Apologies for the obscure 70s music reference ! Some of you may recall that we started to delve back into the wonderful world of 15mm Napoleonic gaming recently after I finally put together my Quarrie / GdeB mash up rules. A rerun of Albuera ensued recently and that went quite well so it was time for a second go with the "new" rules. We decided to move away from the Peninsula and try some Central European action to see how those armies performed. I will put a link to the rule amendments at the end of the post.
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| Italian Light Infantry masquerading as Young Guard |
https://www.caliverbooks.com/Partizan Press/partizan_NS.shtml
An excellent set of scenario books perfect for any rule set. Even with over 6,000 15mm figures for the period I had to make some compromises as I have no Austrians and no French Guard, so my Italian Guard and Russians had a run out instead.
Historical Background
We will all be familiar with the background of the Battle of Nations and this game represents a small section of that battle, the centre of Napoleons positions in the South of the battlefield to be precise. The game represents the Allied attack of the 18th October and is a simple attack and defend scenario.
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| Russian Cuirass |
12 x 6 table with the Allies marching on the table on move 1 from the left, as viewed in the photos below,
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| Allies March On |
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| From the French Lines |
The rear of the French Line is dominated by a ridge line on which the village of Probstheyda is located (green copper spire church) with a fifth and final village, Lossing, which is level with Probstheyda and behind Dolitz.
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| French Infantry in Dosen |
For general stats see the Quarrie / GdeB mash up rules post below, any variations on the standard charts to reflect the lower standard of some of the French units is noted below.
C in C - Murat
Augereau - IX Corps
Brigade Sierawski - 3 x Polish Line Battalions (2 x 36 figs and 1 x 32 figs) and 1 6pdr Polish Foot Battery. Set up between Dolitz and the stream.
Brigade Lagarde - 2 x Legere Battalions (36 , 30) and 2 x Ligne Battalions, both 36, both -1 on standard French Morale. 1 x 8pdr Foot Artillery. Set up in and around Dolitz.
Brigade Semele - 1 x 36 Fig Legere Battalion, 2 x Ligne Battalions 1 x 36 and 1 x 30, the 30 man unit is a- 2 on Morale. 1 x 8pdr Foot Artillery.
Brigade Sulkowski - 1 x 18 man Polish Uhlan Regt and 1 x 6pdr Polish Horse Art.
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| Probstheyda |
Brigade Dubreton - 1 x 36 Legere Battalion, 3 x Ligne Battalions 2 x 36 and 1 x 30 (also -1 morale). 1 x 6pdr Foot Artillery. Set up in and around Dosen.
Brigade Dufour - 1 x 36 Ligne, 1 x 30 Ligne, 1 x 30 Legere and 1 x 24 Ligne (-1 Morale). Set up around the Farm.
Brigade Corbineau - 1 x 18 Hussars, 1 x 6pdr Horse Art. Set up between Dosen and the Farm.
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| French Cuirass |
Brigade Pacthod - 4 x 32 Young Guard, 8pdr Foot Artillery
Brigade Curial - Italian Guard Grenadiers, Italian Guard Fusiliers both 30 figs, Italian Guard Velites 32 Figs, Italian Guard Foot Artillery 12pdr.
Brigade Bouresoulle - 3 x 24 Fig Cuirassier, 1 x 24 Dragoon (inferior mounts)
On a roll of 12 on initiative - Napoleon arrives anywhere on the French baseline escorted by 1 x 24 Guard Lancer and 1 x 24 Guard Chasseur.
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| Italian Guard on the ridge |
C in C Schwarzenberg (remember Russian troops have been substituted in for Austrians)
Hesse Homburg - move on table opposite Dolitz
Brigade Roth - 3 x 48 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions one with -1 morale. 3 x 36 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions one with -1 morale. 1 x 6pdr Prussian Foot Artillery.
Brigade Mezentzov- 1 x 48 Fig Russian Infantry Battalion, 2 x 36 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions both with -1 morale. 1 x 30 figure Prussian Landwher, 1 x 6pdr Prussian Foot Artillery.
Brigade Vassov - 1 x 36 Fig Russian Grenadier Battalion, -1 morale. 2 x 16 Fig Prussian Hussar one with + 1 morale and 1 x 6pdr Prussian Horse Art.
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| Cossacks in a wood, what a surprise |
Brigade Grenadier - 4 x 32 Grenadier Battalions, 2 Prussian, 2 Russian. 1 x 6pdr Prussian Foot Artillery
Brigade Laelin - 1 x 24 Russian Guard Cuirass, 1 x 24 Russian Cuirass
Brigade Larkov - 2 x 24 Russian Cuirass
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| Russian Infantry Battalions attack |
Brigade Pirch - 1 x 32 Prussian Fusilier (+1 morale), 1 x 32 Prussian Musketeer, 2 x 24 Reserve Prussian Infantry, 2 x 24 Prussian Landwher.
Brigade Von Kluse - 1 x 32 Prussian Fusilier (+1 morale), 1 x 32 Prussian Musketeer, 2 x 24 Prussian Reserve Infantry, 2 x 24 Prussian Landwher, 1 x Prussian Foot Artillery, 1 x 16 Landwher Cavalry.
Brigade Oldenkop - 5 x 32 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions (2 are -1 morale) and 1 Russian Position Battery
Brigade Zilowski - 1 x 24 Russian Uhlan, 1 x 18 Russian Hussar, 1 x Russian Horse Artillery.
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| Prussian Reserve Infantry on the move |
We actually played through the scenario twice and it was quite an interesting experience having a go at a Central European battle after the Albuera Peninsula game. National Characteristics definitely give each army a personality and once you become aware of its strengths you start to alter your tactics to those of that nation, something I have been after in a game for a long time.
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| 1st shot 6 gun battery, low ammo ! |
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| Prussian Infantry attacking the Farm |
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| Another view of the Prussian attack on the Farm |
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| Waiting to go again in game 2 |
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| French Infantry in Dosen |
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| French in the Farm |
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| Attack on Dolitz in Game 2 |
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| French Cavalry mass behind the lines |
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| Cossacks skirmishing against Young Guard |
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| Prussian Infantry supporting the Russian attack |
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| End of the Young Guard |
We finished the game at this point entering a period of stalemate, the Allies had made more progress than before but had failed to get into the villages, with a bit more luck on dice rolls we could have got into the front line of built up areas but I don't think there is enough to get into the rear towns, it also felt that the French had a lot of artillery and with the ridge line they could often get multiple batteries on one unit when needed.
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| Italian Guard coming to the rescue |
The original Quarrie / GdeB mash up rules post can be accessed below,
https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2018/10/quarrie-to-general-de-brigade.html
There is still some work to do to get them perfect but I am happy with the progress and it's given me a renewed interest in Napoleonic gaming (which was my first gaming period) after years of inactivity so that in itself is a huge positive.
General de Brigade makes it harder to get into contact than other rules but when you do melee is over quickly, usually in a single round and there is none of the enormous black holes pulling in multiple units into massive combats which last 3 plus turns like say Gilders which needs a change of mind set from players of those sets.
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| The magic floaty tree |
The main discussion point and change from the game was the +1 for infantry charging in column. Infantry now has a charging factor for melee and a confused factor when not. We found that a plus 1 on top of the Impact factor was too much but we needed to reflect the impetus of charging in column so the decision was to count the Impact factor as the charging column factor and add a -1 to the Impact when charging in any other formation. The exception being the British.
I hope to get at least one more Napoleonic Game in before Xmas, oh the joy of too many collections ! Next game, currently on table is Spanish Civil War.
