The Minstrel Boy: Imagine that!

I originally posted this a day ago, but none of the photos made it into the blog. It seems I had not adjusted them to the proper style for the blog to take it. So the notation appeared "the blog you are looking for does not exist.

I blame gremlins.

At the Hamilton Road Games Group, a bunch of us plunged into the Imagi-nations gaming again for what Andy called "winter training." We all need to get used to the rules and their quirks... and quite a few quirks surfaced on Saturday.
Andy, Steven, and Martin lead the coalition of Frankenschweiners and Rationalians (Martin's troops are for the Serene Republic of Rationalia with all the units named for various philosophers) while Rob, our friend Jeff, and your humble scribe pushed metal for Freedonia, the Duchy of Worchestershiresauce, and the United Clans of Galifrey. (Jeff took all the photos since my mighty sieve-like brain couldn't handle all the memory. Jeff is also the fearless leader of the reenactment group that Rob and I belong to.)

Is Fearless Leader, Yes?

Here's a look at the field, looking along the Freedonian lines:

Freedonian Cavalry - the Hesse-Burder Hussars, Freedonian Dragoons, and the Edelfahne Trabantenkorps (guard
heavy cavalry) advance under the command of General deSastre (aptly named as will be seen.)
The figure in the town of Dorfstadt is an agent of the secret police - he won't even tell ME his name.

Rufus I Glühwürmchen, the Grand Elector was not present for the battle, so ~~he can't be blamed~~... er, he delegated command. Unfortunately no one on the field knew whom he had delegated command to. deSastre led the cavalry. Hartman oversaw the guns. Heinzelmenchen lead the left flank infantry. General Flern was doing something, I'm not sure what. General Harry Dresden, now seconded to the Duchy of Worchestershiresauce, let those troops and the Scots of Galefrey, along with an yet unnamed "mystery commander." The cavalry advanced on the left to meet the Rationalians while the warriors of the Turtleburpers and Katzenjammers raced forward on the right, with the mounted braves of the Soooo.

The Tribal warriors liked the idea of staying behind the stone walls near the village of Stadtdorf, but
eventually they ALMOST turned flank of the Frankenschweiners.
The mounted Soooo made themselves annoying as well.

This was Jeff's first time with the rules and Andy game him a quick tutorial as we set up. He caught on quick and lead his brigades off the hill where his 12-pounders stood. The guns followed soon after.

The artillery moves out with the Freikorps as escort. The Irish Legion leads the right column while the Pandours Pavkovic lead the right. Regiment Stahl follows with the German Regiment, the two grenadier battalions of Stinner and Curatola, and the Foot Guards with General Hartman following. He is the Master Gunner of the army and had his first field command this day.

The Pandours face off against Frankenschwein's WolfenJager. The Pandours stood off the fire of three field pieces but eventually felt the better part of valour was discretion and fell back... fast... through their own troops... picking pockets.

The centre of both armies advanced cautiously and hardly engaged; it seemed that Jeff and Steven were playing "chicken." Rob threw his natives out to the flank fast and ended up on the hill on Andy's left, and actually BEHIND Andy's line. The nature of the warriors - all irregular light infantry and the lightest cavalry possible - made them somewhat brittle, but they made Andy sweat. The fact that our side out-numbered the F&R coalition by about 30%+ was another factor in the perspiration involved.

Rob's mixed force of Scots and Worchestershiresaucers advance into the teeth of Andy's two battalions of Regiment Hammhock. The blue chip indicates a casualty for Andy's troops while the white rings show casualties for the allies.

Another view of Rob's advance to meet Andy's troops. On the far right at the top of the photo, you can see the native light infantry and light cavalry up on the hill as well as the mounted riflemen/dragoons of Rob's army. (Green hunting shirts)

A wild cavalry/light infantry battle ensued. Andy had regular dragoons and Rob's stuff was mostly irregulars, so he ended up either dying where he stood or being run off the field. Andy had some rough moments;
Don't let him tell you otherwise. (Hey! Who's writin' this rag... you or me?)

