Napoleonic: Reviving my 1809 Campaign games

 Sincere apologies to those who follow me for active wargaming content. To be honest it has been a very productive and creative year artistically (model buildings and terrain, 2D paintings and painting several hundred 15/18mm figures) but not many actual games. However a lot of that effort has been spent in writing a "new" set of rules for large regiment/brigade level games, and this post will show you the first experimental "big game" with them.

Some may recall I wrote an intro to my ideas and showed the armies at the end of my wrap-up blog post from 2022. Please have a look if you need a reminder. 1809 Armies at New Year 2023

I'm pleased to say all the aims I wrote in that have been achieved and we are pressing on to success.

I put "new" in inverted commas as the very generous-minded Cotswold wargamer/author extraordinaire, Keith Flint, gave me the go-ahead to adapt his SYW "Honours of War", which I love, for my Napoleonic games. Anyone familiar with HoW will take to my "Abensburg to Wagram" (A2W) set very easily. The ideas have been to change the scale to 1:50 from the notional 1:25 of HoW; add an extra layer of Commander ability and make leadership more significant; change the emphasis of the Hit table and addition/subtractions for a Napoleonic battlefield; allow flexible formations and unit sizes (from Trifling German schutzen to Huge 3000-4000 man Austrian regiments); allow for the flexibility of a lot of Light Infantry units; and a Hit/Recovery system that is less predictable than HoW.

The Battle of Emmerting-Burghausen - test game

I was keen to try a big battle on the 12 x 6 foot table while I still had it intact from those games in 2022 (remember the Winter Jacobite game of Althorp?). So I restored it to a green/brown terrain meant to be Bavaria in a wet April of 1809. I added in my newly acquired 3D-printed German buildings and spruce trees, then concocted a fictitious battle and a campaign background to give it some context. Here are the briefing documents and orbats for anyone interested Emmerting-Burghausen documents.  The idea was to have a large French and allied Corps army pressing an even larger and still viable part of the Austrian army which had the incentive to retreat, after a set number of moves, by roads to the rear and Eastern corner. The French force had more effective leaders (Paul B. was Marshal Lannes) and therefore the ability to move faster, so might interfere with that plan.

I won't give a link to the rules at this stage as they did not entirely work (that's why we test!), and we only got four, fairly eventful, moves done.  No point dwelling on it in too much detail so I'll present a lot of photos and hope you enjoy them, and then I will wrap up at the end and say what we did next.

Austrian deployment areas are in white, and their basic line of retreat was towards Salzburg. The blue dotted line marked the limit of the Austrian commander (Richard  N. as Archduke Ludwig) to place dummy units  - we used a Blinds system and scouting to reveal hidden or distant formations

Table before the troops. 

An overall view at deployment time. The blank green bases are blinds which may or may not conceal real units. Next few photos are a tour of the armies on at the start

I had a lot of "Wargamer ADC" bases left over from Waterloo 2015 games so snapped off the four small compartments and these are used for Unit number: Hits suffered: Status, and probably, but not yet, Size.

This is a reduced size (missing out one of the storeys) 3D printed building from a row of very tall Leipzig town houses. I am using it to represent Kastl, which I imagine as a stately schloss in its own parkland

3D printed buildings which were the subject of a post earlier this year

Both sides were due to get reinforcements to their front lines very early on. Richard is bringing up light troops at speed

Paul will be bringing his on shortly on his left flank

Nearest villages are mostly downloadable card ones which followers will have seen on my18th century tables

Up to this game (March 2023) the vast majority of the troops were bought on Ebay and painted by others. They are nice but I can't take any credit. More of mine in future games.

In the distance Paul has advanced quickly with Montbrun's Cavalry Division, hoping to exploit the unoccupied enemy central area

Richard has brought up Radetsky and this has enabled an Austrian advance on the French, who had opted to stay mostly in Burghausen village until the Bavarians began to arrive (Light Cavalry brigade behind the distant woods)

To Montbrun's dismay Lannes' scout squadron has revealed a Brigade of Austrian Cuirassiers lurking  behind the hamlet and gardens of Gendorf

Bavarian Dragoons and infantry advance through Burghausen

Bavarian artillery

Austrian Grenadiers in Gendorf will soon want to form squares

Bavarian and Austrian light cavalry brigades clash

And battle is also joined between the larger formations to the West. French Hussars backed up by Chasseurs 

Austrian attacks have been repelled in the foreground and at  the cavalry fight  near mid-table. But a French Cuirassier brigade has attacked right through the centre and is overwhelming Richard's lancer screen.

