OHW Scenario 13 - Escape

I've had this scenario prepared for quite sometime now, but just didn't feel in the mood to play it, given I was devoting most of my time to the France 1940 Campaign. However the weather put pay to any priming of troops for the campaign and with the weather set poor for at least a week, it seemed a good opportunity to get some games in.

We had about 2" of snow overnight which was not bad, but not too far away they had 6" - 8" on the tops of the Mendips. Far too cold for priming unfortunately.

Blue OOB

3 x Line Infantry

1 x Light Infantry

2 x Cavalry

Red OOB

3 x Line Infantry

2 x Light Infantry

1 x Artillery

Scenario Objectives

The Blue Force is returning after raiding Red territory, but is faced by a Red blocking force on the road. Blue is unaware the other Red units are close by.

Blue Force to exit 3 Units off the table.

Blue Force can only exit via the road at the Southern table edge.

The Game

As is my usual practice I got everything set up the night before so that I could make a leisurely start once the morning chores were out of the way. I had no fixed Turn limit in mind, but a maximum of 8 Turns felt right. I'll let the captioned photos tell the story of the game.

An overview of the baord, with the lone Red Light Infantry blocking the road.

Another Red Light Infantry unit would be able to arrive on Turn 6.

The Red flanking force to arrive on Turn 2, but with a Dithering commander. Fortunately I attached the CO before rolling for commander quality.

The other Red flanking force to arrive on Turn 4, but with a Dashing commander.

The Blue right flank had a Dashing commander, whilst the Centre was Dependable, but with the CO would count as Dashing.

The Blue left flank composed of their Cavalry and with a Dashing commander too.

The end of Turn 1. The Blue force didn't move too quickly, despite having Dashing commanders all round. The Red Light Infantry held their position.

The Blue Cavalry acting as flank protection whilst the Centre moved down the road.

On the right the Blue Light Infantry moved to screen the woods as they advanced.

The end of Turn 2. The Blue force moved more swiftly this Turn, forcing the Red Light Infantry to move towards the Cavalry to try and block a quick and easy escape route. The Red flank force appeared over the hill, but its shooting failed to hit its mark.

The Red Light Infantry feeling like King Cnut trying to stem the tide.

The Blue troops in the Centre get a surprise as shots whizz over and around them.

The end of Turn 3. The Blue Force deploys one Line Infantry unit to meet the threat to its flank, whilst all other units push forward as quickly as they can. The Red Light Infantry wisely retreat back to the road, trading space for time.

The Red Light Infantry hope they can hang on long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

The Blue Line Infantry unit take incoming fire but managed to rally a hit off to maintain reasonable combat effectiveness.

The end of Turn 4. The Blue Force continues to push forward to try and close with the Red Light Infantry blocking their escape route. As Red reinforcements arrive, the Blue Line Infantry in the Centre begin a fighting withdrawal.

Enemies to the right of me...

... enemies to the left.

Neither side can gain a decisive advantage, despite some good shooting.

Can the Red Line Infantry march quickly enough to prevent the Blue Force from escaping?

The end of Turn 5. The Blue Force closed in for what it hoped would be the kill on the Red Light Infantry, whilst the Blue Line Infantry continued their fighting withdrawal as the Red troops pushed forwad to help the beleagured unit on the road. 

Some how the Red Light Infantry just held on.

The Blue Line Infantry continue to hold back the Red Line Infantry.

Turn 6 and Der Hexenkessel. As the Blue Cavalry charges the Red Light Infantry, who manage to turn to face, the Red Light Infantry arrive to surprise the Blue Force. The fighting is confused with no real space for manouevre for the Blue Force as the Red Force closes in.

Can the Blue Cavalry sweep away the Red Light Infantry>

The Red Light Infantry appear in the flank of the Blue Line Infantry as Blue Light Infantry move to cover the Red Line Infantry who are advancing in Line.

The end of Turn 6. The Blue Cavalry make short work of the Red Light Infantry, opening up an avenue of retreat at last. The Red Infantry cannot quite get enough hits to force the Blue troops to rout, although one Blue Line Infantry unit does have to retreat to reform.

The Blue Line Infantry from the Centre that have been delaying the Red Force finally have to retreat to reform.

The road is now open, but can Blue take advantage of it?

The Red Light Infantry just fail to cause the Blue Line Infantry to fall back to reform.

The Red Force still pushing on hoping to stop the Blue Force.

End of Game

A close run thing but on Turn 7 Blue managed to extracate 3 units from the tightening noose and thereby gain victory, but most likely a Pyrrhic one at that.

Post Game Thoughts

Well that pretty much came down to the wire, something that I didn't expect around Turn 3, when I thought it was going to be a walk in the park for the Blue Force. How wrong one can be! It was great to get Honours of War onto the table after so long and as alway sit provided a very enjoyable game. As always some post-game thoughts in no particular order:

• The random allocation of commander quality worked well and I prefer this to knowing in advance what they will be like. This also greatly adds to the fun of solo play.
• As both sides had an above average amount of Dashing commanders, their faster movement on Admirable or Inspiring command rolls certainly helped the game move along at a fair old lick and neither side was too slow compared to the other. If say Blue had lots of Dithering and red Dashing, then it would have been a very different game.
• The 2' x 2' table was a perfect size for HoW with its smaller movement compared to BPII. I deliberately wanted this more steady movement as I felt the generous movements rates of BPII would have unbalanced the game.
• Once again the 3 base units helped give just enough space on the small table for some movement and manoeuvering.
• Limiting the exit for the Blue Force to the road only gave the Red Force a fighting chance. If it had been anywhere along the Southern edge, then the Red Cavalry could have escaped very easily and likewise enough of the Blue Infantry. 
• I could have had the Red Light Infantry move back early on to the road edge, but I wanted them to try and keep the Blue Force 'bottled up' for the Red flanking force that arrived on Turn 2 to have a chance to start making its presence felt. I think this approach worked well but could have been better if the Red shooting had been more effective at the start.
• The Blue Cavalry could have charged the Red Light Infantry early on and would probably have either forced them to flee back of routed them in close combat. Either way they might have been able to clear the road sooner for the Blue Force.

This has been one of the better scenarios I've played, possibly due to the above that gave a good and balanced game. I think there is plenty of replay value in it to see how things might unfold taking the points above into account.

I don't have any other games planned just yet, but most likely another OHW scenario might make it to the table or a generic bigger scale one, depending upon time and motivation. I hope to get some more painting in, but this is most likely going to be on my mid-19thC ImagiNations troops given my priming issues due to the weather.

TTFN.