First Play: Gå På

I finally managed to get my War of the Spanish Succession collection to the table for a first play of the Gå På rules against Lenin.  In a reprise of our previous WSS games I took command of the French and Lenin took the Allies.

The scenario was an Allied attack against a smaller French force across a small (but fordable) river with the Allied objective being the capture of a fortified village on the far side.

Both sides deployed with the traditional arrangement of horse on each wing and infantry in the centre.  The French were significantly weaker in cavalry but the river crossing presented the Allies with an interesting challenge.

Here are some photos from the game:

Traditional deployment from both sides

Dutch horse on the Allied left wing

British horse on the Allied right wing

The Allied horse on the right advances to the river

Jacobite Irish defending the village

The foot face each other in the centre

The Dutch horse advance to cross the river

The French horse charge the disordered Dutch

Churchill's regiment advances across the bridge

The North & Grey's ford the river towards the Saintonge

The French artillery engages the advancing English

The Dutch foot successfully crosses the river

The British horse and foot push across too

It was an interesting game with the Dutch horse being thrown back across the river when the French charged them when they were disordered from the initial crossing and despite their greater numbers the Dutch morale cracked.

This gave the British horse on the other wing pause and they waited for some time before trying to force a crossing.

The English pushed two regiments across the bridge in the centre but the French artillery caught them in column on the bridge and they were thrown back; however, the Dutch foot managed to cross successfully but struggled to make headway against a determined defence by the Irish in the village.

In the end the French horse on the left wing couldn't replicate the success on the right and the Allies successfully crossed with most of their horse intact.  This forced the French to refuse that flank and begin withdrawing on the village.  But in the end the Allies couldn't quite break through and take their objective.

The rules produced an interesting game and I was pleased with the result but they did feel rather "old school" with lots of dice rolling with modifiers to obtain the various results - something that could be streamlined and produce a quicker game I think.