Game 35 : Brienne 1814

This is a smallish battle fought in 1814. Napoelon thinks he has trapped Blucher in Brienne but the latter has been forewarned. However, the Allies need to hold the field to extricate all their supply trains and chosen lines of communication. The Allies have the edge in numbers, especially in artillery, but the French have the Guard Cavalry and Young Guard infantry present.

The actual battle is fought where the Allies would like to retire to the south (left of the pics from French lines). Both armies are heavy on the northern side and its a race to cut off the southern route or keep it open.

 

This was the French advance in the centre against Brienne with a line corps. Light infantry are screening the advance. The Allies have a large number of guns in the centre. Neither side had cavalry in this sector. The result would be the wrecking of the 2 French light infantry battalions, but not before the gun line of 6 Russian batteries had been driven off with heavy casualties. 

This is taken further north from the previous pic and already shows a contact between allied cavalry and French Guard Cavalry. The French had both Guard formations in the north to execute a right hook and a general attack in echelon. The plans are always grandiose!! The Allies had a simpler approach. Survive!! until they could securely open the southern roads.

A closer view of the cavalry contact. It was a one sided affair, Russian Dragoons against French Horse Grenadiers of the Guard!

 

From this angle the remainder of the French Guard Cavalry can be seen in support (they had the Lancers and Chasseurs) whilst the allies have more Dragoons and Hussars in support. 

 



The French Young Guard are attacking the northern village. Securing this would open the Allied left flank. But it would be no easy task. The Russian infantry would be difficult to eject and they would take many Guardsmen with them as payment. Furthermore, as there was no Cavalry on this flank either, Russian artillery would wreak some havoc on the French Young Guard.

 



This view is from the Russian right flank. The escape road can be seen running across the pic. As you look into the distance you can see the whole French advance against the centre and Russian left flank.

 



This is from Brienne, still in Russian hands, looking northeast. The previous cavalry combat can still be seen.

 



This is a closer view of the cavalry combat from the Allied lines. The Allied cavalry would take a hammering and break, and then rally quite quickly and try and prepare to re-engage.

The Allies would now try and stop the Young Guard by advancing an infantry corps of their own. The cavalry threat has passed in the sense that the French Guard Cavalry is still advancing and engaging Allied cavalry. The Russian artillery can be seen deployed to the north of the village and these guns were the ones that wrought some havoc on the French Young Guard.

This was on the French left and there was a clash between the cavalry of both sides. The French had a Dragoon Division and the Allies had a mixed Dragoon/Hussar Division. The clash would involve all the regiments from both sides. The French would kill more, but the morale of the Allied cavalry would hold.

 

Another pic of the combat on the French left flank. The prize would be the domination of the road leading south, so the prize was hotly contested. 

Back to the north. Eventually the French cavalry were able to provide a threat to the Allied infantry as the cavalry was too badly beaten at this time. Therefore, the Allies ordered a withdrawal. Here you see the French Guard advancing past the northern village and preparing to attempt the rolling up of the Allied left. The cavalry are now deployed in single line as there is more space for this deployment. The cavalry is now swinging to the right and north westwards to drive away any remaining Allied forces and allow the infantry to advance unmolested. 

The game is now up!! The Allies have now had to abandon Brienne (out of shot to the right), both to save their guns and avoid being trapped by the Flank attack. It was so bad that the Allies abandoned the southern road and chose a road to the southwest over a main river (forgot its name!). This pic is the furthest rear of the Allied lines at the river and its single bridge over (and then off table). The Allies in the background are a rear guard and its looked like they may not get away.

 

The merry men. Two new guys made an appearance, David who is second from the left and Peter who is far right. They heard about this setting from Neil Kenneally over a bottle of wine at the Lion's mound at Waterloo, as you do of course!!!

 

Next game is Saalfeld, the smallest battle to date. It involves the advance guards of the French and Prussians and was a "skirmish" preluding the battles of Jena and Auerstadt.

