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.

 

Fictional Russo-Ottoman Napoleonic campaign - the first battles

10 Years ago, we played a first Russo-Ottoman campaign that ended in a Russian victory. So many years later, we play a follow up campaign.  The start was days before the war in Ukrain started, so it was at the beginning a bit uncomfortable playing with a Russian army, but after all it is only a game.

The map we use is based on google maps view of the region that was the scene of the historical war of 1806-1812.

Our new campaign : After the victory at Glavinitsa (link), a 6-month truce was concluded, during which the Ottomans gave up Sillistra and a few more towns. The ceasefire is over, both sides have strengthened and a number of commanders have been replaced.

The campaign is with 3 Russian and 4 Ottoman players, each of which has a number of brigades of infantry and/or cavalry.

New to our campaigns is the use of prestige points. Each player starts with 100 points. Prestige points can be gained or lost, depending on the mission, actions and the consequences of the battles.The player with the most prestige after the campaign has ended is the winner. 

Day 1 saw the armies taking positions, and soon a number of brigades found enemy counterparts.

Day 2 was foggy and that had a major impact on 2 encounters, a small one in Opaka and a bigger one in Razgrad.

We play with "About Bonaparte" wargame rule from Caliver Books. The rule originated in our club.

In Opaka the Russians attacked, in Razgrad the Russians defended.

Opaka

In Opaka, the Russians attacked with 2 brigades, the first of 2 battalions, the second of 4 battalions against an Ottoman brigade of 2 batlions (New Army) units supported by 2 batteries, 1 of which was in a redoubt. The fog was very thick, so the artillery was silent until the Russians got close, although the fog was already beginning to lift.

The artillery combined with musket fire proved lethal to the 1st Russian Brigade at close range. However, a first battalion of the Ottomans was driven off the table. The Russians penetrated Opaka, but just then a brigade was reinforced with 2 battalions of irregular Moldavians and 2 units of light cavalry. 2 battalions of the Russians went into square.

The light cavalry attacked and the Moldavians also attacked from marching column. A Russian assault column was also attacked by the cavalry. The first Russian brigade had to withdraw with both battalions and an officer was also killed. Battalions of the 2nd Brigade also began to take losses. Unfortunately for the Ottomans, the New Army's second battalion was also pushed off the table with flags. Although it was difficult for the Russians, the Ottoman commander decided to withdraw and not endanger his artillery.

The Russians had Opaka in their hands, but the cost had been very heavy.

Razgrad

Here the fog was less thick at the start and almost disappeared towards the end of the battle.

The Russians were entrenched in Razgrad behind a parapet for 2 units. There were 3 brigades present, a total of 8 battalions with artillery and cavalry support. On the Ottoman side there were 2 infantry brigades with a total of 6 battalions and 1 brigade of cavalry. The Ottoman skirmish units caught sight of these after a few moves, and the Janissaries also saw the reinforcements. The latter went on the attack, while the skirmishers fired almost the entire battle on the entrenched grenadiers. An attack by the Janissaries was repelled, followed by a counter-attack by the Grenadiers. The Janissaries had to retreat, the grenadier on their turn, were driven back by skimish fire. The skirmisher inflicted also losses on the battery that was not in  cover. The Russian hussars attacked one of the medium cavalry units of the Ottomans and left the field with heavy casualties. The Russian reserves now had to cover the left flank. One battalion ran into trouble from skirmish fire and was eventually destroyed. An attack by the Ottoman contact infantry penetrated across the parapet, a battle of several turns ensued with losses on both sides, but the ottoman unit was eventually annihilated. The Russians had a hard time but the Ottomans were just short of infantry. The Wallachian reinforcements arrived late, their infantry was to far to come into action, but the heavy cavalry was still able to attack their left flank against the Russian jägers in skirmish. The result was not such as to force the Russians to retreat. It was getting dark and the Ottomans had no prospect of a decisive breakthrough, here again a narrow Russian victory, with many losses.

blinds to simulate the fog