Tuesday, August 23, 2022

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. 
 





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