Game 96 : Battle of Lutzen 6th Sept 1813

 

The Allied armies descend from the heights onto a dispersed French Corps, trying to defeat it piecemeal. It sets the scene for the last battle before the armistice in 1813.

As usual, I will leave the reader to find a map and follow the action. The Allies begin by transiting the heights into the plain below and fall upon the French. The French start with Ney's Corps with his Divisions deployed across the whole plain, effectively each Division is isolated. The above shows Russian columns, a whole Corps, launching themselves in the central villages.

Being caught cold and with no immediate reinforcements, the result takes some time but is predictable. The French are forced from the central villages.

On the Allied right, Russian Cuirassiers advance quickly trying to gain ground. There is a single French Light Cavalry Brigade in this area. This will be very one sided if contact is made!

As the battle progresses, the French right is heavily reinforced, including the Guard Cavalry, and the French launch their own assault on the Allied left.

The Russian infantry in the centre, having cleared the initial villages, tries to swing around to their left to engage the French right. The French centre has been hammered but has extricated itslef and is now reforming.

The French Guard Polish Lancers execute the first of four lethal charges. They overrun a battery and continue into the Russian infantry behind.

In the Centre, both sides are using squares to try and provide stability. Russian and Prussian Heavies are seen advancing from the top right. Out of shot are the French Guard Cavalry to the right. Not a place for infantry to be wandering around until the horses clear!!

The French Guard Cavalry is regrouping and Marmont's Corps is released to attack the Russian left which is defended in the first instance by a Grenadier Division.

As the battle draws to a close, the French Reserve Heavy Cavalry arrive, en masse, on their left flank. The Russian Cuirassiers, in one of the early pics, deploys to face this flank threat. A huge melee unsues which ends with a draw. 

The allies are now being pushed on both flanks and a recovered Ney is leading a counter-attack in the centre. We have played about 34 turns and we the call the battle. It is very much a historical outcome. The initial Allied gains are reversed by French numbers, but the French infantry is vulnerable in the open as they have a lot of lower quality troops. Throwing massed columns at villages, for them, is easier that trying to contend against combined arms in the open. So, Armistice time!!

French Formations	Losses %			Russian Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
Mortier				Baggovut
LeFebvre	-	15	0	Ziethen	-	26	17
Walther	-	0	8	Pirch	13	-	33
Demouster	5	-	0	Klux	13	6	44
Roguet	0	-	39
				Yorck
Ney				Hunerbein	17	-	0
Souham	81	-	25	Horn	19	33	0
Montmorand	27	-	22	Steinmetz	15	32	56
Girard	12	-	34	Berg	0	5	0
Ricard	11	-	0	Kasatschkosky	22	2	50
Marchand	9	-	0
Labossiere	-	44	-	Winzingerode
				Wurttemberg	8	-	0
Bertrand				Trubetskoy	-	19	25
Morand	0	-	9	Winzingerode	9	25	22
Marmont				Konovitzin
Bonet	14	-	0	Tormassov	2	20	24
Frederichs	14	-	3	Gallitzin	0	7	35
Compans	6	-	10
				Army Artillery	-	-	8
MacDonald	-	0	0
Fressinet	5	-	19
Gerard	0	-	0
Charpentier	2	-	0
Latour-Maubourg
Bruyere	-	0	4
Chastel	-	27	-
Bourdesoulle	-	14	-
Doumerc	-	1	-

I have listed the casualty sheet where you can readily see some of the severe losses formations suffered. Souham suffered catastrophically as battalion after battalion got ridden down by Allied Cavalry.

Rogue's gallery is above. I don't normally do this, but Iain looks as if he has received a drill order from a Sergeant Major. Or maybe Anne was looking stern as she took the pic.

Iain is at it again, something must be happening stage right!!! Or he may be in need of liquid alcohol sustenance!!   Next battle is 1813, Katzbach, when we hope our Austrian contingent can travel.

Game 95 : Auerstadt October 14th 1806 - take 2

This was the second time the game was played. We had different players, so it was interesting to see how things would go. Right from the start, the Prussian cavalry was aggressive. Here we see Blucher, on the Prussian right, immediately charging the French as they try to deploy from the road to make more space. It nearly succeeded!! but was beaten back.

On the French right, the solitary cavalry brigade advances to both try and slow down the Prussian advance but also keep the Prussian centre and left from linking up into a continuous line.

The cavalry fight in close up. The French Chasseur unit would drive the Prussian regiment form the field and so achieve the desired result of a gap between the Prussian forces. Gaps mean time taken to eliminate them, the French need time!

In the centre, the French advance through Hassenhausen and the enclosed garden. The movement is designed to delay, even further, Prussian attempts to launch co-ordinated attacks. Eventually the French would need to yield this ground and the garden so as not to be enveloped as the Prussians, slowly but surely, closed their front line gap.  

Back on the French right, the Prussians are now launching a full scale assault. The French do have a problem as Prussian numbers are allowing them to deploy on a contiguous front and this is stretching French numbers. The French cavalry are being forced to hold a portion of their line, it can't last forever.

The French hold their ground. On the the Prussian right, Blucher has regrouped and is advancing alongside infantry and putting a strain on the French left. Many French units are being forced into square, protected fine from the cavalry but then suffering under artillery fire. 

Fresh Prussian cavalry launch themselves against the French left just out of shot, pinning them in position whilst fresh Prussian infantry units advance to assault the flank. This would a close fight but the French would manage to hold the line. French casualties were mounting and beginning to reach critical numbers on this flank.

On the opposite flank, and at the same time, A Prussian assault drives home the attack. The French had just managed to reinforce the area from troops in their own centre and the controlled volleys of the French infantry saw this attack literally grind to a halt.

The last shot of the game tries to give a more panoramic view of the battle. The French are deployed on the right. I might see if a new lens allows more of these types of pics to be taken.

The casualty table is below. Casualties were heavy in this battle, Schmettau has suffered badly and Friant is reaching critical point. Another great game, and again the simple use of command and control rules for the various sides allowed the flavour of the battle to be replicated. 

French Formations	Losses %			Prussian Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
DAVOUT				DUKE of BRUNSWICK
Friant	22	-	22	Blucher	-	36	0
Gudin	11	-	3	Schmettau	29	32	20
Morand	6	-	13	Wartensleben	22	8	3
Lt Cavalry Brig	-	12	4	Orange	27	7	33
Reserve Artillery	-	-	13	Kalkreuth	14	17	0

 

It was cold outside, and wet, so we did the rogue's gallery inside. Next game will be Lutzen.

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!