Lasalle V2: Les Avant-Gardes

More Lasalle. This time the Frenchman wanted to command the British. We played Scenario 1: Les Avant-Gardes, from the rulebook. The armies were two balanced 250pt forces - the British loosely based on 5th Division during the 100 days and the French on 2nd Division of D’Erlon’s 1st Corps. Both sides have the job of either taking one or both of the towns and/or the bridge… or bloodying the opposing vanguard so much that it quit the field. 

It’s my standard ADLG sized 120mm x 80cm mat with Warlord Epic scale figures on 30mm bases. To the left you see the British and to the right, my French. The British commander opted to put his Cavalry brigade and Landwehr in reserve and play with all seven line battalions  on table. I deployed my larger brigade, including the elite 13th Legere, the grand-battery and the 7th Hussars on table. Since we were all in March columm, there was no skirmishing and a simple dice-off to give me first turn. 

The British clearly had a brigade aimed at either town, so I was going to use my infantry to form a defensive line and see if I couldn’t work my Hussars round my left. The key ‘Lasalleism’ here is that the stream (or actually any difficult going) doesn’t slow you. You just have to spend extra MO to give the order. I had plenty of MO to move my three brigades forward, unlimber the artillery, change formations, bombard and get those Hussars round the flank. 

In support of that manoeuvre, one of my batteries savaged the North Gloucester men with deadly cannon fire. 

The opposing cannon batteries had also done deadly work on my right.The narrow confines led to the barrages hitting multiple British units, while the British guns scored hits on the Elite Legere garrisoning the town. The stoic Redcoats pressed forward, massing to assault the French holding the bridge. On their right, Redcoats took the unoccupied town. The North Gloucester formed line, and loosed a volley of musketry into the Hussars, sending men and screaming horses to the ground. 

As the reserve French Ligne battalions began to arrive in the distance, their skirmishers redoubled their efforts. Seizing the openings provided, the 7th Hussars charged and then ran down the Redcoats. 

The British commander brought forward the 95th Rifles to pick out hiding French targets with pinpoint rifle volleys. Then he gave the order to storm that bridge, throwing two battalions into one French Legre unit. The Legere held firm. This lead to the shakier of the two British attackers routing, while the other was pushed back. 

The Hanoverian Landwehr Brigade moved up from their reserve positions and adopted a line to screen their Division’s flank. The Hussars were content to hold while their commander focused his efforts on bringing the first infantry line forward then their own reserves up. The critical moment in the battle was arriving and in preparation, French artillery redeployed forward. 

Not a moment too soon as the the Gordon Highlanders finally occupied that town while the remaining battalion of their brigade loosed a musket volley, fixed bayonets, and charged over the stream. They were repulsed in desperate close quarters fighting. While they regrouped, the French rolled up the guns into canister range. 

The Right of the French line saw bitter fighting as the 95th Rifles strive to dig the Legere out of the other village while their comrades made repeated sallies to take that bridge. The French officers had been rallying the first line and they were once more in good order, albeit minus a few souls. 

The time had come. French heavy artillery cleared the Gordon Highlanders from the town on the hill, while canister fire cleared the other British Battalion below. At the same time - Legere clustered around the French side of the bridge decimated the remnants of the British battalion before them.

Five British battalions had been broken, while their cavalry reserve raced to make some impact on the battle. They’d spent too long laying their trap for the 7th Hussars. The flamboyant horsemen crashed into and broke a unit of Landwehr facing them. With that, the British admitted they’d failed to secure the vital crossroad and withdrew. 

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Post battle thoughts:

It’s great when everything you do works but the same doesn’t happen for your opponent. In particular, the artillery kept their form from the last game - the French lethal and the British mediocre. 

French are incentivised to use the ‘attack column’, while the British will have the advantage in any protracted firefight. So how did it end up that the British favoured the early charge over whittling down their targets with musketry?

Rally is a real order. It’s not a waste of time. Especially if you are British and don’t have to arrange for it to happen away from the enemy. 

I can sort of see the logic though. If you are the defender, you are at risk of breaking entirely in melee. So the temptation is there to gamble when other things aren’t working. That still doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to charge while disordered.

We both played reserves wrong. You are supposed to roll a d6 for each unit per turn passed and they must arrive in March column. Any emergency formation change would occur after skirmishing had already taken place. 

Anglo-Allied Army reserves British 5th division 

Kempts Brigade 87pts

Conscripts 17

Conscripts 17

Highlanders (Vet) 20

Packs. Brigade 70pts

Veterans 20

Highlanders (Vet) 20

Highlanders (Vet) 20

Field artillery 10 

Field artillery 10 (army)

95th Rifles 23 (army)

5th Hanoverian 30pts (in reserve)

Landwehr 10

Landwehr 10

Landwehr 10

5th Cavalry 63pts (in reserve)

Light Cavalry (Hussars)  17

Light Cavalry (Hussars) 17

Light Cavalry (Light Dragoons) 17

Horse Artillery 12 (army)

L'Armée du Nord (100 days)

D’Erlon’s 1st Corps 2nd Division 

1st Brigade. 

1er, 2e & 3e Battalions 13th Legre

Elite (Legere) 20

Elite (Legere) 20

Elite (Legere) 20

1er Battalion 17th Ligne 

Conscript (Ligne) 16

Foot Battery 12 

2nd Brigade (in reserve)

1er & 2e Battalions 19th Ligne

Conscript (Ligne) 16

Conscript (Ligne) 16

1er & 2e Battalions 51st Ligne

Conscript (Ligne) 16

Conscript (Ligne) 16

1st Light Cavalry Division

7e Régiment de Hussards

Light Cavalry 17

Light Cavalry 17

4e Régiment de Chevaux-légers (in reserve)

Lancers 18

Lancers 18

Heavy battery 14 (army reserves)

Heavy battery 14 (army reserves)