The Skirmish at Kramerhofe. Game completed.

Skirmish action.

Initially I wondered whether to fight this last flank battle, given the level of loss by Blue in the previous game, but this scenario has an interesting twist from my campaign cards.  The card drawn by Red was:

Officers in conflict.

The senior officer of one unit has a deep hatred of one of his subordinates,

D6 6 is an open fight/ 4 duel/ 1 orders refused with sarcasm

The dice indicated a 5.  They really hate each other.  I selected the Rifles company to hold this flank position against the Blue Dragoons.  Red will have some Musket armed Light company Skirmishers attached. Our Rifles officer Captain Quitte has realised that his hated younger brother, Major Bodo is commanding the Redcoats.  With the assistance of the Wachtmeister, his trusted Sergeant armed with bristling mustachios, our Captain will sort out both the Blues and the family squabble.


I'm really pleased that my solo campaign system can generate a game like this.   I will have to blog them up.Blue had already drawn:

The Antagonist

An Explorer officer of the Enemy had been reported on the flank and a light company sent out to get him.  It's a trap. Enemy Cavalry will be waiting.

This however fits the situation for Red much better so I will change events to the extent that it is Major Bodo who has been sent out to capture the Blue Exploring Officer, and the Rifles to hold the farm on this flank.

Between the rampaging Blue Dragoons and the Girandoni Air Rifle of a certain Rifles Captain I don`t think Bodo has much of a future. 

Forces

Red 7th Line

Major Bodo von Weißmehr

Lieutenant  Aloysius O'Soak (A drunk from the Emerald Island)

Two light Infantry groups

3rd Jāger

Captain Quitte von Weißmehr

Wachtmeister Otto Feuct

Four groups of Rifles Skirmishers

Supply mule with extra ammunition.

Blue 6th Dragoons

Colonel Michel-Georges de Vique

Captain Waleran du Tabac, smoking a woodbine. 

Sergeante Pierre Grande Jambe

Two groups Mounted

Three groups dismounted skirmishers

Blue Hussars

Captain Poule Pinze-Nez, Exploring Officer

Situation at 10am

The Exploring Officer has been spotted in the rough ground to the north west of the farm.

The Blue cavalry are somewhere north of the river.

The rifles occupy the farm, amid the cover of houses and walls.  Captain von Weißmehr has just been served a magnificent sausage and mustard breakfast by the Wachtmeister, his former Butler, washed down by a cheeky claret (from the vinyards of the Grande Duchy of the Blau, war is hell)

The Light Company of the 7th Line, under the battalion Major, are resting in the orchard.  The Major is wondering how he can catch the exploring officer, and kill his brother the Rifles Captain before luncheon.

The sleepy farming hamlet of Kramerhofe.  Red troops about to deploy to defend it

The Blue Exploring Officer

Red Deployment.  The Rifles in the farm the Red line in the woods.  Major Bodo has selected a centre company unit to accompany his skirmishers.  Is that wise?  The Tiffin chip comes out with the Dragoons nowhere in sight.

"Pot that chap somebody!"  The Wactmieister commands the left corner groups 

Bodo sends out his lieutenant, in line, to kill the Exploring Officer.

O`Soak and his men caught by the dragoons.  Six killed.  O`Soak would be doomed, but he has the Luck of the Emerald Isle and the god of all drunks protects him.  He flees back into the farm.

The Exploring officer, moving on the extra chip, joins the dragoons as an additional Officer.

But Mr Bartholomäus Girandoni makes an excellent weapon.  The Rifles Captain spends a flag to take a shot.  I gave it a 1 in 6 chance and...one dead exploring Officer killed by a silent round from an air rifle.  Bad things happen for the Blues.

The Blue Colonel rallies his unit and brings on two more

Fighting on the flank is inconclusive

The Blues Colonel takes command of a skirmish group and takes them towards Bodo in the woods.  Nice tactical Company the Dragoons.

Captain von Weißmehr orders O`Soak to the Deployment point and to damn well sober up.

Bodo shows his true colours and retreats 

The Captain defends the farm, as the rifles kill a second Blue Dragoon Officer.  

Bodo and his men invade the farm and make for the deployment point.  An awkward moment as he orders Captain von Weißmehr to hold to the last man... and then flees intending to let the dragoons kill his brother for him..

But Lieuteant O`Soak has sobered up to the danger.  He takes command of the rifles reserve.

The Dragoons at the walls, as O`Soak escapes death yet again.

But the rifles kill the Blue Colonel.
Game over as the dragoons morale fails and they withdraw. The Rifles lost one man, the Dragoons eleven, including three Officers. 

Lieuteant O`Soak intends to seek a commission in the Rifles... as the Wachtmeister points out his route to the nearest Inn.

A really great game, with lots of twists and turns.  It seems to me that Major Bodo cannot now continue as an officer in the forces of the Red Kingdom.  Fleeing before his courts martial he will now be welcomed into the Grand Duchy of the Blue as a Major of Dragoons. 

It does strike me that this was a game of Green Dragoons versus Green Rifles so perhaps I can introduce the Archbishopric of the Green as a faction in my Imaginations game.