Crisis Point, or, How We Leaned Why Andreivia Was Never Part Of The British Empire.

An excellent weekend in sunny Dungworth again, hosted by Richard C and family. As has been mentioned by Andy T in his  blog we were called upon late on Friday night to come up with a game and felt that an encounter between the Honourable Black Sea Company, envious of the success of the EIC in south Asia, thought to gain a foothold in Andreivia. The lure of the trade in pork, bear fur and cheap wine was enough for shareholders and the British Government of the day to finance a company army with some support from regular British forces. Naturally, the locals were not keen on handing over money and power to these foreign adventurers and so the Royal Andreivian Army reached for their pikes and called upon their French friends and 'advisors' for help. 
The hill which saw Company infantry struggle towards, especially not helped by an Event card that saw a Confused unit splash through the stream, get Disrupted, then suffered some effective musket fire that finished them off. 
HBSC artillery- old guns and mercenary crews. 

Irregular infantry and the Company artillery did some good work in holding off the superior firepower of the Andreivian regulars until they didn't. 
Thevend of the day and the HBSC were much reduced in strength, forced to withdraw what was left and retreat to the coast. Many thanks to Ron and Ned for stepping into the game and playing a brand new set of rules with enthusiasm and a great attitude. 
Today (Sunday) , saw the reinforced army of Andreivia pull in more forces, including French regular line infantry and took to the field with the intention of beating the remaining HBSC forces and sending them back their offices in Cheapside. We had a new player in Dex, who was new to the rules and Ned returned,ceager to see the Company put to the sword. 
We kept the Notables from the previous day, although one of the Company Notables had failed his Hazard test after the unit he was attached to was beaten in combat on Saturday. He was presumably a guest of the Andreivian nobility until such a time as a prisoner exchange of Gentlemen of Standing could be facilitated. 

We also added in some National Advantages that seemed fitting for either side- Skirmishers and Feudal for Andreivia, Steady Lads and Oblique for the HBSC. The Skirmishers advantage was to have dire consequences for the Company artillery train. They trundled their guns up to the village which was Garrisoned by Andreivian irregular infantry. The Skirmishers advantage gave them a range of 6BW, so in 2 rounds of firing, their rifled hunting pieces and inate skills saw them pick off the Company gunners before they could fire back. 
The irregular infantry can be seen in their fortified village that formed a bulwark of the Andreivian advance. 
After a lot of manoeuvre, the main lines of infantry began to face up to each other. To the top right can be seen the clash of cavalry, one of the few Company successes of the day, where 2 units of Andreivian cavalry were soundly beaten. 
A brutal firefight took place in this narrow valley with infantry blazing away in multiple volleys. 
The forces of the Andreivian army with their French allies to the fore. Adroit use of the Passage of Lines Event card saw Ned perform a piece of marching that would have not looked out of place on Horse Guards, where the Andreivians allowed the fresh and undisrupted French to pass through them then unleash volleys of fire at the HBSC! 

We called it at that point, the Andreivian army had successfully beaten the HBSC and forced them out of their trading posts and 'factories' on the coast. And that is why Andreivia was never a part of the British Empire. 

Once again, thanks to Rich C for putting the weekend on. How Crisis Point goes into the future is up for debate, but I for one enjoy these dates in my gaming calendar and will support in whatever format it takes. Thanks to Andy T for the game and rules mastery and to Ned, Dex and Ron for their sporting participation. 

I can say nothing about the other games, but they looked and founded great! 

Further details of Andreivian history can be found here and here


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