The Road to Orleans: Battle of Saints Hill, Days 1 & 2

After the British victory at Boggy Marsh, they pushed through the polluted and toxic bayou's of the French countryside to within 50 miles of Orleans. They camped within sight of the French ground defenders, who had thus far failed to stopper their momentum. Early the next morning the British, made ready to capture a key strategic point on the outskirts of Orleans, dubbed "Saints Hill" , it is the overgrown ruins of a former cathedral.  It would afford a magnificent command and control point for future actions, should it be taken...

Order of Battle for the first day.

French Forces. 

Dr. Vesuvius ( in Songbird Mk 2. ) OiC

Royal Guardian Corp.
- Captian Bosch commanding (rival of Teague)

19th Steamlords

8th Morts-vivants

British Forces. 

7th Dragoon
- Col. Cromwell  OiC

3rd Foot
- Captian Teague commanding (rival of Bosch)

1st Repatriated Great Army unit
- Sir Matthews commanding

4th "Sparrow" Whirly-Copters

Steamknights



The primary objective would be the center ground of the battlefield which was the wreckage of an old steampowered warmachine.


A shot of deployment

 the towering shape of Songbird mk 2 can be seen clearly. The entire british line, save for the steam machines move forward.  Opening shots are traded between the two armies.

The 7th Dragoons take Saints Hill proper, and the lines continue to blast at one another

Swarms of Bayou rats burst forth and tie up the Support elements of the Royal Guardian Crops with killing the pests for a turn or two.

As the battle reaches to a fever pitch,  Teague climbs the hill and bellows a challenge to Bosch. As the engagement rages on around them,  Bosch and Teague fire pistols at near point blank range and charge one another with sabers.  In a savage duel Teauge is struck down.

Rushing to the aide of his Captain, Cromwell gallops up the slopes of the hill taking rifle fire from the RGP, and once there, engages and critically wounds Bosch.

Then in a fit of unexpected and horrifyingly destructive madness, Professor Vesuvius, fires all guns at Saints Hill, eradicating the hill itself, and throwing the stricken commanders into the dirt around it. Effectively stopping the battle for several minutes as the sheer amount of dust and debris kicked up by the explosion obscured vision.   

A view from the 4th Sparrows, just after the destruction of Saints Hill

The Great Army fight the Morts-vivants in the eerie artificial twilight of the dust choked hilltops. 

With their Officer in command W.I.A , and with RGP squads flooding the center ground, the British beat a hasty retreat, their momentum gone, and prepared for defense. 

Order of Battle Second Day of Battle.

French Forces

Stark Sires (elite french infantry unit) 

8th Morts-Vivants

23rd "Steamwold" Battalion 

Royal Guardian Corps 

5th Armored 

3rd Royal Air Corps (2 bomber barges) 

Steamlords

British Forces. 

1st Great Army Repatriated 

- Sir Matthew Commanding  OiC 

Steamknights 

12th Armored

45th Air Cav. Detachment- 1

5th Foot Regiment

- Captian Hood Commanding

7th Dragoons 

- Commandant Jervis commanding 

The Second day of battle, took place around 800 meters away from the original deployment of day 1.   French commanders, shocked by their unexpected victory, moved as many reserve troops into the Saints Hill region as they could do quickly.   The British commanders followed suit, to stop the French from breaking through back to Boggy Marsh. 

The Armies wasted no time in trading blows with one another and many died in the opening barrages.

A well placed shot from the 12th armored, sent the first of two bomber barges, crashing to the ground, though it is belived that the pilots may have been responsible for guiding the craft into its final dead position, as it effectively killed 50 % of the 5th foot during its crashed, and covered the British deployment in smoke, and possibly dangerous explosives. 

Stark Sires, and Morts-Vivants move to counter the charge of the Great Army and Steamknights

With a hiss of their penumatic legs, the Steamknights leap onto of a floating bomber barge as it shells the combatants below. The pilot and crew resolve to follow their sister ship and drive the bomb laden craft into british deployment. killing still more of the unfortunate 5th Foot, who have at this point only taken casualties by massive falling sky vessels.  The vehicles and aerocraft of the british, are able to move out of the way prior to the crash.

The Second day of combat proves to be a tactical draw, giving no momentum to the French.
The center of the field proved to be a horrid slaughter, seeing the Great Army, 7th Dragoons, Stark Sires, and 8th Morts-Vivants  slain to man. mostly in close combat.

Loose estimates of Casualties from the first two days of combat are somewhere around

300-350 Infantry K.I.A.
2 Characters Slain
4 Characters Critically Wounded
2 Large Sky Vessels Destroyed
30 Cavalry Slain
3 Steam-Walkers  Crippled/Destroyed
1 Mountaintop

 making this battle not just the most brutal battle of the campaign, but also probably the most important and critical in the war thus far.



Next game is Day 3. Where the British will attempt to rally and regain the momentum from the French and breakthrough into Orleans.



Hope you all are enjoying it as much as we are !


-Your Favorite Madman-