Battle for Hoeke Valley- The Second Day's Play

My previous post, Battle for Hoeke Valley Day One action , created a lot of very positive comments for which the team are very grateful. Apologies for the delay for those keen to follow the story but real life has to be attended to in between blog posts!

The story so far
To summarise the first day's  play very briefly - On the Eastern flank the French under Prince Jerome held onto Pironchamps farm and looked as if they might break through the Dutch -Belgian line with an uphill attack to the left of the farm, but by day's end the battalions had run out of steam and poor morale dice took their toll. On the Western flank the French attacks, directed by Reille on the Chatelet area, with both infantry and cavalry, were initially repulsed, but extreme perseverance overcame the Hanoverian defenders and saw Reille and Bachelu make some headway by Move 7. In the centre the Imperial Guard Lancers forward wing mounted Hoeke Hill and saw off a DB Cavalry counter charge while the supporting second wing made ready to face reinforcements in the form of the British Heavy Cavalry brigade. French line lancers reinforcing the centre made a big cavalry clash inevitable.

An early start
The evening before, returning from the pub, players and umpires agreed that we had not got as many moves done as we had hoped and that Day Two reinforcements might be delayed too long to give new arrivals Ken and Roy a decent game. So we all got up early and breakfasted and were down in the wargames room by 0845, dice and tape measures in hand ready to do Move 8 before they came.

I have to apologise that as I had to take over Graham's troops and spent all day operating the French right flank infantry and artillery my understanding of the detail in the centre and left was rather limited. These overall shots help explain the situation.

I started by an aggressive advance on my extreme right to ensure the Nassau skirmishers were kept well away from interfering with two regiments of Foy's Division who began to arrive to reinforce my flank.

To the left of the foreground woods and orchard can be seen 5 depleted French battalions. This is the retreating remnants of Jerome's attack. One battalion tries to reform in the dead ground of Hoeke Hill, another retreats from the river, while one has formed column of march to get back quickly to the orchard. Two are routing at under 50% and will leave the field

Foy's four battalions and a battery can be seen arriving in the foreground. Way beyond them cavalry are contesting the river area and the ridge slopes, and in the very far corner another brigade of sturdy British infantry is just arriving

Second Wing of the 2nd Lancers of the Guard is charging the Royal Scots Greys,
who are supported by the 1st Royal Dragoons

But the Guards are supported by Pire with two regiments of Line Lancers

First wing of Guard lancers carries on the charge into the weakened
Dutch Belgian Light Dragoons, only to be hit in the flank by  DB  Hussars

This gives a good indication of the desperate struggle for Chatelet woods

Fully up to player strength now, I can take up the story to include Roy Boss, being a cavalry commander in the French centre, and Ken Marshall taking British reinforcements in the vicinity of West Hoeke Bridge.

Roy receives a briefing from Kevin

And then it is Ken's turn

The Scots Greys have successfully pushed back second wing of Guard
Lancers but in their pursuit have fallen foul of a flank attack from Line Lancers

West of Chatelet the 30th Foot again face cavalry, this time in line, and
 against 8th Chasseurs a Cheval

....and behind them 1/1 Foot Guards form square

General view across the valley to the cavalry melees

Quality tells as the 1/2nd Guard Lancers has fought off the flank attack by DB cavalry and concentrate on the 1st Dragoons......

.....defeat them....

....and follow up

Behind them things had turned out very badly for the Royal Scots Greys

Shoring up the defence of Pironchamps

General view of the eastern area: On the extreme right the Nassau firepower has seen off the tentative attack by 2nd Ligne.
The weak battalions are beginning to occupy the orchard and luckily I am able to bring forward Foy's battalions to make the situation feel happier

A close up of the right flank

A big gap has been opened as Jerome's men clamber back to the orchard,
 and DB 27th Jagers reoccupy Piron wood

Allied attempts to brace their right flank

More French reinforcements - Foy's 92nd Regiment de Ligne,
and the reformed 1st Chasseurs a Cheval

2/1 Foot Guards face another infantry attack

The Cameron Highlanders head Kempt's brigade and cross West Hoeke bridge 

French skirmishers in the crop field had been left open to a rear attack from the British Life Guards

Above and below: Chasseurs see off the 30th Foot and press on towards the Guards' square

