1798: Napoleon Bonaparte moves his attention to the North-African region to gain power and knowledge. Meanwhile, testing the Anglo/Ottoman alliance and finding the key to the Egyptian hieroglyphs translation. A modest fictive scenario amongst ancient Roman antiquities.
A SUNDOWNER AT BOUAKIR?
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| Leading his ferocious Anglo/Ottoman coalition into battle! Lieutenant Stan. |
Wargaming, in my humble opinion, is not about winning or losing, it is about having a good time with one or two fellows that you like to spend time with. This is a short-story upon such an event. We did not have time to anticipate, or get the battleground out, the figures from their boxes and so on…. It was an instant, state to the art, fun game. Loaded with improvisation and 'just for fun' moments.
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| "Did someone happen to come across my eagle cockarde?" |
Never a dull moment with the grognards of the Old Guard at your side! The Britains Deetail configuration stands fair enough. Led by a mounted officer and grouped threesome, these veteran elites make a tough nut to crack (About Bonapart ruleset by Mr. Dirk Donvil/ Caliver Books). The Deetail metal bases enable them to be used without much hassle. Regular plastic-based figures fall over too easy in wich case mounting them to appropriate custom (moving) bases is more practical.
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| "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…. and swing that blade around…." (speaking cavalry-wise) |
Repeated cavalry charges occur on the flanks between the opposing light units. Initiative tipping a bit in favor of the French side due to fitting command dice throwing. Plans and luck do not always go along as wished for.
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| Probing the strength of the French centre, Ottoman raw troops advance across the architectural remains of Biblical times. |
French Artillery fire becoming only effective after a re-deployment in a more advanced position. Gun crew is a conversion job from Timpo action pack figures, ACTA British artillery crewmen and Airfix parts. Cannon is a Britains piece, manned by five makes it a heavy gun. Here at the threshold of blowing three figures to oblivion. A heroic Ottoman charge though.
Numbers count. Anglo/Ottoman force has several units in reserve.
French has none and deployed all.
The latter move into a tactical defense, pivoting round a steep rocky outcrop. Flanks are redrawn.
An escape route secured.
Left and right Anglo/Ottoman wing advances steadily.
Dromedary cavalry unable to maneuver effectively.
They must evade both the rocks and heavy musket fire.
British fusiliers beef up the fiercefulness.
Effectively the game endured for three hours, as the clock forced us to break up.
Both sides lost two units to the last man. One or two others suffering up to 75% losses, we've left out in the victory sum-up. There was a fine draw! The sun now went under the horizon. Finalizing this was done behind a beer and a good laugh!
The rules used: About Bonaparte
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The Batavian: painted toy soldiers
The last photographs of this event. Underneath. By my game pal!
The author on his knees!
The French lost their head!
Steady boys, keep the line!
The last photographs of this event. Underneath. By my game pal!
Great battle report Marcel!! Looks like a fun game.
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