Monday 27 January 2014

The Battle of Fort Joseph - A Napoleonic Batrep



After missing two games this month last week I badgered Postie to put on a midweek game for me and Fran, as we were both off work at the same time, Postie came up with a gem of a game!

The Battle of Fort Joseph 4th March 1812

A small fort is barring Wellington's advance on Badajoz, so he has set up siege lines ready to pound the walls of Fort Joseph to create a breech into which his "scum of the earth" will try to assault and capture.
The French garrison hope to hold out long enough and inflict serious casualties on Wellington's army, thus forcing him to retire.

The Game
Forces are already deployed ready for the bombardment and assault, obviously the British must capture the Fort and the French must beat of the assault.


Fort Joseph


The full table, with the British lines at the top.


The French 29th line, stand firm on the wall.


Looking at the Portuguese in their siege lines.


Also facing the Portuguese and on each corner bastion, a Heavy artillery piece.


The French CnC Marshal Rousell eyes the enemy!


Meanwhile at the other end of the battlefield behind the siege line 
stands the Iron Duke himself Arthur Wellesley.


The main Allied siege line containing all the Siege guns. Fran threw a D6, the resulting 3
gave him 3 pre-game shots onto the fort per gun. He needed 6's out of the 9 dice he got 3 hits.


We rolled to move first, Fran won, infact he won all but 2 off the first 
moves, which also allows you to fire first, which is very important in Posties rules.
I fired one of my artillery at the oncoming British columns, as they were at long range  I needed 6's.


Ye haa!!!  4, 6's baby!!!
Fran wasn't impressed

So the poor 1st British foot the Royal Scots lost a quarter of their 
number on the first fire!! he he!


 Fran gritting his teeth, he called me a few names as well!
While Postie giggled in the corner?


The Portuguese move toward the fort.


Shall we fire? Nah they're too far away, don't waste your shot.


Fran was taking a real beating, as he moved forward losing figures on nearly 
all of the British line units, he moved his light troops to the front of the columns.


The white markers are there so we know who hasn't used their first fire bonus.


And the white dice are casualty counters. Fran had lots of them!!!
Every turn Fran fired his siege guns at the walls of the fort, slowly knocking it down.


Its the Portuguese's turn to take fire now. The 5th Line fall back in disorder.


I kept firing and Fran kept a dying!


It was time to move some troops, I moved the 11th Leger up 
onto the wall of the fort. While Fran continued to move forward and take casualties.


Fran's slowly surrounding the fort.


Note the ladders carried by the allies, will they get to use them???


Not if he can help it!!!


The Oxfordshire Light Infantry


The French Pioneers get ready for the coming assault. My plan was to charge them
into the breech, if Fran ever got to make one that is??


The two British light infantry regts move to the walls, which meant I 
couldn't target them with my artillery.


The death of the Royal Scots, they died to a man just leaving their ladders lying were they fell.


Its looking good for me, Fran's troops were taking a pasting.


Fran finally takes a few casualties on my French gunners.


The rubble starting to build at the walls, but will the Brits have any 
men to go through the breech??


Fran decided the Portuguese would stand still for a while, one unit had already been destroyed.


Finally the walls are breached!!!!
Unbeknown to me Fran needed 20 points of damage to breech the wall. He manged it after 14 turns.
Which meant that he threw 126 D6 to get 20 6's!!!
We placed cotton wool to represent the breech. Posties going to buy a breached section 
of the walls, from Magister Militum.


The 44th and 27th foot move towards the breach.


And get hammered by my artillery!!
causing a Divisional Morale check, which Fran promptly failed, forcing him to
retire from the field back to their lines, to try again another day!!

So that was my first game of the year, its great to start with a win!!!

As we finished early, at around 1'o'clock we decided to have another game.
but the Battle of Grudge Bridge will have to wait for another day!!

86 comments:

  1. What a splendid game Postie put on for you and Fran! Amazing terrain - that fortress must be massive. Best, Dean

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    1. Cheers Dean, The fort must be 15-18 inches square, so it is quite a lump!

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  2. A very nice game. The Dice god was in your favour Ray!

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  3. Hi Ray,

    Looks like a lot of fun and the shot of Fran after the 4 x 6s is a great picture! The fort looks really impressive. My only comment would be that it seemed like the Allies has a lot of ground to cover before they reached the fort and the French certainly took advantage of this to 'shoot in' the attackers.

    Marshall Rousell? I wondered what that large stick in your backpack was and I certainly hoped you 'baton-ed' down the hatches in the recent weather with it....;-)

    All the best,

    DC

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    1. The Brits started just outside of Heavy artillery range, so I couldn't target their siege guns, but the Portuguese were a lot closer. And as for Fran's face??? What can I say??? ha ha ha !

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    2. Stop crowing. how could you lose that game with all the advantages!

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  4. Great to see you two going at each others throats like this again. The fort indeed is a very nice model; home-brewed or commercial item?

