Part 2 of the 2nd warm up game

We were all looking forward to concluding this game immensely. Then I discovered the existence of a GdA FAQ & was somewhat flummoxed - it seems I don't frequent the more fashionable online forums where I could have discovered this for myself. Country Bumpkin or what?

Anyway this 11 page document was swiftly printed off & we spent the first hour or so at Marauder HQ drinking beer & going through this line by line. Happily much of this is clarifications or errata & it seems we have been playing things correctly. There are a few new rules which add to the game without changing it, nothing earth shattering though! We also had the Allied Orbats & deployment map to ponder... basically we three plus ex Marauder Rich will be the Allies with some guy called Dave Brown as C-in-C plus an enigmatic character called "Ru".

"We're doomed Captain Mainwaring !"

We go the WHC tomorrow - Tony is keeping his cool.
No sign of infantile over excitement at all.

Once we were satisfied with these we cracked on with the game but ran out of time to properly conclude the engagement. We may not bother finishing it, we had two weeks of fun & relearned the rule set just in time too - result! Although I'd like to play it out to be honest.   

Things hotted up in the centre & on the French left but remain largely inconclusive. The French right, having saved it's own arse last week, went over to the attack & even withstood another assault from the Brigade of Grenzers. Whilst ascendant the French are not yet dominant here either.

The following pictures are snapshots of the action with captioned commentary...  

Austrian LDW push through the grave yard to get at the Nassauers on the central objective.

The Austrian right is slowly advancing on the Swiss brigade who have deployed to repel them.
To the left the Saxon brigade finally wakes up & moves off to attack the hamlet beyond the wood.

Austrian 12lb position battery fires in support of the advance.
All the Austrian batteries are Elite miniatures, but this one is special, it's painted by Pete Morbey owner of Elite.  

The Saxon attack screened by the wood is safe from enemy fire for now at least.  

This marked the high water mark of the Austrian assault on the hill. This attack was repelled but the French cavalry, so ideally placed, failed to turn this into a rout - shameful really!   

Here 2nd class French muck advances in support of the dragoons whilst this Austrian battery takes pot shots at them.

Good shot looking over the French right, across the hill to the battle in the centre.
Space is such a luxury!  

These Grenzers made a brave effort to mount another attack going so far as to drive off a veteran battalion of Legere only to expose themselves to some close range cannon fire.
Eagle eyed readers will note that most of the skirmishers on both sides are Austrian jaeger models. Some idiot left the voltigeurs at home... je suis un twat!   

The thin green line?
 "Hold your fire lads, steady..."

Two Austrian brigades are converging on the Nassau & Portuguese Legion troops, scary stuff!
From left to right, Front Rank General  & ADC, Elite Minis Portuguese Legion, Perry Minis Nassauers, Perry plastic Swiss skirmishers, Elite Nassauers. Everyone seems to be rubbing along nicely, they all hate the Warlord Austrians of course.

The centre & French left is coming to life at last - it seems we have a battle to fight.

The French dragoons attempt to break through & wrap this up before tea time...

They bounce after taking heavy fire from a ballsy Hungarian grenadier battalion in line.
The cavalry commander should be shot, oh wait that's me!

The French left must now face an attack, no supporting battery or dragoons here. The Neuchatel battalion supports to Swiss lines. The Swiss were still mercenaries this time if I recall.
Far away an Austrian 12lb battery punishes & taunts them with long range fire.  

The Saxon attack columns closing on the Austrian lines near the hamlet. Crunch time will be next week.  

We wrapped it up there. This game, whilst small, is still tense & it's great to see a fraction of our collections on the table top again. GdA is a very entertaining system to play, which is lucky because I am playing it for the next three days with my best mates at an amazing venue with an even bigger collection of toys & beer filled evenings. 

What could possibly go wrong?  

A rare shot of your host in his natural habitat.

I am contemplating a tasteful 2019 Calendar.
Pictures of me.
Signed copies available.
This is "Miss December".
Thoughts?    

I'll do my best to report back with loads of pictures, witty anecdotes  & detailed analysis. 

Will I bollocks!

Best wishes,

Jeremy