Posties Rejects at Broadside 2026 - The Retreat from Moscow - Crossing the Berezina 1812

 

This year at the Broadside Wargames Show in Gillingham, Posties Rejects are putting on a demo game

from The Retreat from Moscow in 1812.

Crossing the Berezina

The French army began crossing the Berezina River on November 26, 1812. The crossing, which lasted until November 29, 1812, took place under heavy enemy fire and resulted in a chaotic and desperate escape during the retreat from Moscow.

Stupidly me and Lee have left everything until the last minute, even though we finished (cough) painting our figures for the game months ago. The pics in this post were from only our second game of Shap Practice, which worked out a lot better than our first game did. We've added a few things and taken away a few things from the rules, as we're playing with bigger armies than the rules are supposed to cope with. But we seem to have everything worked out and this game really playedbetter than we both expected it to.

Myself and Lee and Paul will have some copies of our book Battle Chronicle - 1812 The Retreat from Moscow, available to buy, at the show. A release date of June the 1st has been finalized as I said in my last post.

The rules themselves cost £12 and will be available to purchase online on the Pazoot Website, if you enter the discount code RAY10, at the checkout, you'll get 10%, off the price!!!

Need figures to play the game?

We’ve teamed up with the guys at Pendraken who have bagged up everything you need to get started.

The rules and figures bundle is £30 and includes all the figures you need to play.

Grab yours here. And don't forget the code RAY10.

So if you fancy seeing the game in real life come along to the show, its on Saturday the 13th June and starts at 10am at Medway Park Sports Centre, Mill Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 1HF.

It's only £4 to get in, so come and join us at the show!!!

Battle Chronicle - 1812 The Retreat from Moscow - Available Soon!!!!!

 

Lee, Paul and myself are absolutely delighted to share the exciting news: copies of our book Battle Chronicle - 1812 The Retreat from Moscow will officially be ready to buy from 1st June!

It’s been an absolute pleasure helping bring these rules to life, and what a journey it’s been. This project has been a true labour of love and a real team effort — countless hours of research, writing, playtesting, and refining every detail, with so much hard work, dedication, and passion put in by everyone involved. We wanted to create something that not only works smoothly as a set of wargaming rules but also captures the drama, history, and atmosphere of one of the most famous and brutal campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. Whether you’re a seasoned wargamer, a history enthusiast, or new to the period, we’ve worked hard to make this book accessible, engaging, and packed with everything you need to recreate those historic battles and retreats on your tabletop.

From 1st June, you’ll be able to purchase the full rules online directly via the Pazoot Website. To say thank you for all the support and interest you’ve shown us along the way, we’ve got an exclusive launch offer: simply enter the discount code RAY10 at checkout, and you’ll get 10% off your order!

We can’t wait for you to get your hands on a copy and start fighting your own battles during the dramatic Retreat from Moscow — thank you for being part of this journey with us.

Battle Chronicle - 1812, The Retreat from Moscow - Fab News!!!!

Its exciting times at Don't Throw a 1 HQ! 

“Battle Chronicle - The Retreat from Moscow” is a fantastic setting for a campaign, loads of tension, tough decisions, and that constant sense of survival against the odds

This bad boy dropped through my letterbox today. Getting a physical proof copy in my hand is a massive milestone. It suddenly makes the whole project feel real???

I must say I’m feeling ridiculously pleased with myself, Paul and Lee right now. There’s something gloriously surreal about seeing your name in print in an actual wargaming book — who let that happen?!

After a heroic amount of hard work, questionable decisions, blood, sweat, and the occasional dramatic tear, it’s all very close to paying off.

All being well, this bad boy will be on sale from 1st June… brace yourselves!!!!!

If you’d like to know more, head over to the Pazoot website here, and sign up for the newsletter...........go on, you’ll only regret it if you don’t 😉

Battle Chronicle - The Retreat from Moscow - How many Figures?

For Battle Chronicle - The Retreat from Moscow, you won't need a lot of figures, so it won't be a massive expense to start playing the game. Here's a run down of what you will need.

For the French you'll need.

18 French on foot

This is the maximum number, depending on your die rolls and what you do in the game, you may pick up more stragglers, but no more than 18. You don't have to use these exact figures either, any French or Allied foot or dismounted Cavalry will fit perfectly.

6 French Cavalry

If you are really lucky, you may run into some friendly cavalry?

And 6 French Civilians

3 male and 3 female

For the Russians you'll need 

12 Cossacks

From any of the Cossack units that fought in 1812.

12 Russian Jager's

and 12 Russian Infantry

At the start of each game the French start with the amount of figures that survived the previous game, if they're lucky other figures may join their band and some may be Cavalry? So all the number above are the maximum you'll need.

And of course you can substitute figures, if you have no Cossacks you could use Hussars or Dragoons. Or if you don't have any 25mm figures in your collection you could use other scales of figures like 15mm or 10mm, you would just change the movement rates from inches to cm.

Battle Chronicle - The Retreat from Moscow - An Introduction

As you may have previously read, Lee and myself have been helping Paul, from Pazoot, with his new project, Battle Chronicle - The Retreat From Moscow. The rules are very nearly ready, so here's a quick introduction for you.

Battle Chronicles is a skirmish game in which each model represents a single man, struggling to survive on his own. The groups are too small, too broken, and too exhausted for formal formations—on this battlefield, there are no lines, no manoeuvres, only individuals fighting to endure.

The game is played cooperatively. All players take the role of French stragglers, while the

Russian forces are controlled by an automated system, an ever-present threat that must be outpaced, outwitted, or simply escaped.

