Tweenwater War - Battle of Redmead Ridge

Battle 2 of the Tweenwater War Eastern Front

After his defeat at Hartvale, General Spengler regrouped his forces, fell back to a new defensive position, and called for reinforcements. Meanwhile, the Imperial advance continued unabated.

General Spengler takes up a defensive position on Redmead Ridge. The Imperial commander, General Whittelspoon, continues to advance up the road, with his cavalry leading the way. The Imperial artillery is lagging behind.

Regravian reinforcements arrive, blocking the road.

As more Imperial infantry arrive, Whittelspoon decides to clear the enemy from the hill.

Whittelspoon's vanguard tries to take the ridge but is driven from the field. Meanwhile, two brigades of Redgravian cavalry arrive (bottom)

Now Whittelspoon leads an attack on the Redgravian flank, to no effect.

The Imperial artillery finally deploys and begins to bombard Spengler's position on the hill. Under cover of the bombardment, Whittelspoon assaults the ridge.

Only to be routed again! Nevertheless, casualties are piling up on Spengler and the Redgravian infantry has been routed on the left.

 Assault after assault goes in but Spengler's infantry stymies the attacks. Finally, however, it cannot hold any longer and routs from the field. The Imperials hold the hill!

But it is only temporary. Spengler's final infantry unit drives the Imperials off.

As a gloom descends, Whittelspoon realizes he cannot take the hill before nightfall. He withdraws to rally his army.

Game Notes

• This game was played with my latest DBA-esque horse & musket rules (a partial description is in this post).
• I will have to post in more detail about the activation rules at a later time. In short, units need to make an activation roll to move or assault. The Imperial army suffered significantly from poor activation rolls throughout the game, which caused them to launch piecemeal attacks on the enemy on the hill. I believe this was a crucial factor in the game. It can be frustrating, and can mess up Neil Thomas's scenario design. Nevertheless, it's not a bad thing from a solo gaming perspective because it adds interesting wrinkles to the story. I may want to tweak the rules to make it easier to move earlier in the game, allowing armies to maneuver into contact and deploy more effectively.
• The scenario was #8 - Melee from One Hour Wargames. The attackers (Imperials) need to be in sole possession of the hill by turn 15.
• This was only the second game I played for the Tweenwater War Eastern Front. I started the campaign nearly two years ago but then stalled because I did not have a complete Imperial army.
• So far in this campaign, each side has won one battle.