Battle of Ochoverde

What an epic this morning's battle became. It proved a real test of the Feathertone-Style Marlburian rules, and as such I've made a few alterations to them, some of which are clarifications, others a response to those moments where I thought - 'that's not right'. As a result, being hit in the flank is even nastier and will make sure that all sides think very carefully before dangling their edges in the air.

So without much further ado - the battle report!

The second turn saw the French Brigade advance towards the Austrians. Both the Austrians and the British had moved forwards into the wheat fields.

The first exchange of fire, and the Starhemberg regiment takes the lumps!

The Austrians try to give back, but without success.

The French cavalry advances, while the Spanish Dragoons move to a position where they can charge the advancing British, should they become disordered.

Rivers'Regiment engages the Toledo regiment on the hill - on the right the Starhemberg regiment has fallen back a little, out of short range.

On the right the petite guerre will rage all day - with no result.

The British are determined to take the farm.

While the French and Austrians continue to exchange volleys.

Rivers' Regiment charges!

And is forced back. 

The battle-line in the centre

The French are winning the firefight.

Undaunted, Rivers' Regiment attacks again. As do the English Guards.

Only to be repulsed - again!

Now that they are disordered the O'Mahoney dragoons strike the English Guards and push them back.

And again Rivers' boys try to break the Toledo regiment.

After considerable time facing off against each other, the cavalry charges!

The result is a mixed bag for both sides. 

The Auvergne regiment charge Starhemberg's regiment, only to be repulsed and - horror - the general is killed in the melee.

This will be the last throw of the dice for Rivers' Regiment - but the hill remains elusive.

The Bouville Dragoons charge Jorger's regiment.

Although barely dented, the Austrian dragoons flee off the battlefield. 

The Auvergne regiment finally pushes back the Starhembergs.

A view from the victorious French lines

But the Orleans regiment can't break the Osnabrucks in the wheatfield.

The Osuna Dragoons make a final attempt to push off the English Guards, only to be rendered hors de combat.

This view of the battlefield shows the depth of reserves on both sides.

But in the cavalry battle things have taken a turn for the worse. The Bouville Dragoons have gone on to wipe out the English gun, while the Pelleport cavalry have seen off Killigrew's Dragoons and are preparing to face the last of the Confederate cavalry, the Zinzendorf regiment.

A view of the centre shows the danger that the Bouville dragoons are causing as they sweep around the rear of the Confederate army.

Orleans charge again

And the Osnabruck regiment melts away.

A final charge by the guards sees them repulsed from the farm, and the Dutch general that was with them is cut down!

The Bouville Dragoons wipe out the Austrian gun.

The Zinzendorf Dragoons are forced back again, and the flanks of the Confederate infantry are exposed.

With no generals in the centre, the Confederate attack is stalled beyond saving.

The surviving Confederate generals confer and agree - time to retreat!

At one stage it looked as if the Allies might carry the centre quickly, but when the British troops were repulsed, they never really got back into it. The Confederate cavalry failed spectacularly, and was a massive contributing factor to their defeat. The heroes of the day for the Allies had to be the Auvergne, Orleans and Toledo regiments, which bore the brunt of the fighting. On the Confederate side one can't go past the way that Rivers' regiment time and again threw itself against the Allied line. Dud of the day were the Jorger Dragoons. Time to replace the colonel there I think!

As to the battle's name, I went to a random Spanish word generator and put two words together. Why is this crossroads called 'Eight green'? Something to do with the Visigoths I expect...

Nate

The battle is afoot

At the halfway point of the project, here are the two armies for the War of Spanish Succession project facing off against each other. I set up a battle, used the dice to determine deployment for the Allies, and then had the Confederates deploy based on a plan that was gain rolled for out of a choice of three (basically left flank, right flank, or centre attack). I've played out the first turn, which is where these photos catch up to what is happening,

A view down the table, Allies to the right, Confederates to the left

The Confederate cavalry have moved to the edge of the hill but still hold an uphill advantage.

Opposite them the Allied cavalry have also advanced. But what is their next move?

The Old Purples hold the farm

While opposite the English Guards are lined up for the assault.

The Old Yellows and Turkish Blues support the Old Purples in the farm.

On the Allied right the French infantry advance, masking their guns. What are they doing?

And away to the edge of the bored the petit guerre is taking place in the vineyards.

The Austracitas advance on the Confederate left towards the French.

