OHW Scenario 15 - Attack On A Fortified Position

After the previous game to get me back into the swing of things and more au fait with BPII, I found time for another game in the same vein. Not having played any of the OHW scenarios for many a month, the next one in line, Scenario 15, made it onto the table. Broadly based upon the Battle of Fontenoy, in essence it sees a larger force attacking a smaller one in prepared defences.

Taking this as the basis, I tweaked things to hopefully be a better fit for BPII, with the Defenders having a Brigade on table and one in reserve, the Attackers 3 Brigades, with both sides having some mounted infantry too. Once again the table layout was basically an ACW type setting, with some stone built houses to provide better protection for the Defenders. Last game I forgot to add any fences, so this time they were there plus some stone walls too.

So onto the action and as always annotated photos to give an account of the action.

An overview of the table, with the Blue Attackers coming in from the left and the Red Defenders deployed roughly from the mid-point of the table and back towards the right.

Red troops occupy the stone houses by the woods on their left flank.

And again but on the right flank.

The Blue centre, right flank and mounted infantry deployed, with the aim of turning the Red flank and thus unhinging their defence.

The Blue centre deployed in line of march.

The Blue left flank whose aim is to fix the Red right flank and hopefully take the BUA too.

The view from the Red positions, with Mounted Infantry in the centre with one Artillery piece.

The end of Turn 1. The Blue force moved forward, with the right flank making speedy progress. There was a brief exchange of fire that had little effect on the Red centre.

The Blue right flank has moved briskly forward.

The Blue centre has moved up and the light infantry exchanges fire with their Red counterparts along the snake rail fencing.

The Blue left flank blundered but at least in the intended direction!

The Rec mounted infantry move and dismount to cover the threat from Blue developing across their front.

The end of Turn 2. Pretty much all of the Blue force failed to move, other than the 'free' move for being in column! Again some shooting but of no real consequence.

The mounted infantry advance as the Blue right flank stalls by the woods and orchard.

The Blue centre can only advance in column but do the best they can under the circumstances.

Ditto the Blue left flank, who have a unit that has become disordered from firing.

The end of Turn 3. The Blue force makes better progress, but is still not getting forward quickly enough.

The Blue right flank begins to advance through the orchard.

The Blue centre has pushed forward and combined firing sees the Red light infantry shaken and disordered.

The Blue left flank shakes out into line and begins to shoot at the Red troops in the BUA.

The Red reserve Brigade arrives, but only slowly, when really they need a speedy advance.

A view from the Red left flank.

The end of Turn 4. The Blue force finally really gets moving and the shooting begins to take its toll on the Red troops. The Red troops really need their reserves right now!

The Blue mounted infantry advance to the edge of the woods, ready to try to turn the Red left flank.

The Blue centre has finally managed to form line and exchanges fire right across its front.

In the process however their light infantry make a disorderly retreat to try and recover.

Despite being under intense pressure, the Red light infantry somehow survive the storm of lead that has come their way.

The Blue left flank beings to exert pressure on the BUA as the Red troops accumulate hits and disorder.

The end of Turn 5. The pressure exerted by Blue begins to tell as several Red units are forced back 'whipped' or making disorderly retreats. Its looking bleak for Red at the moment.

The Blue mounted infantry have advanced, dismounted and begun to open fire on the Red infantry in the BUA.

Suddenly the troops in front of the Blue right flank have retreated.

The Red light infantry are finally forced to retreat back to a safer position.

The Blue left flank too suddenly sees the BUA vacated by the Red troops.

A 'whipped' Red unit.

The brave Red light infantry 'whipped'.

The Red mounted infantry 'whipped' and disorderly retreating.

The last Red unit manages to hold out, but a 'forlorn hope' position?

The Red reserves still unable to reach the battle field in time.

End of Game

So with the Red reserves too far away to prevent Blue from taking one BUA and likely to take the other, the game was called there as a rather convincing Blue win in the end.

Post Game Thoughts

In the end a funny old game, with neither side really doing well and Blue's numerical advantage being the deciding factor. I thought it might be a tough ask for Red and so it proved to be, as they really needed their Reserves to make a 3 move advance at the start to give them a chance. If I were to play it again I might tweak things a bit, but as a scenario it didn't really grab me if I'm honest. It might play better as a WWII game, something to ponder for a future game. So some more post-game thoughts as always:

• Another quick game that was good to get more comfortable with BPII, which took about 1 1/2 hours to play. Certainly reading the rules after each game is adding to my knowledge, but I'd say 80% of the game is fine just with the QRS.
• The Blue force was really slow to get moving and I thought they might struggle before the Red reserves arrived, but 'twas not to be. If the Red reserves has come on speedily, it might have given their force a chance, but only if Blue was slow. I think if Blue had moved more quickly earlier on it might have been over even more quickly.
• Both sides shooting was poor right across the board. If one had gained fire ascendencey early on, it might have given them an edge, something that Red really needed to achieve.
• From the get go Blue does need to move and press the attack and their numerical advantage, which they were finally able to do, before the Red reserves can come into play.
• Having stone buildings and walls was good and to see how they affected the ability of troops in them or behind them to stay in the game.
• I need to check some of the tweaks in the GH! supplement re: terrain and its effect upon movement. I think I got it right...

What Next?

Well some more trial games, maybe some smaller ones just to speed things up from my point of view, but so far it's all going well in terms of getting back into knowing the rules. Now the recent heatwave is behind us, hopefully some more painting will ensue, especially on the units and commands I know I want/need to finish for the CWD show. Terrain wise I think I'm there bar some more snake rail fences that have been made and nearly finished, bar some flocking.

So I hope you enjoyed the AAR and it would be lovely to receive a comment or two!

TTFN.