Blucher Late Prussian v Late French

This week's Blucher game saw my Late Prussian army taking on Sean's Late French army at 200 points.

The Scharnhorst campaign resulted in the French attacking the Prussians on a fairly open table. The French had to break the Prussian's morale or capture a large town held by the Prussians by nightfall to win while the Prussians had one corps off table and had to hold on to the town or break the French morale.

The French moved quickly to attack the Prussians, having a powerful Guard corps supported by a large infantry based corps:

On the Prussian left two French brigades await the arrival of the Prussian 1st Corps, already it looks like it will take the 1st Corps a long time to get into action when they arrive:

The French continue their approach:

French Guard cavalry advance towards Prussian artillery:

Prussian Hussars are charged by the French Guard Light Cavalry, if they lose they will be pushed back off table and the odds are against them:

The Prussians are resolute though and throw back the French:

Prussian infantry deploy to face the French attack while the vulnerable artillery retires to safety:

The second French Guard Cavalry (actually Saxon Cuirassiers!) charges the Prussian Hussars. This time the Hussars are forced to fall back:

In the centre the Prussians have gained a slight advantage over the attacking French but the French Guard Heavy Cavalry are now behind the Prussian lines with little to hold them up:

The Prussian 1st Corps arrives! Are they too late though?

The French begin a series of assaults on the Prussian held town using a mixture of Guard and Line infantry. The Prussian defenders are determined to defend the Fatherland though and throw back the French attacks:

The two French brigades holding up the 1st Corps are quickly dealt with. However, with the distance they have to travel and the need for the Prussian C-in-C to concentrate on the units fighting the French it seems unlikely they will have much more of an effect on the battle:

The town continues to hold out while the Prussian centre has broken a couple of French brigades. Together with the units destroyed by the 1st Corps it is starting to look as if the Prussians might be able to break the French morale:

The French Guard Heavy Cavalry are thrown back by heroic Prussian gunners manning their guns to the last! The town remains solidly in Prussian hands and the units attacking it are weakening. The French Guard Artillery has had to be deployed to meet the threat of the 1st Corps:

Several French infantry brigades are close to breaking and the Prussians have indeed broken the French line on their right. The brave artillery battery that held off the French Guard Cavalry has been destroyed but the French Guard themselves have been greatly weakened by repeated charges:

 

The Prussian infantry launch another attack on the French infantry breaking them, shattering French morale and winning the battle:

This was a close game that could have gone either way, I had lost five out of a possible six brigades by the end. The Prussian infantry stood up well to the French defending the town with great determination and driving off the French line infantry.

I did make some mistakes, getting confused with my column numbers during Scharnhorst which resulted in my most powerful Corps (1st Corps) being the one that was left off table and leaving them with too far to move to affect the battle once they did arrive. Having said that they did destroy two of the French brigades I needed to break the French morale and also tied up the French Guard artillery so they did make a contribution.