28MM BP NAPOLEONIC - CRAONNE 7th MARCH 1814 - GAME REPORT

Dave Paterson, Dougie Kirby and I played the game out over three 3 to 4 hour sessions.  Dave commanded the Russians and Dougie commanded the French while I supported Dougie commanding the French left wing and also umpired.  I have added this game to my blog scenario pages
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/p/this-was-latest-napoleonic-game-that-i.html

2 French brigades engage the Russian first line around Ailles.  Note the fence lines are merely scenic.

The villages of Ailles and Plaissy the anchors of the Russian 1^st line proved to be formidable obstacles to the French advance.  This was not helped by some truly appalling command rolls that repeatedly held up the French cavalry brigades and then later delayed any serious attack on Plaissy for 4 turns.  The main struggle was over this Russian first line which was reinforced by the 2^nd line infantry and cavalry.   The French were lucky in that their first 2 Young Guard brigades proved to be regulars and not Marie-Louises.

Game map

Ailles finally fell late in the afternoon.  By this point the survivors of the Russian first line and second lines except for the garrison of Plaissy had withdrawn to regroup behind the steady third line formed up near Bovelles Farm.  The French managed to take the farm but a final attack in the gathering gloom by the old Guard was held by the Russians who were counter-attacking Bovelles Farm.



View of the action versus the Russian first line - second line have moved to support

In the gathering gloom at 6:30pm the Old Guard go in......the farm fell to the Young Guard

 

At the end of the 3 game sessions we had played thru the complete day and at sunset both sides were still engaged with the Russian line holding strongly.    So it was a Russian victory.  In all after 14 turns of play the Russians had lost 7 units and the French 5.  At their lowest point the French had 3 broken brigades.

I hope to replay the game again soon.

End position -French right flank - the farm has fallen but the Russians are counter-attacking

All the photos from the game are on Flickr at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157644284655206/

28mm BP NAPOLEONIC - CRAONNE 7th MARCH 1814 - SCENARIO

This was the latest Napoleonic game that I played at my house. The 200th anniversary of this battle fell on my birthday but I did not get round to staging the game for a further 2 weeks. We used Black Powder with 66% scale movement and ranges and my latest Napoleonic house rules. Here is the scenario, game map, order of battle and troop ratings.  The photos from the game are on Flickr at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157644284655206/

Historical Background

In early March 1814 Blücher was moving north with the intention of joining the Prussian corps of General Friederich von Bülow and the Russian corps of General Ferdinand von Winzengerode. By 5 March they had combined, giving Blücher over 100,000 men. The Emperor Napoleon believed that Blucher was retreating from him and planned to advance on Laon and attack the Army of Silesia’s rear with 30,000 troops of the Imperial Guard. However, on 6 March he learnt that there was a substantial enemy force on the Plateau of the Chemin Des Dames. He assumed that it was Blücher’s flank or rear guard and decided to attack the next day. In fact Blucher wanted Napoleon to attack the Russian infantry commanded by General Mikhail Vorontsov. His plan was that Winzengerode’s cavalry and General Friedrich von Kleist’s Prussian corps would then sweep round the French northern flank and attack their rear. This flanking attack had to move over difficult terrain that had not been properly reconnoitred. It consequently moved very slowly and failed to get into the action on the 7th. The French forces engaged at Craonne seemed to have been 17,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. Whilst the Russians engaged 19,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry.

Sources
My main sources for this game were:
The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book by Digby Smith
Napoleon at Bay by F.Loraine Petre

Terrain
The battle was fought along the Chemin Des Dames ridge from east to west. I omitted the initial struggle for the village of Heurtebise and designed the game around the area of Ailles, Paissy and Cerny. As I don’t have a ridge 12ft long to fit on my table I represented the steep valleys, which led up the flanks of the ridge narrowing it at certain points, by placing areas of impassable terrain. The French start of table and have to be ordered on using the 3 entry points on the east end of the table. Only 1 brigade per turn may use an entry point. They could decide not to use the narrow route past Ailles but that would limit their entry points to 2 and delay their deployment.


Terrain map showing the 3 French entry points and the 3 Russian deployment lines. The table is 12ft by 6ft.

Objective/Timing
The game begins at 10am. The game ends at nightfall. Dusk falls at 6pm which limits visibility to 16” and night falls at 7 pm. Each turn is half an hour. The French move first. The French must drive the Russians off the table to win. If they fail the Russians win. The Broken brigade rule is in use and when more than half an armies brigades are broken the army must retire.

Command Levels
The commanders in chief are rated as 9 and 8 respectively. All infantry commanders are rated at 7 and cavalry commanders at 8. I have simplified the command levels by omitting the Corps commanders and each of the divisions is represented by a BP brigade.

ORDERS OF BATTLE AND DEPLOYMENT

FRENCH FORCES: NAPOLEON C-in-C SR 9

OLD GUARD DIVISION Gen Friant
3 OLD GUARD BATTALIONS
2 HEAVY GUNS

1st YOUNG GUARD DIVISION Gen Meunier
3 YOUNG GUARD BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

2nd YOUNG GUARD DIVISION Gen Curial
3 YOUNG GUARD BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

BOYER’ ‘SPANISH’ DIVISION Gen Boyer
3 LINE BATTALIONS

7th YOUNG GUARD DIVISION Gen Boyer de Rebeval
3 YOUNG GUARD BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

8th YOUNG GUARD DIVISION Gen Charpentier
3 YOUNG GUARD BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

1ST CAVALRY DIVISION Gen Colbert
GUARD 1st LANCER Regt
GUARD HORSE GRENADIERS REGT
GD HORSE GUN

2nd CAVALRY DIVISION Gen Excelmanns
2 HUSSAR REGTS
HORSE GUN

3rd CAVALRY DIVISION Gen Laferriere-Leveque
LANCER REGT
CHASSEUR A CHEVAL REGT
DRAGOON REGT

TOTAL
18 BATTALIONS
7 REGIMENTS
8 GUNS

DEPLOYMENT

All troops start of table and have to be ordered onto the table:

10.00 am - Boyer , Meunier; Excelmann
11.00 am – Colbert, Curial, Boyer de Rebeval
12.00 am - Laferriere, Charpentier
13:00 am – Friant

There are 3 entry points for the French shown on the map. Only 1 brigade per turn may use an entry point. They can decide not to use the narrow route past Ailles but that would limit their entry points to 2 and delay their deployment.

