acquainting himself with the handling of a firelock.

* I'm a fast but impressionistic (i.e. untidy) painter.

In the meantime I need to canvass the option of the hive mind. I plan to base my AWI cavalry in pairs, each pair representing roughly a troop. Loose order infantry are based in fours on bases 20mm wide x 30mm deep (representing a frontage of 20 yards). Now I'd like to get your views on what works best for the cav. Like the infantry, the cavalry is meant to be in Loose Order, so they don't need to be boot-to-boot like European heavy cavalry.

On the left base of 30 x 30mm and on the right, a base of 20 x 30 mm.

Views?
 

Tartan without tears

I learned today how to paint 10mm Highlanders without getting in a tizzy over the tartan. Buy Pendraken (AWI) Highland Light Infantry. They come with trews, not kilts, and my guide to AWI uniforms shows me officers of the 42nd and 71st regiments in white trews. The only tartan on display is on their hat bands. And you don't expect me to paint tartan hat bands that are less than 1mm deep do you. Rhetorical question.

I mentioned a few posts ago that I read Don Hagist's 'These Distinguished Corps' on the British light infantry and grenadiers of the AWI. I was struck by the fact there was a whole combined battalion of Highland Light Infantry. As the Highland companies were so large, I think four companies was the equivalent of a small battalion. I needed some more bases for the unpainted SYW figures and AWI Light Dragoons I'd had for years. So at the same time as placing an order for bases from Pendraken I ordered a few packs of other bits and pieces. One of these was a pack of Highland Light Infantry Skirmishing.

Having done a 6mm unit based on the 42nd Foot (Black Watch) last year for my nascent British SYW army, I thought I'd maintain the tradition by making the new arrivals, the light companies of the 42nd. According to my guide, the turn backs were a natty white, and cuffs & hats blue. Here is the work in progress against a batch of SYW Austrians in 6mm.

Also on the painting desk are a unit of Queens Rangers (AWI Loyalists), British Light Dragoons in Tarleton helmets (my book shows them in 'Emden' helmets, but I like the comb of the Tarleton), a brigade of SYW Austrians*, and a brigade and a half's worth of SYW Hanoverians. The Austrians will be 'based on' the Rot Wurzburg regiment (strictly speaking a unit of the Reichsarmee), the Hanoverians on Alt-Zastrow and Stolzenberg regiments, and the light dragoons on the 17th LD (later the 17th Lancers of Death or Glory and Charge of the Light Brigade fame). The 17th in the AWI period had white turn backs, cuffs and lapels - nice!

* these are to replace the two old bases of Austrians that I slapped red coats on for the Fontenoy games.

Old Zastrow's boys in the foreground, with the Queens Rangers and LD behind. This gives you a good idea of the difference in size of the 6mm Heroics and Ros figures and the '10mm' Pendraken range.

All looking very dark at the moment. When finished and based, and especially with lighter coloured horses, these will all look a lot brighter. Honest. The LD are especially splendid models, full of animation. The troopers posed with pistols and sabres.

Also in the painting queue are some pack horses, and some sheep. The later are suitable 'contributions' collected by the Lights from the local settlers. Could be a game objective.

I nearly forgot. I can't not mention that Spain ran out deserved winners against England on Sunday in the Women's World Cup final. A very frustrating watch for me. However, the women's game has come on in leaps and bounds in just a few years. As well as skill & tactical levels, the physicality has improved enormously, with the players becoming stronger and faster. At least at this level. The games are much more enjoyable to watch, so I'll be tempted to catch more in the future. And in an attempt to find some kind of silver lining to the result, I remembered that we still haven't won a World Cup under the Tories 😉. The thought of seeing that short-trousered little crook undeservedly gloating over a win, was almost worth the defeat.

Un, deux, trois: Fontenoy

OK third time lucky?

In a midday kick off the French hoped to get revenge on the Rosbifs and their allies. Gussie Cumberland followed the same approach that had been successful twice. The French were to stand off a bit more and not get pulled out so far on the left. That was the theory, anyway.