Jeff and Steven advanced toward each other, trading cannon shots all the way. It was a slow and tentative show, which lasted until curfew.

Jeff's Freedonian grenadiers (Battalions Stinner and Curatola) advance with General Lebo toward the Frankenschweiner lines. Regiment Stahl and the Irish Legion are almost in contact. To the far right, Rob's troops show coloured pipe cleaners that show their status. (blue=disorganized, yellow=broken, red=routed.) They had had a unit fall back through them all.

The German Regiment and a battalion of Regiment Stahl are about to make contact. Andy's guard regiment is in the rear, in yellow coats.

Martin and I threw our cavalry brigades at each other. My hussars led the way - appropriately - and were met by Martin's Todtenkopf Hussars and Regiment Hagel. (guard armoured cavalry) He was in two ranks, I was in one... and that was a lesson learned. In Age of Reason, cavalry may fight in two ranks with all in both ranks counting as engaged. So I was out numbered 2 to1! My hussars broke and ended up tearing off the board despite my best efforts to stop them. They disorganized the Dragoons and the Edelfahne, but I was able to form them into two lines and engage the Rationalian ragamuffins in a serious cavalry melee that took THREE turns to work out. My dragoons fell back. Our guard cavalry units - both cuirassiers with guard morale - fought for three turns despite the fact that I was disorganized. The dragoon regiment came back and joined the fray and Martin threw in two Rationalian grenadier battalions. I finally lost the eternal melee, but Martin knew he'd been in a scrape!

Since the outcome of the cavalry battle was anything but certain, I formed two of my battalions into square. (Regiments Gibbs and Luzerne) You can see Martin's grenadiers in the background. The Freedonian Dragoons are about to return to the battle, and the Saxe-Bariton schutzen watch apprehensively.

An early game view of my deployment. My cavalry is in single line while Martin's is in double line.
Live and learn. Live and learn.
The Electoral Jagers took up residence in the walled field and took potshots at Martin's troops with their rifles. We have a gentleman's agreement that only one unit in each army will be armed with rifles.

A nice view of the Frankenschweiner artillery I faced. Andy's infantry and Dragoons are in maroon/red, artillery and light troops in grey. Obviously his guns are in... shall we say, electric blue?

We had to quit the game because of time and Jeff had to leave at 4pm anyway. (He works three jobs at least.) The Allies had sustained 25% casualties and had to withdraw in fairly good order, although there was some disorder. (AoR has rules for that.) It was a good game with a lot of tense moments, especially involving the hack-and-slash of the guard cavalry units.

Lessons learned?

Put your cavalry in TWO ranks right off, especially when facing other cavalry.
Keep light infantry in rough ground where it can do a lot of good, or else, put them in a protected place and deny that place to the enemy.
Leave firing lanes for your artillery. Over the years, I've had difficulty with that.

I'm looking forward to the next game. I have an order in with Frying Pan & Blanket in Minnesota and I should have some interesting additions to the Freedonian army by next time. They offer a range of troops from Wayne's Legion/Fallen Timbers and I wanted to see some of them.

Next game: Naval Thunder. I'll finally get to play some more modern naval games. After that --- HOT LEAD in Stratford - a good convention that Rob and I will gleefully attend. The other guys will be there but they've got plans that I don't. Because of my ministry, I can't always be sure emergencies won't change my plans.

A few extra photos:

Rob and Andy's deployment around the village of Dorfstadt

The Foot guards and the Archbishop's Own advance.

One of Rob's Highland units (from my wife's army of Galifrey) takes refuge in the stone enclosed farmer's field.
General Dresden rides behind them.

General Lebo, two battalions of grenadiers, and a battalion of Regiment Stahl (as well as a corner of the Irish Legion), all part of Jeff's division, prepare to mix it up with Andy's Hammhock grenadiers under Steven's command.