Napoleonic encounter battle

 Having spent much of the past week 3D printing & painting cavalry I set up an encounter battle with lots of cavalry.  Steve chose to command the French, so I had the Russians this week.
Russians: 4 line, 1 grenadier, 4 cossacks, 2 hussars, 2 dragoons, 1 field & 1 horse battery.
French: 3 line, 1 legere, 4 lancers, 2 dragoons, 1 field 7 1 horse battery.

All pics are taken from behind the Russians. The two armies approach each other from opposite corners of the table. 

Both sides deploy their cavalry & wait for the infantry to deploy behind them.

The Russians have deployed their infantry on the ridge to the left of their cavalry.
The French are advancing their infantry through their cavalry on their right flank & covering their left with artillery & dragoons.

Legere lead the French advance in skirmish order.

The newly 3D printed lancers look splendid.  The green ones are Austrian Uhlans masquading as Confederation of the Rhine tonight.   The blue are Polish.

On the left, the French line have charged up the hill past the legere.
On the right, the French dragoons have charged the cossacks.

On the left, the French line have broken one Russian unit, but been beaten by the other one.
On the right, the dragoons have won one & lost one against the Cosssacks.

On the left the French line at the end has now broken the Russian second line & Lancers have ridden down the Russian battery, but the next Russian line unit having beaten off French line infantry is now holding on against lancers. 
The Polish lancers have charged the hussars on the ridge & though initially successful,  the second line of hussars is hold on.
On the right, the dragoons have turned to attack the Cossack flank, but the Cossacks managed to turn & face them.
In the centre the Russian dragoons are suffering under artillery fire, but doing a job plugging gap.

The Russian line unit on the ridge saw off the lancers & the hussars have stopped the poles.  On the right, the cossacks have broken the dragoons.  The French have lost over half their force & fail army morale.

It was close run thing.  The French made a well planned attack against a well planned defense, but the Russians got the breaks in the critical combats. 

Napoleonics: French v. Russians

I modified last week's scenario for one-on-one game with SteveJ.  
Russians (Steve): 2 divisions,each 1 gren, 1 yeger, 4 line, 1 dragoon, 1 hussar, 2 field guns, & 1 with a horse gun.
French (Jim): 2 infantry divisions of 1 leger, 3 line 7 1 gun & 1 cav division of 2 dragoons, 2 hussars & 1 horse gun.  

The Russians have a division in the village & the other marching down the road on the far side of the table.  The French are on this side of the table.

On the near flank the French sent their leger to the right to pin down the troops in the village while the line moved towards the centre,
On the other flank the French cavalry failed to get out of road column in time & Russian hussars  charged alone into the disorganised French hussars, took out one husssar unit & severely damaged the other.  

The Russian hussars are now being blown away by French infantry & artillery, but their charge has disruptesd the french deployment & allowed the Russians to deploy unmolested.
The French dragoons have charged uphill at the dragoons at extreme end of the Russian line. 

The French dragoons have broken the Russian dragoons on the ridge & have now charged the infnatry behind.  In the centre the Russian artillery have been formed into a massed battery which has driven off the French horse artillery & is now mauking the French infantry.

On the far flank the French dragoons have broken the end of the Russian line, but only 1 dragoon unit is stil fit to fight. In the centre ythe French infnatry is advancing on the battery but suffering serious casualties.  The square beside the river had to withdraw shaken by artillery fire. 

On the far flank the dragons have wheeled to face the Russian flank.
In the cnetre the French infatry are advancing on the battery.
On the right the Russian lineon the river has been broken by French fire.

On the far flank the Russian line on the end got into square so the French have engaed it with infnatry fire while the dragoons charged the grenadiers in line behind.
In the French innfatry over-ran one battery,  but was then blown away.
The French hussars have slso made a death or glory charge agianst the yegers in the centre. 

The two French cavalry charges were death or glory last chance efforts Ito pull the battle out of the fire, but both charges failed & another line unit was blown away by artillery & musket fire in the centre.  The Fench left was then broken & the french right still on the other side of the river unable to assist.  

Casualties were actually equal, with both sides having 2 infnatry, 2 cavalry & 1 gun broken, but the loses hurt the smaller French force much more & the French conceded the battle.

The French were significantly outnumbered, but had much better command & skill ratings while the Russians could take higher casulties.  The Russian's good luck with their command dice at the start taht allowed their hussars to catch the French hussars before they were deployed was critical.  Although the Russian hussars were subsequently destroyed, it disrupted the French deployment & meant that by the time the French were able to attack, the Russian infantry & guns were ready for them & the Russians got full benefit from their superior number of guns. 

 

Ostrolenka 16 Feb 1807

A minor battle in Poland after Eylau.  Details of the action are sketchy.  I used the map from the Age of eagles scenario, the OOB from Digby Smith, a few snippets of historical description & a bit of imagination to make the scenario.
The French start with an infantry division of 3 line, 1 light & 1 battery in the town.
The Russians start with an infantry division of  5 line, 1 yeger & 2 batteries plus a cavalry division of 2 dragoons, a hussar, a cossack & a  horse battery.  They have orders to take the town.
The French have another similar infantry division coming up on the road behind the town & a cavalry division of 2 dragoons, 1 hussar, 1 chasseaur & a horse battery coming on on their left on the other side of the river.
The Russians have another infantry brigade of 1 grenadier, 1 yeger, 2 line & a battery down the road thru the woods on the French right. 
All the reinforcements arrive on turn 6.  The French don't know where the Russians reinforcemesst are coming on.
The river is crossable only by infantry.

