Blucher 100 Days Campaign - Crunch time!

Note: View the 100 Days posts for background and previous installments.

Nick and I have finally got the Blucher 100 Days campaign moving again after the Skirmish at Gembloux back in March.

With my (French) main thrust between the Allied armies frustrated by the 2 day Battle of Sombreffe, and my flying column trying to seize the Prussian supply points being equally frustrated at Gembloux it was time for a rethink.

This was the situation at the end of the 18th June. The area around Sombreffe was declared out of bounds (nobody wanted a Day 3!), and columns P and B had bounced apart after Gembloux - although my B was now conveniently on the eastern side of the river.

My new plan was to switch my focus to a race to the victory exits (B1 and A6). I have to exit 12 units of any one of them (not in combination) by end 25th June, otherwise the Allies win. To achieve the goal I decided to do a bit of deception. B would split and move towards both supply points still, but expecting P to cover them and move E of me, I'd then shoot N and W to get to A6. The main force would sent two weak columns (but Nick didn't know that unless he scouted) towards A6, pass some village of Waterloo. Crucially the main bulk of my Army would take the very last moves, so hopefully getting him to commit to a N or NW move before it's obvious where I'm actually going.

As it turned out Nicks moves were pretty much what I wanted, his Brits moving a bit too much W, but as my B moved N and actually hit the A row (with his P eventually coming in  pursuit) he actually dispatched two more Prussian columns away from the main body to protect A6.

This was the situation on 21 Jun. The British made good speed towards B1, I was never going to get it unopposed, but A6 gathered a good (and wasted) defensive screen, although he eventually released W and V to help the other Brits once M and O were in position.

My main column have swung south as far as Charleoi had move W and then rapidly up the Soignies-Hal road (Wellington was right after all!), shaking out into their battle order as they went.

By the 24th the units were in position and battle was ready to be joined. I now only have one more day to exit from B1 or A6 - so I need to either beat the Prussians (which seems unlikely, but a pity as the exit square - the gates of Brussels - is actually on the table), or fight through to B2 during the Battle of Hal on the 24th, then probably fight another battle on the 25th centered on B1-B2, but at which I just need to cover my rear whilst the Grand Armee marches off towards the Channel Ports!

Talk about playing it down to the wire!

Skirmish at Gembloux - Blucher 100 Days Campaign

Nick and I finally got to play the Gembloux Skirmish for our 100 Days Blucher Campaign this weekend.

The encounter takes place on  the same day as the 2nd Day of the Battle of Sombreffe. A French Division had been pushed out East with the aim of cutting the Prussian supply lines (which would reduce their ability to recover unit strengths after battles). To get to the interdiction points it had to move N up and around a river beyond Gembloux, and it was there, between Gembloux and Walhain that the Prussian Division tasked with protecting the supply lines managed to intercept them.

I have an odd relationship to the encounter since I was Prussian when it was set up, but now with Alan’s death (BTW see his wonderful collection of figures and scenery and buy some it at http://saswargames.blogspot.com/p/the-alan-martin-collection.html), I was playing the French trying to break-through.

The Prussians (Nick) placed their line troops in Walhain, and their Landwehr just N of the river around a small copse. I (French) could have played it purely strategically and just screened my troops with may cavalry, snuck them round the top of the river, and then legged it off the map. But Nick and I had been trying to play this game for ages, and I’d come down a day early from Brum, so to do so would have been a bit of a damp squib.

So my cav took on his, and got the better of the exchange, and my infantry piled into his Landwehr, but got raked by his gun (the only one on the board). His Landwehr held firm and sent my first line packing. With the second line I tried to soften him up with musketry and my Brigade guns (effectively just a +1), but took casualties myself and whilst I managed to see off a couple of battalions the attrition was just getting to much, so it was time to get off the board (in the right direction) whilst still in reasonably good order.

Early moves, most units still on blinds

I can’t say the Blucher rules grew on us any better. In fact there were several incidents that just didn’t seem right, the worse being a French Dragoon unit, more of less undamaged, bouncing off a charge against the REAR of a Prussian infantry unit in column. Very odd.

Congestion in the French ranks as the 2nd wave comes in

So we can now move back to the main maps moves, and probably move towards the final battle – whether my flying column can cover off both supply points remains to be seen. We have though decided to switch to SLS for the remaining battles, Blucher just doesn’t give us the game we want (although we may still use the Momentum dice system as that’s not bad).