Game 34 : Hill 220

This was a relatively small WWII game, played with 5 players to begin with, dropping off to 4.

. The incentive for playing this was to test out some theories for an upcoming far bigger game in Jan 2016 with about 20 players. The game was between a Russian Rifle Division, supported by Artillery, Air and a Tank Division based on T34s against a Panzergrenadier Regiment from Grossdeutschland, supported by the Stug Assault gun Btn & Marder Panzerjaeger Btn, some Artillery and Air support.

 

The Russians were dug in on a hill, nominally Hill 220, sitting astride a main highway. The objectives for each side were the control of the road, the hill which dominated the road and clear enemy from the area. My postulation was that the Germans would carve a way through the Russians. This was based on a rough knowledge of the tactics that would be used by each side and quality of troops. The experienced players were German. It went rather spectacularly to plan and the Germans not only carved a route through the Russians but eliminated over half of the Russian forces (and elimination is difficult!!).

 

The above shows the Germans attacking from the right and taking part of the hill. I should add that once foxholes are vacated we used to remove them from play. But as we now have the models, we've changed our approach in that they remain in position. Quite useful when you overrun a position and take cover in them yourself.

The above pic shows the hidden deployment system. The nearest marker, no.53, has been placed by the Russians. There is a separate off table laminated sheet that has a corresponding box. Actual troops are placed off table on the laminated sheet. The above marker could be a blank. Markers are observed either as part of the pre-game Recce system or during the game when the enemy move to within visibility range. The marker idea has been borrowed from Grant & Craig from down in Cornwall.

 



The main hill was in two sections. This pic shows the hill section on the other side of the road with the Germans approaching from the bottom. An armoured fire fight has already occurred between opposing armour. The Russian t34 Brigade was destroyed by having some tanks eliminated and then a spectacular morale failure

 

The Russians are attempting a counter-attack against the Germans as they move up. Its a chance as the German armour firing, when moving, is restricted because of the type of vehicle and some of the German infantry have failed a morale test at the end of the previous turn.

 



The Russians eventually lost the fight, and I stress the phrase eventually especially for any readers playing the large game next year. I'll say no more for now!!

The game ended with the Germans triumphantly securing the hill, the road and eliminating most of the Russian forces. German losses were, shall we say, not extensive!

But the game had progressed as I thought it would, which was a relief, especially when trying to assess what might happen when the forces are scaled up. We shall see!

Phil went early, so its four of us regulars. Graham and I played German, Brian and Steve played Russians, stoically!

Next game will be back to Napoleonics, the Battle of Brienne 1814. Hurrah!!!!

Game 33 : Friedland



The latest battle was the battle of Friedland in 1807. It involved more figures than previously used and the piccies are really to give a taste of the battle rather than give a blow by blow account of the battle. All of the Napoleonic games are being written up into the "Companion" series of books. One is currently at the publishers and I hope to produce a number of books across the years of the Napoleonic Wars.

 

The above pic is from the south and looks north towards the French lines

 



 

This is also a view from the south along the Russian lines. Friedland itself is off pic, centre right on the table.

 

 

This is the French attack on their left flank. The plan used by the French was fairly historic. An attack would start from the right flank and then the remaining formations would attack in echelon.

 

 

This is the village in the centre left, Friedland is behind this village, the body cleverly masking it from the enemy!

 

 

A close up of the combat in the above village. Fighting is protracted and sucks in troops, both attackers and defenders, from all directions.

 

Now the cavalry are getting involved on the left flank of the above French assault.

 

 

A close up of the cavalry combat in the centre with "whole" formations. The French would win each round of combat, aided by the support fire from a guard battalion, but the Russian elan would remain high and the conclusion would be a draw.

 

 

Here are a couple of shots showing a more panoramic view. You can now see the sheer number of figures on the table and there is action along the line

 

 

 

This a pic taken about 180 degrees in arc from the previous to really demonstrate the scale of the game.

