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. 

 

Hurrah for the Portuguese

A French column marches on Le Cor's men. 

(Please click to enlarge)

One interesting side effect of last week's entry was an email from a regular reader of Joy & Forgetfulness, who was not aware that I write regularly for Miniature Wargames. I shall save the poor chaps blushes as he is a subscriber and had been reading "Send three & fourpence" for a while, but had never connected the two. 

Keeping up the column has taken more application that usual over the last year - but as my faculties improve it is getting easier.  It also gave me the excuse to have a look at the battle of St. Pierre, part of the 1813 battle of the Nive, where Sir Rowland "Daddy" Hill held off far superior numbers under Marshall Soult. A goodly portion of his forces were Portuguese and I found that after taking the pictures for the article, I had completely missed out the "Fighting Cocks" of the army.  The scenario will be appearing in the next issue of Miniature Wargames.  It was a bit of a challenge, as the battle itself involved the defender facing two to one odds and winning.  

The view from the French side

(Please click to enlarge)

My miniature photography is slowly improving, but I really need to work on my post production. The white balance in these is all over the place. That background could do with a bit of an iron as well.

I might have tilted the camera slightly, er, 

what I mean is I tried out some Rodchenko angles

(Please click to enlarge)

It seems ungrateful  as these fine fellows have done Trojan service over the last few years, but the Ykreol plastics are without doubt some of the most lumpen figures in my collection.  If only I had realised that HAT Peninsula British would do as well with a lick of blue paint.

With drums beating the pas de charge - the French close on the Portuguese line

(Please click to enlarge)

On the other hand, my venerable NIKON D40 is still doing stalwart service, even if it does excite some eyerolling when it is produced in public.  It isn't broken, it takes perfectly good photographs and I see no reason to go for a more expensive option.

The Portuguese musketry begins to tell

(Please click to enlarge)

Arranging some toy soldiers for photos is actually a very pleasant pastime and I should do it more often.  I've never really understood the diorama impulse before, but I think its attractions are beginning to dawn on me. 

....and casualties begin to mount. 

(Please click to enlarge)

French peasants regard the occupation forces with curiosity tinged with fear

(Please click to enlarge)

The chaplain from one of the British regiments converses with some local monks

(Please click to enlarge)

The ill fated Col. Bunbury makes inquiry of the corporal on guard 

(Please click to enlarge)

I hope you've enjoyed these. I certainly enjoy taking them. Perhaps we might see a little 

more of this sort of thing. 

Battle of Mohrungen

Marshall Bernadotte pictured in happier days

(thieved from here)

I'm not particularly well up on the fourth Coalition - I know it in a general sense, Jena and all that.  But I must confess, I'd never even heard of the battle of Mohrungen until Lord Siskington picked it out of the book.  Though it appears I'm not alone as a google image search for pictures of the battle drew a blank and I had to settle for the picture (above) of Marshall Bernadotte as an introduction. We're staying with Mrs Kinch's parents at the moment, but I needed to visit home to collect some things and feed Sir Harry Flashman VC, so I took the opportunity to arrange a game while I was at.  Lord Siskington kindly volunteered to join me and we had dinner and a game, which was a very pleasant way to spend the evening. 

The field of Mars arrayed for battle, Lord Siskington considering his options. 

I have lent my snowfield mat to someone and I can't for the life of me remember who, so we were obliged to play this on the green fields mat. Pardon gentles all. 

The introduction from the scenario booklet. 

"In early January Bennigsen ordered the Russian Army to go on the offensive. On the 19th Ney, who had extended his line in search of provisions, was attacked and brushed aside. General Markov then advanced toward Mohrungen where Bernadotte was concentrating his forces. 

Both sides had opportunity to deploy the morning of the 25th before Bernadotte’s cavalry launched a charge against the Russian center. The Russian cavalry, with support from their artillery, drove back the attack but were in turn driven back by French artillery fire and fresh cavalry. The ensuing artillery exchange inflicted little damage. The battle began in earnest when French light infantry advanced in the center to threaten the Russian artillery and Dupont’s arriving division pushed the Russians on the left back from their forest defensive positions. As dusk fell the French were making progress all along the line. Suddenly, Bernadotte heard firing in his rear in Mohrungen. Fearing the worst, he called off the battle to retrace his steps. It was a false alarm—only a few squadrons of Russian horsemen had entered the town and were pillaging the French supply wagons. They were quickly driven off."

Lord Siskington, naturally being the guest, had choice of sides and choose to play the Russians.  I was left with the dastardly French. 

Bonaparte's Legions falling into line

On the face of it, this is a very tough row to hoe for the Russian player. The French player has cavalry superiority, the advantage of numbers and the edge in troop quality.  The only thing in his favour was the terrain and time.  There was a mechanic which allow him to move a marker at the rear of the field which would eventually bring him 50% of the victory points required to win the game.  This meant that we Frenchers could not afford to hang around. 