Battle of Sombreffe - Day 2

This is the latest chapter in a Blucher 100 Days Campaign that Nick, Alan and I started, and now Nick and I continue. Previous posts under the 100 Days tag.

The story so far...

The French crossed the border on 15th June, but rather than split their forces made a bee-line for the Prussians en-masse. Luckily the Prussians were heading W will all speed to link up with the British, leaving a sole Division to guard their supply lines. A tardy Prussian picquet meant that the French caught the Prussians a day too early, and battle was given at Sombreffe on 17th. It was the reverse of Waterloo with Blucher being heard to say "Bring me Wellington or bring me night!" and Wellington duly arrived on Bluchers right flank in time to stabilise the situation with a wonderful whirling cavalry melee.

At night fall neither side was broken, and no one had all the objectives, so the troops spent the night on the field, and at dawn Napoleon attacked again.

Now read on...

Turn 2 underway

Both sides started with densely packed blinds. As French I decided to attack on the flanks, and its probably simplest to describe each sector in turn rather than tell the story chronologically. All directions relative to the French.

Eddie Izzard's Own defend against French Chasseurs (OK Hanoverian Militia!)

Far Left

Aware that yet more British were expected the French pushed fast up to and into the woods, pushing back light British opposition. However the British rolled for the reinforcements at the earliest possible time, so they counter-attacked and push the French out of the woods. A fresh French line moved forward but the British were dogged by low Momentum dice for the whole game and so were never able to capitialise on their advantage on this flank, and both sides troops pretty much then sat out the game.

Guard Horse - this was certainly a battle of forward artillery

Left

A bit more open ground here made it ideal for Cavalry. The French cavalry pushed forward and ran into a couple of British guns. Their horse gun started inflicting damage, but was then charged by British cavalry and the whole day became a tit-for-tat of cavalry charges and artillery pushed forward, of which the French probably got the better of it, ending with all Allied guns gone, and the (weakened) Household Cavalry being seen off by a 1st (Light) Cavalry Division chasseurs!

Centre

Nothing to see here. The woods had seen a bit of fighting on the previous day, and a whole weakened Prussian Korps spent this second day hiding behind then until the very last turns. The Imperial Guard also started centrally with the idea that I could go and exploit whichever flank was going best, and so from mid-game onwards it moved to the right.

Cuirassiers about to charge the Scots Greys

Right Flank

The small hill on the Prussian line had seen a lot of blood shed the previous day, and it would be the same today. The initial French move was a bold reconnaissance by a Lt Cav Bde and a Foot Battery (!), the latter coming a cropper as it passed the edge of the wood (bottom right in table photo) and was ambushed by Prussian cavalry. Once the Lt Cav all saw each other off it was Inf and Arty from the French that pushed forward, a delay from some fresh Lt Cav that had to be cleared away, a Prussian counter-attack and then the assault on the hill , the first wave failing but the YG and MG (and even OG) finally carrying the day. One Chassuer unit it to within 2 hex of the Prussian base-line, and again all the Prussian artillery was destroyed.

The French Guard capture the hill on the last turn

At night fall there was no clear victor, a lot of casualties but certainly a sense that the Allies had come off worse as they had lost almost all their artillery and most of their cavalry was weakened.

ENDEX

Conclusion

The final bill was:

French:   4 destroyed , 5 made understrength, 10 reduced in elan (already under)

Brits:   2 destroyed , 6 made understrength, 0 reduced in elan (already under)

Prussians: 5 destroyed , 6 made understrength, 2 reduced in elan (already under)

Allies Total:   7 destroyed , 12 made understrength, 2 reduced in elan (already under)

So whilst the French suffered less damage than the Allies it was close (19 to 21), but the real hit was a) the loss of most of the allied artillery and b) the Prussians now have 14 units destroyed, once they hit 20 the French have won!

Rounding up the sheep ahead of the French advance!

A few comments:

• Still not in love with the Blucher rules, particularly with different mechanics for firing and melee so you can't remember if your changing dice or DMs
• Still odd how fast artillery fades
• Should have had four M0 dice, as for most of the game large swathes of troops (esp Brits) were never activated
• Played nice and quickly though and we were finished in time to the wives out to a pub lunch!

Rather than risk a Sombreffe Day 3 it was decided that both sides would retreat 1 square on the campaign map, and that the battlefield squares would be out of bounds for the next days moved whilst bodies were recovered or plundered.