 



 

Rogues gallery. The next game up will be a play test for a WWII game next year on a far bigger table and scale. It also looks like I'll have to get a new camera body, the current one is struggling to decide when it will work or not. Until then mes amis!



Games 31 & 32 : Austerlitz, the Northern & Southern Fronts

Austerlitz is one of the classic battles from the Napoleonic wars and can be quite difficult to play and get the feel of the actual engagement. In the North of the battlefield there is a clash between the cavalry reserves of both sides, a fight that has to last all day and this is not easy to achieve in wargames as cavalry can be "transient" in nature. Now they are here and now they are gone.

The Southern end of the battlefield, with the stream and villages, has its own difficulties, primarily that a French force has to fight all day outnumbered by about 4 : 1.

The battle was split into 2 games as even my table is not big enough to fight the battle in one. I will assume that everyone roughly knows how the battle was fought and the key elements that influenced the battle and its outcome. I will just show some more piccies of the battles.
First the north.

 

The above is looking South along the Russian lines. If the table continued, the Pratzen would be in the distance. The key to this sector is the Olmutz road, the Allied lines of communications. You can just see it in the middle of the pic. The battle in this sector started after the fog had lifted and pitched forces against each other that were roughly equal in strength.

 

 

This pic is from the French lines, looking north. The hill is the Santon which was where Napoleon viewed the unveiling of his battle plan. The whole battlefield is relatively open. Both sides have two infantry divisions, the Russians from Bagration and the French from Lannes. Both sides also have their respective reserve cavalry formations.

 

This shows the French centre from the north with their massed cavalry. Both sides had infantry to the flanks not wanting to risk infantry in the centre with cavalry swirling everywhere.

This is the same view from the south

 

 

 This is taken from behind the Allied centre where they have their massed cavalry. The French are in the background

 

 

This is late in the battle where the French infantry on the left most northern flank are making headway against the Allied right and are forcing it back. Needless to say, the game involved a lot of cavalry clashes which were always closely fought and would end in draws with neither side breaking. Quite historical really. We fought the game twice. The first game saw the Allies maintain the battlefield as they did historically, blunting the French advance. The second game saw the French have the advantage, not breaking the allies, but slowly pushing their whole line back. These were interesting games because of the amount of cavalry that took part and fought.

 

 Rogues gallery, all regulars. The reason for the car, and its decoration, was that the Tour de Yorkshire would pass our house and village about 15 minutes after this pic was taken.

 

Now onto pics form the action on the southern front. The real problem with this game would be the heavy outnumbering of the French. I went with a fairly historic reflection of numbers and this would be a stringent test of the rules and the mechanisms for protracted village fighting. We needn't have worried. As a game it was superb, well balanced with each side biting their finger nails as to whether they would either hold on if you were French or breakthrough if you were allied. In the end, the French just held the line as Soult's attack up the Pratzen gathered pace.

This is Kobelnitz, towards the left of the French lines. It was defended by 3 Btns that were attacked by about 15. The battle would rage all day. The Russians eventually ejected the garrison, only to be immediately counter attacked by Soult's counter attack with 2 divisions angled up towards the Pratzen. Here the Russians are still holding one sector of the village, but their division is now wrecked!

 



 

This is the Pheasantry. This was defended by two principal Btns, the Tiraillers du Corses and the Tirailleurs du Po. The Russians would eventually force the defenders to the back of the Pheasantry and threaten its right flank as shown above, but the French would hold on with the help of close artillery support.

The church represented Sokolnitz castle, itself not threatened heavily. Just behind it is Sokolnitz village. This village would be subjected to probably no less than a dozen assaults by large Austrian columns. Losses were high and the defenders would only hang on by the scraps of their fingernails

 

This is taken from behind the allied line showing the struggle for the Pheasantry

This is one of Soult's divisions counter attacking. The Pratzen heights are out of picture to the front left and the village to the front right is Kobelnitz. 