The start positions: by way of a reminder

The battle started in the same way with Ingoldsby attacking the Arquebusiers de Grassins in the Barry Wood. And almost immediately things didn't go as well as before. The French skirmishers held off the first attack. It took some time to get the Royal Artillery limbered up to get to close enough range to do some damage to the redoubts. The Anglo-Hanoverian cavalry also struggled to shake itself into column ready for their flank march. This changing of formation and direction and changing formation again was to be a feature of the action for the Pragmatic Army on their right.

Over on the Dutch wing, similar delays occurred with the artillery getting limbered up to move into range. Nevertheless Waldeck got his men moving forward in echelon. The Dutch met with some success, eventually driving off the Swiss and taking the redoubts between Fontenoy and Anthoing, but at the loss of two brigades. The French on this wing sensed the weakness and started to advance on their far right.

In the centre the British artillery finally had success against the first redoubt d'Eu and cleared the path for the infantry to advance without being shot up on that flank. The infantry action in the centre lasted a long time without any of the units engaged breaking.

Back on the allied right, after a few turns of charge and counter charge, the French gained the upper hand and routed all 3 brigades, including the famed Horse Guards. It helped that this time the French despatched more cavalry to this wing. This was a change to the original intention of standing back in a compact mass, and it worked. Encouraged by this, the Irish advanced to attack the British foot in the woods where they were waiting to see what transpired in the cavalry battle. With the rout of the Anglo-Hanoverian cavalry, morale on the right wing of the Pragmatic Army collapsed. The Irish and their supporting French marched through the now empty woods.

By this stage the reinforcements under Richelieu had arrived. Richelieu fed his men forward to re-inforce the French centre and right.

In Fontenoy a British brigade advanced to the rear of the village where they were met by a French brigade.  This must have come as a shock to the British because after a brief exchange of musketry they broke! This was the penalty paid for not supporting them. They needed a 3 on 2 D6 to survive: 3 is normally a failure but they get a plus one for facing inferior firepower. They rolled 2.

On the far side of Fontenoy the French took the fight to the Dutch. Initially the Dutch held off the French, but with a further lost brigade morale collapsed and the Netherlanders made for home. It took some time for news to reach Cumberland and he persevered in the middle. Eventually news of the Dutch retreat arrived and the Duke decided to withdraw. With both wings gone, the army morale had to be tested. The test was passed in two successive turns. On the third army moral test, Cumberland's luck ran out. 

By the time the first Hanoverian brigade had made its way clear of the woods, the Horse Guards and second Hanoverian brigade were still tying themselves in knots near Vezon. Each change of formation requires an Action Test and these were failed repeatedly. No local commander was allocated until much later - re-rolls equal to the number of the general's command rating are allowed.

The French cavalry on their left move to counter the Anglo-Hanoverian move on that flank.

"For Orange and the States!" is the cry as the Dutch infantry attack Fontenoy and the redoubts.

The first Dutch attack has been repulsed, but they did briefly hold the redoubts again. Realising how brittle the Dutch were, the French commander on that wing takes a more aggressive approach - note the foot and horse advance by Anthoing, top of the picture.

Combined arms assault! Dutch guns support a brigade of British foot in the attack on the other side of Fontenoy. This appears successful as the defending French brigade make a tactical withdrawal at speed.

Things have gone badly on Cumberland's right. With defeat in the cavalry battle, a failed wing morale test leads to the infantry in the woods beating a retreat.

After the rout of the Dutch wing, Cumberland's army survived 2 army morale tests, but third time was unlucky. The Duke's die was cast and it was a 1. After 19 turns the game was over.

Allied losses to the left, French to the right.

So, why did the French win this time? Firstly, they took more decisive action on their left and made sure they outnumbered the allied cavalry. This helped them win this action. Elsewhere, on the Dutch wing, the luck was more evenly spread. This effectively meant defeat for the Dutch was more likely as each unit had one less morale failure/hit before it routed than the French. In the centre the British failed to break any French lines, partly because the French had a string of high rolls. So a combination of better use of resources leading to an enemy wing collapsing, and a little bit of luck in the centre. But even with worse luck, the French centre was pretty solid and looked unlikely to collapse.