The Russians infantry advance on the town as their cavalry move to cover their right flank.

The French have abandoned the house on this side of the river.  The Russians have charged in column on the left.  On the right a column was blown away by artillery & the Russians formed line & deployed artillery to blast the French across the river.  Their cavalry is prepared to meet the French expected on the right flank.

On the right the French cavalry have arrived & immediately charged by the Russian horse.
On the right of the town the French infantry have been broken by fire & the yegers have crossed the river.  The French infantry reinforcements have arrived behind the town.
On the left, the Russian column attack lucked out & has been destroyed.
The Russian reinforcements have arrived  behind the French right, but they have been able to turn their victorious troops to face them.

On the right of the village, a charge on the house lucked out & the yegers were left unsupported.  Faced with fresh troops they withdrew across the river.  But after a tough see-sawing fight, the French dragoons beat the Russian dragoons & rode down the retreating yegers.  The Russian light cavalry did better & are still fighting, are now isolated & look doomed. 
On the far flank the Russians column has deployed with grenadiers & yegers advancing in line supported by line infantry in column.

The grenadiers broke the legere on the near end of the French line, but the yegers have been shaken by French fire.  Next turn the yegers are charged & are broken.  The rest of the Russian army is already broken & being pursued off the field by cavalry, so the Russians order a retreat back into the forest.

Given the troop grades used, maybe the Russians should have had another couple of infantry units at the start.   But on the other hand, the French mounted a sound defense, & the Russians got no help from the dice.    
 

Klyastitzy 1 August 1812

Oudinot's II Corps was covering the left flank of le Grande Armie on its way to Moscow when it ran into Wittgenstein's much Larger I Corps. 
Terrain & set up from Age of Eagle's scenario.  OOBs from Digby Smith. 28mm figs. M2M rules.
French: Mike, SteveJ & Jim.
Russians: Mark & Mitch.

At the start the Russians have 1 division deployed around Okhova village.  Another infantry division & a brigade of dragoons will begin to arrive at the far table edge on turn 1.
The French have 2 infantry divisions near & behind Jakobovo village.  A small cavalry brigade is off shot to their rear.

The French immediately advance to attack.

French columns have charge home to the right of the village.  Their cavalry is coming up in support.  The Russian reinforcements are beginning to deploy.

The French attack on the right of the village has broken the Russian infantry, but has suffered high casualties & is now faced with the Russian cavalry.
The French have also charged home on the left of the village.

On the right, one French square has covered the retreat of the rest of the brigade & has been given a whiff of grapeshot by Russian horse artillery & charged by infantry.
On the left, the victorious French columns charged on but ran into a brick wall of Pavlovski Grenadiers & were broken, ending French hopes of a win. 

The French always luck to succeed in their attack.  They didn't get any & are now trying to withdraw.  Their hussars have deployed cover the withdrawal.

Russian dragoons have charged the 1st hussars as the Russians work on getting a general pursuit moving.

The 1st hussars could only briefly delay the Russian advance.  

The French have a river in the their rear.  The infantry on the left found a ford, but those on the right did not. This has caused a traffic jam on the bridge.

The hussars were broken by the dragoons & the horse gun cut off from the bridge.  With the loss of the hussars, the French fail army morale.  So a Russian victory as historical. 

It was an interesting exercise to fight a battle where the odds were heavily in favour of one side, not something wargamers often do.
 

Part of Friedland 1807

Scenario based on the French right at Friedland. 
I reduced the French infantry a bit to make it a closer game.
28mm figs, M2M rules.
French: Infantry Mike, cavalry Jim.
Russians: Mark

The French infantry are advancing in 3 columns along roads in the woods.
French light cavalry are in the foreground.
The Russians have yegers deployed in a line inside the woods, infantry & heavy cavalry in the open between the woods & the river, light cavalry  on the near flank.  They also have 2 batteries across the river.

On the near flank the French light cavalry have attacked with mixed success, but a French dragoon brigade has come up in support.  Russian cuirassiers have also advanced in support of their hussars.
In the woods the French are deploying to engage the yegers.

The French dragoons arrived first & turned the tide in the cavalry fight.  The Russian cavalry have withdrawn across the creek.
In the woods the yegers are slowly giving ground.

The French brought up a battery thru the wood & a horse battery to engage the Russian battery, but lost the artillery duel.  The dragoons are declining to run the gauntlet of artillery only to face Russian cuirassiers.
In the woods the French have cleared most of the yegers & are deploying on the edge of the wood.

The French have advanced out of the woods & beaten off a cavalry counterattack.

Command problems in the wood have made it difficult for the French to coordinate their attacks & the Russians are still holding their line.

The nearest nearest French brigade has finally got into position to attack, but the Russian guards have held firm until nightfall was declared.   
This is pretty much what happened historically.  But although Ney didn't break thru on this flank, the Russians here couldn't cross the river & were cut off from retreat to the right so captured.