I Have Been to the Lair of the UberGeek

Last weekend I was onsite at the Lair of the UberGeek, Mile Reidy.  Miles and his wife were great hosts and not serial killers as previously advertised.  However, I did make the mistake of jokingly asking where the guns were kept and finding out!

A major highlight was being let downstairs into Miles gaming room, and more important being let back upstairs in reasonably alive condition.   It was great to see Miles' huge gaming collection including his hand crafted Monitor and Merrimack models.

We played a game of General d'Armee, my second game using this rule set and I really like what I've seen so far.  I see a SYW conversion of these in my future.  We used Miles 15mm Peninsula war figures.  I used to game with my own collections of 15s a lot, but sold them off over the years to do 28s.  I see the advantages but still prefer the heft of the bigger figures, plus my eyes are not what they were 20 odd years ago.  It was a scenario where the French (me) were trying to take a defended monastery held by the Brits and Spanish.  I had 3 infantry brigades on table plus a cavalry brigade off table to my left.  Miles had 2 infantry brigades on table, plus cavalry and infantry brigades off table to my left.

We had a good game, with a lot of back and forth swings of momentum and a French victory much to my surprise.  Highlights of the AAR as follows.

• On my left, both sides cavalry brigades arrived early on with a fair bit of marching required to reach the monastery including a river crossing.  My cavalry brigade was well in hand, allowing me the freedom to write if off with out causing much damage to the British what so ever.  Seriously I passed every command roll to get them moving and flunked every charge or melee roll.  However, I forced the enemy to deploy on site and significantly delayed him from influencing the fight at the monastery.
• On the right we had a bit of a stand off with both side's brigades standing back and making faces at one another.  Finally we both got enough activations to allow us to close with me advancing to threaten the monastery and Miles advancing to threaten my right flank to draw me away from the Monastery.
• In the centre things did happen.  I put two brigades into column with skirmishers and artillery support and advanced on the Spanish brigade holding the monastery.  Multiple attempts to get an infantry assault going were foiled by failed activations, of course which ever brigade wasn't order to assault activated with no problems!
• With the assault delayed I resorted to using fire and limited charges to keep the defenders busy and wear them down.  Some of my units were getting pasted and I thought I was close to done. However, I was doing more damage to the defenders than I realized and my one battalion charges were mostly successful.  In the end, the Spanish brigade was done for and I took the position.  Miles got his reinforcements on table and en route to the position but would have to force a river crossing and he threw the towel.

Good scenarios, good game, good rules and good company - wins all around!

Miles redeploys at the monastery as the French columns approach

I did manage to get a fair concentration aimed at the key point

My cavalry ride into the shadow of the valley of death

Miles checks cavalry melee rules while a firefight goes on at the monastery in the background

Charge!