My opponent rolled rather well on the Mother Russia roll.  This is a special rule the Russians use, which takes account of the add hoc nature of their mobilisation.   The Russian player is allowed add infantry figures to some of his units, raise extra cossacks or dig entrenchments amongst other things.  Lord Siskington created an overstrength, entrenched battery in the centre of his line as a result. 

Lord Siskington's lovely daughter

(aka Tolstoy's Death Star)

This was a perilous looking piece of ironmongery to tangle with and I spent most of the game trying to avoid it, while the Prince Mishkin Hussars (seen the left) pinned my infantry in the centre under its guns. I spent most of my time working around on the right and keeping an eye on the clock. 

Victorious French dragoons

Fortunately,  my success on the right caused Lord Siskington to thin his centre so much that I was able to mount an attack and isolate the battery.  The French guns mounted a Talavera style "artillery charge" combined with some dragoons who managed to get around the back of the redoubt and take it in the rear.  This spelled the end of the Russian gunners. 

French infantry advancing through some curiously un-snowbound fir trees. 

Once the Russian artillery was dealt with I was able to roll up on the right and take the defence apart. This is a tough scenario for the Russian, as the statistics on the CCN website indicate as they win less than a quarter of the time, but regardless it was a good game. Lord Siskington was good company as always.  We put the world to rights over a brandy afterwards.

An evening well spent. 

Sorauren (French right early afternoon) - 28 July 1813

The Field of Sorauren

At Hobocon a couple of weeks ago, the Soldier of Destiny and I played Sorauren from the new Command & Colours expansion using the new tactics deck. The blurb from the scenario. 

"Marshal Soult re-entered Spain to defeat Wellington’s army in detail and rescue the besieged garrisons of Pamplona and San Sebastien. The plan relied on speed. Soult with the main force hustled Cole’s ineptly placed division out of Roncesvalles Pass with minimal fighting. Cole, along with Picton, retreated much further than Wellington desired, but Wellington was far away and communications were bad. When Cole did stop, he redeemed himself by picking excellent defensive terrain opposite the village of Sorauren. Soult had the numbers to win, but ironically, by funneling too many troops into narrow valleys with poor roads, he lost the speed needed to win the campaign, and his advance slowed to a crawl. On the 27th, Soult’s vanguard made contact with the British at Sorauren. 

With only Clausel’s Corps on hand (Rielle’s corps was strung out for miles on the bad roads), Soult made no attack. The veteran of Albuera had calculated the numbers needed to drive the British off the Oricain Heights and knew he did not have enough that afternoon.  Next day, after a violent night’s thunderstorm, Rielle’s corps was up, and Soult had the numbers needed to fight and win the day before, but the British had gotten reinforcements too.  The French attacked first on the right. One of Clausel’s divisions under Conroux advanced to gain the flank of the British on the heights, but was caught in a three-way crossfire between the troops on the heights and reinforcements from Pack’s arriving division. Conroux’ battered division was forced back to Sorauren. Clausel’s other divisions assaulted the British and Portuguese on the Oricain Heights with enough initial success to break through in places. Wellington, aware of the deteriorating situation, ordered Stubbs and Lambert to counterattack. Their onslaught sent the disorganized French columns reeling back down the slopes. The battle continued on the French left with Rielle’s attacks.

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

French bayonets storm forward on the left

I lost the toss and was obliged to play the dastardly Bonapartists. I decided my best plan was going to be to concentrate my forces on the weaker Portuguese troops.  This would allow me to take the hill, which was worth a victory point and would make it more difficult for the Soldier of Destiny to come back at me. 

Hurrah! We have taken the hill for Bonaparte. 

This was the first game we'd played with the new decks of Command and Tactics cards that came in Expansion 5. These replace the 60 card deck of cards that came with the original game and essentially split them in two.  The Command deck contains the standard cards that allow players to move and activate troops, while the Tactics deck includes cards that allow an attacked player to attack first, battlefield smoke cards that limit the effectiveness of musketry and so on. 

The "specials" in the Tactics deck are generally less powerful than their old equivalents, but there are more of them - the effect is to make the game a little bit more predictable in some ways and lessen the effect of the really rare cards. On the whole I think I like it. 

Lights skirmishing in the centre

Having taken the hills, I decided that it was time to put pressure on the centre. 

The Hussars force the Portugese into square

But contrary to expectations the Portuguese counter attacked and managed to make a dent in my line, so I was obliged to commit my cavalry. 

