Borodino for Joy of Six - 7 Sept 1812 - fought 20 Mar 2026

This year Ilkley Irregulars will be hosting the battle of Borodino, 7 September 1812, at the Joy of Six  Wargames Convention in Sheffield on 28th June.

Friday 20th saw Mike, Charlie, Mark and myself refight the battle as a first run through.  We had all last met at the excellent Battleground show in Middlesborough, where the Irregulars were hosting Waterloo.

Mike and I played Borodino in October 2024 (AAR here) and I played it with the scenario author, Mark Smith, way back in October 2022 (AAR here).  On both occasions the Russians won (merely by not dying too fast....).

OK, so what happened on Friday?  Mike and Mark led the French, Charlie and I took the Russians.  Team Rodina is hampered by having some poorly armed troops (pikemen) and having the right wing pinned until turn 3.  The French (plus the Italians, Saxons, Polish, Westphalians, etc.) have lots of well armed troops - but they have to climb 2 two level hills and assault the Russian entrenchments.

Turn 0

Here's the starting picture - Mike has made some bespoke scenery and I am planning to make suitable buildings and defences.

Turn 2

On the Russian right Charlie defended the Redoubt and Borodino, however, with most of his troops fixed till turn 3, the action was mainly trading shots with the advancing Italians.  There was a fair bit of banter that despite much shooting and Borodino changing hands, neither Charlie or Mark lost any bases for several turns.

On the Russian left my plucky defenders counter attacked and I tried to get various Cossacks and Pike troops to move.  As half my flank is a huge forest, there was much opportunity for my troops to delay.

Turn 3

At the end of turn 3 (lunch break!) the Poles, backed up by heavy cavalry, had pushed my front-line defenders into the woods, however I still held the village and my reserves were moving, slowly, to bring their pikes and ragged muskets to bear.  In the centre more reserves were supporting the Fleches (left hand defences) and I had even advanced to take on one of Davout's assault units.

On the right Charlie had advanced his troops (released at the start of turn 3) and was pressurising the Italians in Borodino.  It was around this time that someone finally lost a base....

Turn 4

Fortified by Baguettes and Borsht (OK, it was filled rolls - very good!) we pushed on.  

On the left, Junot's Westphalians destroyed the Cossacks and advanced against my reserves.  My heavy cavalry support rolled low enough to not move.  Around Ultitsa the Poles got wiped out at the cost of two of my units and Davout stormed the Fleches.  My reserves (lower right) are waiting for the next turn to swing into action.

On the Russian right Charlie moved to contact with the Italians and the cvasualties mounted on both sides.  Ney went straight ahead to assault the Redoubt.

Turn 6

By the end of turn 6 I had lost the Fleches, but had halted any onward moves by Davout by sending in my decent reserves.  In the woods my good cavalry finally turned up to support my exhausted reserve troops and my regulars, whilst low on ammo and disordered, managed to be sufficiently hard to kill that they were still fighting.

On the right Charlie held the redoubt and the Italians were only just across the stream from Borodino.  the column you can see at the top of the picture is the Guard moving to shore up the French left, as the Italians started to take casualties and holes opened up in the line.

Turn 7/8

At the end of French turn 8, with the Russians having completed turn 7, we decided to end the game.  It was decided that the French were unlikely to make any further gains, so we concluded with a draw.  

The Russian left - the Russians are still hanging on in the woods about 9 inches from Ultitsa.  The French have the Fleches defences, however the next objective is unlikely to be taken.

On the Russian right the redoubt is firmly in our hands and a solid line of troops blocks the French direct advance.  The French Guard has reached the stream at Borodino, but the French left flank has some pretty big gaps that the Russians can use to slip troops through.

Conclusion

It was great to have a new player - Mark has played a lot of games under different rules, so was quick to get the mechanisms sorted and start making decisions - he also had some good questions that meant Mike and I were busy checking the rules.  Welcome Mark!

The game is similar to Waterloo, in that the French need to move far and fast to envelop the Russian defences before the Russian reserves are released and the numbers move towards the Russian favour.

