Game 103 : Saalfeld 1806

 This is a repeat of a small game done years ago. It pitches 2 brigades of infantry and a brigade of cavalry against each other. The forces are advance guards for the French 7 Prussian armies. The town/village is important as it is a nexus for the road network in this area.

All the action occurs either within the village areas or very close to them. It shows that the rules "In the Grandest Manner" (I know - a plug) work equally well with enormous battles, such as Wagram, Borodino etc, down to Brigade sized actions. All the nuances that apply to the large games applies to the small games and vice versa. The French have the edge on quality but both sides have a large complement of light infantry. The 3 village sections dominate the battlefield in that it is easy to see that control of them controls the road network. But you will have to control all three to achieve this.

Now the action.

Both armies get committed very quickly as there is no ability to have a reserve as the forces are too small. The French get an immediate piece of luck when the main Prussian foot battery suffers an unlucky morale reverse, and then is ridden down immediately by a French cavalry regiment.

The setback above undoes the entire left flank of the Prussians as each side has fielded their entire 11 btns and there are no reserves to plug the gap. The French advance and roll up the entire Prussian position.  

We turned the battle around and tried again. This time I was lucky as Prussian as the French got their right flank advance muddled and had to retire. However, at best this would only give the Prussians a draw as the remaining French still degraded the Prussian fighting ability. The Prussians would still have to withdraw. 

Losses for both sides were lower in the second battle but the edge in French infantry quality would see the same overall result.

French Formations	Losses %			Prusso-Saxon Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
Claparede	5	-	-	Pelet	80	-	100
Vedel	24	-	0	Muffling	73	-	100
Reille	19	-	-	Schmmelpfennig	-	13	-
Treilhard	-	5	0	Beliaqua	3	-	0
				Xavier	-	8	-

It is easy to see what a hammering the Prussian infantry took. It all came about after the loss of the foot battery. After the we swapped sides and replayed the game, the result was the same, albeit the Prussian losses were a lot lower. In each battle, French losses were about the same. 

French Formations	Losses %			Prusso-Saxon Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
Claparede	17	-	-	Pelet	55	-	0
Vedel	3	-	19	Muffling	11	-	0
Reille	11	-	-	Schmmelpfennig	-	8	-
Treilhard	-	15	25	Beliaqua	4	-	21
				Xavier	-	30	-

The usual shot of the rogue's gallery. Hopefully after our next game, the "bus shelter" will be complete. Onwards!! 

Games 101 & 102 : Plancenoit 1815

This was an attempt to play Plancenoit as a standalone game. We used the arrival times of the Prussians as per Waterloo along with the French forces assigned. The Prussians would be Bulow, followed by Pirch. Ziethen is deemed to have the Waterloo battlefield and Thielemnan is holding off Grouchy. The French defenders comprise of Lobau and the reinforced by Duhesme's Young Guard and lastly by two Btns of Old Guard.

It didn't quite go to plan. The first attempt saw a lot of fighting and a lot of manoeuvring. We played over 30 turns and the game ended with an impasse that was unsatisfying. 

So we left the game up and did a fictitious day two of the battle. That worked fine and we all enjoyed it. This results in pictures from the two games and the casualty table is from the second game as casualties in the first battle were light.

The village of Plancenoit is above, looking at it with the southern edge at the bottom of the pic. The Prussians arrive via two eastern roads, one directly east of Plancenoit and the other further north to the right of the low plateau. 

Bulow's Coprs arrives en masse. The cavalry is at the top of the pic and you can see half of Bulow's infantry as it advances and shakes itself out into an attacking formation. Just at the bottom middle of the pic you can see the spire of the church. 

The other half of Bulow is advancing directly on Plancenoit. The lead part of the village would quickly fall, but then advances were like trying to advance through treacle!

By now, Duhesme has arrived as the main Prussian attack commences. Pirch has also arrived and is manoeuvring to the south of the Plancenoit and also providing reserves to allow Bulow to commit all four infantry Brigades. This type of fighting becomes protracted. The French were being out skirmished, highly unusual, and finding space to tactically deploy was a nightmare for both sides. 

The above shows Pich deploying to advance for a south-eastern direction. It was at about this time that we completed over 40 turns and the battle drew to a close

The pics that follow show the action from the 2nd day of battle. You'll see that they have more figures but otherwise they remarkably similar. We redrew the front lines for both sides and both sides were reinforced. Thielemann arrived for the Prussians and the French were reinforced by a Cavalry Corps, nominally Exelman and the infantry Corps of Gerard.

The fight starts immediately and was intense. The French launch the Old Guard Btns into Plancenoit to clear the Prussians from the village. Although the fighting lasts a long time, eventually they clear virtually the whole of the village, throwing back two Prussian Divisions in doing so.

Duhesme is in Plancenoit supporting the Old Guard whilst Lobau tries to advance on the French left. It nearly worked until a Prussian Hussar Regt rode down two French Btns!! But you can see the size of the engagement.

Bulow's cavalry and Thielemann's Corps are trying to undertake a Prussian right hook against Lobau. It would go backwards and forwards over many turns and then both sides would stop roughly where they started.

Gerard is to the right of village and finds it tough going in trying to force the Prussians back. Further to the right, both sides look at each other, that would be half of Pirch with his cavalry and an infantry division from Gerard plus Exeleman

The pic speaks a thousand words. The fighting was like this for two solid days and about twenty turns. The reduction in game turns is the direct effect of virtually continuous combat. We're all mad but we had a great time.

 

French Formations	Losses %			Prussian Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
Imperial Guard : Drouot				II Korps : Pirch I
Friant	30	-	-	Tippelskirch	6	-	-
Duhesme	15	-	0	Krafft	21	-	-
				Brause	0	-	-
IV Corps : Gerard				Bose	1	-	-
Pecheux	11	-	50	Jurgass	-	3	-
Vichery	7	-	40	Rohl	-	-	11
Bourmont	8	-	100
Maurin	-	2	0	III Korps : Thielemann
IV Corps Artillery	-	-	50	Borcke	5	-	-
				Krausneck	0	-	-
VI Corps : Lobau				Luck	0	-	-
Simmer	20	-	100	Stulpnagel	8	-	-
Jeanin	12	-	47	Hobe	-	0	-
Domon	-	22	29	Monhaupt	-	-	0
Subervie	-	7	4
VI Corps Artillery	-	-	23	IV Korps : Bulow
				Hake	14	-	-
IIC Cav Corps : Exelman				Funck	17	-	-
Soult	-	0	0	Losthin	11	-	-
Chastel	-	0	0	Hiller	5	-	-
				Prince William	-	6	-
				Braun	-	-	0

It wasn't a good battle for the gunners!!  As usual, each game ended with the players indulging in good beer and food in a local hostlery where the game was discussed in detail and the next jaunt planned! So it will be back to 1806 for the next game, a variation on Saalfeld.

Rogues' gallery showing all the young, fit, enthusiastic generals!!! Until next time.