Fictional Russo-Ottoman Napoleonic campaign - part 3 - "day"6

On "day" or campaign turn  6, 2 more encounters took place.

On the far left, 2 smaler forces moved against each other, resulting in a brief clash. A  bigger enconter was taken to the tabletop.

For a second time, Razgrad, as a strategic place, was the spot of a big encounter.

2nd Battle of Razgrad

2 Russian brigades had dug in and around Razgrad (1brigade of 2 battalions of grenadiers, and the other with 2 battalions of Jägers, a battered regiment of hussars, a heavy battery, and a unit of Cossacks. They were attacked by 2 brigades, one of 3 units of Albanian skirmish infantry, and another of 2 new army battalions supported by heavy cavalry and a medium battery, the latter brigade commanded by Prince Petros of Wallachia.

The Ottoman troops skipped a turn to wait for the troops of the Persian Expeditionary Corps (1 regular battalion, 2 battalions of Caucasian irregular skirmish troops), but another brigade of Russians came in support into the Ottoman right flank comming from Venets: 1 regiment of dragoons and 2 units of Cossacks).

The Ottoman troops on that side were skirmish troops lining up, supposing that the Cossacks would not dare to attack. Unfortunately, troops in skirmish are just an ideal target for the Cossack lancers. The Ottomans suffered losses but were not broken. They quickly moved into blocks with their remaining units. On the other side of the table, the New Army's 1st Battalion suffered losses from a combination of artillery and musket fire. On that flank reinforcements arrived from Opaka, led by Bosnak Sieg Agha:2 brigades, one from Moldavian irregulars and one from Janissaries and Anatolians. Both supported with cavalry.

While there was a status quo on the Russian left flank, the combination of three brigades moved against the Cossacks, hussars and 1 battalion of jägers on the Russian right flank. Ottoman progress could be slowed down but not stopped. The hussars and the jägers were destroyed and the Cossacks left the field. Attempts to direct troops from the pther flank to the right  were aborted, a late arrival of a weakened Russian infantry brigade of 2 weakened battalions with only 1 weak general and no officer failed to advance in an orderly fashion to put any pressure on the Ottomans.

On the Russian side, it was mistakenly assumed that it was enough to hold the village until the last turn, but with the Ottoman troops threatening to encircle the village and with only 2 battalions opposite, a retreat was the only option.

Battle between Ivanovo and Dve Mogilic

The encounter was virtually simulated by the game master.

A “New army” brigade with 2 batteries supported by a brigade of irregular light cavalry on the Ottoman side were confronted by a brigade of dragoons with a horse battery and battalion of landwehr, supported by the guard brigade light cavalry (1 regiment of hussars and a ulhan with an elite ridden battery). The guard units went to the Ottoman light cavalry. In the 2nd inning there was fighting and the Ottomans withdrew with 1 loss . The Ottoman batteries were positioned  and covered between the new army units in square. The dragoons remained at more than 60 cm, but the guard battery positioned itself in such a way that the Ottoman batteries could not fire at them. The Ottoman medium battery fired at the dragoons but a few flags over the turns resulted in no loss. In the third turn, the Ottoman light horse were attacked again. No losses but driven from the field, the uhlans suffered 1 loss.

In the same turn, the guard artillery fired on one of the squares and repeated it the next turn. The unit in square suffered heavy losses and was reduced to 3 figures.

The signal for the uhlans, supported by the hussars, to attack. The weakened square was broken and with the breakthrough the Ottoman horse battery was destroyed. The ulans suffered a 2nd loss. In the sixth turn the uhlans and hussars retreated and the fire from the 2nd square on them had no effect. The seventh turn, the remaining Ottoman troops withdrew towards Popovo

Fictional Russo-Ottoman Napoleonic campaign - part 2 - more battles

 The third day of the campaign passed without encounters. The weather having cleared, but the 4th day, the fog was back again and 3 attacks were carried out on different parts of the map. Due to the fog blancs were used to indicate possible positions of troops in the tabletop games.

Battle of Venets:

It was another strange battle because of the fog. 2 Ottoman infantry brigades and 2 cavalry brigades awaited an attack while the infantry and artillery where in field works looking out for the enemy. The flanks were covered by the cavalry. The Russian attack was carried out by 3 infantry brigades and 1 cavalry brigades. The Ottoman artillery in a redoubt in the village was taken by surprise when 3 battalions emerged in line one after the other from the fog. Their fire was therefore unfocused, without effect. On the Ottoman left flank, 5 Russian line battalions emerged from the fog close to the medium Ottoman cavalry. The cavalry attacked and drove some of the Russians back at the cost of some losses. But the Russians came again. In repeated battles both sides suffered losses, but in the end the weakened cavalry had no choice but to leave the field. On the Ottoman right side a very different picture. There, a Russian cavalry brigade came out from the fog. The Ottoman cavalry there launched an attack and destroyed a dragoon unit and the supportig dragoon unit was driven back. The Cossacks who followed behind,  wisely kept their distance.

In the center, the Russian infantry attacked and captured the battery. Then the Ottoman skirmish unit was driven from the field with flags and being to close tot he table edge. An irregular infantry,unit trying to stop the Russian advance was destroyed. The Ottoman commanders chose to retreat to Sjoemen.

 

Battle of Alfatar:

Alfatar was defended by 2 Russian brigades with a total of 2 grenadier battalions, 3 line battalions and a horse artillery battery. The Ottoman irregular infantry and a unit of Janissaries stormed the redoubts on the Russian left flank. After heavy fighting with many casualties of men and officers, the Russian line infantry was driven back and took cover in the buildings of the town, but also came under pressure there. The Russian right flank was more successfully defended by the grenadiers. Where one of the four “new army” units of the Ottomans was destroyed. However, the pressure mounted and cavalry threatened to outflank the Russian flanks on both sides. Whereupon the Russians hastily retreated to Dulovo. 

A third battle in Ion Corvin was not carried out with a table top game due to its small size, but with dicing only.  There an Ottoman  infantry brigade of Modavian exiles and a cavalery brigade attacked  2 entrenched Russian brigades.  The attack carried out without much conviction was broken off after one charge, only the Ottomans suffering losses.

Camerone Day 2022

 I hosted a Last Stand of the Legion at Camerone game today on the 159th anniversary of the battle. I only have 27 Legionnaires, so the game was half size. The Mexicans were recycled when their units were routed or destroyed. The rules we used were Fistful of Lead - Bigger Battles which allow each player to handle around 25 miniatures. My model of the Camerone hacienda is far from accurate, as I was limited to the walls and buildings I had on hand, but I was pretty pleased with the result. The French players did a good job of holding the perimeter until one unit of Mexican militia manged to force their way through the barricaded gateway.  After that, it was impossible to stop the overwhelming numbers of Mexicans. In the end, as they did historically, the last surviving Legionnaires charged into the enemy horde rather than surrender. Tonight I'll open a bottle of red wine and toast the heroes of Camerone. Vive la mort, vive la guerre, vive la Légion Étrangère

 

Polish Napoleonics from Mars

Finally finished the Poles, in 3 units and officer for our "About Bonaparte" wargame rule. Nice figures. Never tought these would be manufactured in 54mm.