First Maximillian Adventure Game

As I have enough figures painted we can have a first run out with the Mexican Adventure figures, Chris already has a bunch of Republicans so we only really needed Imperial and French troops from me.

For our game a village sits off centre of the table held by an Imperial force, the Republicans have a force attacking the village and the French have sent a relief column

Steve has two groups of Imperial Mexicans with a level 2 leader in the village supported by a 6 man unit of Belgian Skirmishers and their level 1 leader.

Attacking the Village Chris has a 24 man formation Republican Line infantry with a level 2 and level 1 leader, two groups of National Guard with their level 1 leaders, a unit of Town Militia led by their Alcalde and his dog, also level 1,  2 units of dismounted cavalry skirmishers and a light gun.

Coming to rescue the Imperials are a unit of Chasseurs D'Afrique, a formation of 24 Legionnaires with their level 2 and level 1 leaders and a skirmish unit of Legionnaires led by Sergeant Knocker.

First on are the dismounted cavalry skirmishers who currently have no target.

The first objective for both sides are the chocolate biscuits which have already nearly gone (I finish

these off to avoid any conflict)

  

The Republican Rurales deploy and fire an ineffective volley at the Belgians, as three command cards come out next one after the other this triggers a response, Chris rolls 9 and charges 3 moves towards the Belgians leaving the Rurales dangerously exposed.

The Republican gun deploys in effective range and fires, it causes little damage initially but it has the range.

As the rest of the Republicans deploy Steve starts to wonder if we have lost the cards for the French, tiffin is drawn before any French manage to deploy on table.

The Belgians however do get to fire at the Rurales causing two casualties and 4 shock.

Next the Imperial foot fire at the Rurales, another casualty and 4 more shock cause them to break and Chris loses 1 force morale as the Rurales leg it to the table edge.

Finally the French relief starts to appear with Sgt Knocker leading his Legion skirmishers followed by the Chasseurs D'Afrique.

The Republican regulars open their first volley onto the village and the Imperials start to take casualties.

The Belgians have now taken 4 casualties and have 3 shock forcing them to fall back.

However the French get 4 command cards and this allows the Chasseurs to get two consecutive moves sweeping around the flank of the Republicans. 

The regulars unleash another 25 dice volley.

One unit of Imperial Mexicans takes 3 casualties and multiple shock forcing it to retreat from the village along with its commander.

Meanwhile the Cavalry card is out again and they charge the Republicans, by bad luck (or good if your French) the troops in their way are the poorest on table, Militia led by the Alcalde and his dog.

Net result is 5 Mexican Militia and their commander casualties and a broken unit with another 2 force morale removed for Chris, they do ok though and take two Chasseurs D'Afrique with them.

The Republican left is not looking too good with the cavalry poised, however if the Republican guns card comes out first all may yet be saved.

To slow the cavalry down Chris pushed a unit of dismounted cavalry skirmishers through the long grass and volleys them, unfortunately the firing is ineffective and you have to wonder if they can run away in time.

The Legion formation at last turns up, perhaps someone found some Tequila on the march and they stopped to finish it off?

The Chasseurs card is drawn first and they charge the dismounted cavalry. f

The Cavalry take another casualty but the skirmishers lose 5 troopers and their leader. This leads to three tests for loss of leader, loss of melee and breaking, Chris rolls badly and loses 5 more force morale reducing him to just one and losing all the red command cards from the deck.

Not surprising next turn the Cavalry come out first and they bounce on to the gun and wipe them out removing the last force morale. Its a French/Imperial win but we play through the deck.

The Legion advance again, two turns with no red cards coming out at all.

Knockers Legion skirmishers get their first shot away at the Republican regulars with minimal effect.

The triumphant cavalry pull back to regroup.

The Legion formation volley the Republican regulars inflicting the first casualties of the game on them.

The last card sees the National Guard step from behind the regulars and volley the Imperials, the casualties and shock rack up forcing them out of the village, unfortunately too little too late for the Liberals.

A resounding victory for the French in the end, the Chasseurs D'Afrique earning their soubriquet of the Blue Butchers. As often happens the French managing to snatch victory from the Jaws of defeat as the second half of the game turned on its head despite the Imperial Garrison almost being wiped out.

Fun game and great to get the beginnings of the collection on table for a first time.

Thanks Chris and Steve and as always thank you for stopping by.