On Saturday we played a game of Wellington Rules! using Gar's 15mm Napoleonics. The scenario was a simple meeting engagement. The French forces (Commanded by Brian and Chris) consisted of 4 short-handed regiments (two battalions each) of regular infantry, with some five heavy guns. There was also a grenadier battalion as well as a cavalry contingent of one battalion Chasseur, one battalion Cuirassier, and one horse gun. The Russian/Prussian forces, commanded by Gar and James, looked to be about equal (numerically) in infantry, with a mix of 12 lb. and 20 lb. guns. Their cavalry force of Polish Lancers, Russian Dragoons, and Russian Landwehr Cavalry. The battlefield had a small town area in the center, with hedged fields extending toward the Russian side. A few hills and woods dotted the field, but these were to have minimal impact on the game.

Assume the Russian table edge is north... We used standard WR! ranges and movements with the 15mm minis, which were based in three man elements with 40mm frontages each. This gave the effect of slightly enlarging the table while still allowing lots of movement...and we used LOTS of movement. With plenty of space available, both sides tried lots of flanking maneuvers, retrogrades, etc. It was a blast.

Both sides deployed with their infantry toward the center and west. Both cavalry contingents deployed to the east. In the battle's opening phase, the Allied cavalry split into two groups, with the Russian Dragoons moving straight for the flank of my French center (there was a sizable gap between the center command and the cavalry on the far eastern edge). This forced an entire regiment of French regulars into square. The Dragoons attempted to skirt around the squares to find a soft underbelly somewhere, but the two squares plus a battery of cannon would eventually inflict sufficient stragglers to break them. They would later reform and attack a French line, only to be repulsed again. The Polish Lancers charged toward the French CAV, and were counter charged by the Cuirassier. In a thunder of hooves and swords, the lancers were cut down and the Cuirassier managed to not run off in search of loot. The Landwehr soon followed, leaving the French cavalry in control of the entire eastern flank.

Meanwhile, Commander Goff was involved in a serious scrum on the Western flank. He had marched forward and deployed one regiment in two lines, while attempting to march another regiment (in road column) around to the Russian west flank. Gar had two road columns of infantry nearby. "He won't attack you in that lousy formation" I told Chris, immediately afterwhich Gar attacked Chris' road column with his own road column. Chris' troops attempted a local retreat (roll to stand result) but Gar caught him and initiated one of the strangest melee's I've seen in the ??? Rules! system. Chris's regulars were caught from behind in road column. Gar's troops were also in road column so could not inflict many casualties. Each straggler was tripled, but gar could only inflict one every other turn or so. So these two battalions milled around for most of the battle. Eventually Gar's unit broke the French, only to find themselves standing in point blank range to three batteries of 12 lb. guns. The Prussians were vaporized. While this was going on, Chris deployed a battery of three cannon at the same moment that Gar deployed a line of infantry right in front of him. Caught by canister fire from the flank, the battalion was heavily damaged and out of the fight for a while.

Chris' remaining battalion on the far west fought a see-saw battle against a couple of Gar's battalions, with each side managing to protect his guns. The regiment in the center was assaulted by two Prussian battalions and the Pavlov Grenadiers. We were able to rush our grenadiers into the fray as well. The Pavlov's were wiped out, and one of the Prussian units heavily wounded by fire. The French line was eventually broken and the French grenadiers subject to heavy fire from the now deployed 20 lb. cannon battery. With the eastern flank secured, the French began rerouting our forces and attempting to storm the hedged fields now held by three battalions of Russian infantry. Early attempts to storm this area had been repulsed by heavy musket fire from the Russians. Having to guard against my heavy cavalry in the rear - plus infantry on two sides, the Russians were eventually overpowered and French troops poured into the courtyard. Two units deployed to line only yards apart and prepared to fire. Unfortunately, the Russian commander redeployed the 20 lbrs and caught the French battalion in flank. Very bad. The French cavalry had exhausted itself, being forced from the field by excessive stragglers resulting from failure to close with cowardly retreating infantry or when random orders forced two back to back charges... At the end of the battle, the Allied infantry was reduced to about a regiment and a half of troops in bad shape. The French had two and a half regiments in fairly good shape. The French commanders decided to surround the Russian guns and wait till nightfall. The men could not stomach another charge into the muzzles...

It was a great game and hopefully we'll see a few more. I'm actually tempted (although only just so) to paint up unit or two of nappy's.