Richard has to pull back his Lancers

Action at the central road between villages. French Light infantry have stormed through the woods and repelled Austrian Jagers but there is an artillery stand-off with batteries doing little damage (a lesson for our Hit Table)

A regiment of Archduke Charles Legion attacks the Bavarian infantry supported by two artillery batteries

The successful Cuirassiers look menacing

More Austrian Grenadiers in squares while the cavalry fight - Chasseurs have broken an Austrian Hussar regiment

Although the front Austrian Cuirassiers have been broken collective losses have caused all Montbrun's cavalry to withdraw to reform

Richard is content that the cavalry threat to his centre has somewhat receded. Unfortunate Initiative dice by Paul had stalled his infantry division above Emmerting. The line of retreat for the Austrian Grenadiers and Cuirassiers is not clear through being dominated by two French batteries

French infantry at last attack Gendorf and the nearby orchards and kitchen gardens

French turn to form squares to defend the gap in front of the Burghausen rathaus and church

Austrian lancers reform while eyeing up the Cuirassier threat

One Austrian battery is broken by Bavarian cavalry.......

.......who go on to hit Archduke Charles Legion in the flank, forcing them to flee through the pond

Not surprisingly the infantry fairly easily overcame the artillery at the hedgeline, but not so those protected by the Gendorf BUA. In fact we found it came down to who got the most "natural 5s" on Average dice to break the opponent. Again the Hit table and melee duration needed looking at. 

Conclusion

In only Four Moves there was, not surprisingly, no result of who might win, but it was only a test game so the main lessons were:

- The Hit Table needed to be more drastic, especially for Artillery and for Open Order troops.

- Units were "Done For" quicker than I wanted so that was still too predictable.

- Leaders did not have as much effect as I hoped, except on Movement.

- Squares need a better boost (we did not in fact test them but I had forgotten to give them an advantage - shades of HoW 18th century not yet shaken from my brain!)

- With the rules as they were this was too big a game to be played by only two players in one day to a conclusion. There were about 1300 figures in play, so representing about 65, 000.

- My new ideas on Leadership Ratings/Initiative and increased Movement rates had worked very well in my opinion.

Paul and Richard expressed some satisfaction with the game, and were both extremely helpful in guiding suggested amendments. They amounted to quite a lot but I felt the rules were now shaping up for something smoother.  

In the next post I will describe how I was able to move on to my first refight of an actual 1809 battle. I'm trying to take them roughly in chronological order so this would be Landshut/Altdorf.  It was only a large Divisional engagement, albeit with some peculiarities which I felt would engage the ingenuity of the players and test most of the rules I needed to judge.  The good thing was that it should enable a decent amount of Moves and to see how the different results of the Hit Table reactions and reforming rules would feel.

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AN INVITATION

I hope you enjoyed, at least the spectacle of this game, I certainly did. 

Landshut/Altdorf was a success, as you will read in due course, and little or no changes were needed from that game,  so I am currently planning the next historic refight. This will be the sprawling actions around Hausen, Teugn and Dunzling on 19th April 1809 with a few what-ifs thrown in to to spice it up. It will be a "big game" similar in size to the one in this post but with historical orders of battle and objectives and taking place over two days - 29th-30th July 2023.

I sent invitations to a lot of friends but it appears it is "that time of year" when so many are  already booked with holidays or family commitments. Only a few can make it - enough to play but there is still room to make a proper multi-player game of it.

If any of my followers have got this far and want to help me test Stage Three of the development of "Abensburg to Wagram", and can get to my place between Stroud and Cirencester in The Cotswolds of Gloucestershire for one or both days, please don't be shy  and email me for more info - Chris Gregg

Gratuitous plug - here is the map I have just made to design the table for Hausen-Teugn-Dunzling

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A 1760 "What-If" - Battle of the Auden Hills near Torgau

 "Never......in the field of human wargaming........has so much.....been achieved.......in Turn One... .....by so few!......"

(Paraphrasing Sir Winston Churchill and Dillon Browne)

The Challenge

1. Come up with a day long game for four experienced players as a post lockdown release of wargaming energy. (this game was in mid June 2021)

2. Base it on a variation of the Brampton hills, rivers and roads terrain described here

3. Use as many of Paul B's beautiful Minden Austrians and Prussians as possible and make Austrian General Sincere in charge on one side and Prinz Heinrich on the other. Include figures from my own collection too especially my new lockdown-painted French infantry.