    Cheers Sander

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    1. We do enjoy a bit of a tussle Sander! The Fort is not home built, it was bought from Magister Militum.

      http://www.magistermilitum.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=142&strPageHistory=cat

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  5. Spiffing batrep Ray and congrats on the win :)

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  6. Nice rep of a great looking game! Is that fort a scratch built one or a ready set from somewhere? My brits are needing something to blast away and something like that looks like a nice big target :P Must resist urge to buy...

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    1. Its a great bit of kit isn't it? Its from Magister Militum and is a little pricey. It costs £100, but is worth it......I think?????

      http://www.magistermilitum.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=142&strPageHistory=cat

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  7. Congrats Ray. Always nice to have a win from time to time. Great report, lovely photos!

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    1. Yep, its always great to get that first win of the year quickly and even better if its against Fran!

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  8. Good to hear that rivalry is as intense as ever - cracking game Ray.

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  9. Really, really enjoyable, great photo-story. Loved it.

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  10. That fort is just fantastic! Was it scratch built?

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    1. Nope its not scratch built its from Magister Militum, here's a link

      http://www.magistermilitum.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=142&strPageHistory=cat

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  11. So despite all those sixes, you still beat Fran! Well done.

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    1. 6's were good in this game and I threw loads more than Fran!

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  12. Splendid looking game. I've always found siege/assault games to be fun. Well they're fun if you're the defender and are rolling with the favor of the gods!

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  13. A very nice report. I am pleased you won but it's always a shame if the British loose. One cannot blame the men of course, merely officers promoted above their abilities.

    A good looking fort I might have to check it out at Cavalier.

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    1. I'm pleased I won too Clint! and that officer in question was later trumped back down to latrine duty or so I hear??

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  14. Great looking game. I can only imagine the names Fran called you

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    1. I could list them but I might get banned from blogger for obscenity?

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  15. Very nice report and great terrain!

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  16. Thanks for sharing that great looking game!

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  17. What a nice little game for an afternoon. What rules system does this scenario use and do you have a planned scenario or did you just pull this one out of your bag of tricks?

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    1. The rules are Posties own version of General de Brigade, with loads of bits taken out and others put in to make it run a little more simply. This was a planned scenario, Postie had been planning it for a while now.

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  18. Good looking game and a victory for you! Great start to 2014.

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  19. Smartly done, Monsieur l'Marshal! Looks like a fine game.

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  20. Great bat-rep, even if just for the shot of the four sixesfollowed by Fran's face and Postie' smug evil grimace (Postie wouldn't look out of a place as an Evil Bond villian imo).
    It seems it was a tall order to attack the fort in the first place but a win's a win and bragging rights are therefore justified.

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    1. Bragging rights against Fran are always well worth there weight in gold!! And Postie would make an exceptional Bond villain, the little baztard! But what a first throw ah? Poor Fran was deflated!

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  21. Great report - and by the way you've been Tangoed :)

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    1. Cheers Neal and I Iike a drop of Tango now and again!

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  22. That is a great report on some great terrain.

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  23. That outcome was something the Iron Duke was not used too! Nice looking game and report Ray!

    Christopher

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    1. Your right Chris, I heard he put himself on latrine duty after that mess!

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  24. Impressive fort! They should have got Sharpe to smuggle them them in on some ruse!

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    1. That's what I'd have done Ken, Sharpe's the man for the job!

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  25. Great looking fortress and fine sounding game.......as always

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  26. Sounds like YOU had a lot of fun, not so sure about poor Fran ;-)

    Ian

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    1. I certainly did have a lot of fun and Fran always enjoys losing to me Ian.

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  27. Love the fort, Ray! Love the pics!!

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  28. I've never understood a battle-report !
    but, like a child, I like to look the images !
    nice table!

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  29. Wonderfully batrep there my good fellow

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  30. Its always good to get the 1st win of the year out of the way quickly and even better if its against Fran!

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  31. A midweek game - sweetness! Poor Fran. Guess it wasn't his day to play.

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  32. 126 dice to obtain those points? Poor Fran, the sieges are not for you.
    Fantastic game table and AAR!

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    1. You almost feel sorry for him don't you............almost!

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  33. Lurker called you names? Nooooooooo.

    That can't be.

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  34. Great battle report and pictures! Thanks for sharing!
    That fort is a very nice piece of scenery indeed!
    PS: did Fran let you win? :-D

    Greetings
    Peter

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  35. Great looking game, love that fort!

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  36. What a marvellous game. How good is that Vauban fortress? We see sieges/assaults all to infrequently, so its refreshing to see such a game. Top report too Ray, thanks—and no gloating at all...!!!

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    1. Your right you don't see many siege games, I think its the rules that are the problem, most just don't work. Glad you enjoyed the report James.

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  37. Great report and very nice battlefield !

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  38. Thanks for sharing this. Great report and you guys must have had lots of fun running this game!
    What rules do you use for the siege? I'm currently looking for some simple siege rules suitable for 16th/17th century warfare. Would these do the trick?

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  39. I missed this when it was first posted. The pictures are great. It looks like it was a pretty fun game. Sieges can be tedious.

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