Today in Wrocław, PL we play a game in General d’Armee in Bolter. Battle had place in area of villages Badrolls and Worserolls placed somewhere in continental Europe. On one side were French and Württemberg lead by generals Jędrzej and Kris, on the other side were anti-napoleonic coalition of Russia and United Kingdom lead by me and general Tomas.
Before battle started some agents managed to do some things in British-Russian camp – damaged black powder, add some extra stuff to food etc.
Württemberg on right flank of French coalition.French in the middle and left flank of French coalition.Russian infantry brigade in the middle. Russian in the middle and United Kingdom on right.French Hussars.Württemberg advance when Russian brigade stay and watch.British advance towards French.95th took positions in the forest.French advance towards British. Russian artillery open fire, but black powder was wet – someone sabotaged it before battle started. Russian brigade composed of Polish Uhlans recruited from Polish nobility and Don Cossacs arrived.French took village „Badrolls” before Russians were able to secure it.Russians Jagers opened fire on advancing Württemberg troops.Polish-Cossacks cavalry tried to change situation on the field.Cavalry of both sides contested on British-Russian right flank.Bayonnets fixed – Russian infantry charged Württemberg batallion. Beautiful Kris Württemberg. Russian infantry advance to mere village „Badrolls” – symbol of British and Russian defeat. Russian batallion took ground after winning in hand to hand combat. A lot of fire and French were still in the famous now village. Situation in the middle where both sides shell each other with artillery. French cuirassiers charged Russian batallion and…… broke it in one charge.Russian infantry prepare to stand they ground against heavy French cavalry. Even though soldiers as Russian infantry was weren’t able to held they ground and did step back, artillery limbered.Cavalry clash on Allied right flank.Shattered Russian brigade still fight.Polish uhlans vs French cuirassiers.Retreat of British hussars. Moment when I losed my infantry brigade, as they morale went pretty low.Plus one more brigade was broken.My allied general Tomas held his ground, but enemy took all key positions.
Summary: – with my ally general Tomas we tried to do anything to win or at least to hold positions, but without results. It was a curse of that place – villages Badrolls and Worserolls will stay in our memory forever. – thank you to Jędrzej, Kris and Tomek for a great game and to Adam who sat with us on this rainy Sunday in Wrocław. – anyway, I don’t remember when I had so many, so bad rolls in General d’Armee – I wasn’t alone, general Tomas had in critical moments the same rolls as me. Wet black powder, soldier who ate food with poison before battle started, broken cavalry equipment etc. Anyway, next time will be better 🙂 !
Today in Wrocław, PL – in Bolter greatest gaming centre we played one more great game in General d’Armee – today coalition of Austria, UK, Russia (including Poles loyal to the Tzar) fought battle against France. As a group we are players from Wrocław, PL, Ostrów Wielkopolski (thank you Jędrzej!), Bartek (living in Truntow, CZ). We are open to just play with ppl outside of our community – we play once a month there. Next time is 03.09 – it’s Sunday!
British, Russians in the town and French. Our team, usually we go for a dinner after game – today I played Bolt Action after. 8 hours – my spine, something is not good at all.Russian brigade deployed.Hold the ground!Ready, aim, fire!Russian cavalry – Polish Uhlans and Don Cossacs charge!Don Cossacs give up.Both sides fired a lot of bullets.Russian artillery joined shooting.French right wing looked strong, looked.Polish Uhlans after some loses decided.To leave the field.Austrians are coming to support Russians.Fighting in the town, no one controlled it – both sides were there.
Summary: – thank you guys for meeting and who cares about results of the game? In case of who was winner and loser – at the end good side was in better position.
Today we played our monthly game in General d’Armee – there were only three of us, me, my ally Rafał and Tomek who took opposite side. We had four brigades per side – three infantry brigades and one cavalry, both sides had two batteries of guns attached to infantry batallions.
On sir Thomas side were British along several Germans and Spanish, on the other side were France, Poland and Russia under my and de Rafał leadership. Both sides had to take objectives – one worth two points – which was to control road in the forest in the middle and two smaller – roads next to village chapel and another one next to burned tavern.
Forest of Shadows – place which was objective #1.Small chapel dedicated to the Jesus Christ – minor objective #2.Ruins of the tavern – „Rome” – minor objective #2.General Rafal battalion of French.French lead by me in the middle, next to the Russians and forest.Both sides were on the opposite sides.British of sir Thomas are coming.British and Germans on the other flank.Two Russian batallions of line infantry, artillery and jagers companies arrived to the field of battle. British vs Russians and incoming French&Poles on our right flank. Our left flank, artillery ready to fire…… one on the hill and another one on the field.So I told my comrades: first shoot and I will get out of ammo which happend then 🙂 .Both sides coming closer to fight for the ruins of tavern.Casadores with rifles scored several hits on Russian jagers.Fortunately combined French and Polish cavalry came from reserves to oppose British cavalry. Just in time.Stable situation on left flank.British cavalry of sir Thomas.Left flank belonged to French from continental allied side.Close to shoot at each other, both sides started fire from muskeets.Russians fired to much powder, so to the end they cannons were much less effective.British bravely charged on Polish uhlans and French cuirrassiers. Russian jagers escaped when saw that fighting for a forest is without chance to win.Cuirassiers won combat and enemy retreated to they lines.Flank charge, devastating one.First French battalion broken in hand to hand combat on bayonnets.Cavalry of continental armies in a triumph.Bavarian battalion.
