Warning Order - Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society

Age of Eagles: Fighting Withdrawal (cont.)Battle ReportThe Saxons and French of VII Corpsnow began to exchange musket and artilleryfire with the Prussians on the extremeflank. The rest of the French infantryand cavalry were still trying to sortthemselves out when the Russians decidedto build a grand battery in the middleof the table! The first salvo severelydamaged a French infantry brigade andsent the others into a mass of confusiontrying to avoid it’s area of fire.In the middle there were several cavalrycharges as both sides threw brigadeafter brigade into the swirling melee. TheFrench finally got sorted out and began toadvance on the Russian main line of defense.Meanwhile, at least one Russiancorps was making it’s way to the bridgewith little to no resistance, ensuring atleast a draw forthe Russians.VII Corpsfinally made it’sattack, leadingwith the Saxonsand they soughtto punch throughthe Prussiancorps. After aheavy exchangeof artillery and musketry fire, the Saxonscharged in with the bayonet. Despitesome successes, the Prussian line washolding. The French division of the VIICorps attacked the leading elements ofanother Russian force, but could notmake any headway.The Prussians maneuvered a cavalrybrigade onto the flank of theSaxons, who now had to dealwith threats from two directions.The Saxon line held,then crumbled as the Prussianspressed their advantage.Elsewhere, the French cavalryhad been chased off thefield, the infantry wasbogged down across theboard, and casualties werequickly mounting.Despite some last minute desperateattacks, the French attack fizzled out aslong lines of Russians began preparationsto cross the bridge in relative safety.With all the players seeing that theFrench were spent, the game was calledas a decisive Russian victory.Final ThoughtsThe French had some horrendous dierolls to start the game and with a +4modifier for the first turn you wouldthink that the odds of this happening werepretty remote. The Russians took advantageof every opportunity and the severalcavalry charges in the center made theFrench pause for a few turns.The French just could not get theirforces to strike at the same time all nightlong. Bad movement die rolls continuedto happen at the worst possible times,then to add insult to injury atleast three times the Frenchrolled 1s and the Russiansrolled 10s in melee!Both sides fought well,despite the French die rollingproblems. The Frenchclearly had a plan, but gettingit to work was another thing entirely!The AOE system performedwell again, withnine players and theequivalent of 7-8 corps onthe table. We played 11turns in just over fourhours with several newplayers and had no rulesproblems.ISSUE #14Page 17