Take Me To The River.... The Battle of Belmas

the blue line reflects the march of the Freedonian Army through neutral Boozonia

        In an outrageous act of aggression the Freedonain army marched through plague-stricken Boozonia to attack Ferndalia, Using secretly placed supplies they were able to keep up a blistering marching pace that made any response by the Boozonian army impossible. The Boozonian Lord High Constable, Gordon Ramsey, has ordered the Freedonian Ambassador to report to his office to answer an Inquiry as to these events, additionally he has closed the border with Freedonia.
       Upon debouching into the northern plains of Ferndalia the Freedonians found only local border-guards and militia opposing them. These troops were mostly viewed as an inconvenience. Resistance grew over time as the local Governors frantically gathered troops and ordered the burning of bridges and supplies to slow the Freedonian advance. At the tiny market town of Belmas the ancient stone bridge defied attempts to blow it up and the Ferndalians were forced to turn and confront their invaders.
         Having no time to file the troops across the narrow bridge the Ferndalians were forced to turn and fight. With a force of local militia, supported by a moldering cannon found on an estate, two units of Regular Foote and two brigades of Cuirassiers that had rushed to the scene from the Capitol they formed a line across the path of the invaders advance. Their flanks were guarded by two rivers that joined just behind their position, but this also meant that the only means of escape was that lone bridge to their left rear. Snacks and sandwiches were distributed along the line by the Students of the Culinary Academy, along with the last of the remaining ammunition. This would be a desperate fight indeed!
         The foot-sore soldiers of Louis the Ravenous were happy to see the enemy finally stop and face them. They had been marching almost non-stop for the last week and a half and were in a mood for a good brawl. They could scarcely believe their luck that the enemy chose to fight on this side of the bridge rather than retiring to defend the far bank. As the morning fog lifted they could see the serried ranks of the enemy across the battlefield, they were happy for the full breakfast they had just enjoyed but were concerned that lunch was unlikely to be served on time.
      This game was played using the Tercio rules from Liber Militium.

 

the Freedonian army right flank, (l to r) Chassuers, 

dragoons covering the front of the Heavy Cuirassiers,

  then a brigade of Reformed Squadron foot near the center

 

the left flank of the Freedonian army; (l to r) a brigade of Reformed Squadron foot covering the front of some mounted Arquebusiers, two battalions of Chassuers, and some Dragoons on the far flank.

 

facing them on the right of the Ferndalian army, (l to r) 

two units of militia foot in front of two squadrons Cuirassiers, 

on the far right three units of dragoons

 

the Ferndalian army's left wing (l to r); two units of militia foot in the front row, a lone battalion of regular foot, in the far lower left two squadrons of mounted Arquebusiers, occupying the town an armed mob, behind the town two squadrons of cuirassiers,  to the right of the town a unit of regular foot and a heavy cannon

 

as the Freedonian troops advance the cannon opens fire at long range, 

making a great deal of noise but harming no one

 

as the enemy Dragoons come in the range the foot added their fire,

 with equally poor effect

 

the armed mob in the town finally score a hit on the cheeky Dragoons

 

on the Freedonian's right a freshly-plowed field slowed the advance of the Heavy Cuirassiers

 

in an effort to slow the envelopment of the weak right wing the Ferndalians 

pushed forward the Dragoon brigade hoping to use the cover of the hedges 

 

but the hedge row seemed to provide little cover, 

fire from the Freedonian light troops and Dragoons broke one unit  before it got a shot off 

(I'm blaming those red jackets for making then such easy targets!)

 

the other Dragoons returned fire to avenge their brothers

 

even with their Brigadier adding a die they failed to score a single hit

 

but in the center the Ferndalian dragoons were paying the price 

of acting as a "meat-shield" for the advancing foot

 

on the left the Ferndalians threw the brigade of Mounted Arquebusiers forward 

to slow the advance of the mass of Freedonian troops, 

a goodly traffic-jam resulted but Arquebusiers suffered heavily for their action

 

in the center the Freedonian foot advanced rapidly with

 their Mounted Arquebusiers following looking for a gap to exploit,

on the far left the students of the Culinary School of The Small Plate opened fire on the invaders

 as the Ferndalian Dragoons decided to abandon the unequal firefight and retire

 

the next turn saw the Freedonians very aggressively exploit  the retirement of the Ferndalian dragoons, pushing forward the entire brigade of Mounted Arquebusiers to engage the militia foot, toward the center the combined fire of the cannon and regular foot had broken one of the Freedonian Reformed Foot, far the rear the Chassuers had begun a tit-for-tat exchange with the Students

 

in the center the Freedonian Dragoons had withdrawn to reorganize,

leaving the center of the battlefield oddly vacant

 

but on the left action  had become general; astride, and next to, the road the Freedonian Reformed foot and the Ferndalian militia exchanged fire while on the far left the Freedonian Heavy Cuirassiers began grinding their way through the Ferndalian cavalry, by the end of the turn one of the Freedonian foot had been driven off but the Ferndalians had lost a militia unit and had several cavalry units almost exhausted

 

the next turn saw far less fighting as everyone was trying to reorganize, 

a few units exchanged fire but little else happened

 

in the center furious fire from the Ferndalian cannon and foot units had managed to break the last Freedonian reformed foot unit, but it also saw the rout of one of the militia units under the unrelenting fire of the Mounted Arquebusuiers

 

far off to the right the Ferndalian dragoons had attempted to take the pressure off the militia

but their fire (once again!) had failed to inflict any casualties

 

back on the left the Ferndalian cavalry were desperately trying to rally and reorganize,

 while this was going on a Heavy Cuirassier unit charged the militia foot on the roadway,

routing them in one turn, the foot all fired ineffectually

 

in the center the Ferndalians took advantage of the lull

 to withdraw their cannon and retire the militia's flank

 

the fire from the Freedonian Mounted Arquebusiers was without pause

while the fire from the Ferndalian Dragoons was (surprised, anyone?) without impact

 

meanwhile, back at the Culinary Arts School, both sides exchanged shots with equal honors

 

once more on the left; 

 the horrific killing-machine that was the Freedonian Heavy Cuirassiers destroyed the remaining militia foot unit and proceeded to ignore fire from three units of Ferndalian troops

 

while in the center; the Freedonian Dragoons, (fully rested from several turns of reorganization) returned to add their firepower to that of the Mounted Arquebusiers assailing the dwindling Ferndalian troops on the center and right, fire was exchanged all around to little effect

 

the Ferndalian dragoons on the far right, 

feeling justifiably lonely, finally managed to score a few hits,

 but they took more in return

 

back to the left where we find that one of the Heavy Cuirassiers has finally managed to fail a Courage Test and has been wiped out by fire, thus leaving only one such unit causing havoc, fire at that unit by the Mounted Arquebusiers was (of course) without issue

 

seeing the small effect they were having on the enemy Dragoons (and the battle at large) the Ferndalian Dragoons beat a hasty retreat to a position on the flank of the last remaining militia unit who were suffering from the combined fire of the Freedonian Mounted Arquebusiers and Chassuers

 

at this point night was falling, the Freedonians lacked any formed foot to try to capture the town or the bridge and broke off the action, on the Ferndalian side they were out of powder and shot (a total of one turn of general fire left) and their cavalry were wrecked, the two regular foot units retired in good order covering the retreat of the cannon and the remaining other troops to fortify the opposite bank of the river and deny the Freedonians a crossing here