Maloyaroslavets

Battle of Maloyaroslavets, by Peter von Hess

This was a very special game played in the War Room some months ago against old friend of my fathers.  Marshall R was a colleague of my fathers when I was a lad.  My Dad had dabbled in wargaming a bit when he was younger, but he never really took to the hobby.  I, on the other hand,  fell for toy soldiers and fell hard.  The good Marshall was very kind to me when I was a youngster, teaching me how to paint my Airfix French Foreign Legion and slipping my Dad spare copies of Wargames Illustrated. 

So it was a real treat to finally host him in the war room for a game of Command & Colours Napoleonics. We played the battle of Maloyaroslavets from the Russian expansion. 

The Field of Mars

The scenario introduction from the Russian expansion. 

Napoleon marched southwest out of Moscow on October 19th toward the fertile region around Kaluga where supplies could be obtained. Eugene commanded Napoleon’s advance guard and all was going as planned until reaching Maloyaroslavets. Kutusov had also directed Dokhturov to march for Maloyaroslavets and the Russian advance guard arrived first. A furious meeting engagement ensued as Eugene charged over the River Luzha bridge and into parts of the village. Both locations changed hands several times. At one point Dokhturov broke off the attack, but was reinforced by Raevski and renewed the fight. Eugene’s final effort drove back the Russians to the ridges that overlooked the village. Early in the afternoon Napoleon was near the village, but after a close encounter with a party of Cossacks, he decided not to renew the action and made the fatal decision to alter the route of retreat to Mojaisk, forcing the army to retreat through the regions devastated during the advance on Moscow.

The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?

Link to the official scenario. 

Mr R took the French as he is by inclination a vile canting Bonapartist of the worst sort and they're bit a easier to play for players who are relatively new to the game. 

The central position, the town of Maloyaroslavets, is held by the French, but not so strongly as to be impregnable. The French have forces to reinforce it, but they're not immediately in position.  The Russian player is face with a choice, do you try and crumble the flanks of the French position and push on one side or the other, or commit to frontal attack? 

I committed to a frontal attack early and though I took fairly heavily casualties, I managed to take the centre with enough force to hold it. The French held part of the town, but without reinforcements  they wouldn't be able to drive me out again. 

Meanwhile Marshall R realised relatively quickly that trying to retake the town was a fools errand and mounted an attack on the French left. The Old Guard Grenadiers and French infantry drove forward into a flurry of Russian musketry. 

The French infantry managed to drive a wedge into the Russian position and I had to bring up Prince Mishkins Hussars to plug the gap. 

On the Russian left, Marshall R pushed his cavalry and infantry forward.  He didn't have the edge in numbers (always a problem, if you're attacking), but he had the edge in quality. Time would tell if that edge would be enough. 

The battle raged all across the front, with Marshall R pressing forward on the flanks to see if he could put pressure on me.  Several Russian battalions were broken before I could shore up the left, but I was still ahead, just. 

The Prince Mishkin Hussars were pummeled by a charge of French dragoons on the right, sent tumbling back and only barely survived to reform in much reduced numbers in the Russian rear. 

Not only did they batter the Hussars, but they followed up and crashed into the line infantry behind them.  The Russian formed square and held tight while the Dragoons thundered around them.  Meanwhile in the centre, I was able to bring my guns to bear on the weakened French infantry and break their will to resist.  With that the French army began to retreat from the field and the Cossacks began their pursuit. 

This was a close fought game which ended 8-10 and was nail biting right to the end.  It was real pleasure to get Marshall R around the table and hopefully we'll be able to do it again before too long.  I can't imagine telling ten year old Kinch that one day I'd been able to host him at my own wargames table.  Definitely a hobby life time achievement highlight. 

 

What to do with a chap like this?

Might this plucky Belgian be taking a trip across the pond?

