Sharp Practice Battle Report: 'Then we shall meet them in the same old style!' British attack French columns

So for my first Sharp practice game (solo) I thought I'd set up a very basic attack - nothing fancy just to learn the rules. I used the basic army lists from the Peninsular section of the rule book - largely so I didn't have to think about the army lists. Without any finished Voltigeurs I switched them for 2 units of 8 Grenadiers. As it was just a learning game I didn't even create leaders names 😔

Picture:French Forces 

Picture: British Forces

So with the forces assembled the French would attack from the village and the British from the South East - cannons would represent deployment points. Nothing too exciting happened in the first turn. All the leader cards came out and allowed all columns to deploy on the field. In turn two 3 command cards in a row were drawn and an unexpected event occurred - the unit on the French left activated last - having had to muster quickly at the sound of the attacking British they found they had insufficient water, so they soon found themselves parched from the heat of battle - -1 movement for the rest of the chapter.

Both forces drew themselves up inline around turn three and unloaded musket fire into each other. The French were the more accurate. The French officers barked orders at their infantry and with the experienced Guard leading by example were proving much more effective than the British - the randomness of of SP saw all the French leaders then drawn out of the deck followed by the tiffin card which effectively gave the French a free turn.

After a few turns the main British unit was racking up casualties - each section had lost three men and had significant shock. It was about this point I'd appreciated the need to manage shock, but it was too late as the British fell back and soon after that unit fled. While the rest of the British held I thought this was a good point to call it a day and re read the rule book.

Some pictures of the action:

Picture: The French advance out of the village in 3 columns

Picture: The British are also advancing in column, with the 95th advancing up on their right flank.

 Picture: Both the British and the French get into musket range and start exchanging musket fire. 

 Picture: The fall of the cards give essentially give the French an extra turn to poor more fire into the British. 

 Picture: At first the British line hold firm....

 Picture:...however, shock and causalities start to mount up and the British start an orderly retreat. 

 Picture:..eventually their left flank can't take it anymore and the retreat forms into a route. 

The French had held the British off. However, there is still a lot to learn. In particular effectively using leaders and command cards to influence actions. The units could absorb a lot of damage, however, action was required earlier from the British as by the time I'd realised I should have been reducing shock etc it was two late.

I think once I've fully got to grips with the game play and start to explorer the extended content - in particular around creating characters it will really add a lot of flavour to the games.