My first game was against Rob with his motley crew of pressed Royal Navy types who no doubt would break when faced with the might of the Kingdom of Italy who were tasked with a mission to rescue this attractive young Vivandiere and her donkey...
Working on the theory that I would not need two big attack columns to defeat some sailors playing soldier I cut back on my line infantry...
Employing two formations, one of two groups, the second of three. That should be enough musket fire to thwart the British squids!
I mean look at them, scruffy buggers not in uniform and can't march in a straight line (all that rum I suspect).
The brave boys from Milan are showing the pesky Brits how it is doing marching body forward with much martial ardour!
Supported by a detachment of the 1° (Real Italiano) Cacciatore a Cavallo who deployed to flank the Navy boys.
Umm, what's this? They have some Lobsterbacks with them? The Marines look a lot smarter but what's with this wearing top hats lark?
More scruffy Jack Tars skulk amongst the bushes eyeing up the enemy donkey (they've been at sea a while now...)
Whilst the Cacciatore saunter up the left flank giving the British something to ponder.
The Volteggiatori having reached the Vivandiere come under fire from the sailors hiding in the bushes and take a point of Shock (no doubt caused by the fact the squids had pointed their muskets in the right direction for a change).
With more Volteggiatori pushing forward, things were looking good for the Italians. We just needed to get the stone out of the pesky donkey's hoof and lead it and the Vivandiere to safety.
The Volteggiatori exchanged fire with the Marines...
Killing one of the lobsterbacks.
With the Fucilieri having reached the crossroads, one deploying into line to protect the right flank I was feeling moderately confident at this point.
A group of Marines skirmishers then deployed...
Firing at the Italian cavalry and inflicting some Shock.
A mob of sailors then arrived on the field of battle, no doubt looking for something more to drink (in game terms they are classified as a Tribe and are very nasty in melee combat).
The second unit of Volteggiatori reach the battlefield and engage the enemy...
Killing two Marine skirmishers and wounding their leader...
As the larger formation of Fucilieri moved forward with the view to forming a second line of muskets on the Italian left.
The squids skulking in the bushes kept up their fire on the Volteggiatori with the donkey...
And managed to kill one and wound the Italian NCO leading them!
Unfortunately at this point our tale ends as for some inexplicable reason a number of photos have been lost from day one of En Avant III so we have no idea what happened next, though clearly all signs were pointing towards an Italian victory...
Clearly...
Oh, alright...
Things went badly down hill from this point on (and no I didn't not delete the photographic evidence deliberately). Rob's skirmishers kept plugging away at the Volteggiatori piling Shock and casualties on them causing one group to fall back. The remaining group struggled to get the stone out the donkey's hoof and it started attacking them causing more Shock! The Italian cavalry found themselves under attack by the mob of sailors and in a valiant charge were beaten back by the pikes and cutlasses before routing off the board. This all resulted in a number of Bad Things Happen rolls and as was to be the case all weekend, when I needed to roll high I rolled low and when I needed to roll low, I rolled high. The Italian Force Morale plunged to zero and victory was Rob's!
With the benefit of hindsight my major mistake was not using the two groups of Volteggiatori who had reached the Vivandiere to keep firing at the enemy to their front and leave the bloody donkey alone. Secondly whilst the cavalry had been a useful distraction, deploying them in a such a position that any reverse would force them off the table was a tad silly.
Great looking game Steve.
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