The Battle of Mohrungen, 25 January 1807

 This week’s game was based on the battle of Mohrungen, between the Russians and a French corps under Bernadotte. I used the scenario laid out in Age Of Eagles as the basis for the game. A description of the real events is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mohrungen. The Russians started with an advantage of around 2:1 in infantry and 3:1 in artillery, but French reinforcements  would, when they arrived, balance the numbers (more or less). The Russians had to hold and defeat the French and keep their lines of communication open. The French needed to occupy the areas marked ‘V’ on the map, and while doing so destroy the Russians. The French reinforcements would be arriving at Blue Star 1 on the map, while the main French body started in the south west corner. The Russians could deploy  anywhere north of (and inside) the enclosed farm. The Russian CinC GL Roman Anrep (classed as a 9) was not on the table until T6 before which they were commanded by a very mediocre GM Markov (7). 

The view from the southern table edge. 

The Russians placed jägers in the farm, the mill and the village of Georgenthal, with their main body situated around the hill in the centre and linking the garrisons at each end of the line. Interestingly the chose to keep.their horse artillery battery limbered up well back in reserve, which I thought was a refreshing change from the wall-to-wall cannon tactics often used by Russian players, and definitely playing the period and not the rules. They suspected that some French would appear on their flank, and were correct of course.

Dave and Shaun took the Russians, while Paul, Nigel and John the Red (in charge of the reinforcements), were the French, under overall command of Marshall Bernadotte.

So without further ado, here’s what happened. The French moved first and arrived on the table at the southwestern corner and faced 15 or 16 battalions with eight of their own.

The centre of the Russian deployment zone, literally full of troops, largely held in reserve, but their were three battalions supporting the artillery in the centre..

The main body of the French army advancing on the Russians. They looked splendid, before the Russian cannon opened fire!

To counter the Russian artillery, the French had just this one small battery of 8-pdrs plus another similar-sized horse battery with the cavalry. I’ve still not finished my actual 1807 French artillery so these chaps from the Revolutionary era were standing in.

The French main body was slow to engage the enemy which meant that the Russians were not fully preoccupied when John brought his reinforcements onto the table, as can been above. The Russian reserves were ordered to face this new threat and drive it off.

The Cossacks tried to delay the French but were unable to stop them crossing the stream.

The large mass of Russian infantry seen in the middle ground was about to descend upon the newly-arrived French.

Fierce fighting around the farm.

Paul’s attack on the farm was prolonged and bloody. The first assault was repulsed. The second saw two battalions break and it was only the third assault that finally forced its way into the farmyard enclosure. 

Nigel’s cavalry caught a Russian battalion who were unable to form square., throwing a double 1. Remarkably the disordered infantry held and the cavalry had to pull back. More to do with extreme dice rolling than anything else.

One of the broken French battalions.

The French advanced on the village of Georgenthal.

The village was defended by jäger and supported by a half battery of horse artillery and a musketeer battalion.

Nigel’s cavalry had ridden 108” in two turns thanks to some low scores,and were now in the centre. They had been about to pounce of the Russian flank but Shaun moved his hussars forward to distract the French.

The French were loosing ground on the left wing.

The Russians were thrown out of half of Georgenthal but were facing three battalions of grenadiers with artillsupport.

 

Johns reinforcements had been halted by stubborn Russian resistance..

The Russian hussars charged across the stream. The one facing the artillery was destroyed and the othe one was defeated by French dragoons. This meant the Russian cavalry, including the Cossacks, were out of the game shattered.

By now we had played 12 out of maximum of 14 turns. It was too close to call.  The Russians had lost all their cavalry and some infantry but still had more than a dozen battalions and two full artillery batteries in play, and were in no way weakened significantly by the fighting to date. The French were well placed to  isolate and destroy the enemy right wing near the mil, and could have occupied the Russian lines of communication off the table, but dislodging the enemy from their central position would be tough. I decided we had a minor Russian victory to celebrate. Hurrah!

I have really gone off Black Powder. We were all very rusty but compared with Valour and Fortitude they seemed quite slow and clunky. I enjoyed the game as did the players, but not the rules, which disappointed me.

The battle of Golymin, 26 December 1806.

As it is the York show on Sunday and there’s Six Nations rugby on today I hosted a smallish game yesterday. Richard and Nigel gamely took the Russians and John and Paul the French in what proved to be a challenging game, set in Poland in 1806. An account of the real battle can be found Here, although I took as my inspiration for the game the venerable Age of Eagles scenario. The Russians were the rearguard for the main Russian army, who had to hold on until nightfall. The numerically superior French, led by Murat, were tasked with destroying the Russians. The French outnumbered the Russians by something approaching 2:1, but a large proportion of the army was cavalry, which in the close terrain would be difficult to manoeuvre effectively and bring numbers to bear.  The French were also without artillery as it was sunk in the mud that passed for roads in this part of Poland in winter. The Russians did have artillery, not in abundance but more than enough. We used Valour and Fortitude again. Paul and John contributed to the French army with some figures of their own as my French are still a work in progress, with some French Revolutionary Wars units standing in for the moment. Game length was to be eight turns or 3:00pm or thereabouts, whichever came latest. Time was not on the side of the French so they’d have to push hard from turn 1 to crush the Russians as quickly as possible. 

The Russians were deployed within the green box, with reinforcements arriving at point C, which was also the road they needed to keep open. Lasalle and the light cavalry division was deployed as shown, with reinforcements arriving  at points A and B. The marshy area was unsuitable for cavalry but the woods, while plentiful, were classed as open, thus permitting cavalry and infantry to enter at a penalty.

The game about to commence. 

The Russians held the central box shown on the map, with jäger dispersed in three woods on the edges of their deployment area. With only French light cavalry on the table on turn 1 Richard pushed his cavalry division forward.

