15mm Peter Laing Battle of Beaverton

      After the train ambush, General Piffle  was furious. To lose a battery of guns and have a battalion of infantry cut to pieces by a bunch of amateurs was too much. What's more, his higher ups were reconsidering keeping him in command.  He called his most trusted officer, Col. Potty to gather a force using what few troops were in the region. Potty put forward that he would take his battalion, along with a battery of artillery, and two troops of militia cavalry; one a troop of hussars and one of lancers.  As an afterthought, he also added a company of militia infantry. He knew the rebel were based in the village of Beaverton, and he might have to storm the village.
   Meanwhile, in Beaverton itself, the rebels rested on their laurels. Certainly it will take the government forces some time to recover from that loss.  The commander of the rebels, Braun, has scouts out and spies throughout the countryside. So it can be imagined his surprise when his scouts come running into town reporting that the army is marching on Beaverton. He orders out his troops. While his officers want to garrison the town, Braun says they will march out to meet the enemy. He doesn't want the innocents in town to be endangered by the coming battle.

On the top of the board (north) The government troops arrive on the scene.  On the left is West Wood, on the right East Wood, and the bottom Beaverton with the rebel troops with their recently capture artillery.

View from behind the Government line. Col. Potty  (on white horse) observes the town of  Beaverton.

View from behind the rebel lines looking towards the government line.

Two companies of infantry close on West Wood; the infantry draws first blood by killing one rebel.  Meanwhile the troop of lancers launch a flank attack on the woods.

Meanwhile the battery brings one of the rebel batteries under fire, causing heavy losses.

The fighting becomes general in the East Woods; the hussars starts moving across the open fields.

The hussars hit one of the rebel companies, causing it to retreat.

The follow up charge forces the other rebel battery to retreat.

At this point in the battle the government forces have  the rebels on the run.

The rebel battery is eliminated, but the rebels continue to hold part of the East Woods.

One rebel unit manages to route one grenadier company, almost forcing it off the field (3 "retreat" dice) and another kills one hussar and made them to  retreat. 

The rebels manage to work behind one of the grenadier companies, cutting it off  from  the other company.

One rebel tries to capture the battery. The batterie double charges the gun with  canister…..

and eliminates the rebel company.

One of the grenadier companies force back one of the rebel companies in the East Woods; now the grenadiers has turned the tables on the rebels and has cut off one of their companies.

The hussars attack the rebel company that was forced out of the East Woods.

Meanwhile, in the West Woods the infantry finally clear the woods of rebels, who the lancers quickly closes in on them.

In the West Woods, the militia company clears the last of the rebels from the woods, as the grenadier company that broke and ran rallies and comes back up fast.

The trapped rebel unit starts taking losses.

The trapped rebels, realizing they are hopelessly surrounded with no help nearby, surrenders.

The rebels get back into the West Woods, but the government troops are working their way behind them.

A grenadier guards the captured rebels from the East Woods.

The rebels now realize the battle is lost. The lancers are almost around the back of the rebels. The rebel artillery manages to force the lancers to retreat, opening a way for the rebels to retreat, an opening that the rebels use. The government have recaptured one gun, but the rebels make off with the other. At least Col. Potty can return one gun to General Piffle.

This battle was just slapped together. I used Bob Cordery's Memoir of Battle rules. Usually for victory the first side has to lose 50%.  I didn't even think of that with this game, just started playing. In most of my war-games, I have been disappointed in the performance of artillery. This game the government guns played havoc on the rebels. Also the cavalry played a bigger roll than normal. Maybe I'm just learning to use them properly.
One will also notice the names of the Government officers as names from R.L. Stevenson's war-game. I'm actually terrible making up names and my war-games tend to be too generic with no names to be memorable.