Sharp Practice: ¡Otro Cruce de Carreteras!

With Andy off getting high on varnish fumes as he desperately tried getting the last elements of his Spanish ready for the weekend's En Avant II event at BIG, I met up with new opponent Scott and his British force to get another Sharp Practice game in. Without Andy's inimitable guiding hand it was going to be interesting to see how we fared! :D

Rather than confuse the issue we decided to play a straight forward game to seize an important road junction (they appear to have a number of these important junctions in Spain!)

The first troop to enter the field of battle were the Volteggiatori of the 1° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera under the command of Tenente Baresi, still smarting from being called 'bei raggazi' ('pretty boys') by the line skirmishers in the last battle. 

Across the table a group of skirmishers from the 33rd Foot's Light Company under the command of Lieutenant Boslington-Smythe moved forward supported by a group of Lights in line commanded by Sergeant Coddington.

Tenente Conti and his Granatieri then marched smartly onto the table...

Before the Fucilieri under Capitano Rossi deployed on the table and stormed forward following a movement event breaking both their own and the Granatieri formation!!! What a mucchio di cacca! 

Whilst my Italians were doing an amazing comedy impression of the Neapolitan army, Sergeant Strongburn and a detachment of the South Gloucestershire Light Dragoons entered the table along with Captain Crosby with two groups off 33rd Line whilst Lieutenant Gillcuddy unlimbered a Light Cannon!

Spotting the cavalry, Primo Corporale Zoff and his line Volteggiatori, who had just arrived, ran like hell for the cover of the crop field on the Italian right!

Whilst on the Italian left flank Tenente Baresi and his Volteggiatori engaged in a fierce battle for control of a copse with Sergeant Coddington and his Light Company troops. Englishmen and Italians fell but the 'bei raggazi' prevailed and the 33rd were pushed back...

In the centre the Dragoons rushed forward to the road facing the Granatieri who had reformed (as had the Fucilieri now in an unenviable position stuck behind a barn which if they turned to the left would present their flank to the artillery and Lieutenant Boslington-Smythe's skirmishers in the church!)

With typical cavalry abandon Sergeant Strongburn charged the South Gloucestershire Light Dragoons at the Granatieri of Tenente Conti...

Whilst five brave grenadiers fell under the swords of the dragoons and the brave Tenente was knocked out, the Granatieri wiped out the British cavalry! Eroico!

The fighting in the copse continued as Sergeant Coddington ordered his Lights back in...

Struggling to resist the Volteggiatori of Tenente Baresi, the British force commander Lieutenant-Colonel Wraxall-Wessex joined the Light troops to bolster them but with just one surviving light infantryman he was forced back out of the trees...

Having cleared the Light infantry out of the wood, I did give Scott some unwittingly dodgy tactical advice at this point. I suggested he detach Lieutenant-Colonel Wraxall-Wessex from the sole Light Infantryman and attach them to a neighbouring to reinforce their attack on the Volteggiatori.

Unfortunately I wasn't aware the sole Light Infantryman was carrying two Shock and with Scott following my dodgy advice detached Wraxall-Wessex and the Light Infantryman broke, reducing the British Force Morale to a worrying level! Ops!! (as they say in Milan)

However Scott gained some revenge as another round shot from Lieutenant Gillcuddy's cannon ploughed into the Granatieri breaking one unit.

The Italian Force Morale took a sharp drop...

Primo Corporale Zoff and his Volteggiatori traded shots with the 33rd Line of Captain Crosby...

Whose presented volleys slammed into the Italian skirmishers piling Shock on...

Forcing one group back and the other to break...

Two 'Bad Thing Happened' rolls could have seen the Italian Force Morale drop to zero securing Scott and the British a hard fought victory...  Fortunately the gods of dice were on my side and I only lost one point not two! Uff!

With both forces on one point of Force Morale left it was definitely tempo stridulo di culo! (squeaky bum time)

After spending the entire battle stuck behind a barn Capitano Rossi and his Fucilieri had managed to extricate themselves, and whilst the artillery killed a couple of men and the unit took a little Shock, they had snapped into line facing towards the redcoats of Captain Crosby...

Starting what had to our final chapter as BIG was about to close it all boiled down to whether Crosby's or Rossi's token would be pulled first. Would Crosby be able to fire a final volley into the Volteggiatori  and break them? Or would the Fucilieri be able to unleash a volley on the British line and hopefully pile casualties and Shock on them making Scott take a Force Morale Test?!

Scott rummaged in the dice bag and pulled out - blue leader 1, Capitano Rossi!

Sparare! he yelled and 32 muskets fired their first volley into the British!

I actually didn't have enough dice on the table for the volley so Scott had to throw several of his dice for me.... Out of 32 shots, 23 hit the British line (ignore the scores these dice are just the hits split between the two groups). Scott's face paled...

Scott rolled to the hit effects. 

One group took some Shock and casualties, but stood firm. 

The other took Shock and casualties too but ending up with more Shock than men left they fell back one inch.

This was a 'Bad Things Happen'- group obliged to withdraw. On a D6 roll of 1 to 3 there would be no effect, on a 4 to 6 the British would loose one point of Force Morale - and the game...

Scott rolled his D6... 

And scored 4! One point of Force Morale lost the British went down to zero and jubilation swept through the Italian ranks, they had won their first battle!!! Viva Italia!!!

Another very close game that could have gone either way at the death. As this was our first game without stabilisers (that is Andy on hand to help) we did well and had an enjoyable battle. I do feel rather guilty in offering Scott advice that unintentionally caused a unit to break and reduce his Force Morale (he will never let me forget this I'm sure), but all I can say is anyone who has read these battle reports should know to take my tactical advice - and do the exact opposite!

And I'm sure he will have the opportunity to exact his revenge again sometime soon...