On the French left the Italians need to take Borodino AND hold that flank.  On the right, the French need to push through the woods to get behind the Fleches, in this game my aggressive counter attacks destroyed the Poles and slowed Davout's troops.  

It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to our next play test!

French, Italians, Saxons Colin's BBB collection, Russians & Poles are Mike's.  Figures Baccus 6mm.

Lancelot - or Lancers 4 ways and counting...

 I thought I would put up some of my Baccus French Guard Lancers (NFR36) showing some alternative colour schemes to that in the catalogue.

These figures are modelled in full charge mode - galloping towards the enemy with their lances levelled, pennants flapping in the wind.  I would not want to be on the receiving end of that!

Here's the troops from the catalogue:

As you can see, you get a lancer (with lance, obvs...), an officer and a bugler.  Sadly no standard bearer, but this is where you re-purpose a French chasseur a cheval trooper.  

To do this I added card shapes to make a shabraque, gave him a drastic lobotomy about half way up the shako and added a square of plastic card, set diagonally on his head.  This was then filed to make the card and shako blend and some teeny cords were added (wire from a bottle of wine that had a net on the top of the neck.  (Ooh posh! I hear you cry!)).  File off his sword (you already lost part of that when you sliced his shako) and add a wire flagpole in his right hand.  Careful painting will help him blend in to the rest of the unit.

Firstly, here's my go at Dutch Lancers of the Guard.  My uniform source was L&F Funcken supplemented by pinterest.  French lancers were created after the 1809 Austrian campaign, so I went with an 1812 flag (found on a flag website for free). 

A note of caution - when I first got this pack of figures I tried converting a lance holder into flag bearer (rather than repurposing a chasseur).  I used a dremel tool to try removing the lance, but the vibrations snapped the legs, so went with converting the chasseur.

I am also assembling troops for the Peninsular campaign and decided some Vistula Legion troops would look good, especially as they have bright yellow facings.  Here's how these turned out:

 Flag I sourced on the internet.

I also used these figures for Austrian lancers, which were used throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.  The Czapka was slightly smaller at the start of the wars, but Hey!  this is 6mm!  it's really not a problem.

The two completed stands here will be joined by a third, once I get round to painting them...

They make for a vivid splash of colour and look suitably aggressive. 

I trust that this inspires you to have a go.  Most of the conversion work is in the uniform and shabraque colours - you don't have to make standard bearers if you don't want/need to.

Future plans are Polish Lancers of the French Guard, Lancers of Berg and I think I will still have enough remaining for at least one more unit.

Pre Christmas Game - Borodino 7 Sept 1812 - refight 21-23 Dec 2022

Over Christmas I had the opportunity to play test one Mark Smith's Napoleonic battles - in this case Borodino, 7 September 1812.  We first fought this in 2018, at the OWS club.  

For this playtest Mark had changed the orientation of the map so that instead of a deep battlefield, we had a wide battlefield.  This made flanks less secure and opened up the possibility of flanking manoeuvres.

We got to halfway through move 7 (the French go first, so French move 7, Russians move 6) before we ran out of time (not helped by my being ill for part of the time).  We also had to fit in shopping trips, etc, which is why we played over 3 days.  This is a really huge battle and would probably be better played by two teams of three or two, but with just two players per side, it is very do-able!

My thanks go to Mark for putting the game on, writing the scenario and providing the troops!

Here are some pics of the game.  All taken mid-game, so there's some paraphernalia lying around.

Early stages:

Russian right - white squares show that these forces cannot move until turns 3 or 4.

More reserves, held in place till turn 5.  After which they moved slooowly forward. 

The whole battlefield

French left looking towards Russian left

The French attack goes in

Russians hammer the French left flank

The French take the Redoubt

The position at the end of French turn 7.  Mark played the rest of the game as a solo game and tells me the Russians did hold on for an eventual win.

All in all it was a cracking game - a good playtest of the scenario and good fun to be with Mark at Christmas.  I hope that it gets an outing at OWS soon.

A nice end to a good year of gaming and BBB!