French 1805 vs Russian 1812
It was nearly 9 months since I had last managed to get the Napoleonic troops on the table for a game of BE. However, in spite of the impending defeat I was about to suffer it was a game I had been looking forward to playing. It was against Tim's Russians (well mine really, that I had gifted him) that we had been planning for some time. Tim and I started wargaming against each other 51 years ago, and to be candid my poor dice rolls rather went back to this time as he regular gets the better of me.
It was with great pleasure that before Warfare we were able to get the troops on the table. We opted for the battle scenario and me with my two divisions deployed one to the left of the line of communications, and one to the right. It was only once we started to deploy that I realised how out-numbered I was with my 12 units and Tim's 20!
The disparity in the size of the offices became self-evident once the Russians started to advance. The French then decided to reinforce their right. The challenge being that there was only so much room in which they could deploy – space was going to be a premium.
The massed Russian batterys open fire against an unsuspecting French army.
There is no doubt on what the Russian's plan is! The one glimmer of chance the French have is could they at least destroy the division advancing on the Russian right that had four Opolchenie regiments. If these could be broken it might make the Russians hesitate.
And if they could be broken by French Cuirassiers all the better. However it is plain to see that what ever happens it needs to happen quickly, or else the risks created from the very cramped nature of the deployment area and the likelihood of French troops fleeing from the battle was only going to grow!
However, despite the immediate partial success of the charge by the Cuirassiers the issue is still in doubt. Not least because one of the Cuirassiers regiments has fled from the battlefield.
The village is now burning from the effects of howitzer fire, but the French still fight on, threatened on all sides by the Russian infantry. On the right the remaining French regiments of the 2nd Division are trying to engage the Russians to relieve the pressure on the village. The Cuirassiers are now isolated.
Despite the attempts to stabilise the defence of the village by attacking out from its right flank, the impact of the Russian artillery has inflicted too much attrition on the French regiments.
Outcome
A Russian total victory as the French army collapses due to the weight of numbers it has been up against! An excellent game and one we need to repeat. It was an instructive lesson again of the benefits of numbers vs quality.
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