The Fontenoy board has been packed away. I was pondering doing a different battle involving Cumberland, but I had some additions to the lead pile, and some previously unpainted SYW infantry that have been prepped and undercoated. The reinforcements include a unit of Highland light infantry for the AWI, plus my first unit of Loyalists. Plus some neutral 'assets'. Maybe more on that later.

Fontenoy Mk Deux

This won't take long. The second run through of Fontenoy took less than 2 hours. This time I got the French set-up more right than in the first attempt. This would help the French resist the attacks on the redoubts and Fontenoy. Plus on another read through of the rules, I noticed something I hadn't before. Infantry who successfully defended defence works (i.e. passed a morale test) would force the attacker to recoil. Getting this would also tend to help the French. Now on to the game.

The Pragmatic Army would follow the same tactics as before, i.e. to stretch the front of the battle by flanking the woods with cavalry on their right, and bursting through the woods with infantry. The French would respond to the British infantry with more aggression. Specifically the British infantry, because they had 'Superior Musketry', so rather than get shot up, the French would close with cold steel.

The Anglo-Hanoverian cavalry near Vezon peeled off to their right, Ingoldsby's brigade (the one with the Black Watch) re-prised their attack on the Grassins, and the British dragoons tried to get out of the way of the infantry in the centre. Tried to, but initially not hard enough. It took a couple of turns to get them formed up in column to march out of the way without obscuring the guns. In the Twilight of the Soldier Kings rules, units have to pass a 'Action Test' in order to change formation or direction. The dragoons failed this first time, and even failed again when encourage by His Royal Highness. This held up the infantry, but no matter, it gave the guns time to get their range on the redoubt d'Eu.

Simultaneously the Dutch infantry advanced on Fontenoy and the right wing redoubts, whilst the Netherlanders' artillery fired on the village. Seeing the Allies send cavalry round to the right the French responded by sending a few brigades of their own to counter the threat, whilst the Irish brigade and a French infantry brigade moved to counter the British coming through the woods. This time the Grassins lasted a bit longer than in the original game.

The allied artillery was successful again inflicting losses on the French in the Redoubt d'Eu and Fontenoy. And after a couple of turns the Dutch foot were pouring volleys across the breastworks at close range. The first Dutch brigade suffered a loss themselves, and being classed as 'Wavering' (i.e. they could only take two hits) they were exchanged for the supporting brigade behind. This second brigade took their chance against the Swiss and charged in, but were repulsed (though without loss). Back outside the earthworks they reverted to musketry. Round to their left another assault went in on the redoubts. Here a back and forth struggle took place with the Dutch (again making use of the supporting unit) taking the redoubts and the guns.

Back at Fontenoy the Dutch were lucky in receiving very few hits at the hands of the Swiss and their guns continued to pound the defenders. After several turns the Swiss defence collapsed leaving a gap. Their place was to be taken by the reserve unit at the rear of the village. Whilst all this was going on the British infantry had closed with the French in the centre and one British unit peeled off to assault Fontenoy from the north east.

The Dutch infantry brigades, front left, have each suffered one loss, but the Swiss have been defeated. The British can be seen just to the right edge of the picture. Note the unit they face has already taken two hits.

View of the action in the centre

The French, led by the Gard Francaises and the Gardes Suisses, responded to the British advance by 

charging towards them to close quarters. This minimised the British advantage in musketry and so limited the chance of defeat. The close quarter action was to last for many turns. In fact right to the end of the battle. With guards on both sides, with supporting troops, losses mounted very slowly. Remember, 'losses' represented lowering of morale as much as dead and wounded. First to break was a French line brigade, but they were soon replaced.

Meanwhile, on the right wing the opposing cavalry finally closed with each other. The Hanoverians smashed into a unit of French horse and routed them immediately. Several further rounds of melee followed, with fortunes swinging back and forth.

