Game 43 : Borodino, Utitsa & Borodino sections

Hi Guys,
This was the playtest for next year's game. Playtesting the Utitsa section and the Borodino village section. The picky below is of the Borodino sector, looking towards the church at Bordino from the north. The redoubt has to be imagined to be behind this and a bit to the left, facing the right hand side of the picky. The forces deployed to playtest this were fairly historical.
The French had Eugene's IV Corps, a Division from Davout (I used the smallest one Compans which is in fact ahistoric) and Grouchy's IIIC Corps.
The reason for Compans is that if you play this as a stand alone game and use the historical Davout Division, then Davout's troops would probably never recross the Kolotcha as players are very prone to keeping good troops where they can see them.

This is Borodino village from the Russian side. The redoubt would be to the left over the stream and the French lines are near the window. The Russian forces available, were
Baggovut's II Corps, Tolstoi's IV Corps, Uvarovs IC Corps and Platov's Cossacks. In addition is a brigade of Guards, the Lifeguard Jaegers.

Below is the view of Borodino from the French side. The trees in the field represent orchard type ground on the approach to Borodino.

To the rear of Borodino, but on the other side of the Kolotcha, is Gorki. If this area becomes contested, it either means that the Russians have been severely beaten in this sector or that the sector has actually become uncontested with a historic result where the French have taken Borodino and then stopped and the Russians have sent Baggovut to reinforce their left flank.

The next pic is the view of Utitsa from the French lines to the north west. If you panned left you would expect to see the Fleches. The area between the Fleches and Utitsa was heavily wooded. Whether all wood or dense scrub with some marshy areas seems to be still under debate. I chose to represent the area by woods. The woods are also quite wide across the front, so Utitsa is really a battle to itself. It is difficult to get a clear cut result so that any victor can exploit an exposed flank of the enemy on the remainder of the main line. The forces deployed in the Utitsa area were;

French : Poniatowski's Poles and Ochs Westphalian division form Junot in the woods.



Russian: Tuchkov's III Corps, Markov's Militia and Karpov's Cossacks

The pic shows one of Eugene's Line divisions advancing on the far left flank of the front. It has the probable benefit of fixing a Russian infantry Corps in position rather than redeploying elsewhere, but it has the drawback of being continuously slowed down by Cossacks and other Russian cavalry, some of it Guard! It also virtually mandates that the French cavalry must act aggressively in this area.

This is in Borodino itself. Baggovut is defending the village with a Corps, one division to the left of the village and the other you see between the village and church. Eugene is attacking with Compans, from Davout, on their right and Lecchi is advancing on Borodino through the orchard. A French grand battery has been set up opposite the church to try and dominate the open ground and a Line division of Eugene's is in reserve.

Compans main assault on Borodino. The fight would be quite bloody with neither side breaking. The consequences of this are the checking of the first French assault, but long term losses will be an issue.

 

The advance on Utitsa as seen from the Russian side. Westphalian Light infantry are contesting the woods to the right top of the pic with Russian Jaegers. The Polish infantry are preparing to both  assault the village itself and a Russian division from Tuchkov

The Poles are now attacking both sides of Utitsa and have secured the front of the village.

The expected clash of cavalry on the far left transpires with no surprise. The Russians hold their ground as it is easier for them to bring their artillery to bear with support fire. Also having Russian Guard cavalry in this area is no bad thing!

A stand off at Borodino between the church and the village itself. It would be dangerous to advance whilst the outcome of the cavalry combat above is unknown!!

This is the area between Borodino and the Kolotcha. Both sides are drawing breadth. Across the front of both cameo battles, the Russians had held the first assaults without too much consternation. The problem now comes, after a full day of intense fighting when one side has reserves and the other does not. Eugen would pull out Compans and feed in his reserve division. Baggovut would have to hold ground and try and tough it out. Granted, in our game, Tolstoi was moving up in support to allow Baggovut to withdraw, but timing can be everything in these games.

So, there we have it. A good battle over a weekend that would have played longer. The guys really saw how reserves were important and also that not all is lost if the first attack does not work.

 

 

 

The intrepid gamers. What a rogue's gallery!! Next up will be another WWII, early eastern front. My spell checker thingy won't work, so if there are any word blips, blame the blog software!!

Game 42 : Sands of Sudan : Relief of Jandu

This is a first for the Situation room. A battle in 28mm!!! This is the Relief of Jandu, organised by Dave Docherty who has his blog "One Man and his Brushes". The rules are the "Sands of Sudan" by Carlo Pagano. Carlo has his own blog called "With Pyjamas through the Desert". We also had Stephen Scott in our ranks who is a long wargaming friend of Dave's going back many many, many years. I met both guys at the "Wargames Holiday Centre" in about 1988.

