Lasalle - The Battle of Colditz 1813

 

Taking our experiments with playing Lasalle in Epic scale further, and learning from our previous game, this time we adopted 60mm Base Widths and a larger table. I also wanted to cram as many troops on the table as possible to stretch Lasalle, designed for Divisional games, to Corps size.

Secondary objectives were to get our recently painted Prussian army out on the table, and also get a feel for the footprint of large numbers of Epic scale units on the table in preparation for our forthcoming big Waterloo game. Daniel duly came up with a suitable (somewhat conjectural) scenario:

Below, the Prussian view across the Mulde. Their combat appreciation informed them that there were only two key objectives, the bridge in the town and the ford by the farms.

The French columns debouch from the woods. Starting entirely in march columns, David and I as the French handed the Prussians the Skirmish phase on a plate, and had to pay double momentum points to activate. The price you pay for realism!

Nonetheless we moved pretty fast and deployed into mass attack columns before suffering too much from the Prussian guns.

Our plan at this stage was to feint towards the town of Colditz on the left (above, top) and make our main effort towards the ford on the right (above, bottom). Below, my French colleague David is on the left, Peter (centre) and Daniel (right) commanded the Prussian defenders:

Fortunately for the French right wing, the advancing French Dragoons reached the vicinity of the village barring the route to the ford before the Prussians could properly 'Garrison' it.

Confidently, our attacks went in...

With my dice rolling poor even by my standards, these were promptly rebuffed!

Perhaps the Dragoons could apply even more pressure?

Daniel promptly formed square to seal off the flank. Predictable, but effective!

A second and third wave of infantry assaults met with the same results. 

Seriously, how many ones and twos can a man roll in one evening? Maybe it was time to convert our feint on the left opposite the town into the main attack?

David led off with his Cuirassier Brigade. Once again the 'by the book' Prussians had formed square - boring!

The squares prevailed, but the Prussian batteries fled the field!

However, with his infantry drawn into the centre battles, there was little David could do to follow up on his gains...

So, buoyed by David's success on the right, I decided to emulate that feat with my Dragoons on the left wing...

Surely I was due a roll of a six? Five? A four would be good...

But no, the Prussians held once again!

As our attacks reached their culmination point, the Prussians started to get confident...

And now the boot was on the other foot - they moved their cavalry up to force us into square...

Our squares also held, resulting in a stalemate. Since the French mission was to cross the Mulde by the end of the evening, with five turns played it was a Prussian victory!