Trapped against a river.

This week we played a quick game pitting my Prussians versus my French. The Prussian forces were trapped against a river in the middle-ish part of the table by two converging French forces. Sadly the photos were very poor so I can only offer a few of them and without them a battle report is pretty dull. Suffice to say I got butchered despite having the advantage of terrain and being in defense.

Two battalions of Swiss lead the crossing in the south. More head north to attack the ridge.
The converging French forces from the north can be seen on the very distant horizon.
Perry toys and limber.

French Columns approach a Prussian line through farmland. Perry toys.

Italian 12lb foot battery deploys to bombard the village just off stage right.
Elite guns & crew, Perry generals & limber.

Saxon Garde de Corp and Von Zastrows charge down hill into Prussian rubbish with predictable results.
Foundry Prussians with GMB flags, Perry plastic heavies with added plumes
 and Saxon paint job

Massed French approach the Prussian lines from the north. Perry plastic French, Foundry  Prussians.

The French commanders took their own merry time deploying and bashing the Prussians about with artillery fire while they got themselves sorted out for the inevitable assaults. Determined not to take this sitting down von Horn launched his Landwehr lancers at a French horse battery attached to the Saxon cavalry brigade. The brave lancers ran right into a storm of grapeshot, men and horses bowling over each other in the carnage - but they held their nerve and crashed into the battery cutting them down on the spot. Carried away by their own unexpected success they then charged the nearest enemy formation....
Sadly this happened to be both regiments of elite Saxon Cuirassiers who were sitting uphill of them and pretty pissed off about having their artillery support smeared across the landscape! Naturally the heavies came belting down the hillside and tore the lancers apart.

And that was the best thing to happen on the Allied side all night! Each and every time our forces contacted the rampant French, they threw back the brave Army of Liberation. Soon it looked pretty grim as both extremes of the Prussian line ran off in rout and the central position was beginning to become constricted by forces falling back from both north and south into what was becoming a rather congested area of villages and woods. Sensing the very real danger of total encirclement I gave the order to withdraw while there was still one narrow escape route to the east. Being surrounded and forced to surrender would have been too much to bare, even for my good natured soul!  

The French line and some elite units were simply too much for my 2nd class and conscript troops even though the "enthusiastic" bonus in General de Brigade kept them in it for a while. What veteran battalions I had just weren't up for it this time.        

I'm afraid that's it for piccies of this game. I'll stick up some shots of other games etc later to amuse myself & the gentle reader.