Variable French troop quality. Dice for the quality of the French Young Guard brigades and Boyers line infantry brigade when first in action. On a 4, 5, 6 the Brigade is the higher quality given below:
Young Guard infantry = Marie Louises or Line infantry
Boyers infantry = Line infantry or Veteran infantry


ALLIED FORCES, GENERAL VORONZOV C-IN-C SR 8

14th INFANTRY DIVISION, Gen. Harpe - 1st LINE
4 BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN
HVY GUN

24th INFANTRY DIVISION, Gen. Swarikin - 1st LINE
4 BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

21st INFANTRY DIVISION, Gen. Laptiev - 2nd line
4 BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

1st CAVALRY CORPS, Gen.O’Rourke - 2ND LINE
2 HUSSAR REGTS Pavlograd, Soumy
SMALL COSSACK SOTNA
HORSE GUN

12th INFANTRY DIVISION, Gen. Chowanski - 3rd LINE
4 BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN
HVY GUN

13th INFANTRY DIVISION, Gen. Szeltzin - 3rd LINE
4 BATTALIONS
FOOT GUN

CAVALRY CORPS General Vassiltchikov - OFF TABLE
2 HUSSAR REGTS Achtirskii & White Russia
SMALL COSSACK SOTNA
HORSE GUN

TOTAL
20 BATTALIONS
4 REGIMENTS
2 SOTNAS
8 GUNS

DEPLOYMENT

Russian: Army is drawn up in 3 lines facing east.
The Russian 1st line cannot move until turn 3.
The Russian 2nd line cannot move until turn 5.
The Russian 3rd line cannot move until turn 8

Vassiltchikov’s Corps starts off table and may appear in the afternoon as deemed appropriate by the umpire.

TROOP RATINGS

FRENCH	Weapon	Type	H_H	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Old Guard Infantry	Musket	Infantry	7	3	3	4	Stoic, Reliable, Elite 4+
Middle Guard Veteran  Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	3	Elite 5+
Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	3
Marie Louises	Musket	Infantry	5	3	5	3	Levy 4+, Poor Shots
Light Infantry Sk  (Small)	Musket	Infantry	4	2	4	2	Skirmishers
Guard Heavy Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	9		3	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3, Reliable
Cuirassiers/Carabiniers	Sabre	Cavalry	9		3	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3,
Guard Lancers	Sabre	Cavalry	8		4	3	Marauders; Lancers, Reliable
Dragoons	Sabre	Cavalry	8		4	3	Heavy Cavalry +1
Guard Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	7		4	3	Marauders, Reliable
Lancers	Lance	Cavalry	7		4	3	Marauders; Lancers
Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	6		4	3	Marauders
Guard Horse Artillery	Light artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	1	Marauders, Reliable
Guard Foot Artillery	Artillery	40”	1	3-2-1	4	2	Reliable
Horse Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	1	Marauders
Foot Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	2

All Infantry have “must form square” rule.  French infantry other than Marie-Louises are Reliable in attack column.

Elite X+                       Rally of Disorder at start of turn by roll of X+

Heavy Cav +X             Add X to combat result
Lancers                        Opposing infantry has -1 saving throw when lancers charge/countercharge
Levy X+                      Need to roll to rally of disorder at end of their turn by rolling X+
Marauders                    Ignore distance modifiers for command tests
Reliable                       Add 1 to Command tests
Skirmish                      Can adopt skirmish formation
Stoic                            Can reroll first break test
 

RUSSIAN	Weapon	Type	H_H	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Guard Infantry	Musket	Infantry	7	3	3	4	Elite 4+, Stoic
Grenadiers	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	4	Stoic, Poor shots
Line Infantry/Jaegers	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	3	Stoic, Poor shots
Opolchenie	Musket	Infantry	5	3	5	3	Poor shots, Unreliable, Levy 4+
Jaegers Sk  (Small)	Rifle	Infantry	4	2	4	2	Skirmishers, Poor shots
Cuirassiers	Sabre	Cavalry	9		3	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3
Dragoons	Sabre	Cavalry	8		4	3	Heavy Cavalry +1
Lancers	Lance	Cavalry	7		4	3	Marauders; Lancers
Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	6		4	3	Marauders
Cossacks	Lance	Cavalry	5		5	2	Marauders; Lancers, Unreliable
Cossacks (Small)	Lance	Cavalry	4		6	2	Marauders; Lancers, Unreliable
Hvy Foot Artillery	Artillery	40”	1	3-2-1	4	2
Horse Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	1	Marauders
Foot Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	2

All Infantry have “must form square” rule. 

Elite X+                      Rally of Disorder at start of turn by roll of X+

Heavy Cav +X            Add X to combat result
Lancers                       Opposing infantry has -1 saving throw when lancers charge/countercharge
Levy X+                     Need to roll to rally of disorder at end of their turn by rolling X+
Marauders                  Ignore distance modifiers for command tests
Reliable                      Add 1 to Command tests
Skirmish                     Can adopt skirmish formation
Stoic                           Can reroll first break test
Unreliable                  Do not move on an equal command roll.  This counts a command pass.