Summary: – thank you generals Tomek and Rafał for great game, thank you to Rafał and Bolter.pl for help with models and terrains. – we still learn system, but it’s nice and looks pretty good compared to one I liked, but with my feral rolls I cannot play in it for maybe one last year – this one is pretty good. – we had more than 500 miniatures on battlefield, which is not biggest number we had during our games in Napoleonic games. There will be more this Autumn. – if someone is interested to play with us from time to time – don’t worry to comment here or under post – we are based in Wrocław, Poland. Wrocław is not far away from many Polish cities, it’s also close to Berlin, Dresden, Prague or even Bratislava or Vienna. To be sure, we have great place to play and good pubs close to it 😉 . – the result of a battle was a Draw. – close to us were tournament of Song of Ice and Fire – in Bolter tournaments of a different systems are regular.
On last weekend we played a battle in General d’Armee, there were four of us, Bartek and Jędrzej were playing France and me and Tomek were playing coalition lead by Great Britain with Portugal, Russia and Spanish as here allies.
Many thanks to all participants for great game and for great time after, on dinner in SOTE pub close to Bolter. Of course I hope that we will continue our games and I will wake up again on Sunday mornings.
Both sides started in opposite corners of the table – here objectives – two stone bridges. Allied cavalry appeard first, British hussars and Polish Uhlans loyal to the Tzar.Our plan was to cross the river and secure bridge for infantry.French cavalry and horse artillery.Both sides visible next to great coffee served in Bolter Cafe.Mixed brigade of Portugal, Russian and Spanish. Had to finish bases and some details of my Russian Jagers.French cavalry advances toward Allied cavalry which crossed river.French infantry march to the other bridge.Combined Portugal, Russian and Spanish brigade march slowly.French cavalry formed into combat formation.Allied cavalry formed to fight as well.British are coming.Cuirassiers securing flank.First clash beetwen cavalry.Allied cavalry losed some combats.British advances forward.On the opposite side French march in the column to take position.Several French units are too much for this bridge.Most of our cavalry regiments ceased to exists, many Uhlans were lost in the river.French cavalry rule over the battlefield. French cavalry manged to cross water in the middle – coming in sight of allied infantry.
Summary: – at the end French succesfully secured one bridge, another one was still in hands of Allied troops. I think that we need more time to play such game – we played around four hours. – thank you to Rafał for showing me rulebook for this, after small talk why I losed interest in Black Powder ruleset, which is simple, but few things with really bad rolls can destroy your will to play. Then tests with Kuba and Tomek – that’s it, I’m waiting for second edition of General d’Armee.
On last Saturday we played bigger battle in General d’Armee – on one side were British and Portugal led by generals Damian and Tomek, on the other side were mix of many different European nations represented by French, Prussia and Russia led by Bartosz, Jakub, Piotr and me.
British are coming.British centre.Part of our centre were secured by Russian infantry and Polish Uhlan regiment.Left flank secured by several cavalry regiments.French securing other part of the centre.Prussian took right flank of our combined force.British left flank opposed by Prussians.Battle for a tawern and crossroads.Russian artillery ready to open fire.Chapel – silent deponent of battle.Among British were Portugal regiment.British right flank secured by cavalry and artillery.Close range fire beetwen Russian Jagers and British artillery.British seized defensive position in tavern.Prussians taking positions behind hedgehod.British slowly advancing on left flank.Cavalry charged on British cavalry.British cavalry after short clash turned tail and fled.Polish uhlans in full speed charged British cannon battery…… and in advance galloped toward British sharpshooters.One of the Russian batallions had enough and retreated.British cavalry regrouped into squares.In act of bravery uhlans charged British square.Left flank secured and British reorganized to defend against massed cavalry regiments.
Summary: – it was great battle – from initial four players we grow up to six generals around the table. – victory belonged to continentals and cavalry did great job on the left flank.
🇵🇱 Wczoraj Tomek i ja rozegraliśmy kolejną treningową partię w General d’Armee. Wciąż korzystamy z mniejszych armii niż te sugerowane w podręczniku i pomijamy część zasad, ponieważ uwzględnienie wszystkiego na tym etapie znacznie utrudniłoby naukę systemu. Planujemy jednak wrócić do tych zasad w niedalekiej przyszłości.