John commanded Lasalle and Klein’s cavalry as they advance towards the Russian positions, jägers in the woods taking a few pot shots and shaking one French regiment.. 

John’s cavalry decided to charge the jäger in the woods. Open woods or not the terrain clearly favoured the Russians who beat off two attacks before being overrun. 

Over at point B Paul brought Aguerau’s corps into action. Again, Russian jäger grimly held on, delaying the French advance for a vital turn.

Russian jäger defeated the first French attempt to evict them from the woods.

Meanwhile, the woods were bypassed as Augerau’s corps advanced towards the village.

The French form up to assault the Russians in and around the village.

The cat always lies down to sleep on the umpire’s rules and notes!

John’s cavalry supported by several infantry battalions begin the make profession the right.

One of my new French units. 24 Chasseurs a cheval.

The Garde de Paris moving up on the right.

More French surging forward, the Tirailleurs Corses included.

Paul launched a furious attack on the village. Richard’s men held on inside the village but the supporting units were driven off.

The Russians had husbanded their cavalry and were waiting for an opportunity to let them loose on the French assault. French cavalry and infantry were by now working their way round the Russian left flank, guarded only by a jäger battalion and a brigade of dragoons.

The French eject the defenders of the village.

Richard ordered a counterattack against the village, retaking it at the point of the bayonet!

Seen from the French rear, their assault on the Russians. 

It was hotting up around the village again.

John’s cavalry on the right are now trickling round the right flank, driving the Russian jäger back through the swampy area.

The Russian counterattack was successful and they recaptured the village.

By now we had completed eight turns and it was 3:30 so night was falling and the battle came to an end. The Russians had suffered heavy losses, with one brigade annihilated holding the village. They had also collected five failed Fortitude test counters. Had they not been carrying these negative points they would have actually achieved a narrow victory as they still held both villages and their line of retreat off the table at point C. As a result a slim victory was awarded to the French, but the Russians would have been able to slip away so they didn’t disgrace themselves.

The French found that having so much cavalry was no great advantage due to the terrain, which was an issue in the real battle. Not having any French artillery was probably an advantage as they were forced to attack without any time wasting while they softened up the enemy.

There were a few issues with interpretation of the rules, mainly around the ability of open order infantry in the woods to hold on and defeat their French cavalry and infantry attackers. Ok, perhaps where the cavalry were concerned but against an assault column? There seems to be no facility for light troops to evade, unless they are just supposed to stand and die if they are caught.  Oh well, we shall make a house rule perhaps. To be honest I’m not sure that these rules are what I am after. They’re quick and give a good game but I’m not totally excited with them. Roll on General d’Armee 2. Hopefully guys enjoyed the game. I did, especially the way the scenario played out.

York tomorrow for Vapnatark. Looking forward to it.

Battle of Lutzen 1813 - Fighting to the Last Prussian and A Grand Day Out!

Last Saturday I was at the Durham Wargames Group for a refight of the battle of Lutzen, organised with meticulous precision by Mr John H.  Paul, Dom, Mike and I were the Allies. Shaun, John the Red and Nick were the French.   An account of the real battle can be found Here.  We were using John's extensive and rather beautiful 15mm collection with his own rules.

This was going to be a pretty enormous game with perhaps ('cos I can't remember) over a dozen corps from both sides involved. We were able to get started just after 10:00. Reinforcements for both sides would be arriving at various (often inconvenient) points throughout the game. I won't attempt to give a blow by blow account of the game as I was too engrossed to take many photographs; hopefully they will give an idea as to how things went.

Me, Nick (a Frenchman), Dom and Paul study the table.

Marshal Marmont (Shaun) pinned in the corner of the table by loads of Russian cavalry.

The Allies preparing to attack.

The Imperial Guard arrives (theirs, not ours)

One of the Allied cores.

A major Allied assault is developing.

Dom's Prussians were tasked with assaulting the villages while also covering our flank in case any French were to arrive. The Prussians assaulted the villages several times but were unable to take them. They did force one garrison to depart when the houses caught fire but in the process the Prussian Guard were lost.

French Imperial Guard getting closer!

My Russians on the hill about to advance.

The Russian grenadier corps about to assault the French.

A massive column of Russian grenadiers about to get stuck in......we hoped.

Our right flank under pressure from French reinforcements.

The Russian centre.

Paul launched his grenadiers at the enemy but they were knocked back at first. They did make a big hole in the enemy line but were forced into square due to the presence of the French Guard cavalry.

The French on our left were unable to advance as we had them pinned by massed artillery and cavalry.

Russian cuirassiers managed to defeat the enemy cavalry facing them but were unable to make any further headway.

Prussian cavalry vs the Chasseurs a Cheval of the Guard.

The Prussians were victorious and the Chasseurs fled!

Essentially, the Allied plan was to send a covering force off to our right, use the Prussians to assault the villages in the enemy centre, reinforced by the main Russian body and lots of artillery. We would use Mike's Russian cavalry to cover our left and prevent Marmont from joining the battle.

Suffice to say, we fought to the last Prussian (including Blucher who fell in the last turn leading an heroic charge), and failed to achieve any significant successes anywhere. Our left was solid and immovable. Our centre was edging forward after an earlier retreat. Our 'big push' in the centre came to nothing apart from destroying a few French divisions, and a significant number of our own, and the Prussians took a hammering after three failed assaults on the villages. Finally, our right was beginning to crumble due to the arrival of more French directly to their front.

This was a clear French victory, but I reckon we did better as the Allies than they did in the real battle. The game was an excellent and spectacular event, and was hugely enjoyable. We played until past 4:00pm so it was also quite a gruelling day but well worth it. Thanks must go to John for organising it all and to the French for not gloating too much in their moment of victory.