Paul was keen for his classic Stadden staff vignette to be C-in C

The Answer

I've got to admit that I had not come across FML Sincere before so had to flip through my reference books to find both him and some of the regiments that I knew Paul had painted but had never graced a wargames table before.  I found him at the battle of Torgau in November 1760, but as only one of many subordinate Generals, so I had to come up with an independent mixed command and role. Scouring the map of surrounding territory there was nothing that fitted my tasked configuration of rivers and hills so, with apologies to residents or those very familiar with the Torgau area, what resulted was more "Imagination" than "What-if", but please indulge me.

Historically the Austrian army had encamped on high ground West of Torgau fortress. Frederick II decided to take most of his army on a wide westerly outflanking march while a lesser force pinned the Austrians to their location without engaging till he was ready in position. Several columns of Prussians set out the day before and arrived in position; the Austrians turned to face and, to cut a long story short, the Prussians won the day but only just, and a bit by a fluke of the terrain.

This is the photo map of the terrain I cooked up for General Sincere to try his luck against Prinz Heinrich (Paul's other leader vignette)

Prussians are in position around the Auden Hugeln and the Austrians approach from the North

Battle of the Auden Hills

Background and Objectives

So I imagined that Prinz Heinrich was leading one of the Prussian columns and had camped overnight within the safety of the Auden Hills. Two hasty redoubts had been constructed one on each flanking height. Another brigade was camped in Mockrenna and there were units as piquets on outlying terrain features.

Heinrich has Victory Conditions which encourage him to take the Wildenburg, Ober Audenhain and the two road exits nearby, and also secure as many crossings of the Wildenbach as possible.

You can read the full briefs and orders of battle for Dillon and Martin as the Prussians and for Kevin and Paul B as the Austrians  in the Historical section of the Download sidebar

Here is a map showing the Prussian plan. It calls for a major left hook across the Wildenbach stream while the right wing marks time awaiting what the Austrians have to offer. Dismounted Uhlans defend Nieder Audenhain and a brigade of Kurassiers lurks nearby to lead a counter attack when necessary. Both flanks will be covered by medium artillery in the redoubts. Martin had control of the left flank up to the central blue line, and Dillon everything to the right of it.

Below is the Austrian plan. They would gain Victory Points for cutting off Prinz Heinrich's columns by taking the bridges at Mockrenna and Nieder Audenhain as well as inflicting serious losses on the Prussians. Contesting the three crossings of the Wildenbach is also vital and I did start them off with two small bridgeheads to get things going. Hence Kevin's plan calls for serious attacks all along the front with the weight of heavy cavalry at the centre right intending to converge with a quick advance by the troops on the extreme right. This was the Austrian trump card as the Prussians did not know the Austrians had Grenzers and Dragoons deployed in the woods at Zone B.  Paul B controlled everything from Wildenhain village to its right (West) and Kevin everything to the left (East). In my game the Austrians are trying to get the drop on the Prussian strategic aims so have the Initiative as the designated Attacker.

At this point I have to confess one of the reasons I've been so long in posting is how difficult this game is to present coherently. I deliberately allowed the armies to be close at the start and both having attacking objectives....and I got what I asked for!  It was full on from the first action and never really let up till going home time. So to go across the table move by move would be tedious and difficult to follow. Instead  I'll give a quick summary and then what I will try to do is present it by sections of battlefield in photos. Inevitably there will be omissions and overlaps but please bear with me and just enjoy the pictures!

Kevin and Paul look pretty happy after their
initial counsel of war

Overall conduct of the game

I will report this from the Austrian side of the table as they were the de facto attackers. Paul pushed forward St Ignon's Dragoons from the right flank woods and the Freikorps Hussars only narrowly escaped from the Grafenberg before they would have been boxed in by advancing Austrian infantry. Kleist brought all his Hussars and Dragoons out of Mockrenna town to rescue them and take on the Austrian infantry. While they were doing this Paul sped forward with his Grenzers up the other side of the Mockrenbach and occupied the woods and town. Eventually they got to the bridge and held it unchallenged for the rest of the battle.