W sobotę ponownie zagraliśmy stosunkowo niewielkimi siłami rozstawionymi na stole – bez Fog of War, bez odwodów i z wszystkimi jednostkami widocznymi od samego początku – po prostu w najprostszy możliwy sposób, aby nauczyć się systemu. Tomek dowodził Brytyjczykami, a ja prowadziłem siły złożone z Rosjan i innych europejskich kontyngentów, ponieważ chcieliśmy użyć wyłącznie pomalowanych figurek.
Graliśmy na standardowym stole o wymiarach 48″ x 72″, przedstawiającym skrzyżowanie dróg oraz kilka różnych typów terenu, z których część była terenem trudnym i ograniczała ruch o połowę. Wszystkie jednostki w obu armiach miały status Regular, z wyjątkiem brytyjskiej piechoty, natomiast baterie artylerii miały status Elite. Każda ze stron wystawiła po cztery regimenty i dysponowała maksymalnie czterema kośćmi ADC.
🇬🇧 Yesterday, Tomek and I played another training game of General d’Armee. We are still using smaller armies than those suggested in the rulebook and leaving out some of the rules, as including everything at this stage would make learning the game much more difficult. We do plan to return to those rules in the near future.
On Saturday, we once again played with relatively small forces deployed on the table – no Fog of War, no reserves, and all units visible from the start – simply the easiest way for us to learn the system. Tomek commanded the British, while I led a force made up of Russians and other European contingents, as we wanted to use only painted miniatures.
We played on a standard 48″ x 72″ table representing a crossroads and several different types of terrain, some of which counted as difficult ground and reduced movement by half. All units in both armies were Regular, with the exception of the British infantry, while the artillery batteries were rated as Elite. Each side fielded four regiments and had up to four ADC dice available.
🇵🇱 Podsumowanie: – Na tym etapie widzę już, że są pewne ważniejsze zasady, które powinniśmy zacząć wykorzystywać w naszych grach. Na razie jednak skupiamy się na podstawowych mechanikach, ponieważ chcemy dobrze je opanować. – Planujemy wprowadzić więcej zasad następnym razem. W systemie dostępnych jest kilka różnych typów żołnierzy, dlatego moim zdaniem armie do standardowych, towarzyskich rozgrywek powinny być budowane przy użyciu systemu punktowego. Nieregularni Kozacy czy świeżo zwerbowani żołnierze zachowują się zupełnie inaczej niż jednostki Regular, Veteran czy Elite. – Podręcznik określa również, które formacje mogą być uznawane za elitarne – słynne jednostki, takie jak Gwardia, 95. Regiment i tym podobne. To temat, który będzie wymagał dalszego zgłębienia w przyszłości, ponieważ trzon większości armii stanowiły jednostki regularne albo rekruci, zaledwie z kilkoma wyjątkami. Jednostki mogą się także różnić wielkością — dzielą się na małe, standardowe i duże. – Rozstawiamy je w bardzo podobny sposób jak w Black Powder. Zasięgi i ruch są jednak krótsze niż w Black Powder. Muszkiety mają zasięg ognia wynoszący 9″, podczas gdy karabiny są znacznie skuteczniejsze, co daje kolejny dobry powód, by korzystać z jednostek tyralierskich, takich jak Jegrzy. Sam muszę w końcu pomalować oddział takiej piechoty. Jednostki poruszają się też mniej niż w Black Powder, co uważam za plus — w końcu nasze stoły nie są z gumy 🙂 – Odkryłem kilka przydatnych rzeczy na tych blogach:Sir Able Brush oraz Chasseur à Cheval — znajduje się tam użyteczny kreator armii, naprawdę świetna robota. Na drugim blogu znalazłem również zestaw zasad o nazwie 321 – Fast Play Napoleonic Rules. – Na moim blogu pojawi się jeszcze więcej o General d’Armee — potrzebuję tylko czasu, tak samo jak ludzie, z którymi gram.
🇬🇧 Summary: – At this stage, I can already see that there are some more important rules we need to start using in our games. For now, however, we are focusing on the core mechanics, as we want to learn them properly. – We plan to introduce more rules next time.There are several different types of soldiers available in the system, so in my opinion armies for standard pick-up games should be built using the points system. Irregular Cossacks or freshly recruited troops behave very differently from Regulars, Veterans, or Elite units. – The rulebook also specifies which formations can be considered Elite -famous units such as the Guards, the 95th Regiment, and so on. This is something that will require more investigation in the future, as the bulk of most armies consisted of Regulars or recruits, with only a few exceptions.Units can also vary in size, being classed as small, standard, or large. – We deploy them in much the same way as we do in Black Powder.Ranges and movement are shorter than in Black Powder. Muskets have a firing range of 9″, while rifles are much more effective, which gives another good reason to use skirmishing units such as Jägers. I really need to paint a unit of that infantry myself. Units also move less than in Black Powder, which I see as a plus – after all, our tables are not made of rubber 🙂 – I discovered some useful things on this blog: Sir Able Brush and on this blog Chasseur Acheval – there is useful army creator – really nice work. On second blog I found some ruleset called 321 – Fast Play Napoleonic Rules. – there will be more about General d’Armee on my blog, just need time – me and people I play.
