Wednesday 27 October 2010

Balaclava: The Heavies & the 93rd

The first part of the Battle of Balaclava now.  A bit more brutal with the set-up though, some fact some fiction.  The Russian Cavalry is already streaming across the valley, the British Heavy Brigade has broken camp & riding to intercept.  The 93rd Highlanders are deployed & waiting to take the Russian Cavalry.  As a side show, a sizeable Russian Infantry force is to launch an attack on the hill held by British Naval units.  Jack would be the Russians, could he succeed & take the British positions?






The Charge of the Heavy Brigade by Alfred Tennyson
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1571


Balaclava : The Battle in the South Valley

The Russians swarm across the valley

'Left Wheel into Line!' - Scarlett leads forward the Heavy Brigade

Hordes of Russian Cavalry

The 93rd prepare for the Russians

The British Naval position 
The 93rd fire at the Russian Cavalry, the 'Thin Red Line!!!'

The Russian cavalry is checked...

BOOM! The Russian Infantry will never close the distance...

Overview, the Russian Cavalry charge into the Highlanders.
Whilst Jack manages to release some Cavalry, which way would they go?

Rock Hard... The Highlanders send the Russians backward.

'CHARGE!!!!!'  In go the 300

British Heavies versus Russian Light, no contest... Jacks moaning

Another round, more casualties for the Russians.

Jack rallies his Cavalry & tries another attack.
 He adds his extra Cavalry to get an overlap...

HA! The chest is puffed out, the British Lion is supreme!

Another round & the Heavies attack again!  Game over....

Final positions, the Russian Cavalry is sent packing.
A nice little game, the Russian Lights were no match for the British Heavies.  PiPs were poor for Jack & the Russian Infantry stalled badly, to be fair his combat dice were shocking as well.  Never mind, you can only beat what's put in front of you.  Jack, get packing away the figures.... lol.

There's still a couple of Historic engagements to fight in our Crimean Campaign.  Though there were a few elements to this game that has got us thinking of having a mega Crimean scrap....


The Thin Red Line

4 comments:

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

I could almost smell the gunpowder, horse sweat and blood!

Another great battle report!

I hope that it is not too long before the next.

All the best,

Bob

MrF said...

Cheers Bob, nice to hear from you.

Yes mate, I hope it's not too long either. Time, that precious commodity just keeps eluding us. :o)

Take care
MrF & clan

Chris Johnson said...

Hi,

Your game reports mention both HITT and DBH for this period. Which set of rules do you think give a better game?

Best regards,

Chris

MrF said...

Hello Chris

We found that HITT gives a much better game, more units to pick from plus more fun.

Cheers
Paul F