 

Battle Chronicle Concept

Battle Chronicles are inspired by “One-Shots” from the RPG world. They’re intended to be quick and easy to pick up and played a handful of times, they’re not designed as a complete games system for a period. You could think of a Battle Chronicle as a wargame equivalent of a fighting fantasy book. They are primarily designed to be played through as a campaign.

Battle Chronicles are designed to be complete wargames, that include the core rules,

scenarios and campaign system. The scenarios are designed to be played in a campaign style with the result of the first game affecting what happens in the next game. Also, the scale of the conflicts is designed to grow in force size and rule complexity as you move through each scenario.

The first scenario is designed to be a learning game, it should play quite quickly, need a small number of troops and introduce the players to the basic concepts of the game.

Each subsequent scenario will require more miniatures and introduce more rules and concepts. The rules have been deliberately kept as easy as possible and new rules and concepts are introduced at the beginning of each scenario so that you don’t have too much to learn before starting to roll the dice and taking the battle to the enemy.

If you want to know more click here, and sign up tor receive the newsletter.

Battle Chronicles - Bridge of Ice and Smoke - Scenario 4

Battle Chronicles - The Retreat from Moscow

Me an Lee got together in Posties shed last week, to give Scenario 4, another run through,

The Map

"Before you lie, three possible crossing points, (in blue). Each promises a way forward, yet none can be trusted. Ice that appears solid may shatter under the weight of men and horses; snow-covered sections may hide thin, treacherous patches; broken banks and frozen shallows may collapse without warning. 

Are the bridges safe to cross?

The photos below  come from the three games we played that evening, the first two ended in surprising easy victories for the French, so we bolstered up the army list for the Russians, which gave a much closer and made for a more realistic game.

The French stragglers are in the centre of the photo, making their way to the bridge on the SW corner of the map.

While Russian Infantry and Jager's chase them down.

Desperately a lone Infantryman fires his pistol at the gaining Russians, while another group, hide behind a building. 

In the third game we upped the chance for Cossacks entering the table.

There seems to be a growing number of Russians??

This was the end for poor Damian.                               The Russians close in for the kill.

But it means his friends have a chance to escape.....

Run!!!

The Cossacks move 14 inches and catch the rear of the French.

Both go down in the snow

The Cossacks charge on , hitting the French group the the back and the side.

Another group of Frenchmen are being cut down.

The French are tough though, they knock a few Cossacks out of their saddles.

But in the end the French are all killed.

So the Russians won the last game, so we best try this scenario again and see if the French can do any better???

If this floats your boat pop over here, to find out more. If you'd like to sign up to receive emails about Battle Chronicles - The Retreat from Moscow, click here.

Battle Chronicles - Retreat from Moscow - Batrep - Bridge of Ice & Smoke - Game 4

Paul, Lee and myself got together mid week in Posties shed to playtest the last scenario in the up and coming Battle Chronicles - The Retreat from Moscow book, we ironed out a few problems, added and took away bits and pieces as the game went on. 

At the end of the evening Lee took home a few of my figures and some of our terrain and posed some figures, for pics in the ruleset. The pic above is one. I have to admit, it looks Good!!!

Obviously, Lee took a million photos during the game.

The idea of this game was to get the French survivors and any civilians they picked up on the way in the first 3 games over one or more of the 3 bridges on the tabletop, avoiding any Russians, the red rings are wound markers, each French figure has 4 wounds. Our wounded are in a bad way, they will move slower than the fit and strong. 

Do we leave them behind?

Do we sacrifice them for the good of the company?

Will they drag us down with them?

Will they sacrifice themselves?

What to do?

Two of the bridges on the far side of the 4 foot square table top.

The 3rd bridge, off to the French right.

Inevitably, with some Cossacks on the hunt. 

My initial plan was to move diagonally across the table to the bridge on the bend of the river.

But now with the Cossacks on our right, I decided to hug the left side of the table. Which I didn't really want to do, as the green arrows are possible Russian entry points onto the table.

A close up of the third bridge on the right of the French.

And the main bridge, which the French will now be heading for.

Here come the Cossacks!

They are looking rather angry!

And very pretty too!

Lee sure made a good job, painting these.

Russian Infantry, make it on the table.

A healthy Frenchman can help along their wounded friends, but we've started to break up already.

And it doesn't help that the Cossacks and Infantry are hot on our heals either!

Its looking chilly out there.

The Cossacks can smell blood!

They move up there full move of 14 inches.

To make matters worse, Russian infantry appear on our flank.

We deal with two of them, but one still remains and the group scatters.

Some have decided to leave their friends and run!

The bridge isn't far away now, but is it safe to cross?

The French dispatch the lone Infantryman, but more appear in front of them.

It's a race against the elements and time.

More Russian's enter the table, on our flank once again. It's a throw of a dice where they enter the game and Lee was throwing well!

I had to try and remove the threat, but this would slow me down again.

Mean while, I'd reached the bridge. It didn't look good, there was a danger it might collapse as I crossed. The more who crossed the worse it would get. For every person who crossed at the same time gave you a minus 1 on a D6. So if all 5 went to cross I'd need a 5 or 6. I didn't like the odds, so 1 man crossed to safety.

 

Another group rushed to the second bridge on the corner, they made it to the bridge, I was running out of time so took a chance for all 4 to cross at once, it was a disaster, halfway across the bridge collapsed and all four fell into the freezing water, none made it back to the shore.

In a cruel twist, the four wounded Frenchmen we're left behind, to cover their friends escape.

They we're cruelly cut down to the man, but everyone else escaped with their lives and the French had won the battle and the campaign.

Look out for more of these battles, we will be playtesting them again soon. Here's a few more shots of some of the figures to finish this post.