Game 130 : Eylau Feb 7th 1807

 This was a large battle that was fought for a week in real time and involved 10 players. In all we achieved about 36 turns, the battle ending in darkness. This battle is famous for the snow that was present and the chaos that ensued.

We fought about 12 turns, equally in clear conditions, light snow and heavy snow. Ahistorically, the weather severely affected the Russian army as opposed to the French army. The dice gods and luck!

The blog now appears to "play up". It downloads the selected pics in any random order as far as I can see. 

The above pic is action around the villages centred on Serpallen, the Russian left flank. This shows troops from both Davout and Augereau attacking from 2 directions.

This action is in the right centre. The French cavalry are playing chicken with the weather. Any snow falling and they cannot be seen, nor can they charge. But if the weather clears, then the s**t hits the fan!

The above action moved on. A combination of factors/events resulted in the Russian gun line redeploying further to their rear to maintain a cohesive line. The French cavalry, with infatry support duly occupied the higher ground.

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The above is in the French left centre and shows troops from Soult steadily pushing the Russians back.

The above was around the area of the Windmill on the Russian right flank. Soult's assault would eventually prevail, the Russians would retire, in order, and set up another defensive line.

The above was a concentrated attack on Serpallen itself. Bizarrely, the front portion of the village was vacated during heavy snow. It was a mixed blessing. The front of Serpallen fell into French hands, but the Grenadier btns that was its garrison escaped encirclement and being attacked from 3 sides. 

This was a pretty bloody battle. Losses, for both sides, were significant. The French would hold the field, the Russians would extricate their army in a controlled withdrawal.

French Formations	Losses %			Russian Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
NAPOLEON				BENNINGSEN
VI Corps Ney				Left Wing
Marchand	10	-	0	Tolstoi	29	-	0
Bisson	0	-	0	Pahlen	-	20	35
Lasalle	-	6	4	Platov	-	22	35
				Left Wing Artillery	-		48
VII Corps Augereau
Desjardins	18	-	19	Right Wing
Heudelet	22	-	44	Tuchkov	42	-	13
Durosnel	-	42	0	Markov	25	-	0
Corps Artillery	-	-	0	Korff	-	17	0
				Right Wing Artillery	-	-	40
IV Corps Soult
Leval	15	-	13	Centre
Legrand	29	-	9	Essen III	47	-	7
St Hilaire	23	-	0	Sacken	11	-	0
Guyot	-	33	0	Gallitzin	-	44	16
Corps Artillery	-	-	0	Centre Artillery	-	-	29
III Corps Davout				Reserve
Morand	16	-	0	Somov	3	-	13
Friant	5	-	0	Dochturov	4	-	100
Gudin	17	-	0	Kamenski II	38	-	0
Marulaz	-	19	54
Corps Artillery	-	-	0	Prussians Avant Garde
				L’Estocq	6	25	0
Imperial Guard Bessieres
Hutin	16	-	-
Souley	5	-	-
Walther	-	26	-	Weather over 35 turns
Guard Artillery	-	-	23	9 Heavy snow
				16 Light snow
Reserve Cavalry Murat				10 Clear
Grouchy	-	15	42
Klein	-	13	42
D’Hautpoul	-	15	0
Milhaud	-	0	8

As you can see, it was a bloody affair.

Rogue's gallery. The gaming was good and we did manage to consume various quantities of good food and alcohol, including 4 bottles of Port!!!

Next up is La Rothiere.