Last week when young Kinch and I used Google Hangouts to play Command and Colors Napoleonics, using the Barossa scenario from the Spanish Army Expansion 1 set. During that game, Kinch showed me that one needs to be aggressive and audacious when you play the French.
I left the board set up and played the scenario again solo, trying to Kinch’s advice to heart. Here’s what happened with the score at 6-3 in favour of the French. The second of the two British five-block Grenadier Guards units has moved up to contest the vital hill. It hasn’t had a chance to unleash its deadly firepower yet, simply because the British were unlucky getting cards to order units on their right flank.
On the French turn, I decide to use the Probe Centre card to move order two units, one of which is an untouched Line Infantry unit straddling the line between left flank and centre. If I move it forward and melee the Guards, the French get four dice plus 1 for the signature French characteristic bonus for infantry fighting infantry. Hopefully the French can whittle the Guards down a little bit. And here’s the roll.
BOOM! The crossed sabres cause casualties in melee, and with the two infantry figures, that wipes out the Guards and gives the French a 7-3 win. And that’s the game.
And my takeaway from this is: Audacity. Always Audacity. And a bit of luck never hurts.
I fear I may have made a terrible, terrible mistake...
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, old chap, I only win when I play against myself. At least, I win most of the time.
DeleteFive hits! That is a lucky roll! Being aggressive in CCN is more often than not a very good tactic. Better to strike first than second and terrain impediments are easily overthrown.
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, why attack the fresh five block British guard unit when you could have attacked the three block British line unit? Even if the French did not manage to inflict three hits, you might have still won the game with a British leader casualty.
Nice!
Jonathan:
DeleteThat's a good question. In retrospect, a melee attack on the 3 block British Line unit would have given a better chance of gaining the 7th Victory Banner and thus winning the game. However, having seen the firepower of a 5 block British GG unit, it was tempting to try to whittle it down, and with the score at 6-3, I felt that the French had the time to whittle down the British units and minimize their chances of turning the game around. However, in retrospect I think I would have taken your advice.
"Give me lucky Generals!" said some little chap in a bicorne.
ReplyDeleteAnd luck he did have.
ReplyDelete'De l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace!' (Georges Danton, apparently on the occasion of the invasion by anti-Revolutionary Armies under the Duke of Brunswick). Just as an aside, Georges Danton uttered some of the coolest last words ever uttered. No it wasn't his address to the public 'My only regret is that I am to be executed before that rat, Robespierre', but an aside to the executioner: 'Don't forget to show my head to the people: it is well worth seeing.' Now, that was a sportsman.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ion. I didn't realize it was Danton who had said that bit about audacity. His final words are fantastic. They rank up there with More's "This beard hath not offended". You have to admire a man who keeps his wits on the scaffold.
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