My wargaming club recently did one of the Crimean War scenarios from the Bloody Big Battles European Supplement, the Battle of Alma.
The photos are not up to my usual standard as the battery on my Nikon apparently fried so I had to use my camera phone.
Before deploying, the Allies have to decide which road network they are going to attack and the Russians have to decided which road they are going to defend. The Russians outguessed the allies and were concentrated on defending the road the Allies where attacking. The French were out of position which caused them a lot of problems as the game progressed.
Here we see the allies deploying and preparing their rush to clear the two road objectives they have chosen. Their first objective is to clear the road from Kanysch to Uleschel. The second objective is to clear the road from Uleschel to the board edge.
Here we see the initial deployments as they begin the first turn. Because of the road the Allies chose to get to Sevestapol, the Allied fleet will have no roll to play in the battle. Then the sneaky Russians get a chance to have partisans set fire to any two villages. They manage to make both rolls and fire two of the villages that provide crossing points for the allied artillery. This is a particularly bitter pill for the British as they only have one crossing in their primary sector of operations.
Here you see the village of Kanysch ablaze much to the annoyance of the British commander.
Russians begin a long-range (read ineffective) cannonade against the British as they try to cross the Alma. Just like last time we played this, the British have a really hard time getting their troops to move at the start of the game. You can also see how much ground the French have to make up to get in the fight and press the Russian flank guarding the second objective.
Time is a big factor in the game (8 turns) and the British commander has little choice but to attack Uleschel piecemeal and feed troops into the fight as best he can as the game progresses.
The French commander has little choice either and his divisions become separated from each other due to uneven die rolling for movement.
The British are fighting hard to take Uleschel and secure objective #1. The leading French division has some luck as it assaults up a hill catching a Russian battery and forcing it to flee as they plow into the Russian defensive line.
Initial assaults against Uleschel are repulsed but the British keep the pressure up and reinforcements are beginning to turn the tide against the steadily weakening
Russians in the village.
The French and Turks are finally starting to put some real pressure on the Russian flank but they are almost out of time. They really needed to reach the Russian lines a turn or two before they did to have a realistic chance of clearing objective #2.
The slow progress of the British Guards/Highlander division has been a bit of a running joke amongst the players throughout the game. I think they finally crossed the Alma on turn 6 or 7.
The British secure objective #1 on turn eight but only after they manage to halt a Russian counter-attack with defensive fire. The result is a draw since the allies did not take objective #2 in the time allowed. The British and the Russian armies are shredded but the French are virtually untouched so there is no doubt they will clear the roads. It pretty much says in the scenario notes that the Russians can't hold the field, but the way the game is set up they can fight for a draw or even a win if they do better than their historical counterparts did.
I am liking these rules more and more with each play of the game.
Dave