There may have been some interesting command rolls in this first turn.
Hopefully I'll get to play out the rest tomorrow.

Nate

How to surprise yourself

A few posts ago Jonathan asked me how I surprise myself with painting. Well, I do this by making plans. For instance, I've been planning to paint Star Wars Legion and Ancients for the next couple of months. All of my figures are undercoated and ready to go, and I have a vague idea of what I will paint when. As soon as my Marlburian generals were done I had a dozen Star Wars legion figures lined up to paint, with the second half of a Macedonian pike phalanx behind that. Three days ago I finished the Marlburian generals, so far so good.

French and Spanish generals for the Bourbons

English and Dutch generals for the Confederates

And then I figured I'd undercoat some of my other figures before winter set in and spray undercoat became a touch and go event. This included some of my fantasy armies. You know, just in case. And then I thought, 'what would happen if I undercoated the Beastmen with my $6 can from the cheap emporium'. And then I thought, 'I need to paint a few and see how they look'. Fast forward three days:

A Chaos Army for Dragon Rampant

The cheaply undercoated Beastmen

Rebased Chaos Warriors, although I didn't paint them.

I did paint these Chaos Knights though

And this Avatars of War Chaos Sorcerer, looking appropriately freaky!

And this Gant that I painted this morning

I love this model

Have dead sheep, will travel.

Now on a philosophical level, knowing that I get easily distracted, can you truly say I 've surprised myself? It was almost certain that I wouldn't stick to the plan for two whole months. But the point is, I never know what the distraction is going to be. Just like the WW2 Pacific campaign in the middle of everything, it was a 'one-day' project that somehow became a 'today' project.

Anyhow, I now have another Fantasy army ready to hit the table, which it will as soon as I've played out the WSS game I've set up on the games table. As the weather turns a bit colder getting a last couple of games in out in the shed would be a good idea.

Nate

The Guards

The last War of Spanish Succession Confederate unit for a little while is the English Foot Guards.

The flags date them to pre-1707

The mitres on the grenadiers were trimmed down so that they didn't have a bag hanging off them.

My goal for the first half of the year was to have half of the WSS armies completed, and bar 4 generals currently on the painting tray, I have done that. That amounts to 6 infantry, 3 cavalry and 2 artillery units per side. The end of the year goal is to have 2/3 of the armies complete, which means 2 infantry and 1 cavalry unit per side more. I think that will be eminently doable.

Painting concentration will now shift back to Star Wars Legion and Ancients - both Craig's Successors and my Gallic Wars projects, but I plan to have a WSS game in the next couple of days.

Nate

B Company strikes back

Lt Duggan had been pretty much left to his own devices as he retreated over the ranges. He was expecting to meet up with C Coy at Erida, and then be relieved, but the Japanese pursuit was getting a bit too hot. So, once he had a few more bodies attached to his command, he decided to ambush the Japanese advance in a hit and run attack.

Ambush location somewhere on the Eastern Korona track, just south of the Stan Owens ranges.

Duggan deployed one unit as snipers, with orders to withdraw as soon as the damage was done and lure the Japanese advance guard on.

The sniper section does it's job, stirring up the wasp's nest.

Not far behind the rest of 2nd Company is arriving on the track.

The snipers are pinned down, but the rest of B Coy opens up on the Japanese advance guard.

The snipers unpin and redeploy as a section (should have occurred when they decided to move backwards - unwritten rule)

Counterattack! The Japanese advance platoon is pinned and charged by the Aussies on the right.

First blood to the Aussies!

But they aren't finished! further charges. AT this point the other Japanese platoons are following doctrine and trying to flank the Aussie position.

Lt Duggan is too switched on for that. He pulls back and consolidates, prepared to leave the field to the Japanese after giving them a bloody nose.

But one pinned section is left behind to be charged by the Japanese flanking force! Looks like the Aussies will take casualties after all.

But these guys have been hungering for a chance to hit back after what happened at Korona. They win the assault!

With one third casualties and the attacks in disarray, Captain Kurosawa signals his men to fall back and regroup

All of the battle casualties are Japanese. 

Finally an Aussie victory, against the odds as well. I played the rules as they are meant to be played, and the game was a bit smoother, with shooting being much less deadly and much more about preventing assaults. The Japanese were defeated by their own doctrine in a lot of ways - they would have been better if the third platoon hadn't entered the jungle to try to get around the flanks, but then, it has worked for them in every other battle so far.

Nate