Volley and Bayonet: The Battle of Oberbratwurst: The Conclusion

 The Battle of Oberbratwurst concludes:

Turn 4: The Franco-Bavarians. The Elector of Bavaria and his French counter-part launch local counterattacks to fend off the forces of the Grand Alliance. Careful positioning of the artillery provides much needed support as they slowly push back the Imperial army and all but decimate the Danish infantry. 

The English and Dutch are stopped in their tracks as the French reserve line fires a murderous volley into their ranks. To add insult to injury for the English, the English Foot Guards are defeated in melee by the Garde Francais. Viva la France!

The French Guard wave good-bye to the British Guards (far left unit with the white flag with the crimson cross of St. George with crown in the center)

Turn 4: The Grand Alliance. Prince Eugene definitely looked worried as the resurgent French led by the Irish and Swiss continued to stymie his movements on his right flank and center. Hesitantly, he launches a few regiments in an attempt to separate the French on his right from the Bavarians that had just routed the Danes. As fate would have it, they overrun instead 2 Batteries of French artillery.

The gun by itself represents an abandoned battery; Dutch troops captured it. Murray's Scottish Regiment is part of the Dutch Army.

The Duke of Marlborough, also sensing that a moment of crisis was approaching, throws his reserves into the fight; though they don't stop the French, they do destroy one French battery and force the others to abandon their guns.

Okay you Italian troops! Since you routed, you have to wear the crappy brown coats.

The rest of the cream of the Anglo-Dutch go stationary (see the results in Turn 5 below . . . )

Turn 5: "Who will recover my guns?" yells the French commander. Three batteries of abandoned guns were to my front. Prince Eugene's army had been stopped. The Anglo-Dutch cavalry had been repulsed and the English, Dutch and Scottish infantry had been given a bloody nose and appeared to be licking their wounds.

On my left, even though I had no cavalry, the French Infantry of that wing were strong and had taken charge of that part of the battlefield. They continued to advance, pushing back the Imperial Infantry and recapturing a battery of guns. 

In the center left, the Bavarians, led by the Elector himself, push back the allied infantry to their front, causing a Dutch regiment to route - they could sense victory! The French on the right dressed their ranks a formed up for the advance - through murderous close-range musket fire they stormed the Anglo-Dutch line and yelled triumphantly as they witness the backs of redcoats retreating and nervous cavalry falling back. And then, as the smoke cleared, I realized that the line they enemy had retreated behind was stationary with muskets leveled . . .

Okay, so what's happening? Yes, the Bavarians and French were successful in their advance; however, they took too many loses and 2 Infantry Divisions (not real divisions as we define them today; more like a grouping of regiments) out of 3 were now each only one "hit" away from Division Exhaustion. Once a Division is exhausted, it cannot advance toward enemy troops; and, if it takes any more hits, it has the chance of Division collapse. When a Division collapses in Volley and Bayonet, all units are permanently disordered, any disordered units are routed, all routing units head to the tables edge - you get the picture. Though I was successful in my attack, my forces were so weak that they were in danger of collapse.

Speaking of collapse . . .

Turn 5: The Grand Alliance. "READY! AIM! FIRE! To make a long story short, the Bavarian Division morale collapses. 

Exit most of the Bavarians . . . above are the last two brave regiments.

Looking at the Franco-Bavarian line from the Allied perspective; note the absence of French and Bavarian units in the center - not good!

The French Division on the right almost collapses as two regiments rout. The only bright spot for me was the continuing resistance of my tough infantry on the left that once again pushes Eugene's finest back. As I gaze at the battlefield I come to an agonizing decision: I tell Honorable Son #4 that I concede.

So what happened?

Plain and simple, I was out-general-ed.

The victorious Duke of Marlborough with the 1st Foot Guards and Royal Scots Fusiliers in front of him.

Once my opponent crushed my cavalry on the left flank, he kept the initiative and kept the pressure on me. My cavalry made no impact during the battle - the Austrians, English, Scottish and Dutch simply rode them down.

Once I got my lines re-ordered, however, my infantry fought well. Looking back, I think I was too aggressive; instead of counter-attacking to grab the lost ground, I should have stayed stationary and taken advantage of the increased fire power to wear him down. Though my counterattack was successful, my army was too weak.

Prince Eugene moves up to link up with the Duke after the victory.

All in all, a very exciting and fun game. We really enjoy the speed and feel of Volley and Bayonet. Unlike other rules, it does not get into "tactical" details of individual unit formations, etc.; this is a game that lets you be the army general.

The English enter Oberbratwurst . . . Schnitzel and beer for everyone!