Field Of Battle 3 - Bloodbath at Blenheim

Game today against Stephen and I used FOB3 with the Blenheim scenario I had used at club and my 10mm toys as still had everything to hand and labelled.

A much different game than at club as Stephen went into full 'Dice Demon' mode with his shooting with nearly every volley or artillery shot doing at least one hit and at least a fall back or often worse and my Morale Pool took an almighty whacking in very short order.

I did manage to take one half of Blenheim after a struggle but despite getting my Elite English foot against the second sector with a supporting unit for outnumbering I failed with 2 separate assaults with both my units repulsed and damaged, medals aplenty to French Regt Picardie.

My center was almost completely gone and my left wing badly damaged and I only managed to destroy a solitary artillery battery all game never routing a single enemy unit as my shooting was utter pants and melee not much better !!.

Only saving grace was that Stephen managed to topple 2 of his own Generals although one came back very quickly so had numerous units in Disorder and which likely saved my outnumbered right wing.

In the end my entire 38 chip Morale pool was gone and I had 'gifted' 15 cards to French who had only lost 7 (?) Morale of their 42 a truly dire performance indeed.

So an ignominious defeat for Marlborough and unlikely Blenheim Palace would ever see a brick laid !

But despite this it was as ever a great game with FOB and always good to get a scenario fought to a firm conclusion in reasonable time.

Allied left and center suffering

They did get across Nebel but crushed by withering French shooting all day

Allied right wing conducts a holding action near Oberglau

View across field 

The French (actually Bavarians) on my right face my Imperial foot

Imperial Cuirassier having to shore up center after foot units swept away

A constant drain of casualties in center

Blenheim being assaulted again but refused to fall

French left in disarray (Disorders) as control lost temporarily on their left wing

But Blenheim just proving too tough a nut to crack and losses continue to mount

Allied lines creaking under deluge of accurate musketry and canonnade

Still just cannot gain that final sector of town (with its 5 Morale boost)

Mounted in this period cannot really deal with steady foot

French action on their left became inactive thanks to the disorder caused by loss of General

A bunch more pics from Blenheim FOB3 game at UWS

Dave M (Lord Cutts) sent me copies of pics he took of Blenheim game.

Unsurprisingly most are from his assault upon and capture of Blenheim itself and of Allied center to his right

The battlefield before armies deployed

Ulster Wargames Society - Blenheim with Field Of Battle 3

Club today (sadly missed last months meeting) and I ran another FOB3 scenario with my 10mm toys again.

Scenario was based on Blenheim (I termed it 'Baby Blenheim') with units representing as usual 3-4 foot battalions or 8-10 cavalry squadrons.

Was nominally designed to accommodate 4 players but ended up 7 played to control 4 Commands per side.

Allies were Dave T, Andy and Dave M with French under command of Dave B, Jeremy, Stephen and Tom.

I used historical deployment areas but allowed players to swap units between commands if they wished (think they only shifted a couple each).

What a cracking game this one turned out to be with loads of to and fro action, incidents galore and swings of fortune for both sides with a super battle narrative.

Allies had some minor success after initial advance but then came undone with multiple units being Routed as French artillery seemed to get an endless run of artillery cards.

Seemed Allies were going to stutter as could not get a good run of cards (not helped by a mid-deck reshuffle) or successful rolls other than for rallying (superior officers helping).

The Maison Du Roi in the centre charged and swept up 3 units and things really looked bleak for Allies as their losses mounted and Morale pool dwindled rapidly.

French were also taking losses from superior Allied volleys but a lesser rate.

But then when all seemed lost (Morale expended but did not turn a potential game ending Army Morale card) Allied fortunes uniformly improved all across the battlefield and French center suddenly collapsed with several units routed or destroyed (including Maison Du Roi) and French morale plummeted to zero as well.

Allies were then able to get the English foot into action against Blenheim itself and after initially being forced back they swept the French out of the town (gaining a much needed +5 Morale).

Things then went from bad to worse for French as Allies pushed well across Nebel into crumbling French centre and their guns lines were assaulted (French started to 'gift' morale to enemy).

Losing a General did not help and he was never replaced (ie no leadership card)

Looked to be no way back for the French but a unit of Bavarian Foot Guard did sterling work routing opposing foot and horse units, but again the Allies managed to Rally quickly.

One feature was the Allies managing to gain extra actions on French Lull cards (they had 3 in their Poor deck) and often key actions they were like melee, infantry fire or artillery fire which rubbed salt into French wound.

French were hanging on by a thread but did manage to play 8 or more cards before they pulled an Army Morale card which they failed and they quit the field.

A very close game with Allies teetering on brink at one point (although Marlborough may have kept them in it with his D12+1 command dice vs Tallards D10) but they survived and pendulum swung back so far French could not recover.

Initial Allied advance in center (from right) under Marlborough (Dave T) facing Tallard (Stephen) and Blainville (Dave B)

Allied right under Lord Cutts (Dave M) move towards Blenheim (French forced to keep 2 Battalions in the 2 sector town) defended by Clerambault (Jeremy)

On Allied right Prince Eugene (Andy) advanced against Marsin (Tom)

Initial success for Allies getting across Nebel in centre)

View along battle lines from French right at Blenheim and the Danube

French guns and the Maison Du Roi have pushed Allies back

Late in game and Blenheim has fallen to elite English foot with French routing (red tufts)

French right and center in real trouble now and Blainville is Hors De Combat with units all disordered (yellow tufts) out of command

Allies applying coup de gras in center

French left only formation still mostly intact

French guns about to be swept away

Heavy action near windmill

View from Allied right

Also at club was a game using Midgard rules (run by Tim) and Middle Earth forces with Riders of Rohan facing an Orcish Horde, don't know how this went but also involved several players.