Valour and Fortitude: 28mm Napoleonics

 Chris has some of the most amazing 28mm Napoleonic figures I have ever seen. His collection is huge and the quality of his stuff is first class. With the advent of the Perry's Valour and Fortitude Rules,  he wanted to put some of his troops through their paces and get a handle on the rules, which are fast, very bloody and easy to play. He dropped in one Saturday afternoon last year - I had the table ready to go. I wrote up the post...and forgot to post it!

What was especially mind blowing was his model of Gemioncourt- the famous farmhouse that was fought over during the Battle of Quatre Bras in June 1815 just before Waterloo. And although he didn't have the full OOB for the battle, it didn't matter as we set up a close approximation of the battlefield and then had a combined Franco-Bavarian force assault a defending Anglo- Brunswicker force.

The amazing modelled farmhouse- Gemioncourt from the battle of Quatre Bras

Highlanders awaiting the French onslaught. 

The attackers!!

The full table. A little condensed and the farmhouse of Gemioncourt taking up a disproportionate amount of the table- probably more suited to a large skirmish game- Sharpe's Practice or so- but who cares??? It looks magnificent!!

Rear of the farmhouse ( Anglo-Brunswicker side)

western side of the battle field.

The main movements - Red is the Anglo-Brunswickers and Yellow represents the French.

Eastern side with the Gemioncourt stream and large pond/lake

Defending Heavy Dragoons. 

These guys were tasked with guarding my eastern ( Left ) flank. 

The finest heavy cavalry in Europe they said.......

..unstoppable they said......

..will sweep the enemy from the field they said.......

Next to the Dragoons....Uhlans. 

Brunswickers deploy into line.

Highlanders watching the Gemioncourt stream

Royal Artillery waiting for a target.

Brunswicker Brigade tasked with holding the outskirts of Gemioncourt ( another battalion inside)

Reinforcements arriving through Quatre Bras

French in the distance .....the attack has begun.

British Dragoons- on the extreme left flank

"Vive Le Emperor!"  The French columns move forward

Bavarians in the distance approaching the farmhouse defended by Brunswickers.

French Cuirassiers....they came down on the Allied Right Flank- and caused mayhem!

Brunswicker Artillery firing at the French Cuirassiers

Looming cavalry stoush on the Allied left

The French crossing the Gemioncourt stream .... one unit forming square..

The BIG cavalry bashup ..two Units of British Heavy Dragoons ( on the right) about to take on two Units of French cavalry- one Lancers and one Chasseurs...

French Cuirassiers hit teh Brunswicker guns...the 'whiff of grapeshot' didn't stop them and they swept the hill clean

Ross rolling for his Chasserus against my Heavy Dragoons

WTF!! I had 7 dice to his five. I got three hits..he got five...
Then there was the second melee..his Lancers vs my Heavy Dragoons.....the result just repeated itself....Ross reckoned it was the second best war games moment of the year- the look on my face said it all...two melees..two defeats when I had the advantage in troops types, number of dice and factors......

The last Brunswicker square ....formed to deal with approaching cuirassiers......but now finding the supporting infantry moving up.

French infantry closing on Brunswicker square.....

French swept aside the defenders on the edge of the stream....and poured across

Chris French Cuirassiers on the French left.....they took the battery on the hill....things were looking grim for the Anglo- Germans.

 We never finished the game, but at the point that we called it- the French and Bavarians were definitely holding the upper hand. The V&F rules are pretty good. Very cut and dried and give a fast game. Much faster than we realised. I've been looking at the youtube clips and Facebook pages and they seem to be quite popular.

The rules are very easy to follow and encourage fast and easy game play. The activation process means that you can get your troops moving with just enough disruption ( rolling a 1 on the activation roll - except the first activation) that can throw a spanner works. 

We will definitely be giving them another go.