Sharp's the word and swift's the action; Britcon 2018 Batreps

Last weekend saw a whole horde of gamers descend upon the University of Manchester's Barnes Wallis Building to partake in Britcon 2018, a tournament themed weekend covering many different game systems. Somehow Dave Hunter had persuaded the organisers to allow him to run an event there. And what an event it was, a Damned Serious Business indeed, so thanks are due to him and also two other chaps, Tim Porter and Steve Charlton, who Dave reckons should be regarded as the Marshal Berthier of the British Historical Games Society, at least when it comes to Sharp Practice.

What follows are the action from the perspective of my own forces, the core of which come fro the 30eme Leger and as I have covered them in a previous post I will skip straight to the action

A Bloody Nose for Dumas

Capitaine Richard D'Astardly looked at the skinny, ungainly looking young sous-lieutenant marching along beside the equally young infantry men. The skinny, young officer was Sous-Lieutenant Charles-Augustine Carrion de Notte, D'Astardly's dead sister's son and D'Astardly's constant worry. Since the lad had joined the army, D'Astardly had managed to get him posted to his own company and many a palm he had had to grease to accomplish that feat. This act had sprang from a concern for the orphaned teenager and now D'Astardly was coming to regret his decision. Not that the lad was useless, not completely, but he was a bit of a dreamer and had a tendency to attach himself to women  much to readily and they, in return, appeared to love the youngster in return. D'Astardly couldn't figure it out but they seemed to be drawn to his skinny, down cheeked nephew likes bees to honey and the men, also part fascinated but mostly jealous of the lad's easy and regular conquests, had nicknamed him "Cherubino". No, his concern was the battalion had been sent to Spain where there was much hard fighting taking place and he was concerned that his good intentions would get his nephew killed. It nagged him but there it was. what could he do|?

Pushing his filial concerns to the back of his mind, he turned once more to the task in hand; the Regimental Commander, Colonel Monterracy had sent three detachments from the regiment to forage for food and fodder for the column. The colonel had attached some dragoons and, wonder of wonders, a light gun, to D'Astardly's force. Not your usual detachment for collecting forage but this was Spain and it was wise to to prepare for anything when foraging here.

Ahead of the detachment D'Astardly has spied a large farmhouse that looked fairly intact and, more importantly, prosperous; rich pickings perhaps. 

As they neared the farm D'Astardly's stopped to peer at it through his small telescope and pondered; something wasn't right. He wiped the dusty lenses and peered once more. What were those people at the farm up too? They were moving around naturally enough, going about the usual business of farmers but still, something didn't feel right. Then it came to him. "Cherub...Lieutenant Notte, fetch me Lt Dumas. Sergeant Mouttley, get the men into column!" "Oui, mon capitaine"replied the skinny officer as he ran of towards the dragoons on the column's right flank. 

Lieutenant Dumas rode up the capitaine who was busy scanning the farm and the area around it. "Capitaine?" said the young officer, a tall, well built negro, related to General Dumas it was rumoured, a tough, strict disciplinarian though somewhat lacking in experience. "Lieutenant Dumas, it appears we are expected" said D'Astardly, gesturing towards the farm. Dumas squinted towards the farm "It looks quiet enough to me, sir. A few peasants, no more" "Precisely" responded D'Astardly "how many Spanish peasants have you seen in this part of Spain, Dumas; live ones I mean?" Dumas considered "Apart from in the city, none, mon capitaine". "Exactly, they flee at the first sight of us, taking to the hills with their women, children and guns. So why have they not fled this time? Something is up, Dumas, and I expect trouble. Keep your men on the right flank where there is good ground for you to manouvre. The Voltiguers will screen us and we shall advance with caution. Listen for my commands, Dumas" Dumas nodded then gasped, pointing towards the farm "Look, mon capitaine" Beyond and to the right of the farm a ragged line of Spanish infantry had appeared and, beyond them, a cloud of dust had risen, the dust raised by the cavalry men in it's midst   

Forewarned by D'Astardly's suspicions, the column, screened

by the Voltiguers, advances on the farm

The Dragoons and the Spanish irregulars clash. The Dragoons

outmatch the Spanish and send them scurry back to their own

lines

D'Astardly gives young Cherubino his first proper command,

 placing him in charge of the Voltiguers. And he doesn't bugger

 it up

Lt Mercier and his gunners begin to play long bowls with

 the Spanish holed up in the farm

Caught in the open, the dragoons come under a lot of fire and 

Dumas and his horse are both hit. Dumas is left lying on the field

of battle

The Spanish maintain their hold on the farm and their line is well 

anchored too it. Realising that his conscripts won't be able to break 

them D'Astardly calls of the foraging mission and pulls his men 

back. 

     Thus ended our warm up game on Friday evening. Lt Dumas ended up being hit 4 times which was the main cause of the French morale being driven down. Nevertheless it was great fun and only a shortage of time caused us to finish at the point we did. Thanks to my opponent Stuart (sorry, I didn't get your surname Stuart ) for being such s good opponent.
More Britcon musings to follow,
Pip pip