Dave had organised a game where an Egyptian forces has to be rescued form the dastardly bad guys. Steve commanded the garrison, I commanded the relief force and Dave controlled the nasty pasties. Like any set of rules, this was the first foray and we got some things correct, some things wrong, learnt a lot and still came up with ideas for mods/tweaks we would like to try.

 

Dave pondering the rules. This is my relief column. Guns in the centre, flanked by 2 btns infantry and then in turn flanked by 4 squadrons of cavalry. The camel corps are in front and would soon dismount to act as the initial skirmish screen.

The Egyptian garrison of Junda. They were facing all four sides as an attack could appear from anywhere.

The Egyptians had a single artillery piece. The relief column had 1 machine gun and 3 screw guns.

Steve is surveying my wonderful relief column and the poise with which it advances!

Spearmen erupt from behind a hill. The right flank cavalry, Hussars, deploy. They would charge and drive these heathens back. 

The garrison came under attack from the hordes led by an Emir. The Egyptian company defending that quarter of the village succumbed to the man. The defences were breached. Would relief arrive in time?

 



 

The relief force is half way there. The infantry are still in columns in an attempt to move quickly. Skirmishers have been deployed by both Btns to act as their eyes and spring any hidden ambushes.

 

This is approaching the climactic part of the battle for the relief force. A sizeable spear armed force are advancing on the main British line. This force would be led by an Emir



The enemy highpoint at Junda. As the enemy regrouped after wiping out the Egyptian company, the Egyptian nerve held and controlled volleys and change of circumstance (a ruley thing) saw the attack falter. The defence would stand!! The surviving spearmen would rally with the Emir and attack the relief force.

 

This was immediately prior to the main attack. Some smaller Arab formations were thrown back and then the main line deployed.

 

 

Now, everyone should buy the rules. The machine gun mechanics are really quirky. It can fire between 1 and 20 rounds. There are mechanics for it jamming. If you fire say 10 rounds, roll a single d20. If the roll is above the number of rounds you are firing, say it was 11, then the machine gun has fired all 10 rounds safely. If the d20 roll is lower, say you rolled 6, the machine gun gets to fire the 6 rounds and then jams. Jammed machine guns need to be cleared and this is not guaranteed!!!! You can see the risk in firing a large number of rounds!!

 

The climactic attack. The Emir would lead an assault. The previous round had already seen withering fire poured into the mass, killing 350 men.

This turn would be brutal!! The machine gun would fire and this glory was given to Steve (with an appropriate smirk on his face). He would fire 19 rounds!!!!!!!!!!! Having averted my eyes away for the d20 die roll, Steve proceeded to roll 20. After a few jigs on the spot and some giggling (not sure Officers did this, but he  was supposedly the Egyptian commander), hoards of spearmen were moan down as the machine gun fired its 19 rounds, didn't get jammed and then the supporting fire from 2 Btns and a battery of screw guns added to the slaughter!! that's just 525 dead!!!!

Just to add insult, the spearmen were charged in the rear by the Bengal Lancers.

 

Well, there you have it. Great fun. Some questions did arise and Dave will try to write all these down. My obvious queries are:.

the turn sequence needs a bit more explanation, especially charge declarations and when/how these are done in the sequence

Who pursues? What are the mechanics? When/how does this happen?

I think the cavalry v infantry engagements need "understanding" better from us. From how we played it, if cavalry attack infantry and get a big win, if the defender stands (not too difficult with an Emir) then the cavalry are minced. I'm not too bothered about the frontal charges, but am about charging the rear. I think we are going to try some mechanics where the cavalry, for large victories (whatever they become) get the chance to break off. It is just a musing at present.

We are also going to look at a morale system for both sides that expands what is already there. No doubt Carlo will be involved in all of this.

But in a nutshell, it we have been captured and enthused by our first experience. Onwards to wherever the desert goes!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Game 41 : Borodino Centre : playtest for 2017 game

This was Borodino again. In 2017 it is planned to have a larger game on about 800 square feet of table. This was part of the playtest I wanted to do. The game needs to last 3 days at a minimum. I chose to do the central section, from the Kolotcha stream down to the start of the woods after the Fleches and before Utitsa. These areas are subject to a separate playtest.

The forces involved were substantial, in the area of 20,000+ figures fielded.

Main combatants were for the French

Davout, Ney, Junot (1 Division) and 3 Reserve Cavalry Corps. The Guard were in reserve. For the actual game, certain conditions will need to be met to allow the Guard to be released.

