GdB Leipzig Game, London.

On the weekend of November the 5th, the good people of the GdB Forum put on a rather large & hugely enjoyed Leipzig game, held in the Officer's Mess, Wellington Barracks, London. Myself & Hairy Dave had booked up early, and took the train down to the Metropolis on the Thursday, thence to take in the sights, visit both the Imperial War & the National Army Museums, and also to visit as many central London pubs as we could manage. We did rather well I think, and I would so like to take you on a verbal walk through the many pubs we attended in, but frankly, my memory is rather hazy. So, that must mean that we had a good time, drank lots, and as neither of us recall , didn't get arrested or do anything bad. I do recall that we met some really pleasant people, and had a good talk with some members of the Armed Forces too.
Oh, and if that rather unpleasant chap who was abusing that young lady in Trafalgar Square is reading (which I very much doubt!), then just think on - if you behave in such a manner, then you can't complain when passers by intervene and make you stop.
So, we stayed at the St Ermins, Caxton Street, which is a wonderful hotel near to St James' and just round the corner from the Barracks. Luckily, it also has a bar which serves Guinness & Boddingtons, stays open til late, and has a pleasant and chatty group of 'locals' who drink there too.

And it's only 25 yards from here ..

And about 150 yards from here ..

Naturally, we wandered by both places and paid our due respects. Here's The Albert Pub, on Victoria Road, a great little place squashed in between two modern monstrosities. Good beer and food, good company too. This was our first pint of the day on Thursday lunchtime..

.. and we then trawled our way across to and up & down and around the Whitehall area, visiting every pub at least once. We went to the one opposite Big Ben three times I think, as I remember being in it in daylight, presumably at 5pm ish, and also at last orders too ..

Being able to have a beer & fag outside whilst also hearing Big Ben chime away was, being from Yorkshire, rather great. Other drinkers, obviously seeing it every day, plainly thought we were just a pair of daft yokels who'd wandered in off some desolate Northern Moor. Naturally, we ended the day in the hotel bar, chatting with people who we saw this time last year, which was nice.
After doing the museums & sights on the Friday, we met up with Brown, Gary, RJ and others, and got ourselves talked into having some strange meal called 'Tappas'. It took a while for the 'share the bowls' theory to sink in, but when it did, it was ok really. This was followed by a pub visit, where oddly it ran out of beer. The Lithuanian lager wasn't too bad though, and again we repaired to the hotel bar till the early hours.
So to the game, on Saturday morning, by which time myself & Dave were feeling a tad tired if not quite emotional. We were cheered by the sight of the large table of around 30ft by 6ft deep, stacked with around 6,500 AB figures, all well painted & supplied by members & chums of The Loughton Club. They don't do things by half, and it was a great layout. Here's the setting up..

We played on the Allied side, and for our own specific part in the game, we were to assault & take this hill & area, hold it, draw off some French Reserves, and not take too many casualties whilst doing it. This all proved rather difficult, but was good to play. Here's my attempt at a swift cavalry charge, supported by infantry, to clear the hill top.

I realised, rather too late, that I was facing elements of the Imperial Guard. And they weren't in a mood to let us off lightly.

My cavalry attack faltered in the face of some rather furious canister fire.
Though they did their best, and hung around long enough to reform and try again, though without any more success.

At one point in the morning, a despicable event occured .. someone had left a cup & saucer atop a Gents GdB edition. We were preparing to lynch the culprit, until it transpired that both cup & book belonged to the same player.

After three courageous attempts at closing with the massed guns, my original cavalry Brigade finally gave up, and decided to Retreat rather than get wiped out. Can't say I blame them really.

So I had no choice but to continue with the infantry attack, supported by my one remaining cavalry Regiment. Those French guns were still blazing away happily.

Saturday evening beckoned, with a good feed at The Albert, and then, that's right, loadsa beer followed by more beer at the hotel bar.

Sunday morning, and things were looking up as to my left on the hill, Gary got some units into the French lines.

The French artillery began to wobble - I think they'd actually run out ammunition, they'd fired that much - and one of them routed away.

A general exchange of musketry began, with casualties on each side. As seen, the French had rather a lot of reserves here, but at least we were keeping them occupied!

My remaining cavalry unit did a marvelous charge & breakthrough, making three units retreat & rout, though without causing a single casualty. It did buy us some time & space however.

The high point of our attack, over the hill and very nearly far away..

But then, Mr Jackson swept into our rear with a Guard Light Regt, riding down three - yes, three - batteries, one after the other. Whilst he was evidently happy with this, we affected not to be bothered too much. Though we were actually very bothered, and there was much gnashing of teeth.

On the hill, things went a bit to & fro, as we were gradually worn down.

Mr RJ again, gaily charging about, taking out guns as if he was a collector of them. I have to say, I threw some pretty awful dice around this time, even worse than during the rest of the game, and it was never good really.

At the same time, we got well and truly bounced off the hill and sent packing for a while.

Though we did reform a semblance of a defence line, which held on for a bit, and for my saving grace, my last Btn's last volley of the day resulted in Faltering two attack columns. Honour was thus duly saved before we left the table!

Following such a good volley, I then attempted a Charge, to top things off and to go out in style. It didn't work, and I ended up in Retreat. Hey ho, I then had to leave to catch the train.

It was decided that overall the game was a draw, and there is a write up & photos of the entire game over on the GdB forum, here..

http://generaldebrigade.greatboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=4646

Whilst on the balcony, having a fag, we saw part of The Changing of the Guard. Smart chaps all, and brought home what our hobby represents.

Overall, a right good weekend was had, though it has taken a while for my liver to recover, and Hairy Dave has not been seen out in daylight since. It was good to meet up with old gaming chums, and my thanks to Dave Brown & the GdB group for having us take part in an absolutely wonderful game.

Regards,