Our first game of Dave Brown’s General D’Armee rules
(Reisswitz Press).
This was a slightly scaled down version of the ‘Combat at Osma’
scenario, from the Vitoria Campaign book. I didn’t have enough 15mm battalions,
to furnish the Reserves on both sides, so just went with the on-table forces,
for this trial run.
The French, who were
supposed to be on the defensive, went with a forward deployment. The stronger
Brigade {Fririon} on their left, the weaker Brigade {Gauthier}, with the
Artillery, in the centre and Menne’s Brigade screening their fairly open right flank.
The British deployed Halkett’s Brigade on their right, Haye’s
Brigade on the centre and Spry’s Brigade on the left. Finally Ompteda’s Brigade
was held in reserve, on the road.
On turn 1, the French successfully rolled all their ADCs,
while the British only rolled for 2 of their 4 ADCs. The British subsequently
lost the initiative roll. This was a trend that was to follow throughout the rest
of the game!
Both sides pushed their skirmish screens forward, while the
British galloped their horse artillery forward, to bombard French centre.
However, Haye’s Brigade refused to move up in the centre (despite a Brigade ADC
roll), leaving this artillery exposed. Gauthier’s
Brigade moved up, to engage the gunners, with volley fire. Things did not go
well for the gunners!
The French then pushed Fririon’s strong Brigade forward on
the left, and this crashed into the far left of the Allied line, in a Brigade
massed infantry column attack. The left-most French battalion charged,
supported by two other Battalions and despite sustaining significant casualties
from the British musketry, succeeded in carrying the British position.
Spry’s Portuguese Brigade started to try to envelop the
French right, but the French skirmish line was being effective here and the
French right flank battalions moved to prevent the flank being turned.
In the centre, not much happened!! The British artillery
continued to get a hammering from the Gauthier’s infantry, while Haye’s Brigade
still refused to move up to support.
On the French left, Fririon pulled back the battered left-most
battalion, while he himself led a further massed infantry column attack on the
next British battalion in line, with the same result, with the French just carrying
the British position. However, this now left Halkett’s Brigade ‘Faltering’.
The British deployed Ompteda’s reserve brigade, to shore up
their crumbling left and to try recover the initiative, Spry’s Portugese
launched an infantry column attack on the far left flank. However, the French
had anticipated this, deploying their right-most battalion into line. In a
reverse of the normal line-vs-column, the French drove off the attacking Portuguese.
At this point, the British called off the attack and withdrew.
General D’Armee seems to play well. Pretty frequent reference
to the 4 page QRS, is needed, plus looking up a few things in the rules, but
this was our first play. General D’Armee does seem to be one of the few
rulesets to successfully reflect massed infantry columns, which is no mean feat!
Dave’s British were VERY unlucky, with both ADC rolls and Brigade activations.
So much so, that one Brigade (Haye’s) did not move at all!! This can be pretty
frustrating aspect of the rules. Simon’s French had a better time of things,
twice successfully running a knife edge of massed infantry column attacks on
British line. Both of these could easily have been driven off, massively
exposing the French left, but fortune favours the brave.