Last year, I had the good fortune to pick up some figures very cheaply from a diorama that was being broken up.  Amongst those figures were some Dutch-Belgian infantry like this chap above.  Now as it happens I ended up with some more than I needed. Most of them have the slightly flared Austrian shako, but these fellas are wearing the false fronted job favoured by the America regulars. Their coat is blue and disregarding the possible need to do away with the shoulder wings with a dab of paint, I think they are not a bad match for US regulars. 

The attractions of 1812 are many, not least that I have all the British I could possibly need. I think it remains to be seen exactly how many of these fellas I have and how many units I would likely need. 

Borodino - 7 September 1812 (Utitza) - Part Two

 

The Kitchen 

As the ululating lament of McHibernia-McEireanneach from the kitchen had subsided somewhat -  I decided to risk putting my head around the door only to discover the kitchen swathed in mist. A single Wolfhound loped through the murk, pausing only to howl mournfully, and then disappeared. 

After dragging McEireanneach out of the kitchen and deciding that I was going to have to do something about the sudden appearance of trees before Mrs. Kinch came home, I pressed another medicinal brandy on him (his previous one was "with O'Leary in the grave" apparently - whatever that means) and we went back to the important work of Borodino. 

The French centre advances to contest the village

McEireanneach advanced in the centre, where I hoped to drag him into a firefight around the village. 

Cossacks supported by the Moscow regiment move to threaten the French right

With a dearth of centre cards, I moved up some reserves on my left as I thought at least if I could hit his left he would have very limited space to fall back into. 

A surprise attack!

Now as it happened McEireanneach spotted what I was doing and move his light cavalry forward.  These fellows are a lot more dangerous than my cossacks and would make short work of them. Not only that, but I'd ended up with two Cavalry Charge cards in hand. As I had no other cavalry other than the Cossacks, I formed the opinion that there was no point waiting to be attacked and I that I might as well extract as much as I could from the card before the French dispersed my horsemen. 

So I launched a sudden Cossack charge that knocked the stuffing out of the French light horse. 

The historians will be writing about this one for a while.

The French countercharge was pretty lukewarm and didn't wipe me out. I reckon that a lot of ink will be spilled on that particular engagement in years to come as Historians will try and argue that Cossacks were perfectly capable as serving as battlefield cavalry. 

French guns barrage the village of Utitza

Meanwhile, the French infantry were proving stubbornly reluctant to close on Utitza leaving their guns to do the talking for them. 

With the French resolutely refusing to close - the Russian line creaks into action and moves forward.

On the left, the French close with bayonet. 

And do great execution.

The Russian line hits the Swiss and the lights in the centre.

As I had been forced to bring on a general engagement in the centre, I decided to push with everything I had there. Fire crackled up and down the line. 

Doing for the Swiss and their leader.

And driving the lights back.

With the battle hanging in the balance, the Russian line advances.

This was quite a tough decision, the scores were (if memory serves) even with the next scoring point taking victory.  I worked on the basis that attacking was preferable to playing it safe on the grounds that I was more likely to be able to wipe out or destroy one of the wavering French units. 

Follow me men!

As my gallant general closed the distance in the hope of smashing the tatters of the French centre, a lucky volley from the remaining lights put paid to that idea. 

And the cannonade finishes the business.

Counter attacking McEireanneach launched an artillery in the centre to blast the 18th Jeagers holding Utitza and that was that. 

It was a close game and an absolute pleasure from beginning to end.  Hopefully McEireanneach will return, though not before I've managed to get rid of the glade in the kitchen and the Dolmen in the hall. Sadly, the shock of victory as opposing to the traditional defeat and flight to France was too much for McEireanneach and he had to take to the bed. 

We hope he gets well soon. 

Borodino - 7 September 1812 (Utitza) - Part One

General Poniatowski - looking very dishy I must say. 

I'd love to say that I haven't been updating the blog because I've been flat out playing games and having way too much fun - but in actual fact, it's mainly because I've been flat out in work and attending college. The course has been demanding, but I'm enjoying it. Unfortunately it doesn't really leave time for anything else and between getting to work and to class, any spare time I have have has been spent with Mrs. Kinch. 