Before the game moves on though there's a small skirmish up at Gembloux to deal with where a French flying column has hit the Prussian rear guard!

A few final photos:

Chasseurs at the charge!

The fight on the Right Flank

Prussian Guard defending the wood

Whole table shot around mid-game

Scots Greys try to take out the gun

But are counter-charged by Cuirassiers

Dutch-Belgians defend the left wood - whilst  fox sneaks away behind them!

Prussians and French clash

Battle of Sombreffe

We finally managed to find the time to play the first big battle of our Blucher 100 Days Campaign.  Alan's French had crossed the border on the 15th and  moved en-masse against my Prussians, resulting in a big battle just N of Sombreffe featuring all of the French bar II Corps, and all of the Prussians bar IV Corps. In a mirror image of Waterloo Nick's Brits were racing to the scene and expected to get a  couple of Corps onto the field sometime during the day, coming in on the Prussian R flank. here's the campaign map:

Sombreffe is buried under column C&F.

The battlefield generated by the map and some terrain choices, with column start areas was:

Which when put out on the table, looking E to W, looked something like this:

The broken terrain was not idea, but interesting, and showed that nice aspect of campaign play that you don't get "simple" battlefields. The Prussians started in control of 2 objectives/map squares, and the French 4! Unfortunately Alan was well enough to play, but after a quick game of Sun Tzu (nice game), Nick changed sides and received Alan's briefing.

The key question was (in true Waterloo style) could the Prussian hold on long enough for the Brits to arrive.

The French pushed quickly forward making good progress on the Prussian left, but being rebuffed on the Prussian right. In the centre 3 Imperial Guard artillery units pushed boldly forwards, to be met by some courageous Prussians, who whilst they didn't inflict any serious damage kept the "beautiful daughters" out of the rets of the game.

Prussians taking on the Beautiful Daughters!

The French advance!

Another French gun at risk, but otherwise pushing forward

At the end of Turn 4 (Allied 2nd turn) I rolled a 1 and so the first British reinforcements arrived behind me, far earlier than I'd dared hope. The immediately blocked a gap on my R flank, and interestingly hardly played an part in the rest of the game!

Highlanders stabilise the R flank.

British and French (well Confed of Rhine) come face to face!

Worse was to come for the French as on my next Turn I again rolled a 1 and the whole of the British Cavalry Corps arrived on my R flank, almost into the rear of the French! The rest of the game on that flank was a series of melees between the Cavalry, including Grenadiers a Cheval and Royal Horse Guards - all a bit of stalemate by the end but stopped any serious French threat from my right.

Light Dragoons mixing it with Cuirassiers!

Scots Greys and Cuirassiers on a collision course!

The nail truly went in French coffin when the Prussian III Corps finally turned up to not only secure my crumbing L flank, but trigger a general push forward on that flank.

Prussian L flank, looking towards the thin French lines!

With night rapidly falling (i.e. we'd run out of time after 15 turns) the French made one last fling against the central hill, aiming to inflict maximum damage before the attrition calculations, and the game was over.

The French still trying to push forward!

At the end the Prussians held 3 squares, the French 2, and the 6th only had a solitary Prussian Hussar unit  who was desperate to seize the glory of the 6th objective in Sombreffe itself, but never quite made it!

Trying to seize Sombreffe - and a vacant objective

As the Prussian commander I certainly feel that the French were saved by the night - Nick and Alan might have other views. In the very last turn the 2nd Corps of British infantry arrived, so I had almost 3 fresh Corps to throw against the Guard and one French reserve Corps - would have been fun!

Rules-wise there was quite a bit that concerned us about Blucher this time round (my first game had left me with a poor view, but the 2nd seemed to go OK). Key issues appear to be:

• Guns fade very fast, and even with canister aren't anything to be afraid off
• Cavalry are just mobile infantry who've lost their muskets as they get no bonus against infantry not in square/prepared, and even if they are prepared the infantry advantage is not massive
• My valiant cavalry unit tasked with seizing Sombreffe couldn't make it since I could never afford the activation points, whereas in practice it would just be a simple "gallop there" command and not need me to do anything else
• We just ended up ignoring the Commander cards - but perhaps partly since we were rushing it
• The 50% damage threshold for campaign attrition means we started "gaming" it in the last turn, just going after the hits that would tip a unit over

It does play nice and fast though, and the activation system is nice if a little gamey. I had already started on a "bucket-of-dice" version of my own SLS rules, so perhaps that may be the way to go!