The Russians were based on Raevski, Dokhturov and Borodzin plus the equivalent of 3 Cavalry Corps. A large battle! Everyone should know the battle, so below are a series of pics with a simple caption/legend

 

Looking out from the Great Redoubt to the woods to the west

 





Looking from the southern Fleches. The woods from the previous pic can be seen in the far distance

 

This is an assault by Ney and a Division of Davout on Semonovka village which is just to the left of the pic

This is the same attack but now viewed with Semonovka just to the right of the pic. This was a major attack supported by all arms.



 

 

 A screening/containing attack on the Fleches. This would get wrecked and was reinforced to keep the battle going.

 

 

French light troops are trying to scree/skirmish the redoubt. The French would lose a lot of men against the Redoubt without success. It was clear, in the playtest, that the Redoubt is indeed a pivotal feature upon which the Russian defensive line is hinged. 

French Reserve cavalry pouring through between the Redoubt and the left flank of the attack on Semonovka.

 



Prelude to a storm. The attack on Semonovka about to go in.

The Reserve cavalry from both sides clash between Semonovka and the Redoubt. In all, over 16 regiments, mostly heavies, would get involved.

More of the above

The initial attack on the Fleches is repulsed by Russian Grenadiers. More assaults would follow and the Russians would become exposed eventually.

The next French assault on the Fleches succeeds in suppressing the guns and forcing the Russians to defend from the rear.

A French Division attempting to outflank the Great Redoubt which is to the left of the pic.

 

The attack on Semonovka viewed from the French side.

 



The cavalry clash between Semonovka and the Great Redoubt viewed from the French side.

More of the above

The Russian view from the Great Redoubt. It would remain in Russian hands with only light casualties.

 



 

More cavalry join the fray. Anyone see a spare horse?

 

A different view of the French division trying to flank the Great Redoubt. Russian infantry from behind the Redoubt would thwart this attempt with horse artillery support.



 

And finally, more cavalry charging backwards and forwards to glory!

To conclude, the playtest worked well and the game easily lasted 3 days. The action was non stop and results were unpredictable which bodes well. The Russians held the line but were hard pressed. Final reserves available would have been the French Guard and the Russian Guard, less the Cuirassier division.

It wouldn't be normal without the rogue's gallery again or the lucky general gathering!

 



The guys are all regulars, I still think Iain, on the right, appears to be smiling about something that none of the rest of us can quite see!?!?

 

Next stop is one for Carlo down in Aussie: "Sands of Sudan" 28mm figures, strewth, the relief of Jandu!!!!

 

 

 



Game 40 : Prelude to Smolensk

This is a very short report on another test game we played. At the end of May, we plan to pay a game set in early 1941 on the Eastern front. The idea will be to pitch a German Panzer formation against a Russian defence based on infantry divisions and tank divisions. This was a playtest  of the game. The force composition was a single Panzer division for the Germans and a partially dug in Russian infantry division. The Russians would be reinforced by a Tank division, the Germans receive no reinforcements. We included an air component, more advantageous to the Germans and the Russians had a few Force composition choices to make, each with their advantages and disadvantages. 

 

The big mistake I made was to forget taking pics. Big mistake. So, I've tried to show the OBs for each side on the Excel layout I use. If you can read it great, if you can't then I have to leave it to your imagination.

Either way, you can see that all the kit has a colour coded label and this is reflected in the sheet. The first sheet is German. Give one sheet to each German and they just keep tabs of their allocated troops. Add a double side laminated reference play sheet and a double side laminated weapons sheet and that is all the paperwork required. Its a method I've used since 1993 and it still holds up well. Its even better when I spend more time laying it out on an Excel spread sheet and maximising font sixe to A4 page. The things we do when we have time on our hands.

 

The Russian forces have a triangular infantry division and a tank division with two tank brigades, each of three tank battalions. One brigade is made up of T26s, the other brigade has a full mix of tanks, KV1, KV2, T28, T26. There is a recce btn with BT7s and so a lot of variety.

 

 As I said, a short and sweet report. I didn't want to ignore the game as it still took a weekend to play. But apologies for the lack of pics. I will rectify that for the next battle which I will report on this week

The battle was a good game with respect to seeing what happened when both sides were utilising the full length of the table (24'). There were spaces everywhere. The Germans managed eventually to gain a tactical advantage but it was close as the loss ratio for both sides was about even. The Germans were attacking, and no matter how good you are, you will always take losses on the attack. The key is the balance between persisting with the attack or halting the attack to regroup and then redeploy if need be and go again. The table space allowed this to happen and it worked well. As usual, a good time was had by all.

 

 

And finally, its never complete without the rogue's gallery. There was a new player to our merry men, Tony who is on the right hand side. An experienced gamer, his input is very valuable as WWII is an area where he has done an awful lot of research. Just retired from the Army, so he tends to know what he is commenting on!

Next stop, Borodino playtest, 1812!!