Post
by quindia » Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:07 pm
Great! The three hour time limit was pushing it, especially since we had to fit in about 45 minutes worth of teaching as we went. The Brits won all three times, but the tide always seemed on the verge of changing to the French as the time ran out.
Originally I designed the scenario with three brigades for the French, but there simply wasn't time to get another 60-100 models painted! If you want to have all of the Brits on the table from the outset, I recommend adding another three or four battalions of French if you have them available.
If you want to use the force as listed above, you will do best to hold most of the British off the table, maybe deploying advanced elements like the rifle units as we did for our second and third games. In fact, in both of those games, Donkin's Brigade was never brought on because the allies seemed to be doing fine without them. As I said, though, as the time limit ran out the French looked to be on the verge of overwhelming the defenders. Ideally, the remaining British would be arriving just as the French manage to scatter the initial defenders.
Besides the bridge, there needs to be one or two fords - while the existence of the fords will be known by the French, they will not know the location of the crossings and need to search the banks with light infantry or cavalry. In fact, the British may not even know where they are until one of the officers can link up with Delahoya for a turn unless you deploy forward elements.
There are so many variables, you will have to adjust things as they develop. If the French find an unguarded ford and pour across on turn two, move up the arrival of the remaining British. I think the main thing is that both sides feel like they have a chance to win and by keeping some things to yourself, you can influence the tide of the game to keep it close and make it exciting to the end.
Hope that helps - If you have any more questions I'll try to answer them if I can!
Again, thank you.