Opening Gambit

 

The opening moves of the Illyrian invasion of Messaline have been made (and incidentally, no-one has yet tried to pretend that it was the latter's fault that they were invaded).

Following is the Campaign map before the invasion showing the positions of each side's armies (1-3) and fleets. Sadly for Messaline, their fleet has started (die roll dictated) on the Eastern side of the peninsula at Doclea, many moves away from the enemy.

Illyria won the initiative throw for Map move 1, and their Armies 1 and 3 pushed into Messaline. Messaline responded by moving their Armies 2 and 3, the latter coming into contact with the invader  just North of the town of Scampa.

The Battle of Scampa (PW 3x3)

Armies have been pre-generated (see Campaign Rules below) and the two forces that met in the first battle were identical in composition, both being made up of 4 Line Infantry units and 1 each of Cavalry and Artillery. General Belch, an old campaigner, led the Illyrians, while the Messaline force was under the command of the less experienced General Cesario.

Apologies for the poor picture quality! I hope to play the next game in daylight...

The map shows the battlefield to be used for each large square, so the Illyrians (Blue), arriving from the North found a dense forest on their right flank.

The Illyrian artillery, expertly directed by General Belch, took its toll early in the battle.

Later in the day the Messaline Army began to push back against the aggressor.

By midday it seemed that the battle could go either way...

but a sudden collapse in Messaline morale led to General Cesario's defeat and ultimate withdrawal from the battlefield.

 At the end of the first battle (and Map move) the position is as follows:

Following are the Campaign rules (as they currently stand, right click, copy and paste to read easily). Next time, Move 2... (unsurprisingly).