Afternoon Nap(s) 2

So with our 2 cavalry regiments locked in battle and gaining initial success on the right it was time to put our plan into full swing.

With young David being traditionally cautious my 1st brigade swung right to engage his Prussians while making way for my French 2nd brigade.

The 1st brigade would have to be strong as they would take many casualties from the 2 Prussian Brigades but they stood firm and past morale test after morale test!

The Austrian 48 man battalion steadies itself for the coming attack and in the distance David's Infantry advance through the woods in coordination with my own attack and his Cuirassiers got stuck into Roberts cavalry.

Meanwhile out on the right disaster! The dice gods turned against me and despite some encouraging early roles and a 4 up on 1 melee I got hammered. (Both regiments disappeared in minutes!) So here is a picture of the victorious Prussian Dragoons They never perform that well for me?

And of course their Austrian cousins who also wiped the floor with my cavalry. However it was not all lost as the Hussars had to go back to their own lines and the Dragoons were not too close. Perhaps we would have time to execute our assault and knock the Austrians out of the battle before the Allied cavalry could come into play?

To David's delight his Cuirassiers did exactly what it says on the tin and sent both Austrian cavalry regiment off for an early bath which meant in time they would be able to threaten the rear of the Austrian lines. On the far right the 1st brigade was holding together and had managed to stop the the main Prussian advance with a double 6! (at which point I did my fancy double 6 dance) An automatic falter but the general survived unharmed. Ahhhhh!

It was nail biting stuff as the battle hung in the balance. In the centre the main French thrust had fired off a volley last turn and 3 battalions executed the charge with the Austrians causing minimal damage. 1 battalion failed to charge home but the other 2 were in and it felt like the heady days of 1805 and 1806 had returned, Vive L'Empereur!

It was all down to the dice with the French starting ahead. My 1st roll was poor but the second roll was good and it was now Roberts turn to see what would happen to his 48 man unit. If they failed the whole Allied centre could collapse.

And what did the big lad roll?

A puffing double 6!! not only that he also managed to kill my general!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

My French battalions just fell apart and over the course of the next round everything went into rewind. (you know for about 20 minutes there I actually thought we had them!)

To finish off a picture of my brother and nephew (the Davids) with the final positions at the end of the battle. Every other game had finished while ours went right to the wire.

It was another excellent game enjoyed by all and we had a good laugh too. It just goes to show it ain't over till the fat lady sings! I now know why Earl Hickey made his list! In those 20 mins when I thought we had them and let my double 6 bring my guard down Karma had other ideas!

Figures

Austrians : Robert T

French : David P snr & jnr & John P

Prussians : Paul P