Revisiting BPCS Pt. 2

The initial French deployment. 

The first turn started with an advance by the French and an Artillery duel between the French and Prussian grand batteries.  First blood was scored by the French artillery on the Prussian guns

French Artillery: Esci guns with Airfix crew.

The second turn saw the French continue their advance, coming into contact with the Prussian infantry.  A firefight developed between the two lines with the Prussian infantry  supported by their artillery which  shredded an unlucky  French infantry regiment. The French infantry managed to inflict a hit on the Prussian infantry during this firefight. The artillery duel between the French and Prussian guns continued, with the Prussians suffering another hit.

The French boldly advance.

Turn three saw the French advance their artillery on the left flank, and advance their heavy cavalry. The French 1st Division attempted to close assault the Prussian artillery and was shredded by canister, while the Prussian cavalry attempted to charge the French Polish lancers. The Prussian lancers suffered greatly from French musketry as they charged in, with one stand destroyed by infantry fire. The other stand managed to make contact with the Polish lancers, but suffered greatly during the melee, and was forced back. During the morale phase both the French and Prussian centers became pinned.

French infantry charge the guns. The result was somewhat predictable.

Of course, the Prussians had painful lessons to learn too...

The beginning of turn four had the surviving Prussian cavalry disengage over the river, while the French Corps commander, with an escort of heavy cavalry, moved across to the right flank. The French movement is halted by Prussian gunfire that eliminates both the command and the heavy cavalry. French counter battery fire eliminates a Prussian battery, while the French 2nd Division falls back.

The ill fated French movement..

The Prussians await the perfect moment for their return.

The next turn (turn 5) is marked by much dice rolling for both sides musketry and artillery. Neither sides fire has any effect on the other.

Turn six saw the destruction of of a French artillery battery by the Prussian guns, and the recrossing of the river by the Prussian cavalry. The Polish lancers move to support 2nd Division on the right flank, while the French Grand Battery falls back.

1st Division moving rearward in the background, while 2nd Division prepares to advance.

The lancers in support of the 2nd Division.

Turn seven saw the French left wing advance under ineffective fire from the Prussian guns.

The final turn of the game (Turn 8) resulted in the crushing of French hopes for victory. The French left and center advanced forwards once more, but this time the Prussians moved their infantry forward to meet them. The resulting clash cost the French most dearly, forcing them back. The Prussians, while somewhat bloodied, certainly had the best of the infantry battle - especially with their guns in support. Meanwhile, the Polish lancers charged the last of the Prussian cavalry and were destroyed in the resulting clash. At this point French courage faltered, and the remnants of the army sought only to retire from the field in good order. Steve and I did some back of the envelope calculations and worked out that his Prussians suffered around 6600 casualties (out of 15300 men), to my 13600 casualties (out of 19300 men). Clearly, my French took quite the drubbing.

Charging the guns - same result as last time.

Prussian infantry shoot it out with the French. I rolled some very poor dice here.

1st Division still moving rearward.

The army retreats.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable game - despite the loss! The orders system worked well, and while some aspects of the mechanics need tweaking, the game flowed well, produced a reasonable result, and enabled a battle to be fought to a conclusion within a few hours.