Fictive 1807 campaign battle : 2018-12-30 prelude to Eylau

The War of the Fourth Coalition had by the end of 1806 resulted in almost all Prussian forces destroyed and the Russian army chased far into Poland, before taking winter cantonments.

The new commander of the Russian army , Bennigsen, did plan a surprise attack on the exposed VI corps of Ney. The Russian army  supporterd by a small Prussian force still fighting went into the offensive and brushed aside Ney force. The Russians bore down on Bernadotte's  I corps resulting in the Battle of Mohrungen on 25 January 1807; This game is inspired by this battle 

A mixed Franch Bavarian rearguard tries to stop/slow down the Russian advance.

On the French side Adrien with his grandson and nephew against Steven, Ronny and Siegfried, me as referee.

The French players did act very agressively, keeping their opponents on the half of the table.

Also the bavarians made several successful counter attacks pussing back the Russians.

The coosacks were a permant threat. The player in command can only move them in a certain direction, but not command them to attack. The referee will decide based on the rule:" if a unit enemy unit within charging distance has its stenght is halved or that unit has turend its flank or rear towards the cossacks, they will attack automatically". 

The initial success for the French made Adrian overconfident , keeping on attacking far into the Russian lines, driving of a battery, but suddenly isolated with two units surrounded by russian units. Most other French and Bavarian units were destoyed  or at breaking point, only a few with some strenght, not enough to rescue the isollated units.  But with night falling the French remains could slip away into the darkness.

Bith sides could claim victory: the French still holding possitions by the end of the day, had stalled the Russian attack, and this against supprior numbers.

The Russians could say the French force was all but destroyed, unable to stop them the next day.

The 1807 January campaign turned totaly against the Russians as Napoleon did react swiftly and almost trapped Bennigsen, who realised the danger just in time.  The Russian retreated east and made a stand at Eylau. a battle we did play a few years ago, biggest game so far:

https://youtu.be/VxopDd9auM4

Crisis Antwerp 2018 - film and some games

https://youtu.be/nTGtKKqW_KA

The film of Crisis Antwerp and some pics

More, Better Photos of the Retreat Game

My friend Alan took these photos with his digital camera. They came out much better than the ones I took with my phone. He also was able to take photos throughout the game, while I only took them at the beginning and end. Enjoy!

Retreat From Moscow Game in 54mm

I ran a French retreat from Moscow game at my local club last weekend. I was inspired by Conrad Kinch's article in the November issue of Miniature Wargames magazine called: The Weather Outside is Frightful. Due to my slow painting speed and, even with help from a friend who painted two Russian units, I was only able to field 6 figure foot and 4 figure mounted units, half the recommended size for the rules I used, which were The Men Who Would Be Kings. The small, brittle units made for a fast, deadly game and we were able to play ten moves in two hours. The object of the game was for the French to cross the table with their two wagon loads of wounded, supplies and loot. The French force consisted of two units of cavalry, two units of Guard (Old and Young), one unit of line infantry, one unit of dismounted cavalry and a headquarters unit that included a Cantinière and Marshal Ney. The Russian force consisted of two units of mounted Cossacks, one unit of foot Cossacks, one unit of Partisans, one unit of Jaegers, one unit of Militia and one unit of Grenadiers. Since the Russians were short one mounted unit, they were allowed to recycle one unit of mounted Cossacks after it was destroyed. The Russians were deployed using a randomized dice roll, which had surprising results.

With the small sized units, the game resembled a game of chess with a unit only surviving a short time once it attacked the enemy. The French were able to make it only 2/3 of the way across the table before coming up against a blocking force of all three regular Russian foot units which stopped their progress.

I plan to add more figures to bring the number of figures for each foot unit up to nine and cavalry up to six. I might try it again using "About Bonaparte" even though it is really a skirmish game.