I have always liked the idea of a really big cavalry action. We have played some games with pretty big cavalry components - in October 2015 we did a War of Spanish Succession game that counted 30 regiments and a big Napoleonic game in December 2019 that saw 29 regiments on the table - but in both those cases there was an even bigger infantry component present. When I was about half way through the Allied cavalry expansion I started thinking about a cavalry only fight (with horse artillery) to round out the year.
When I added up what we could mass amongst the group’s Napoleonic collections I found we could mass around 70 units and some 14 horse batteries. What was even better we had a full house and could mass five players a side.
I kept the table simple and relatively bare, with a few low hills scattered around and a few small groups of trees just to provide some obstructions.
On the Allied side there were three Russian divisions (one each of Cuirassiers, dragoons and light cavalry), plus one large Prussian and an equally large Austrian division. The French could count four cuirassier divisions, a dragoon division, two light cavalry divisions and a combined force of German cavalry. I think the figure count was around 800.
Deployment was simple. Each side could deploy whatever divisions they wished 200mm in from the edge, but starting no nearer than 1200mm from the table ends, and could keep as many divisions as they wished off table at the start of the game. Off table troops could attempt to come on at any the beginning of any turn on the roll if a 3+ at any point on their home table edge, but clear of the table ends by 1200mm. If they failed to come on for two turns they would arrive automatically on the third.
I won’t try to describe the action blow by blow, but in the final count the French lost a total of 23 units and the Allies 17 - not a big enough difference to be decisive. The images below are in no particular order.
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So our big cavalry bash brought and end to our wargaming year. |
Some nice pics there, Mark - I did a kind of blow-by-blow account, as best I could - it was mainly a record of your rather impressive dice rolling, and my lack thereof! Good fun though - next time, less artillery maybe?
ReplyDeleteYes my dice luck did improve over the initial abysmal start. The French had historical numbers of guns, but I boosted the Austrian and Prussian commands with an extra battery each.
DeleteWhat a great way to wrap up the year's gaming! Some great close up shots.
ReplyDeleteI had hoped for a few more close ups, but managing them players absorbs a lot of time!
Deletelovely. I think because most of us have tame cavalry collections, seeing a game with so much horse in play is always hugely impressive. Nice end to the year.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm, and it was nice to have the whole group together for the end of another difficult year.
DeleteWhat a spectacle to behold and such a big game, but a great idea to use only cavalry and its supporting arms.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was an impressive sight.
DeleteDefinitely something a little different, and I imagine it required a different approach from the players. Did it move at a noticeably faster pace?
ReplyDeleteYes the tactics are quite different. There was a lot of shuffling around but at some point you had to commit and if you wanted to win you had to commit heavily. What was really interesting was that if your front unit stalled it was really difficult for the second line to push through. The game took about 3 hours so a little shorter than usual.
DeleteSplendid Mark.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly brings a new meaning to horsing around with your friends 😁
All the best. Aly
It certainly does!
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