But I've had this sitting in my drafts section and I've finally managed to put some sort of shape on it. 

An unexpected reinforcement for the French

Prior to my dissappearing down a rabbit hole of legal studies, I managed to get a game in.  What I lacked was an opponent, but this deficiency was put right by the sudden arrival of a tall, wild eyed figure at my door. Lashed by rain and with his more delicate extremeties frostbitten - he was kept warm only by the burning flame of duty to the blood and soil. 

And it was  thus that I met my new old enemy, Lochlainn McHiberinia-McEireanneach an impecunious republican exile constantly surrounded by Celtic mist (which proved a swine to get out of the curtains - Mrs. Kinch still isn't speaking to me).  I hustled him into the wargames room before he caught his death and thrust a medicinal brandy into his hand. 

Pausing only briefly to sing a heart rending lament for the soft drizzle of home - he informed me that he had returned in secret to the Auld Sod. He had slunk off a French frigate at midnight in order to raise bloody riot and revolution and coincidentally wreak terrible vengeance on all filthy Kinchs. 

We agreed that a game of Command & Colours Napoleonics seemed the best way to raise the green flag and begin the rebellion. 

I happened to have one of the Borodino scenarios set up - so we played that. 

The field of battle

"The village of Utitza was at the southern end of the Russian left flank positions at Borodino. The Utitza woods, however, were very dense—well suited for Tutchkov’s Russian Jaegers that were deployed there in some numbers. All total, Tutchkov had some 23,000 troops, but many were untrained Opolchenye (militia). Poniatowski had about 10,000 trained Polish soldiers, very eager to fight.

The first attempt by the Poles, did capture Utiza, but Tuchkov’s Grenadier Division and the 3rd infantry division advanced and ejected the Polish forces in short order. General Junot then joined the attack and again captured Utiza, but as the Russians departed, the village was set on fire and no longer could be defended. After this, the Russians and Poles continued to skirmish for the rest of the day without much progress.

The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?"

Skirmishing in the woods

The initial few moves of the game were quite tentative. I had the edge in Light Infantry and hoped to drag the French into a fight on the right in order to whittle down their numbers and press my advantage. 

The 1ieme Suisse annihilate the 17th Jaegers

Unfortunately,  McHiberinia-McEireanneach counter attacked swiftly and managed to put paid to my jaegers. 

But run slap bang into the Parnau Grenadiers

I repaid him in his own coin. It's interesting how the battle ebbed and flowed, which is something of a recurring theme of CNN games.  It's very rare that there is general engagement all along the line.  It's much more usual to find that there will be a serious of hot spots that move across the table and often, as a general you will find yourself trying to use weaker cards to focus an opponents attention somewhere, while you build a knockout blow somewhere else. 

The Russian line moves forward dressing from the right

As the French had proven quite adept at pulling weakened units out of the line and I didn't have the cavalry to go hunting them down it was proving frustratingly difficult to break any particular part of the French line.  McHiberinia-McEireanneach was quite cautious and I knew that if I maintained the defensive, he would simply pick a point and steamroller me. This obliged me to attempt to keep him off balance and prevent him from withdrawing shaken troops and replacing them with fresh ones. 

With that in mind, I pushed forward in the centre in order to prevent him bringing his cavalry on the left into play, which I didn't have the resources to counter. Holding the village of Utitza allowed me to make the battle about the built up area and not get drawn into a fight in the open, where the French horse soldiers would inevitably prevail. 

Lochlainn McHiberinia-McEireanneach

Warmed somewhat by his medicinal brandy -  McHiberinia-McEireanneach was in good spirits, until a chance remark reminded him that he was in mourning, whereupon he immediately retreated to the ktichen, Covering his head with a black cloth he began to sing a mournful dirge bewailing the recent death of his favourite potato (which he had hand raised since he were a lad, yer honour).

It was going to be a long night.