Today we played scenario done by „Gargamel” – there were Adam Polish Vistula Legion, Bartosz and Jędrzej French on one side and Kuba Prussians, Tomek British and my Russians on the other side. French were escorting some important guns and others had to prevent them from doing it. On right side of the table were Alpine Mountains were French army was marching.
Adams Polish Vistula Legion.Russians advance to take enemy guns.French column during march.All on one. Single Russian battalion stood they ground.French cavalry ride on the British wing.Russians battalions marched on the left and right with artillery support.French cavalry charged on Russian artillery.Artillerist runned away for they lives.Some hand to hand combat in the middle.I thought it’s the end of my batallion, but…… but it was end of one French unit which turn it tail and fled.
Summary: – nice game, but too many random situations. I think that we need to update some rules. – battle was over after turn 5 and several unlucky charges done by French cavalry.
🇵🇱 27 lutego 2022 roku Francuzi i Prusacy stanęli do bitwy z Anglikami. Tym razem siły kontynentalnej Europy zwyciężyły nad Anglosasami. Starcie rozegrano w Bolter.pl we Wrocławiu, w Polsce.
Kluczowym celem dla obu stron było opanowanie skrzyżowania.
🇬🇧 On 27 February 2022, the French and Prussians faced the English in battle. This time, the forces of continental Europe prevailed over the Anglo-Saxons. The clash took place at Bolter.pl in Wrocław, Poland.
The key objective for both sides was control of the crossroads.
Today in Wrocław we played our monthly Black Powder game. Today we played Great Britain against unusual alliance of France and Russian Empire. Today British side focused on crossing river (cross it with 13 infantry battalions/cavalry regiments) in four places (two bridges and two fords), French and Russian tried to stop them.
Two bridges, in addition there were two fords – one on far left and other on far right.
HQ of allies inside monastery tower.
British are coming!
Russians with supporting French on right flank.
Left flank belonged to French, middle belonged to French plus cavalry reserve (including Polish uhlans on tsar service).
French marching.
Time to start.
French send screen of skirmishers ahead of main units.
More and more soldiers of the British Crown.
When right flank had problems with understanding orders, middle and left flank on allies side moved. Artillery took hill and hid behind a fence.
Russian artillery got orders to shoot British battery on the other side of the river.
British crossed bridge in the fron of Russians.
French moved into the forest.
HQ send small regiments of light cavalry to aid Russians and French.
British crossed also other bridge. French tries to send them back.
More British in front of Russian flank.
Charge on bayonnets with supporting charge of uhlans on the flank.
Both lines shooting they opponents.
British also want to pass river by the ford.
Few units of French-Russians alliance were broken and left field .
Hussars are coming.
Uhlans charged unit in it rear and unhappily were broken and fled.
Taking position to shoot on the flank of hussars.
The end.
Russian brigade remained unbroken with maybe some more French.
Something is coming back probably?
Summary: – again great game played in Bolter.pl. – thank you all for today game.
Today we played big game in Black Powder on one side were Damians and Tomeks British, on other side were Kris French, Grzegorz Prussians, Jędrzej Spanish and Portugals and my Russians with Polish uhlan regiment. Our target was to secure both bridges. We played our game in Bolter.pl.
Beginning of the game.
Only one Russian batallion arrived and soon British started shooting on them.
French infantry and cavalry charged British.
One battalion of sons of Albion was routed and fled the field. More British were coming passing the bridges.
British forming battle line.
Uhlans encouraged by French action…
… charged.
Several hand to hand combat took place. One of our cavalry regiment was routed from the field by British artillery battery.
Uhlans first time worked well.
After destroying infantry batallions Polish Uhlans charged guns.
Russian and French infantry moving, to take the bridge.
Cavalry charge in the middle.
Uhlans broke cavalry regiment.
Kris French charged on bayonnets.
Tomeks columns in the forest.
Bloody fight to control bridge.
British cavalry on the flank destroyed infantry and charged uhlans on the flank.
Uhlans routed from the field.
Scottish batallion send Russian batallion from the field.
Kris cavalry took bridge after routing of British infantry.
Summary: – it was good game – we played around 3,5 hours. – I missed few photos, as Grzesiek cavalry brigade was looking for a ford and they charged on Damians cavalry, routing them.