The club ran two Napoleonic games this month, one to Sharp Practice in 28mm and the other to my own concocted rules in fence sitter scale – 18mm to those confused amongst you. Mine was based on a Charles Grant scenario, No 4 ,Holding Action from his excellent book, Scenarios for Wargames, but by the time I had adapted it, I doubt if even the great man himself (Charles Grant, not the Chairman for once) would have recognised it.
The game started at dawn in thick mist with visibility initially down to just a few yards with units being represented by different coloured counters, the colour identifying which Brigade that unit belonged to. Before any attack or defence could be accomplished the players had to sort the units out into their respective Brigades. This command-and-control part of the game was quite challenging, particularly for the French, as their units had got very mixed up in the mist. The Russians also had problems, because their command control distance was reduced from 150mm to 100mm.
FRENCH Général de division Jacques Darnaud C300 I8 E0 L3
1 4e batterie artillerie a pied 2x 8lb 1x Med How
Général de brigade Joseph Paradis C150 I9 E+1 L2
2 Combined Grenadier Batalion Elite
3 1er Batalion 100e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
4 2e Batalion 88e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
5 3e Batalion 88e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
6 1e Batalion 27e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
Général de brigade Françoir Bache C150 I8 E+1 L2
7 1er Batalion 9e Infanterie Légère Elite
8 2e Batalion 9e Infanterie Légère Elite
9 1er Batalion 103e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
10 2e Batalion 103e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
11 3e Batalion 103e Infanterie de Ligne Sk
Colonel Jacques Terrier C150 I7 E0 L2
12 15e Reg de Chasseurs Elite
13 2e Reg de Hussars
14 3e Reg de Dragoons Elite
15 19e Reg de Dragoons
16 2e batterie artillerie a cheval 2x4lb 1x Lt How
C Mademoiselle Henriette Faubinion’s Convoy 2 Wounds
RUSSIAN General-Leytenant Count Alexander Ivanovich C200 I7 E-1 L2 ARMY MORALE
1 8th Positional Battery 4x12lb
General-Mayor Mikhail Bogdanovich C100 I6 E0 L1
2 1/1st Jagger Battalion
3 Kiev Grenadier Battalion
4 1st Kiev Fusilier Battalion
5 2nd Kiev Fusilier Battalion
General-Mayor Nikolai Mazovski C100 I5 E0 L1
6 2/1st Jagger Battalion
7 Kazan Grenadier Battalion
8 1st Kazan Musketeer Battalion
9 2nd Kazan Musketeer Battalion
Polkovnik Dmitri Dmitrievich C100 I7 E-1 L1
10 Lithuanian Tartar Uhlan Regiment
11 Izyum Hussar Regiment
12 Ural Cossack Regiment Irregular
13 Black Sea Cossacks Irregular
14 3/1st Jagger Battalion
Just to add some more fog I gave each side different a different objective.
French Briefing
You are escorting General Dorrial’s ‘aide de camp’, Mademoiselle Henriette Faubinion together with her travelling companion, to General Headquarters. Inclement weather has disorganised and disorientated your forces and you find yourself with the enemy between you and your objective. Due to her delicate nature, your charge must only travel by road.
Russian Briefing
A French force has advanced upon your rear, threatening your Supply Park. You have deployed Dmitrievich’s cavalry brigade to cover the enemy’s approach and have thrown up hasty earthworks to the west of the village of Nordhausen. Bogdanovich and Mazovski infantry brigades, although disorganised due to the adverse weather conditions, are fast approaching from the north.
First contact was made on the French left flank as the 15e Reg. de Chasseurs advanced to see the Ural Cossack Regiment looming out of the mist. The chasseurs charged only to see the Cossacks evaporate as they evaded back into the mist. In their place appeared the Lithuanian Tartar Uhlans and the Izyum Hussars. Fortunately the 2e Reg. de Hussars was under brigade orders and the ensuing melee ended with both sides withdrawing a respectable distance to reform.
The Black Sea Cossacks on the Russian left had not been idle, and, with the mist slowly lifting, discovered some units of Bache’s Brigade. The Cossacks skilfully manoeuvred to charge the rear of the 1er Batalion 9e Infanterie Légère. However, totally unconcerned at seeing a band of wild Cossacks charging out of the mist, they calmly about faced their rear ranks. Cossacks and direct conflict are not happy bedfellows so they abandoned their charge and looked for easier meat, having successfully slowed the French advance.
The mist had by now almost cleared and counters were at last replaced by shiny toys! The Russians had successfully got their units under brigade command and were forming a defensive line in front of their supply park as well as strengthening the defence of the village of Nordhausen with Bogdanovich’s Brigade. The French had largely sorted out their 'spaghetti of units' into some sort of brigade order and were starting to organise an attack on Nordhausen village. Their plans had been somewhat thwarted by the appearance of a large Russian battery behind some hastily constructed earthworks.
The French decided to engage it in counter battery fire with their 4lb horse artillery and their 8lb divisional artillery. Unfortunately, the divisional artillery commander had miscalculated the range and the majority of shots fell short. The 4lb horse artillery had better calculated its range and fired shot and shell into the Russian battery. One salvo of the higher calibre Russian guns was enough to a cause the horse artillery to rout and fly to the rear, leaving their guns behind them. Don’t poke the Bear!
The Russian cavalry on the Russian right flank continued to put the French light cavalry under pressure, eventually routing the chasseurs but when the dragoons of Terrier’s Brigade arrived the situation was stabilised.
With the sudden dispersal of the Black Sea Cossacks, (they’d found better things to do) Bache’s Brigade was at last in a position to launch an attack. Paradis’s Brigade also started to advance in support and the Kiev Regiment holding Nordhausen came under skirmish fire which started to sap their morale.
Both légère regiments of Bache’s Brigade charged unloaded into Nordhausen. The 1er Batalion 9e Infanterie Légère was halted in its tracks by a crashing volley from Kiev Grenadier Battalion. Not so it’s sister regiment, the 2e Batalion.. Despite suffering loses from 2nd Kiev Fusilier Battalion’s crashing volley, they pressed home their attack but failed to break the fusiliers who stoically resisted and the 2e Batalion 9e Infanterie Légère were forced to withdraw.
Time was getting on and the players were getting thirsty, so it was decided to call it there as a decisive conclusion was some way off.
If I were to run this scenario again, I wouldn’t scramble the units up so much as too much gaming time was spent in admin and not enough in getting stuck in.
And Mademoiselle Henriette Faubinion? She was last seen taking sanctuary in Tannhausen Church and seemed somewhat relieved that her passage to General Headquarters had been blocked.
My thanks as ever to the players, Greg, Andy, Liz, Mark and Mike for playing the game with enthusiasm and with a real sense of fun.
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