'Snake Eyes' for the French meant that despite rear support, the unit suffered an immediate rout (which occurs on a modified score of 3). Bottom left of the picture can be seen the flank of the Irish Brigade going toe to toe with Ingoldsby.

By turn 13 the cavalry action took a turn in the Anglo-Hanoverian favour, with two of their units left facing one of the French.

The climax of the cavalry action coincided with the arrival of Richelieu and his reserves (4 cavalry and 2 infantry brigades). But our attention must turn back to the action on the Dutch wing. We left it with the Dutch in possession of the redoubts and on the cusp of entering Fontenoy.  French reserves poured into the village with the intention of ejecting the Dutch. This they did, but not without loss to themselves. A second 'hit' meant the removal of that Dutch unit. At the same time the dismounted dragoons counterattacked at the redoubts, flinging the interlopers out. With the imminent loss of another brigade in the village, the French commander sent the unit next to the dragoons over towards Fontenoy ready to shore up this sector should the British break through. The resulting gap in the French line tempted the Dutch cavalry to finally move forward. The French countered with cavalry of their own, sent from the unused mass in the centre.

To prevent being overrun on his left, Saxe sent more cavalry out to the wing. Their place would be taken up by Richelieu's column. The Maison and Gendarmerie were being held back to counter attack any breakthroughs.

After chasing the foreigners out of the redoubts, the French dragoons were in turn assaulted by Dutch infantry - and broke immediately! Then more bad news, the cavalry to the right of the dragoons were also routed by their Netherlandish opponents. It was then after 14 turns I remembered to check wing morale! This should be done when 50% of a command's brigades are lost. The check was now due on the French right, and overdue on the French left. Both flanks failed on the first test. Then utter disaster! With 2 of the 4 commands broken, the Army Morale had to be checked. This resulted in another immediate failure. Game over!

Grand Bretagne (+Pays Bas, Autriche et Hanover) deux, la France nul.
The butcher's bill: two French wings on the left, versus 3 brigades of the Pragmatic army on the right.

So why did the French lose again? And more quickly than before. Unlike the previous game, they got stuck in with cold steel much sooner. Therefore they suffered less from the British superior shooting. Luck must be part of the answer. The Dutch in particular proved surprisingly resilient - i.e. they kept throwing high in their combats. At the same time, the French cavalry suffered a couple of immediate routs (due to low dice rolling). I don't recall this happening to any allied unit. Then having two failed Wing Morale checks and the failed Army Morale check in quick succession, rubbed salt in the wound. I need to have a good hard think to see if there is anything else that I could do tactically from the French point of view. Maybe not get sucked into fighting so far forward on the left so the distance from support/reinforcements is not so great?

The question is, should I "go again" or should I play a different French v Cumberland battle next? Hmm! I might need more streams for that.

Fontenoy - First go

The weekend was running away from me. Yesterday (Saturday) was spent swimming, watching England Women's football match, listening to Grimsby lose, setting the Fontenoy table up, getting my haircut* and spending the evening with the Margravina. Today saw me get up at 10, doing the laundry**, erecting a wire fence to keep next door's dogs out and a shopping trip to WH Smith and Wilkos***. I know how to live don't I?! So it was about 4:30 by the time I started the Fontenoy game.

* After being admonished on my appearance by the Jolly Broom Man.

** The forecast for Monday is rain.

*** And failing to find a copy of WI.

As the turns come thick and fast in TOTSK and movement is relatively slow, I decided that each turn would represent 20 minutes. It would thus be 12 moves before Richelieu arrived with his reinforcements. 

Before I start the report I'll mention a couple of tweaks to the rules to fit the scenario. Artillery brigades of a dozen guns are a "base width" wide - half the frontage of a foot or horse brigade. Because the French guns were mostly distributed around the redoubts in smaller numbers, gun models in redoubts represent 'half-brigades'. With less hitting power I decided that if a unit were hit by one of these half-brigades, they would get a saving throw. Also, instead of being able to suffer 2 'morale failures' as in a standard brigade, half-brigades would  only be able to suffer 1 morale failure.

