Battle Report: Travel Battle - The Battle for El Azul Plantation

With Red and Blue teams all painted up, the terrain boards ready; it was time to give these rules a spin.  A nice thing about Travel Battle is that they are only a few pages long.    

General Reddington moved his army half-way across the world.  It was time to put an end to the march of Emperor Bluenapart's forces.  They had been expanding across Europe and no one else; Green, Yellow, or White had been able to stop them. 

Reddington's government had deployed him to the edge of the conflict.  Incensed by their intervention, Bluenapart had deployed a counter force led by Marshal Bluey to try and push Reddington back into the Sea.  After maneuvering for a few weeks, the two forces met at a mutually agreeable location and deployed for a pitched battle.   

Forces

The first thing to do was to divide the two armies into their 3 brigades.

Lord-General Reddington

Right - 2 Heavy Cavalry, 2 Light Cavalry

Center - 2 Cannons, 2 Guards, 2 Infantry

Left - 4 Infantry  

Marshal Bluey

Right - 1 Heavy Cavalry, 1 Light Cavalry,1 Cannon and 2 Infantry

Center - 2 Guards and 2 Infantry 

Left - 1 Heavy Cavalry, 1 Light Cavalry, 1 Cannon and 2 Infantry

Neither of us have played the game before, so we have no idea how to properly do this.  I think we are both going to find out!  Reddington took a page out of old Boney's playbook and amassed cannons in the center for a centralized battery.  Bluey was going with reinforced flanks with a weak center.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. 

The Lay-out

We pulled out the terrain boards and laid them down next to each other.  We counted off the sides and rolled the dice.  In the end, it looked like this......

We jokingly referred to the bigger farm like built-up area as El Azul Plantation, and the name stuck for the rest of the battle. 

Reddington (My wife) deployed first.  We took turns and deployed by Brigade per the rules.  When it was all set-up the board looked like this. 

As usual for a Battle Report, I won't cover it roll-by-roll.  Too challenging for me to keep track of it all while trying to play.  Instead, I will just try to capture some of the highlights and the results as the game unfolds.  

Opening Moves

General Bluey won the initiative roll to go first! 

The opening rounds do not go General Bluey’s way as General Reddington’s artilllery battery in the center completely collapses the front of the attacking column and then forces a Guards unit back in the center.  This forces Bluey to take a static position there. 

Meanwhile Reddington’s cavalry brigade races down on Bluey’s left.  The infantry form square, protected by a hill and manage to fend off initial attacks from Heavy Cavalry.  

Main Action

Reddington’s aggressive cavalry attack soon stalls and slowly falls apart to Marshal Bluey’s command of infantry squares and cavalry counter-attacks.  

On Reddington’s left, Marshal Bluey’s troops assault the Plantation and manage to push the infantry defending it out.  However, it is a short-lived victory as they fell back in good order, soon regroup and counter-attack! 

In the center, perhaps too late; Reddington’s begins to move to support his flanks. 

Final Gambits

Reddington’s infantry try to re-take El Azul but Marshal Bluey’s forces stubbornly beat them back inflicting heavy losses!  

General Reddington’s cavalry brigade is also stalled near the woods.  However, as night very literally falls on the battlefield the action proves indecisive.  My wife and I could barely see the board in the fading light in our bus.   

Conclusion

I think we both learned a lot about how this game is played.  We had to go back into the rulebook a few times, but thankfully it is only 4 pages so we had no issue finding what we needed.  In addition, my wife has no knowledge of Horse-and-Musket games and I am not super familiar with the tactics of the period either.  Therefore, it was two novices to the system and period trying to figure it out as we went.  

Maneuver is surprisingly complex!  It is very easy to overextend and leave a unit temporarily stranded, block your own line of attack, or even mismanage where your brigade commander is! 

My wife’s (General Reddington) initial artillery success lulled her into a sense of security.  However, my artillery did nothing!  Artillery is the only ranged unit, but the closer you are the more effective it can be.  It is also easy to overestimate the effectiveness of Re-rolling units like Heavy Cavalry and Guards units. 

There was some questions about what “pushed back meant”. Ie which direction?  We generally decide the opposite of any attack.  Therefore a diagonal attack led to a diagonal pushback.  It was also unclear how multiple bonuses may stack.  Finally, there was some quibbling over how to move units back into the fight that were sent back to the baseline.  However, we made calls and played on. 

Bluey lost 3 infantry stands while Reddington lost a Heavy Cavalry, Light Cavalry, and two infantry stands. 

The battle for El Azul plantation ended indecisively.  Both sides took casualties and fell back at nightfall to lick their wounds.  However, Marshal Bluey’s forces had managed to secure the plantation, but Reddington still had a strong force-n-being on the peninsula.  The battle was a draw but the campaign was far from over. 

Until next time!  

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