Maida - two games in an evening! Original battle 4th July, 1806, refight 30th August, 2023

 

 This Wednesday saw my return to the Leeds club, Mike suggested that we play Corunna or Maida.  I was happy to provide suitable French and Mike fielded some brand new British troops he has recently painted.

Maida is not really BBB material, in that the battle has about 5,200 British troops attacked by 6,400 French.  Both sides had Swiss battalions and the French had Poles.  You can read more here 

We set up the table, with French deploying on a ridge, with a river and wood to their left, the British deployed on a ridge opposite the French.  The battle has 4 turns representing 15 minutes real life, so it's not going to last long.

Initial deployment looked like this:

French deployment 

The view from the British end

I led the French for game 1, which started badly in that two of my units refused to move and two more got half moves.  Once my French actually got started i tried a left hook, but the late start, loss of cavalry and just not having enough troops meant my attack slowed then stalled.  The Brits for lots of cannon and some units had a "D" rating for devastating volley.

Here's the pics from game 1- from left to right:

Inadequate French forces try to assault up a hill...

British defenders on their hill sneering at the French.

Mike deploying the British re-inforcements to pincer the slow French

As the game had only taken half an hour, we reset and swapped ends.  Having now got one game under our belt, we appreciated the need for speed, but were now playing for the other team....

Mike's French sped across the plain, heading for my Brits in an extreme left hook.  I deployed right and managed to do very little damage as they came towards me.  My right hand Brits moved forwards, survived an assault and retreated to higher ground.  My left hand Brits then assaulted Mike's left and got high enough results to exploit.  That D rating just tipped the balance in my favour in the fire-fight.  Once again, the Brits held the ridge.

Pics from game 2:

Brit defenders on the Brit right

Brit Arty swivels to the right

French attackers having a go at my centre

French covering force to distract my left...  getting whittled away

In conclusion, Maida is a really nice game.  

Not many troops needed, but you do get guns and cavalry (French only) so there is a nice mix of troop types.  It's an opportunity to deploy Swiss and Poles, so different uniforms and flags (we just used ordinary troops).  British D firepower gives them the edge, but then the French have skirmishers in abundance.

It's a tough call for the French, who are attacking on a 1:1 ratio, however, the French can pick where to attack and the British have to hold all of their hill.

I would recommend this game in it's own right and as a starter to introduce new players to the game.

 

Marengo in Leeds - AAR

 The last two club days at Leeds saw a return to Marengo, with myself as Austrian and regular opponent Mike as Bonaparte himself.  Marengo is interesting, in that the French deploy at the Austrian end of the table and are attacked by overwhelming Austrian forces - so they need to hang on till Dessaix and the reinforcements arrive.  We used BBB rules and the Marengo scenario posted to the BBB io group.

A quick look in the archives shows that I played this in August 2021, as we were emerging from Lockdown - I remembered it as a fun and entertaining restart to my hobby.  See the last AAR here  

Here's the board at the start of play:

Above, the Austrian end, with cheeky French column deployed in the Austrian start area.  They were relocated and the game could start.  Marengo is the left hand village, stoutly defended by 4 French infantry.

Below, the view from the French end towards the Austrians.

The view from the Austrian end - these troops are all going to come piling on  as the Austrians start the game.  Note Austrian command cup of tea.

My plan, as Austrian general, was to push forward in the middle whilst sending cavalry, infantry & grenadiers up the left hand road.  The plan worked, in that Mike deployed his initial reserves to counter this threat and stopped shoring up his troops around Marengo.

Mike also managed to lose all his cavalry in the really stages.

Below, scattered Austrian units cause Mike concern.

Below, French Consular Guard & Friends threatened by the left hook.  In the process, however, my left hook forces started to get whittled away....

Meanwhile, however, my forces in the middle had issues with traffic jams and three French units that holed up in the villages and woods.  Instead of a swift breakthrough, I was rolling just low enough to miss/disrupt, not cause damage,  So my troops assaulted, got repulsed, formed up, tried again, etc.

Below, Austrians not quite co-ordinating and expelling the French, who used the woods and villages to great effect.  A lot of inadequate movement rolls on my part did not help!

The French unit below, having been evicted from it's village, spent the rest of the game sitting in a marsh and distracting Austrian gunners with forays into the dwindling Austrian left hook forces, before retreating into the marsh again!

In the end it was a draw.  The Austrians had Marengo (Hurrah!) but didn't get the crossroads or eliminate Napoleon.  Neither side had inflicted more than 50% casualties than received.

All in all it was a fun two evenings gaming.  The game was in the balance till the end.  Well worth playing if you want something different.  We both agreed we would be happy to play again, perhaps next time I'll be the French?