Monday, December 30, 2019

Field Of Battle - Prussians Charge at Lutzen May 1813

Game using FOB2 today at my gaff with Bryn and Luke as Prussians and Billy and Simon as French.
Have played this scenario (adapted from GDE scenario) several time but this time on larger table layout with 'full size' (ie 4 base) units.
Billy and Luke have played once with FOB (at Elimination Club) but new to Simon and Bryn.
Game was played to completion with minimal rules issues (FOB is a mechanically easy game to teach/pick up).
A vicious fight occurred over the central Grosse-Gorschen which changed hands twice before a Prussian Grenadier unit managed to hold on to village despite repeated charges from Simon and Billys French Conscript units.
Bryn on Prussian right pushed up slowly against Klein-Gorschen which the Prussians took at first blush again repulsing several attempts to re-take the village.
They were unable to get within striking distance of the other two villages however.
On Prussian left Luke controlled their Cavalry which forced a French Brigade into squares.
One square was ridden down, another unit failed to form and was also routed but the two outer squares held forcing back the Prussian horse.
The high attrition level in the center saw French Morale Pool dwindle quickly before most of their Reserve Formations arrived to make any real impact and therefore the French yielded (despite passing their first Army Morale Test).
As ever with FOB a lot of 'narrative' to the game with several key combat being decisively resolved with some extreme dice rolls (several 10-12 vs 1-2 outcomes).
To make things easy I made both Generals D12 both with Average decks and all Brigadiers D10 (although Billy managed to lose 1 who was replaced with a D8 type).
There were a lot of Lull rolls as we had a couple of re-shuffles with several being 'stolen' by other side.
Hopefully the players enjoyed their initiation to FOB2 and see it as a nice alternative to Black Powder (not a replacement).




Pre-game view of table from French side (units not deployed)










French defend Klein-Gorschen as battle is joined at Grosse-Gorschen








Bryns wing approaches Klein-Gorschen








French Conscripts try to evict Prussians who have ousted initial defenders






Billys French faced by Prussian mounted arm as Reserves move up









Pressure mounts at Klein-Gorschen






Luke and Billy facing off as Bryns strength grows









Solid Prussian lines








Klein-Gorschen has fallen to Prussian Fusileers





2 comments:

  1. Looks great, and a FoB game is always cause for celebration.The amazing thing about Lutzen is that Napoleon was able to change defeat into a significant victory!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes FOB never dissapoints. Indeed Lutzen very much a could have been should have been for Allies.

    ReplyDelete