28MM BP NAPOLEONIC - BATTLE OF HANAU 1813 PART 2

In my last report I set out the player briefing and order of battle for this holiday period game based on the Battle of Hanau 30^th October 1813.
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/napoleonic-battle-of-hanau-1813.html
 

I decided to begin the game at the situation at 1:00pm as by then the French have cleared the forests of the Coalition skirmishers and are about to advance into the open ground around Hanau.  I added a fictional village Althof on the Frankfurt Highway to balance the map.  I added a third division to the Bavarian contingent to get the right balance of forces - another approach might be to use 2 Bavarian divisions each of 6 battalions.

The centre - Bavarian columns attack the Old Guard Grenadiers.  The 1/1st broke.....

Deployments and Plans

The Coalition commanders Dave Paterson, Hugh Wilson and Colin Jack decided to post a Bavarian division and the Cossack partisan brigade south of the River Kinzig.  North of the river they posted alternating Austrian and Bavarian divisions with their 3 cavalry brigades in reserve in the gaps between the 4 divisions.   On their right they moved forward to quickly occupy the hamlet of Neuhof covering the vital Lamboi Bridge.  Their left wing was based around the fictional hamlet of Althof.

 

The French commanders myself, Angus Konstam and Ray Neal decided to use a line Corps supported by a line cavalry division to pin each of the enemy wings whilst the 4 guard divisions would attack and break through the Coalition centre.   The approaching off-table Corps of Marmont was to reinforce our success.  This grand plan did not quite work in practice. 

All the photos I took with descriptions are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157639412215034/
 

MacDonald's Corps, Guard Chasseur Div and Heavy cavalry try to break through along the highway.

Victor's corps and the Guard light cavalry near Neuhof

When the game ended after over 4 hours play the butcher’s bill favoured the French who had lost 5 units including 3 guns whilst the Coalition lost 8 units including 3 guns.   However the French were far from achieving their breakthrough in the centre and shockingly the 1/1^st Grenadiers of the Guard had broken and fled…..  

 

If you want to read a full report of the action Angus Konstam, who played the part of Marshal MacDonald commanding the French right wing in this game, has written a thorough after action report on his blog at: 

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2090.htm

The sources I used for the game were:
HANAU & MONTMIRAIL - THE GUARD FOUGHT AND WON  by Jean-Pierre Mir
NAPOLEON'S LAST CAMPAIGN IN GERMANY by F Loraine Petre
THE GREENHILL NAPOLEONIC WARS DATA BOOK by Digby Smith

Mensdorff's Cossack Partisan brigade crossing the Lamboi Bridge at end of game.  River and bridge by Last Valley.