Here is the second and final instalment of a battle report for our SDLB 28mm pick up game.

While the French infantry regroup behind their artillery the gunners load canister and await the order to fire. The murderous volley they unleash proves too much for the victorious Guard battalion and it quits the field. The remaining two battalions in this brigade hasten forward in an effort to turn the French right flank. Now would have been a good time for the English cavalry to arrive, but unfortunately in the heat of battle they were forgotten about.

With its disorder markers now standing at a total of five the Guard’s brigade has become shaken. Adding this (+1) to the loss of  a battalion (+3) and the British divisional breakpoint reaches the half way mark.

Once again the British assault is met by stout French resistance forcing the English to recoil. This is followed by a French counter charge which breaks the second Guard battalion. Moving forward the last British battalion of this brigade smashes into the badly disordered French formation, destroying it. Counter battery fire from English foot artillery results in the French guns limbering up and preparing to retreat to a safer position. These two small victories however, are not enough to stabilize the crumbling British flank and a general withdrawal is ordered.

The loss of two Guard battalions plus a shaken brigade and French forces in the English zone two, tips the British division over its breaking point of 8 and victory goes to the French.

Gallery

Summary

There you have it.  The French won the day. It might well have been a different story if the British cavalry had stormed onto the pitch and kicked some arse, but we forgot all about them. As it was, the end caught us by surprise as we weren’t really tracking the victory conditions too closely.

This being only the 4th or 5th time we have played SDLB there were a couple of mistakes made along the way.  Firstly, when losing a combat, infantry must fall back and are placed into column where as the French were left in line (not a biggie really). The Second mistake we made was assuming artillery had a firing arc of 45 degrees (which they don’t). For the first half of the game we were blazing away at any and everything without adjusting our guns facing.

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