Dillon and Martin pose behind the
Prussian army at the start

The Freikorps Hussars pulled out successfully from the hilltop but were eventually seen off by infantry fire. Now on the Grafenberg St Ignon's Dragoons threatened the oncoming Prussian Hussars and Dragoons from on high and stopped them short. Then the Austrians took the initiative to charge down on the von Reusch Hussars and broke them, later taking on the Winkenstein Dragoons behind. Cavalry battles are rarely one sided so this hung in the balance for a while until the Prussians gave way and made room for Elmendorff's Austrian infantry to power on past the Grafendorf hamlet. The Austrian Dragoons were also pretty exhausted.

A general view of the table which you may care to compare with the two maps above

In the Austrian centre-right Paul had arranged a big attack by all of the "Dashing" Bettoni's four Kurassier units. Opposite, Martin moved first and advanced forward still in column of march but Paul got a double move and crashed into the leading two Prussian infantry battalions. They held for a while, long enough for the other battalions to either form line or get out of the way.  The outcome was that this totally wrecked any plans for a Prussian advance here and Bettonis's regiments fell back, reformed and attacked again when possible to keep all the Prussian infantry back beyond Wildenhain and Grafendorf. They even dragged some of Dillon's central infantry into the mix.  For his part Martin edged his somewhat battered battalions, under cover of the artillery in the redoubt, over the Mockrenberg with the ultimately vain aim to recapture Mockrenna bridge. By the end the Austrians had this entire flank wrapped up and both sides recoiled to heal their wounds or withdraw from the scene.

I was there too!

Kevin planned a thrust in the central part of the Austrian line across the Wildenbach stream past Wildenhain to create panic in the Prussian column. It did not quite work out that way. Combined Austrian infantry work swept the Freikorps battalion out of Wildenhain but they never made more progress as Dillon brought up a line regiment to occupy the woods opposite and kept up an effective fire all day from there. Instead Kevin pushed forward towards the Auden Hills redoubt backed up by his own artillery. It proved a bloody contest with several Austrian battalions repulsed leaving only the Bavarian regiment intact and on the flank of what remained of the Prussian line. It's probably fair to say this battalion did much on its own to prevent any further advance by the Prussians in this area.

Kevin's left flank infantry brigade, that of Brink, urged on by Sincere's staff vignette, got a double move and leaped into action against Nieder Audenhain. They swept away the Prussian Light battery and discovered the village defended by a regiment of dismounted lancers. At that point Dillon attacked with his Kurassier brigade. Brink's infantry were able to turn to face and this was the start of a battle of attrition as successive infantry battalions were engaged by successive waves of Kurassiers. Units on both sides got either shot up and repulsed or ridden down and scattered. Poor Sincere got killed in the confusion by artillery fire from the redoubt; rather than lose the lovely vignette model we relabelled it as "Dithering".  Eventually Kevin's reserve Hussar regiment came up from behind Oder Audenhain town and prevented the victorious Kurassiers sweeping away Brink's men. Although the Hussars were forced to retreat they did see off the last exhausted regiment of Aschersleben's Kurassiers. So on this extreme left flank it was a sort of draw but with the Austrians completely failing to gain their objective of the Nieder Audenhain river crossing and the Prussians not having got anywhere near the Wildenbach stream, let alone Oder Audenhain.

So for the Conclusion see the end of this report.

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The battle told in pictures

The Austrian Right Flank - gaining the Mockrenna Bridge

St Ignon's Austrian Dragoons can't quite make it to
attack the Freikorps Hussars in one move

Martin brings Kleist's Prussian cavalry out of Mockrenna
town towards the Grafenberg

St Ignon attacks the von Reusch Hussars downhill.......

....while a lucky initiative roll enables the Grenzers
 to sneak into Mockrenna wood

In the distance the displaced Freikorps Hussars front up to 
Austrian infantry fire.......

......but wish they hadn't

One wing of von Reusch Hussars on the run.....

...and the other crumbles too

Paul follows up with the attack by the Austrian Dragoons

Each side suffers a setback but still carries on with an intact unit

The Grenzers have consolidated by Mockrenna bridge
 and long range skirmish fire will dissuade
Martin's weakened Prussian infantry from getting any closer.

The final situation on this flank sees Martin's troops in disarray.
Some Prussian Dragoons recover in the woods but erroneously are lined up with the Grenzers!
Elmendorff's infantry have come past Grafendorf and look like the new owners of
Mockrenna town and bridge, but they still have a Prussian-occupied village on their left flank.