A fateful move - tempted by trying to get enemy lancers within rifle range Ken crosses the Hoeke with most of the 95th Rifles, in skirmish order

Foy's men back up Bachelu with a serious push through Chatelet village 

In middle distance the 5th Lancers change face to line up for an attack on the crop
 fields where French infantry are already threatening the Highlander line 

Further West the Gordon Highlanders continue the line beyond the small wood 

Above and below: the 28th Foot cross West Hoeke bridge; Rogers battery deploys at the road junction and sights upon the 6th Chevaux Leger Lancer Regiment. The 5th Regiment get stung by rifle fire from the 95th. In the foreground, to right and left of the road, the Hanoverian Light Field battalions pushed out of Chatelet are trying to rally. 

Lancers' eye view of the 95th Rifles......

...and when they charged the open order riflemen were ridden down and dispatched

Balance of power changes on the Pironchamps flank

Around this time I was alarmed to see the vanguard of a Brunswick force
 arrive opposite me - an infantry battalion and a horse battery

Slowly I managed to get the weakened 1/1 Legere evacuated to the safer side of the
walled farm while performing a "relief in place" with one of the fresh battalions
 of 100th Ligne  

1/4th Legere had suffered taking on the Nassau elite companies, ending in mutual
withdrawal but I sent in 2/4th as a column attack against the white shako'ed
,Nassau line battalion, determined to keep them back 

Kevin confers with Richard as the latter brings on yet more Brunswickers

As the Brunswick infantry move forward my Foot battery from Jerome's Division
 manages to inflict some casualties on the Dutch Belgian Horse Artillery in the big battery nearby. 

The Guard Horse Artillery, under my command, had to cease firing due to running
out of ammunition, but was now being resupplied 

A nice view of some of James' hard work creating all the Brunswick units. They have now moved forward to the hedge bordering the ridge crest

Multiple cavalry actions decide the centre ground

Guard Lancers led by Lefebvre-Desnouettes have pressed 1st Dragoons up the hill as far as they can go!

...but the newly arrived Brunswick cavalry have other ideas.

Baron Picquet's two French Dragoon regiments arrive on Lissewege Heights......

...then break out into two march columns to gain ground unopposed over Hoeke Hill 

They, in turn, are backed up by Guiton's Cuirassier brigade,  the regiments picking their way between the batteries

Behind Hoeke Hill they wheel left in readiness to form line. In the foreground Roy
has considered the Polish Squadron of 2nd Guard Lancers is "surplus to requirements" and
kindly sends it to reinforce my right flank infantry

Brunswick Hussars meet the exhausted Guard Lancers right on their back line.....

......and push them back downhill

By their side the Hussars' second wing meets a regiment of French Line Lancers

Deadlock at Pironchamps

Further East still the advance of French Dragoons ensures that the now-routing
27th Jagers have no chance to rally

Desperate action by Pironchamps Farm as I press forward column attacks with
Foy's troops to meet the Nassauers and Brunswick infantry descending the ridge
(Apology for the shaky photo - too much excitement!)

French consolidate gains at Chatelet

In the distance the Cameron Highlanders had formed square while the 95th skirmishers
 were over run, but they have seen off the French Line Lancers, for now. In the
foreground Scottish infantry present a stern front to the battle weary Bachelu
battalions 

The 28th Foot guard West Hoeke bridge but Rogers' battery is now reduced to 50% strength
by counter battery fire. Foot Guards reform by the junction

A broader view across Chatelet Wood showing the natural break that has occurred between the battling infantry lines 

From the opposite direction the successive lines of French Dragoons and Cuirassiers can be discerned along the valley

The final battle photo with a yellow line showing the front line. Considerable French gaining of territory up onto the centre of Ramskapelle heights

Kevin and the Sunday players before packing up time

That familiar ADC of modern life, the smart phone, was bringing urgent news of significant road closures along the A40, and although it was only 1700 hours, Richard and James were concerned about their route home. Weighing up the battlefield with his practiced eye James said "I don't think one more move is going to make any difference, let's call it now".  That still left time to tot up the final points scores and have a jolly good analysis of the game before they went though.

So next time - Score results and conclusions on the game, and thoughts on how this will affect our refight of Quatre Bras