We'll play out the campaign with the standard rules, but then reassess I think. Also keen to give Over the Hills a try as they seem closer to SLS.

For this game the Blucher rules were hexified (as are all my rules!), and figures were 20mm plastics and Newline metal. We also realised that we really need some nice sabot bases if we're going to do this again!

I've now got to do the attrition sums to find out the campaign impact - my suspicion is that it will actually be worse for the Prussian as we have a lot of Conscript and Understrength units who won't recover, whereas every single one of the French will in some shape or form :-(

10th Hussars about to enter the fray!

Blucher 100 Days Campaign - The First Phase

The first phase of our Blucher 100 Days campaign has reached it's climax at the end of 17th June with a major battle outside of Sombreffe. In fact what we have is almost a mirror of Waterloo, the outnumbered Prussian line having to hold against the near full might of the French whilst the British are all set to come on as reinforcements during the game.

The starting board will take in columns H/A, I/D, J/E and F/C of the French, and K/L and N/M of the Prussians. However Prussian O will come in onto a friendly square to support N/M and British T likewise to support K/L. Most interestingly British S and U will come onto a hostile square on the flank and rear of H/A!

In a rather bold move Prussian Column P decided to fix French B, since B had stopped it also reinforcing the battle, and to ensure that B didn't go against the Prussian lines of communications.

The other British reinforcements are again too far out to help.

So a reverse Waterloo just NE of Ligny. We hope to fight the game in August.

Blucher 1000 Days Campaign - STARTEX

And the game is underway. I drew Prussians, Nick British and Alan French. In the opening moves Alan has pushed two columns up the road towards Quatre Bras and I've moved column N across to be closer to the potential fighting. Will post another shot at the end of Day 1/15th June. To limit collaboration between Nick and I we're allowed one "tweet" each (140 chars) and it must be sent in Google Translate Russian for the other player to decode (German was too easy!). In true Wellington fashion Nick was at Hay for the weekend (the booksellers ball?) so will be coming in late with his initial move.

Blucher 100 Days Cards

The card deck for the 100 Days Campaign for Blucher arrived. Means we can progress with setting up the game with Nick and Alan. Next task is to draw sides!

Scharnhorst Campaign and Blucher Game

The day after Salute Nick and Alan finished off the Scharnhorst campaign and played the resulting Blucher game. I was umpiring and neither of them had played either system before.

We set the campaign up on a powerpoint slide on Google Docs (Vassal on the cheap!) so that we could get some moves done remotely during the week, but we finished it off on paper on Sunday morning. As expected the battle was pretty much in the middle of the map by the big town. Both sides had 3 columns on and 1 column as reinforcements.

The table was quickly laid out using Hexon and the blinds deployed. We were using the Along the Danube orbats - but neither side knew any detail about the other.

The big surprise was when the lead French units (bottom centre of the photo) turned out to be Nick's Reserve Cavalry Corps! Alan (Austrian) surprisingly sent his cavalry off  down the opposite flank, so the battle quickly settled into one of two halves, Nick pushing left in the south, and Alan pushing right in the North. There was some stout Austrian defence on the southern ridge, and their garrison in the village at its foot never got attacked. By about turn 16 we got to the point where both sides had lost 4 of their 6 units needed to reach break point, but the Austrians were looking the more precarious. Neither sides reinforcements had arrived, but around turn 16 the third French Corps arrived on the North edge - right on the Austrian flank and it was pretty much game over.

Overall everyone enjoyed the game. By the end Nick and Alan hardly needed the rules or my help - it is a very simple system. There are certainly still oddities, but not as many as I had in my initial game. The Scharnhorst system is great, and they both liked the blinds and  M0 approach, and I think we'll be playing it again. My sabot bases to turn my 6mm battalions into brigades worked superbly - especially the double wide strip at the back for the damage and capabilities chit.

The French move against the Austrian ridge in the South

Austrian Kurassier trying to outflank in the North

Damaged, but outflank complete - a poor French cavalry unit is for it!

Alan deep in thought as a French Corps arrives on his flank!

Newly arrived French push into the big wood

Endex!

And some photo's from Nick:

Me setting up, Alan looking on

Starting positions - with blinds. French on left.

Most of the forces revealed