Game 46 Amphibious/Land Action

This game is a mini-camapign. It was played out by email between 17 Nov - 26 Dec 2009 with Cesar Alfredo Paz commanding the defending Oberhilse (Blue) forces and Conrad Kinch commanding the attacking Faraway (Red) forces. I played out encounters on the table top solo using their orders as a guide.  The game was set in my fictional land as part of the wars between Oberhilse and Faraway using Hearts of Tin as rules.

Gen Kinch chose to land all of his forces at the northernmost beach, starting with his cavalry and ordering all forces to make aggressive attacks relying on cold steel. This took me a bit by surprise and I had to play out the landing, scrambling to come up with rules for the cavalry to make a beach assault. I didn't have horse barges so assumed that the men were carried in barges while the horses swam. I rolled to see how long it would take for the men to saddle up and mount once on shore. The defenders were initially a single squadron of light cavalry soon reinforced by infantry, artillery and more cavalry. A fierce battle erupted with Blue eventually pulling back in the face of ever growing numbers but with Red having suffered dreadful losses, luckily made up for by some excellent hospital rolls!

       General Paz ordered a defense of the next pass and ordered all of his cavalry forward to support but also rushed troops to start a defensive line next to the old fort. His orders were to be cautious and not risk destruction so when Gen Kinch launched a late afternoon assault, (Moodkee came to mind). I rolled for Brigadier Zinn's reaction and he bailed at the 1st sight of Red's bayonets. Luckily a brigade of Dragoons was close to hand and covered the retreat. After the fight on the beach, Red had only 4 squadrons to face the 8 that Blue now had in hand.

    A day's march brought the armies face to face on the main defensive line, Red had a slight superiority in artillery and infantry but his gunboats could only reach the enemy's left flank and about 1/3 of the defenders had slight breastworks and all were on top of or behind the ridge. Gen Kinch, again taking a page from Gough, deployed his guns and infantry in a single line, ordered an intense bombardment to be followed by a bayonet charge. Only the cavalry was held back. Gen Paz deployed his field artillery and line infantry in the front, held his light artillery and massed light infantry behind the center and deployed his cavalry off to the right, also behind the hill, with orders to wait until the enemy was engaged then advance and hit his flank.

      The Red attack carried the old fort and nearly carried the left hand redoubt which would have laid Blue's flank open but it held and reinforcements were at hand. In the center an attack on the main redoubt was stalled by artillery despite heavy losses from Red's guns. Again reinforcements were to hand and once Blue's cavalry swept forward, things looked bleak. Red's cavalry came gallantly to meet them but were over powered and a final assault led by Kinch in person, broke against the reinforced redoubts. With Kearney's dragoons  loose behind Red's lines, and Red's infantry having taken over 50% losses, the campaign was over.