Seven Year War Imaginations -Garvald Style

Place- Saturday 8th January 

Place- The Dacha of Comrade Gilchristki.

       First game of the year found us on a Garvald Film Studios Outside Broadcast Production in the hamlet of Billsquarry indulging in a spot of imaginary Seven Years War fisticuffs between the states of Lorraine and Wolfenbuttel.Seemingly the scenario came from the mind of Charles S Grant.El Presidente and myself took on the mantle of The Electoral League standing in the way of the ambitions of the Lorraninian upstarts.The invaders were in the hands of John Perkins and in the hinderances of Oor Donald.Our objective was to hang on to the village around the crossroads so it actually looked very achievable as there was a time limit and I expected Donald to drag his heals coming into contact.Actually Donald had decided to charge forward quickly and trample over any opposition but he had neglected to tell his dice this as his first dice roll ended up in a blunder meaning his entrance on to the table was delayed.Well that was a half hour of the game time taken care off.

John and Donald having a chit chat before kick off.

My lads parading before the off.

The village in question.

         Our initial forces had encamped in the village which was also behind a ridge which meant the opposition basically had to see the whites of the defenders bloodshot eyes before engaging.This meant that Donald’s abundance of cavalry had plenty of space and time to manoeuvre around our left flank before actually having to think about it.John took charge of the infantry and as usual with infantry crawled towards the enemy.This gave El Presidente the opportunity to take potshots with his skirmishers from the safety of some woods.First blood to the gallant defenders.

And the band played on!

Priming my useless guns.

El Presidente’s day job.

The “pick a general “slot.

My first shot at the enemy resulted in a few scratched brass buttons on Donald’s heavy cavalry but nothing else meaning his cavalry kept on coming forward which he did until his cavalry crossed the river and came face to face with my Hussars and being me I charged into them and started on the downward spiral of losing my cavalry in kamikaze style.As well as chasing my Hussars Donald done away with my artillery battery so it was going to be a long afternoon.My plan was to use my cavalry as sacrificial prawns giving the infantry time to organise and defend the village.Our grenadiers had dug into the village meaning it was going to be a hard job for the attackers to evict them from the premises therefore everybody else would be asked to give their lives without question and this they did unhesitatingly.Lunch was announced so we trooped through to the Dacha’s lounge for a banquet of Pork Wellingtons and horse meat sandwiches before recommencing the afternoon’s gameplay and the heroic defence of the village.

Donald’s cavalry indulging in a trot.

The rest a wee bit behind.

After they had blundered off course.

My gallant lads imitating the Gallant Six Hundred.

      The afternoon started off the same way as it finished with cavalry battles on one side with the slog of infantry advancing slowly on the other wing.Our plan of holding out until full time looked like it was going to happen for as soon as the Lorraine infantry reached the outskirts of the village it came headlong into the entrenched grenadiers who were definitely not for shifting.

Trying to swat flies.

The Steamroller approaches.

The first hamlet falls.

The first engagement.

           On my side of the battle,reinforcements had arrived so my plan was to charge Donald’s cavalry and chase them from the field but Donald got the better of what should have been a one sided contest in my favour .Donald’s light cavalry chased my Hussars from the field and in the process chased my heavy cavalry reinforcements in the same direction. The defence of my side of the village was definitely going to be down to the infantry.More infantry reinforcements arrived to bolster my beleaguered defenders and although some of them left as quickly as they arrived the remainder dug in and help hinder Donald’s expansion plans for a while.As I said my plans were to interfere with Donald’s cavalry and win time whereas El Presidente’s aims were to prevent John from moving more infantry into position for a village assault.A few of his units were beginning to arrive on to the outskirts of town but all his initial assaults were repulsed. The arrival of cavalry reinforcements helped to hinder the infantry assaults as well as our skirmishers who were proving to be the men of the match as they were preventing some of John’s infantry coming to the aid of the besiegers and also leaving his assaulters being attacked on the flank by El Presidente’s cavalry.I was now a bit more confident about holding on. 

My infantry buying time.

John’s infantry finally reach the village.

The first assault is pushed back.

Trying to hold on till the final whistle.

             The game turned into a stalemate with more of the Lorraine forces edging their way towards the village this time with artillery support but too late to do any real damage to our defenders who were coping well with the infantry attacks and as the cavalry couldn’t enter the village or even take buildings the dye was set and the defenders lived to fight another day although if it had been part of a campaign there wouldn’t have been many defenders to contest another battle.

El Presidente’s cavalry arrive.

Donald’s artillery dragging their heels.

And still they hold on.

An awfy lot of figs in a small space.

         A great game played with the usual aplomb.I like these big games once in a while but I would hate to have to paint all these figs.I’ll stick to my skirmish games.

Endgame.

        My thanks to Comrade Bill for putting on the game and supplying the vittels.All figs and scenery were provided from the collections of Donald,John and Bill himself.

         This has been a Garvald Film Studios Outside Broadcast Production.