That magician Napoleon... mon dieu!!

Finally some post Christmas HotT, and what better to start with than 48 points of napoleonic Hordes of the Things.

My French are currently a pretty ordinary bunch, some French columns as behemoths, a hero (one of those flashy hussar types) and a magician general to represent Napoleon himself.

Andy's British were again pretty standard, but featuring the amazing riders that Andy has crafted.. very fantasy-like. We played across a 4'x3' playing area.

Deployment view from behind the French line, the battlefield shortened with the inclusion of a river deployed by Andy as the defender.

The British left - shooters backed up with more shooters, a hero, and those brilliant riders

The British right anchored on the river - that's a hero general with the flag. Eddie Izzard's voice rang out with the cry 'Have you got a flag?'

The French right, behemoths supported by shooters, Napoleon himself with a couple of bases of knights (Grenadier a cheval of the Guard)

The man himself - napoleon, a man some saw as having magical powers

The French right advances, the left was starved of pips

Only enough pips for the hero to take two stands of riders with him to threaten the British right across the river

The British right kept losing the firefight with the French (Andy persisted in throwing 's for shooting!!) - so casualties mounted amongst the British shooters

The French left/British right still staring at each other

But finally the French column attacks

And the French right attacks as well

Far fewer British shooters than there were before

Andy pushes the riders forward to delay the French right wing attack

The French left wing column is repulsed, but the Old Guard (Blades) advance

Jostling backwards and forwards on the French right - the British riders doing their job

The Guard attack along the British gun line - head on into the guns.. such bravery .. mon dieu!! And nowhere was the cry heard of 'La Guard recule' .. well almost nowhere ...

But two guns are destroyed

The riders on the extreme flank advance and exchange insults across the river

While it's getting all very confused on the French right - some real 'argey bargey'

The last of the British guns is destroyed

A British hero and more shooters advance to support the British left

Napoleon and his Grenadier a cheval of the Guard (knights) advance

And action across the river

But the casualties have finally mounted too far for the British and both British commands are demoralised... the British complete a heroic and victorious withdrawal from the battlefield, heralded across London as a brilliant feat of arms.

An excellent first encounter for both armies... but both in need of more 'fantasy elements' in terms of both the aesthetic and the function. That said, those riders.... oh wow!!!