 



 

To the left flank of the previous division was the last of Soult's divisions attacking the Allied cavalry on their left flank. s the enemy cavalry was largely Hussar and Uhlan with some Cossacks, the French used infantry firepower to push them back. The allied cavalry would charge repeatedly to try and slow down the French, but to no avail, although they did manage to break one French column!!



 

The Austrian masses attacking Sokolnitz. The defenders only held out because Davout began to arrive behind Sokolnitz. Part of Davout's force was also sent to Tellnitz which was also struggling to hold out.



 

Soult has now forced back the allied cavalry on the French left flank. Soult, now supported by his own cavalry, is advancing onto the Pratzen where the Russian Guard has now deployed to face the new threat. At this point the game ended. The French line along the villages were now holding. Soult's division advancing on the Pratzen would likely undo the allied line by manoeuvre, whilst the division that was attacking Kobelnitz would roll up the allied line along the line of villages. Closely fought and very enjoyable.

 

 

Rogues gallery for this one. It was actually fought before the other game. All these battles are being written up and will be published in a companion series to the main rules. The first one is at the publishers, the 1809 Danube campaign. Full OBs, map, deployments, a battle commentary and loss assessment. Next battle here is Friedland, starting this weekend. More beer please!!

 

Game 30 : Vauchamps Feb 14th 1814

This is a battle fought in the early days of 1814. It is between Blucher with Russians & Prussians and Napoleon. It could be described as an encounter battle as the Napoleon is trying to catch an Allied Corps in Vauchamps itself. The Allies have larger numbers in all arms, but Napoleon has all his best troops present; the Old Guard, the Young Guard and the Guard Cavalry. It is numbers against quality.

 

 

This shows Vauchamps from the French lines. It is a key in this battle and forms the central part of the Allied line, indeed the central part of the Allied defence. It is a group of buildings, each counting as a built up area and totalled 7 "villages" to use a rules parlance. The entry to the village from the French side is through a gatehouse and walled enclosure. Even more fun when attacking! In the background on the wall is a good shot of the play sheets for the rules. You can see the full set of 6. On the wall behind the French, the system is repeated.

This is taken from the French lines to the right of Vauchamps. It shows the Allied left flank deployment and an assault is in progress. The French troops in the bottom of the picture are the Young Guard

 



This shows the French preparing to attack Vauchamps and the Russian defenders awaiting the attack. The French infantry division would fight all day conducting many assaults, all of which were repulsed. In the end, only 1 part of Vauchamps would be lost by the stoic Russian defenders.

This is the French left flank where the Guard cavalry deployed, advanced and swept away the Russian cavalry and Cossacks on this wing. The Allied deployment was a refused flank, trying to use the woods in their rear as an anchor to their defence. There would be a running fight all day in this sector.

A picture to the right side of Vauchamps from the Allied side. The Russians are continuing to resist all attacks. On the far side of the village, the Allied attack has been broken and become a shambles. The French have counter-attacked, only to be caught in the open by Allied cavalry that has then caused some mayhem. The French eventually stabilised the flank and renewed their advance, whereas the Allies broke off but did manage to create a secure line further back.

This is the Allied high point on their left flank. The battle raged back and forth until the Allies were forced to retire and the French renewed their advance.

This is towards the end of the day. The French formation just to the right of Vauchamps is a mauled French infantry division. Just above it, going further into Allied lines, is the Young Guard division, again very badly mauled by incessant artillery fire as it tried to advance. The top right of the picture shows the Allies beginning to retire. But ominously, in the bottom left of the picture, the French Old Guard are advancing past the village to engage the Russian right flank infantry. Not good for the Allies!

The Allied right had been pushed back and exposed the Russian infantry to the French Old Guard. The Russians had no cavalry support, the French had plenty. In addition, the French cavalry had also cut the main road to the east, the Allied supply road.

The Allies had fought bravely and inflicted heavy losses on the French. However, the day belonged to the French as the Allies would have to retire away from the main road with all the consequences that such a retreating manoeuvre entails.

 

Next stop is a revamped brand new Austerlitz to be fought over Easter.