Situation at start of game 09:00

This became relevant quickly as the British artillery scored a lucky 'hit' on Redoubt d'Eu #1. I then promptly forgot to remove the half-brigade until the following turn! This was to pay dividends for the British as it later enabled them to extend their front line.  More or less simultaneously, Ingoldsby's brigade, with the Black Watch to the front, chased the Arquebusiers de Grassin from the Bois de Wood. Ingoldsby's men continued to push slowly into the bosky depths.

Eu dear!

The Dutch assaulted Fontenoy and immediately suffered losses. Fortunately one of the two brigades in the front line was 'large' enabling it to soak up more pressure before routing.

The Dutch assault begins.

In the Pragmatic Army's centre the British Foot Guards led the attack, the dragoons in the front line having marched out of the way. This congested part of the field with no open flanks was not good cavalry territory. The three horse (1 British Guards and 2 Hanoverian) behind the village of Vezon formed column and marched off towards a defile in the Bois de Barry.

The Guards lead the way accompanied by Ligonier.

The opposing lines closed in the centre. The Guards Brigade faced off against the Gardes Francaises and Gardes Suisses! The ensuing fire fight was to last several rounds before a result was achieved.

Turn 4. A second British brigade swing round to the Guards' left.

Over at Fontenoy the Dutch also had success against the French artillery, knocking out the battery there. The Dutch infantry were also able to introduce fresh troops to the fight. Now that his troops were making some headway at Fontenoy, Waldeck advanced his left wing against the redoubts. This relieved some pressure on the troops attacking Fontenoy as the French guns had to concentrate on the threat in front of them.

The action around Fontenoy intensifies

After suffering some losses, the Dutch infantry seized the redoubts! Meanwhile the fighting around the village continued. Here the French general was able to exchange the battered French brigade with a fresh Swiss one.

Hurrah!

Out on the Pragmatic Army's right wing, a British infantry brigade was fed through the gap between the Redoubts d'Eu and cleared the second one. This brought the British out to Ingoldsby's left as he emerged from the wood. Together they attacked the Irish Brigade. This was a tough nut to crack. First under the suggested troop ratings in the rules, they were given a 'Determined' status (i.e. an extra morale failure before being removed). Second, as a large brigade (3 bases) the Irish had an extra 'life' making 5 in total! All of this was to no avail. After an ineffective round of musketry Ingoldsby ordered his men to charge the Hibernians. At the sight of the charging highlanders of the 42nd the Irish men unceremoniously took to their heels.

Celt on Celt! 42nd in the middle. An adjusted dice role of 3 or less means an immediate rout. The rear support for the Irish was countered by the additional threat to their right. 

Then more bad news for the French. In a demonstration of superior firepower, the British sweep away the brigade to the right of the Gardes Francaises. And then another! The Gardes flank began to look exposed.

In the centre the British and French foot (plus Swiss guards) continue to slug it out.

A gap where French infantry were.

Further round on the right of the Pragmatic Army, the British Horse Guards and their Hanoverian supporting brigades engaged in a long-running battle against the cavalry of the French left. Each side over time was able to replenish their front line, spreading the burden as casualties were suffered. In the end the Pragmatic Army had a slight edge with the elite British horse. Then the collapse was sudden! The French left wing had suffered 50% units hors de combat and failed the wing morale test. This meant the immediate removal of all remaining troops on that wing.

Around this time succour arrived for Saxe in the form of Richelieu. A fresh 3 brigades of cavalry and 4 of foot. I realise now this should have only been 2 brigades. Whoops!

Richelieu arrives. And I commit a cardinal sin.

Meanwhile, back in the centre, after a lengthy and inconclusive firefight, there was a sudden decision. Ingoldsby peered into the smoke, he heard a cheer go up from the Guards. Could it be? he wondered. Then the old Huguenot heard, "Sauve qui peut! Sauve qui peut!" The French guards had broken!

The French centre was now wide open save for a few cavalry. But these included la crème de la crème. The Maison du Row and Gendarmerie. Two brigades of elite heavy cavalry. 