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The Austrian Right Centre - Attacks by the Kurassier Brigade

Martin's 6 battalions of the von Kanitz brigade move forward
in column thinking they are safe enough.......

......but are hit by Bettoni's double move charge and don't have enough time or initiative dice to change formation

A gratuitous photo, just because I love it, of von Elmendorff's brigade moving up behind the Kurassiers.
Minden figures beautifully presented by Paul B

Another view of the initial clash

The two pinned columns are surprisingly fighting on and giving time for 3 of the other battalions
to move out to their left over the Mockrenberg

The largest Kurassier regiment breaks another Prussian battalion
  killing von Kanitz in the process, but is itself forced to withdraw

Another Kurassier regiment has drawn in a fusilier battalion from
 the neighbouring brigade of Colonel Roebel

But Martin had done a good job of getting the rest of the
 Kanitz brigade out of the way and thus preserving its dignity

The Fusiliers rout their opponents but they are also exhausted
 in the process

The wider pictures show two Kurassier regiments have
reformed and are ready for the fray again

The view from within the Austrian ranks

As Paul surveys his achievement it becomes evident that any forward attempt here by the Prussians has been completely thwarted.......

.....so following success the Kurassiers advance again,
initially forcing the Freikorps light infantry to evade......

.....and making it difficult for the Prussians to reform

The big regiment had retreated right back to reform and recover Hit Points

But those Prussian infantry still had a sting and both the weak cavalry regiments were "Done For" by close range musketry

Nevertheless the successive attacks had cleared the front of Prussians and they had got nowhere near achieving any objectives

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The Austrian Centre Left - Exhibitions of reckless bravery!

Kevin tried at once to improve his small bridgehead by advancing General Migazzi's infantry, but the Prussians were coming forward to meet  him in the confined space between Wildenhain wood and the redoubt hill. In the face of the cannon fire it was a brave act by both sides

Migazzi's lead battalion was repulsed leaving the
Bavarian Holnstein regiment looking isolated

A wider view shows the complex configuration that had developed. What would you do? Migazzi's flank looks secure with the capture of Wildenhain....but is it?

No! A Hessian battalion has occupied the woods opposite
 and would stay there for the rest of the game.

Nothing daunted the Bavarians right wheel under canister fire into the flank of Hessian musketeers and fusiliers; they have covering fire from an Austrian battery across the stream

What it looks like for the Hessians on the receiving end and
already weakened by artillery fire

The musketeers were put to flight and passing through the
fusiliers they went too! But a large battalion of Grenadiers
 is coming up.....

With this unexpected setback Dillon considers his options 

A counter attack in line frightens off the Bavarians who have done a great job

The view from behind the Auden Hill redoubt. Grenadiers at left distance. Prinz Heinrich at right and the ammunition train guard at left foreground.

Overview of the musketry battle going on in Wildenhain

Artillery fire and Grenadier musketry pushes the Austrian infantry back where it came from. Though note how the Austrian Kurassiers have isolated what remains of this active portion of Roebel's brigade.

A nice overview of the whole proceedings at about this point

The Grenadiers and the other Hessian battalion in the woods
are appearing to bottle up any further Austrian advance.....
or is it vice versa?

The ever-dynamic Kevin is renewing his attack

Too good to omit this photo - Austrian figures in PB's collection at the other end of Kevin's tape measure

Above and below: two views of more Austrian heroics in
front of that redoubt!

After this salvo the Prussian ammo supply is finished and they
may need that ammunition train

The last photo on this part of the table shows that the Austrians are content they have fulfilled their objective to disrupt the Prussian advance and it's not worth losing more men.

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The Austrian Left Flank - Prussian Kurassiers blunt the attack

Apologies to the purists  - we had to a make up numbers for this game to balance out. You've already seen we used my Hessians instead of more Prussian infantry, and on this flank those 'Austrians" are my new Minden and Crann Tara French infantry battalions. Half the "Prussian" Kurassiers are in fact my very old RSM Austrian Cuirassiers.

A double move and General Sincere's support help Major-General Brink get close to Nieder Audenhain.
The Hainault Grenadiers are angled back en potence to protect this flank from the cavalry.
Note the Austrian medium artillery is well placed to give "crossing fire" if those Kurassiers attack

They do! 