A field of grief

The quick back and forth that resulted was horrific, I didn't take pictures of the whole clash, but the Portuguese earned their salt.  They took several units from me in what was a close range and brutal fight, taking losses in their turn, but unfortunately they had numbers on their side. 

The result was that I kept the hill, but that I didn't have the strength to develop anything from it and had to content myself with holding on to it. 

We press forward in the centre

With my bolt well and truly shot on the left, I decided to press forward in the centre.  I managed to drive the 4th Foot back, but took punishing volleys of British musketry in return. 

The 4ieme Ligne die where they stand

Meanwhile the Portuguese counterattacked on my left and took my threadbare battalion to pieces. 

The hussars do for a (somewhat out of place) General Picton

With both sides on the ropes, the 62ieme Ligne stormed forward to come to grips with the enemy. They drove off the second battalion Enniskillings. 

Before falling prey to the Kings Royal Halberdiers. 

All in all, a tightly fought game and one I didn't mind losing too much.  It certainly established that the Portuguese are no pushovers. The new decks were interesting and the Tactics cards saw a lot of play without feeling gimmicky.  One thing I did like was that while each player began with a hand of these cards, once they were spent, they were harder to come by - so that the amount of unusual events was interesting, but not overpowering. One thing that I did really like it that there is a card there for breaking squares.  It's rare, but it exists and squares are no longer the citadels they were when the game was first published. 

On the whole, if you like Command & Colours Napoleonics, Expansion 5 just makes it better. The added complexity doesn't appreciably slow gameplay, though you will have to make more decisions on your turn.  What it does do is add layers of nuance that will keep experienced players interested and ensure that there is plenty to discover in this game for many years to come. 

Sahagun

The Field of Battle

The French cavalry are caught in the town by British cavalry 

to the right and the bottom left hand corner. 

Over the weekend, we had the opportunity to play some of the new scenarios from the latest Command & Colours Napoleonics expansion Marshalls & Tacticians.  I was aided in this by my old enemy, the soldier of destiny himself, Lochlainn McHibernia-McEireanneach. A wild eyed poetic soul, McHibernia-McEireanneach has recently returned from a book tour of Chicago, Vienna and the sub continent. His most recent publication, "The New Gluten Free Cookbook and My Fight for Irish Freedom," has been reasonably successful.  

He joined me in playing the Sahagun scenario. I have been mildly obsessed with Sahagun for a while and I've struggled to make the scenario work.  Command & Colours Napoleonics simply does not shine without combined arms, so I was very interested to see how Richard Borg would approach this particular problem. 

The French player is presented with a choice - fight or run? 

In brief, if you don't want to read my previous ramblings on Sahagun (click linky) - it was a battle where the British cavalry launched a surprise attack on some French horse in barracks.  The French were almost surrounded and routed, but were prevented from being putting completely in the bag by some poor co-ordination on the part of the British. 

Richard Borg's take on this scenario puts the French in a situation where they need to either defeat the British cavalry or flee the field. Because it's a cavalry engagement, it's essentially a demolition derby of charge and counter charge. Richard has adapted the victory conditions somewhat so the French can score by getting troops off the board.  He also rates the French cavalry as 33% more effective than the British. 

A troops of the Light Dragoons about to do for some Chasseurs. 

We played this several times, three times in total I think and the French took it handily on each occasion.  I had hoped that Richard might have cracked the pure cavalry engagement, but I don't think he has. There is very little the British can do to try and prevent the French getting off the field and unless they can bring superior numbers to bear, they can't go toe to toe with the French horse. 

McHibernia-McEireanneach counting his victory points

I really wanted to like this scenario because I'm fascinated by the original battle and I love cavalry engagements, but to be honest, it's a bit of a lemon.  CCN while it is my favourite Napoleonic rule set, does combined arms well, but it struggles to cope with scenarios that don't have at least two arms present. 

French horse bolting for the river. 

I don't think we'll be giving this one a go again, which is a pity, because it's a fascinating engagement.  Fortunately we played some of the other scenarios from the new expansion and they were a different story.  

Waterloo Day: Quatre Bras - Part One

The French players led by General Du Gourmand examine the field, while 

Icecream checks the rules on his phone. 

I wrote some time ago of the Waterloo Day we planned for the 200th anniversary of the battle.  I gave a rough description of what occurred, but I think the time has come to give an excellent days gaming it's due.  

General TK views the few Dutch and Belgians arrayed against him. 

Quatre Bras was quite a demanding scenario to write to be honest, as I wanted to capture some of the pressure the allies must have felt, hanging on for dear life while the Duke marched to their aid. This necessitated beginning the game with very few troops on the table, which leaves players with little to do.  I'm not generally a fan of this, but I did my best to find a compromise that allowed the game to proceed at a decent clip and get everyone involved while still keeping the essence of Quatre Bras. 

