Game 94 : Auerstadt October 14th 1806

 This battle is quite a challenge to make work well. The battle was made famous by Davout not only holding out against the main Prussian army retiring from Jena, but actually attacked the Prussians into a standstill. The result of his actions would result in the destruction of the Prussian army. In the past, the game has been played where the French are "very good quality" and the Prussians have a myriad of restrictions.

The challenge is to fight the battle but keep the troop abilities as they were and attempt to try and emulate the tactical battle by different means, namely Command & Control. The scenario allows the French to react faster than the Prussian commanders.

Now to the battle

This table shows the west most table where the Prussians arrive from the West. Essentially, the road in the centre runs from West to East and the Prussians need to force a passage along this road. The village of Rehehausen is in the foreground and Gemstadt and Poppel are in the centre of the table.

This table shows the east most table where Davout arrives. Tuagwitz is the nearest village and then in the middle is Hassenhausen. This village will become the "fulcrum" of the battle, its control is vital as the garden area just in front of it is a significant barrier to any troops approaching from the west.

A closer shot of Hassenhausen and the garden area. Most of the key actions would take place in this area. I should also add that there were some special rules. The main rules were that "column of attack" formed by column of divisions was not allowed. Column of attack with column of companies was allowed. In additon, the Prussians has a special cavalry rule. Any cavalry unit that started the turn in charge reach of a French unit had to declare a charge! The a d6 was rolled. 1 or 2 and the charge was cancelled and the unit could not advance. 3 or 4 meant the charge started. 5 or 6 meant the the charge could carry on or be cancelled, with no penalty, at the players discretion.

The Prussian army essentially had four major formations. One formation started in and around Poppel. I should have said that the game starts with zero visibility in fog, although it lifts quickly. This formation was Schmettau, a mixed force of all arms. Here you see it has deployed in front of Hassenhausen and to the south. This in turn forced the French to deploy a division to the south. The French forces were being stretched already.

The Prussians held back somewhat awaiting reinforcements along the road. The first reserve division was posted on their left. This took some time and in this time the French advanced through the garden in front of Hassenhausen to try and drive a wedge between the Prussian front line divisions. If successful, it would also have the effect of slowing down any troops trying to use the main road to advance into the area.

I included this as this was a single French Chasseur unit charging a Prussian Hussar Regt. I can't remember why it happened, except the Prussian cavalry rules had some part to play

In the meantime, the Prussians had planned how to attack the main French position. The French position looks imposing, but already the position is tricky as the troops in the garden cannot get out and so cannot effectively fight. They needed to pull back the bulk of their numbers and redeploy to the rear of the village.

Back to the brave French Chasseur unit. It won the combat and broke the Prussian Hussar unit. Bizarrely, it then pursued into the Prussian supports and there were a lot of them. This would be the end of the Chasseur unit, but not before it executed terrible carnage.

Schmettau's main assault has gone in and been repulsed. This is really a hiccup for the Prussians as they can trade looses against the French as they have twice the numbers. This was the first of three assaults against Hassenhausen.

The Prussian attack on their left swings in against the French right. The French would drive this back, partly through firepower but also through the Prussians struggling with Command & Control at key points. They would lose Command & Control at key moments and then suffer heavy casualties from French musketry 

The Prussian reserve, including the Guards form up at Poppel prior to assaulting Hassenhausen.

Schmettau launches his second assault against Hassenhausen. This would be fought off but the French were now getting sucked into a fight in the open. Time to really get these troops back.

The third assault is now being prepared. Schmettau is preparing to assault from the south, the Reserve from the west. The Prussian idea is to fight one side, then fight the other. It would stretch the French to the limit. It was becoming a very tight fight. The French were trying to disengage where possible and bring as many men the the village as possible 

The southern assault failed. The French were very lucky to unform the attackers as they charged in. The result was important as it reduced overall French casualties. The Prussians now through in the Guard. They won every round of melee but the French morale held.

We had now played about 32 turns. We planned on a maximum of 36 turns. The game was called as we all believed that the French would hold. Losses for some formations had been high and this is reflected in the casualty table. This was an excellent battle and the adaptations we made to fight the game worked out very well.

French Formations	Losses %			Prussian Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
DAVOUT				DUKE of BRUNSWICK
Friant	10	-	47	Blucher	-	13	0
Gudin	9	-	38	Schmettau	30	29	32
Morand	18	-	13	Wartensleben	24	0	2
Lt Cavalry Brig	-	32	25	Orange	2	2	1
Reserve Artillery	-	-	22	Kalkreuth	5	0	3

As usual, a mug shot of us plucky players. I'd played French and Graham and Pete had played Prussian. The next game will also be Auerstadt, but with different players, so it will be interesting to see how the battle plays. Now for more beer!