The result is that one wing of the regiment is broken
but the Grenadiers have suffered 4 Hits and must retreat

That looming hand is just above where the plucky Prussian
 Light battery met its demise in the face of overwhelming numbers

Dillon inspects with interest as Kevin withdraws the battalion which had attacked the village and been repulsed with Kurassiers also on its flank

A close up as Prinz Heinrich (at right) tries not to notice that one of his Kurassier squadrons is fleeing!

Now the surviving squadron of the Friedrich von Brandenburg
 Kurassiers hits the next Austrian battalion in flank.
Two down and three to go!

Feeling a bit out-horsed on this flank Kevin brings the Nadasdy Hussars out from behind Ober Audenhain

.....as another battalion scurries back and the Kurassiers
 follow up, hitting the next one frontally

A wider view which shows elements of Brink's brigade
streaming back to reform

Somewhere in all this the General Sincere vignette
got too near a unit suffering Hits and Dillon's double six
then counted him as a casualty

It's all good natured fun and the protagonists still have a laugh

The Nadasdy Hussars, (a large unit) takes on the standard size
 Kurassier regiment which has been weakened by
 artillery fire.........

.....beats it and follows on to the next one

The recovering regiment awaits the outcome

The Hussars had overreached themselves, as is often the way with cavalry charges, and their opponents followed up their countercharge onto the infantry. But with 3 Hits already it did not bode well for them

Sensibly withdrawing back to Prinz Heinrich's acclaim........

........as they had left the Austrian battalion broken, and the entire Brink's brigade now trying to reform
further back than they started

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Conclusion

I hope it comes across from this disjointed account that in pure attritional terms the Austrians were successful along their entire right wing from Wildenhain westwards, and it is fair to say their forces had been pushed back everywhere from Wildenhain eastwards. But that did not matter. What mattered was that between them Kevin and Paul had kept the Prussians back completely from even starting to gain the territorial objectives they needed, and inflicted a very decisive tally of units destroyed.  The Progress chart says it all - Unit points "Done For" is my 0.5 to 5 point scale depending on size and quality - 24 to 12, but add/subtract objective points (see the Briefs) and it becomes Austrians 34 and Prussians 9.5.

My brief observations for what they are worth, starting on the Austrian left.

At Nieder Audenhain it is difficult to know what either Kevin or Dillon could have done better. Without the Cuirassiers Kevin would have pushed through the dismounted uhlans eventually to gain the bridge.

Kevin's attack on the Auden Hills was not necessary to his objectives and probably would have been better by moving and shooting rather than a charge. Even so it caught Dillon off guard and was useful.

Gaining control of Wildenhain early was a useful move and denied the Prussians 2.5 Terrain points in the end. 

The biggest game winner proved to be Paul's double move at the start with the Kurassier brigade. I don't think any of us could see that coming and I'm very sorry for Martin that his day was rather blighted by being on the back foot all day because of that. Martin took it very well but wasn't left with enough infantry or terrain space to recover properly. Crossing the ridge to the next valley was a smart move though, well executed.

Paul never put a foot wrong all day and his surprise Dragoon attack on the hill had the unexpected consequence of drawing out both Martin's Hussars and Dragoons which left the hidden Grenzer unit free to occupy Mockrenna. The unit marker for the Grenzers was on the table in the wood from the start  so theoretically the Prussians were aware that something was there. Pity the Hussars did not head down river to meet them instead.

Ah well, at least we got a decisive result but I feel it should have been closer if it had not been for a few  key dice rolls at certain times.  They all took their misfortunes in good spirit.

As stated at the beginning, in our bit of alternative history General Sincere was leading this column to head off a part of Fred the Average's flank march round the Torgau position. Prince Heinrich's force was trying to press on through Ober Auderhain to join other outflanking forces. So a defeat of this nature. (about a third of  Prussian unit points Done For) probably would have been enough to make Frederick think again.......

Personally I think it was fantastic.  I wanted plenty of action and boy, did I get it. Honours of War, with a few minor tweaks, came good as usual - well done Keith.  Most players only had about 2 or 3 games of HoW under their belts but managed superbly and we got 6 all-action moves done. Thoroughly drained we went off to the Butcher's Arms for a well-earned drink and a meal and to relive the highlights........

Thank you to all four.

Lots more photos I couldn't find room for but here are a couple more of the players in action. I always love to see the thoughtful moments, the banter and candid inter-actions when I can snap them.

Just looked at these two wondering about a caption and realised it could apply to either side!
 "Now he's fallen into my trap!"