Kellerman's light cavalry moving forward

I allowed the players to do their own deployment so the French reversed their left and right with Kellerman's cavalry on the right.  Du Gourmand was definitely channelling Ney as he chivy'd his fellows forward.  

General DeCasey began to wonder if the suspiciously empty allied half of the board meant that the Belgians were hidden in ambush. 

"No" says General Du Gourmand, it's not a trap, I've read the 

scenario - now get a wriggle on and get 'em!

The first cavalry skirmish on the allied left. 

The break point for both sides was eighteen units, that is, if they could wipe out eighteen enemy units, they would drive them from the field.  However, this would be lowered to thirteen units if you also held Quatre Bras. The Allies obviously enough began in possession, but were seriously outnumbered, thirty two units to seven at one point, so the pressure was on the French to get to grips and in jig time. 

Ended badly for the Dutch as the Polish lancers  sliced through their opposition and drove the supporting infantry into square. 

"It's OK boss, I've got this under control."  

This was not the first time command relationships in this game were based on something other than unalloyed truth and integrity. 

General Ney examines the situation on the French right as McShannon pours on the pressure. King Billy (centre) ably portrayed by the Unlikely Douglas McKenzie is beginning to feel the pinch.  

"How many Frenchmen are over there?" 

Icecream begins to realise that there are a lot of men in blue coats coming. 

Fortunately, the red coats had started to arrive, just as the last Dutch infantrymen were being unceremoniously booted out of the woods. 

General De Casey looks distinctly unimpressed with the number of Allied reinforcements. 

"The code word is Get 'Em Boys!"

General Du Gourmand gives General McShannon the benefit of his wisdom.  We gave the Allies two "hesitation points", which forced one player to miss a turn in order to model Rielle's hesitation to close.  Rielle had faced Wellington in the Peninsula and was not sure that the apparent Allied weakness at Quatre Bras wasn't a variation on the Duke's ploy of concealing the main strength of his army. 

These hesitation points were represented by small individually wrapped cheeses from Lidl, which had to be offered to the "hesitant" player with the phrase "Sir, of course you could do that, but would not rather enjoy this delicious piece of cheese."

Icecream came back what he described as "...the most insulting unFrench cheese" I could find. I regret to say we did not take a picture, but I believe it was a Lidl variant of Laughing Cow. 

TK looks chipper as he drives the Allies out of the woods. Quatre Bras is now in range of his artillery. The Allies have managed to bring on some reinforcements, but they are mostly on the right. 

Icecream moves some Hanoverian landwehr onto the board, while Marshall-Ney-for-a-day (Du Gourmand) takes over the reins of the French right. General De Casey had to head home as he had just recently become a father. It was good to see him, even if only for a little while. 

Little Miss DeCasey is a beautiful, but demanding mistress. 

"I thought I ordered you to charge!"

Marshall-Ney-for-a-day comes down to the French right to find out how things are going, only to discovered that despite the recent reinforcements of cuirassiers, General McShannon had not pressed the beleaguered Belgians.  

"But they were right there, you had them right where you wanted them!"

"What were you thinking?!?!"

This was probably one of the best moments in the game, not least because General Du Gourmand is a notoriously cavalier subordinate himself who routinely disregards orders in his usual pursuit of l'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace! He trusts in that classic Irish saying, "It is easier to ask forgiveness, than permission" and hopes that success will pardon his disobedience. 

He said afterwards, "Really, it's only funny when I do it."

"Why?"

General McShannon looks on while Marshall-Ney-for-a-day delivers a classic evil villain, why-am-I-surrounded-by-idiots-speech to the door. 

Marshall-Ney-for-a-day seeks spiritual solace. 

Which appears to do the trick.  Icecream (right)appears skeptical. 

"McShannon, I can't help but feel we got off on the wrong foot, but we really need to push on here.  If you drive him back, we can turn the whole position." 

"There are damn few of them there McShannon and best we wallop 'em before their mates turn up."

TK keeps 'em rolling forward

The pressure is building in the centre.  Wellington arrived, but the French are closing in on Quatre Bras.  Casualties are mounting on both sides, but with the Allies holding the cross roads they could afford to spend more blood if it meant halting the French advance. 

Suddenly Picton!

After a really hard run of luck on the Allied left, the 3rd Division finally showed up. General Von Kerrigan celebrated in the most Picton like manner he could think of - waving a top hat in the air and shouting! 

With more redcoats coming onto the field and his hoped for big push on the right having failed to materialise, Marshall-Ney-for-a-day considers his options. 

Will the 3rd Division be able to stem the French tide on the left? 

Can Quatre Bras be held in the face of overwhelming numbers? 

More soon gentlemen.