Hagelberg 27 August 1813

While Napoleon was winning the battle of Dresden, part of Oudinout's Corps was fighting for its life  at Hagelberg halfway between Magdeberg & Berlin.  If you are concerned about realistic scale you can only simulate quite small battles with 28mm figs.  This maeans battles of up to about 15,000 a side on a field up to about 2km x 3km.  There were in fact lots of these, but not many are well enough documented to allow us to make a simulation.  Nafziger covers Hagelberg in sufficient detail in his Napoleon at Dresden.

SCENARIO

French Division Girard: CIC 8

Infantry Brigade Sennegon: CR 9               2 French Light Infantry 
                                                                       2 French Line Infantry  
                                                                       2 Allied Infantry 

Infantry Brigade Baville: CR 9                     4 French Line Infantry 
2 Allied Infantry 

Cavalry Brigade de Pusy: CR 9                    5 small hussars

Artillery:                                                        3 guns 

French deployment:
Deploy first anywhere on the table that is more than 18” from Prussian deployment areas.
May leave figures off table if out of sight of Prussian deployment zone.  Mark location on map, put down if they move or if enemy move within sight of position.
Guns can be attached to brigades, or can be grand battery under CIC.

Prussian Crops von Hirtschfeld:  CIC 8                                                                  

Advance Guard Langeron: CR 8                  3 Line infantry   1 small Landwehr cavalry

Brigade Puttlitz: CR 7                                  5 Landwehr infantry 

Brigade Boguslavsky: CR 7                          3 Landwehr Infantry 

Brigade Marwitz: CR 7                                 3 Landwehr Infantry

Brigade Reuss: CR 7                                     3 Landwehr Infantry   1 small Landwehr cavalry 

Cavalry Brigade Bismark: CR 7                   4 small Landwehr cavalry

Artillery:                                                        1 gun

Cossack Brigade Czenichev: CR 7               4 standard Cossack units

Prussian deployment:
Advance guard & Puttlitz deploy on table edge on right of wood on centre of north table edge.
Rest deploy on table edge on left of wood on centre of north table edge.
Deploy what fits within 6” of edge, the rest test to come on when there’s room.
Artillery can be attached to any brigade.

Victory Conditions:
The usual army break test applies to both so major victory to Prussians if 2 of 3 French brigades break, major victory to French if 4 of 7 Prussian/Cossack brigades break.
French can claim a minor victory for beating history if they are still on the field with neither side broken at nightfall.  (In the real battle the French were effectively destroyed).

French: Mike (left) & Mark (right).
Prussians: Steve (left), James Left centre) & Chris (right).
Umpire: Jim
Rules: Hail Frederick - Camp Cromwell's Hail Caesar variant for the Black Powder era.

The battlefield viewed from behind the French right.  Hagelberg is in the centre.  The Prussians come on the far long edge.

View from the French left.  Sennegon's legere is defending the wood in the foreground against the Prussian right - the brigades of Langeron & Puttlitz.   The rest of Sennegon's brigade is not on the table - it is deployed between the wood & Hagelberg, but not yet in view of the Prussians.
Baville is deployed on the French right with the artillery.  The French cavalry is behind the wood at the far end of the table, not put down as it is out of sight of the Prussians.
The Prussian cavalry has come on the far flank and an infantry column is coming down the road.

On this flank Puttlitz had deployed into line & is exchanging musketry with the legere in the wood.  Langeron is slow to advance in support.  The rest of Langeron's brigade has been put down, spotted by the Prussian cavalry.
On the far flank the Prussians are slowly bringing their troops onto the table, but suffering from the well sited French battery in the centre of Baville's position. 

In the foreground Langeron finally got going and the legere have been driven from the wood.
On the far flank the Prussian horse & Cossacks are slowly advancing.
In the centre the Prussian infantry are still deploying under French cannon fire.
The French cavalry have been put down on the table in the right rear.

The near flank has turned into an indecisive firefight.
In the centre one Prussian infantry brigade has been broken by cannon & musket fire, but the others are now deployed.
On the far flank the Cossacks have charged forward to engage the French cavalry but have been repulsed.

While the infantry slug it out all along the line, the Cossacks have charged again with their second line.  The French had been weakened by the first charge & this time their small brittle units lucked out and broke.

As dusk approached the battle has reached its crisis. 
On the near flank weight of numbers has begun to tell over skill.  2 French infantry battalions have broken & a third has retired shaken into Hagelberg.
In the centre, the French artillery and musketry has broken another 2 Prussian infantry brigades.
But in the battle winning move, the Prussian cavalry finally found its spurs and charged into the rear of the French centre.  The French rear guard battalion was ridden down, the sweeping advance took out the battery, then more infantry, to break Baville's brigade & win the battle. 

The battle was a very close run thing before ending with the historical result.  The Prussians outnumbered the French 30 units to 28 and 450 points to 402, but the French had a good position to defend.  Making the Landwehr & Cossack command rating 7 made it very difficult for them to manoeuvre, but seemed a reasonable simulation.  Both sides made tactical mistakes (visible in hindsight anyway) & had some good and bad luck.  The critical factor was the Cossacks beating the French cavalry (despite being given very low factors).  This allowed the fresh Prussian horse to sweep into the French rear (finally getting some good command rolls when it mattered most).