General de Brigade

[MARK S]

On Sunday 31 July Mike Cope, Wes Palmer and I put on a display game being 'La Haye Saint'. A 28mm Napoleonic demo game played using GDB rules and held at the German club here in Melbourne. Photos to follow!!

The day was a huge success with our game featuring some 1200 figures fielded on an absolutely stunning terrain made by the brilliant Wes Palmer. The feedback we received was absolutely overwhelming. A number of people compared our display to the standard found at the UK shows which just quitely was our intention!!

Mike commanded the French left whilst our very good friend Tony Ramsden of Eureka Miniatures took command of the French right. I calmly took overall command of the entire allied forces including the ferme of La Haye Saint. The French objective , take La Haye Sainte and make it to the ridge line. The British, obviously hold the farm and the ridge.

The game was very much a 'near run thing' with the farm falling after a gallant defence, with the majority of the defenders being casualties. The French moved forward confidently on both sides of the farm but Mike's troops were chequed by my RHA batterry and the stunning success of my 23rd LD against his enourmous (56 man) cuirassier brigade. This was soon followed up by the Kings Dragoon Guards charging through to halt the advance of Mike's infantry.

Mike's infantry never quite recovered from this and despite a spirited yet futile attempt to take the RHA battery, they never quite got back into the fight.

On the allied left, the troops of Bylandt's Dutch Belgian brigade performed remarkably well and managed to sustain the fire of Tony's grande battery. Tony's infantry managed to get to grips with the Dutch Belgians with the inevitable result of broken battalians within the brigade. Tony's infantry were supported by a unit of hussars who in turn were supported by a unit of heavies.

As Bylandt's battalions began to crumble, the accurate firing of the 95th skirmishing in the sand pit, saw the death of Tony's brigade comander. Bylandt also suffered the same fate
The hussars responsded by the launch of a charge but this was chequed by the Kings Dragoon Guards who had moved to the allied left after their earlier success against Mike's infantry.

The KDG's again had incredible success and this pretty much clinched the day as the hussars recoiled in disorder, in turn disorganizing the troops behind.

On the French right, Mike's cuirassiers recovered and revenged their earlier failure but this was an isolated success.

Overall, the game played out brilliantly with a realistic and not exactly forgone conclusion.

To be honest, the allied success can by a large degree be attributed to my very lucky dice rolling whereas the French can thank Mike and Tony's equally bad luck with the dice!

The rules worked very well as Mike and I are quite egalitarian in their application. I did have reservations about using GDB due to a couple of negative experiences in the past. However the game moved along at a very good pace and was played to completion within roughly 4.5 hours. Perfect for a demo, as people could see events unfold fairly quickly.

Mike and I owe a huge thanks to Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures for allowing us to put on our game and thanks also to Tony Ramsden for his role in the days events.

A huge thanks to Wes Palmer for his brilliant terrain and beautifully painted buildings (La Belle Alliance arriving especially for the day).

Last but not least a special mention to John-Paul (Black Bob Crauford to most here) for his outstanding efforts when assuming the post of umpire.

Mike, Wes and I are already discussing next years project, but reality being this years will be hard to top!! Mike and I have discussed Borodino, but Wes's suggestion of a Gettysburg scenario has had me drooling over the Perry ACW range! Who knows, might dust off my Sikh Wars stuff and do Ferozashah instead!?!?

Regards,

Mark

[colinjallen]

Having seen the pictures on TMP, this looks stunning.

It is nice to see such a great event being put on in Melbourne; why was there nothing like this when I was there:((.

Colin

[baxterj]

Having seen the game in the flesh, it was stunning!

At first I thought it a bit cramped, but Mike informed me that they had used the OBs from the scenario book and had left off a few French battalions. I think it just showed how congested a battle Waterloo was and how the two breakwaters in LHS and Houg funnelled the French attacks.
Great work from all those who contributed.

John

Mark - also, check your Private messages