After 14 turns the French centre collapsed.

The fight around Fontenoy and the redoubts on the left continues.The British infantry have command of the centre and are able to turn attention to Fontenoy. Over on the right the way has been cleared of the French.

With the French centre largely defeated, Ligonier orders a brigade of British to support the Dutch attack on Fontenoy. One Dutch brigade has already collapsed, but the second (large) brigade continues to press the Swiss defenders. The Dutch are seconded by an artillery battery as well as the British. The Swiss finally conceded the village and took to the rear.

Fontenoy falls to the Dutch on turn 17

Over at the redoubts the Dutch are attacked by the dismounted French dragoons. The fighting hung in the balance for a long time before the dragoons re-took the redoubts. This gave confidence to the French, infantry to the front, who advanced towards the Dutch cavalry. As the Dutch commander I made the mistake of letting the cavalry be attacked. Taking my lead from the rules appendix, I classified the Dutch as 'Wavering'. This meant one less morale failure was permitted. Infantry went down from 3 to 2 and the cavalry to just one!

First one Dutch cavalry brigade fell to the French counter attack, then a second. This took Waldeck's wing above the 50% threshold. Then disaster! The wing morale check was failed first time. At the height of their success, the Netherlanders had had enough.

Turn 18, a miserly 2 is rolled on the Dutch wing morale check.

So there was still hope for Saxe. Richelieu was now fully engaged in the centre. The battle on his right (allied left) was won. He could despatch the Maison and Gendarmerie to tackle the English and their German allies on the left flank.

Richelieu decided that standing off and popping away with muskets wasn't the French way. he ordered an all out assault. again there was no immediate result but it was better than being shot to pieces by the superior British musketry.

Ligonier and Richelieu go head to head deep in the middle of the French position.

On turn 22 more bad news for the French. After a couple of successful tests, the French centre (which included the elite cavalry) finally failed its wing morale test. 

Mais ou est la Garde? The French horse guards perform disastrously against the Anglo-Hanoverian cavalry. Just at the moment of truth, the French heavies decided that discretion was the better part of Valerie****.

Richelieu fought on. His cavalry continued to slug away at the, by now, exhausted British foot guards and the rest of the infantry hammered away at each other. Both sides lost units. A gap appeared and the British dragoons eagerly looked forward to their opportunity.

But the Scots Greys and Iniskillings were not to get their moment of glory. They were not to pre-empt the Union Brigade of 70 years later. On turn 24 the French Army morale failed at the first time of asking. In truth I should have taken this earlier, once the French had lost 2 out of their 4 'wings'.

Poor Saxe. He rolled a 1.

The Reckoning. 20 brigades lost by the French. 13 by the Pragmatic Army. This includes the units which were removed after failed wing morale tests.

 

So a defeat for the French. I think the allied tactic of stretching the front so they could bring the superior British musketry to bear helped. The march around the flank helped pin the French reserves (historically they were able to attack the British column in the centre. And early wins (luck) helped prepare the rest of the ground. Another factor may have been the lack of aggression on the French side. Instead the infantry in the centre was pretty much shot up. A move to contact may have evened up the odds. Or, maybe if they had stood back initially it would have allowed some room for their cavalry to attack the British flanks. On the other side, not keeping the Dutch cavalry out of harms way was a big error. Other than that, the Dutch did well. Anyway, there'll be a chance to address these errors, and no doubt make new ones later in the week.

When news reach London, the news sheets were soon up their usual. The following front pages were spotted.

Ye Daily Looking Glass: "One nil to the Ingerlund! Gus' boys smash Gerry led Frogs. Cloggies go missing."

Ye Wuardian: "Louis Quinze Maurice.  Whither now the Saxon maestro? Pompidore's protegé peremptorily pummelled in the Austrian Netherlands."

Ye Big Yellow Ball in the Sky: "Saxe comes off Wurst! Louis made to look a right sausage by Cumberland. Turn to page 3 and cop a load of the Pompidore's bangers."