Hanau, 30 October 1813 - refight 14 February 2025

The next battle in the Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles book is Hanau, with the Austrians and Bavarians taking on the French on October 1813.  The Austro-Bavarian forces are deployed to catch the retreating French army (heading South West to France) - they expect stragglers and small forces, they get Napoleon and the Imperial Guard!

Here's the map:

Set up

Here's the table - starting with the Allied left

The town of Hanau, with forests at the top of the picture

The Allied right - the green strip marks the edge of the forest, not a strip of trees.  The troops in the forest are the French.

Turn 2

The Allied right flank.  

At the top of the photo the Allies have advanced into the wood to contain the French.  This negated the artillery (as you can only see 3" into a wood), so the combat was charging and countercharging, both sides getting disrupted, gaining cover from the woods and not winning hand to hand combat.  

At the bottom of the photo there are two units of Guard infantry who have burst out of the woods, causing redeployment of one Allied unit from the main battle and despatch of another unit to try to stop this!

Allied middle - all quiet at the moment

Turn 3

At the end of turn 3 events had progressed a little.  

At the top of the picture the Allied cavalry have forced the French cavalry to redeploy in the face of the Allied charges.  

The battle in the woods continues in a confused and inconclusive manner.  The Allied artillery, with no target to their front, turn 180 to fire on  the Guard.  

At the bottom of the picture the Guard continues its advance to Hanau.

Turn 4

On the right the battle in woods continued, with the Allied cavalry taking casualties from repeated charges against the French cavalry.  

The main Allied defensive line started to break up - to the left of the photo are disrupted cavalry and infantry, as well as two spent infantry.

At the bottom of the photo the Guard approach Hanau and a further 6 strong unit advances.

In the middle the Allies defend Hanau.

On the left Mike threatened my Cossacks, defending another two important villages, as this flank is wide open....

Turn 6

By turn 6 the Allies were in trouble on the right flank.  At the top of the picture the French cavalry are pushing the Allied cavalry back.  At the bottom of the picture the Bavarians have been pushed out of the woods and the Allied unit guarding the bridge objective (lower right) has been assaulted in the rear,

Here's the zoom shot - Bavarian line is crumbling.

On the left flank it's all wide open - the only factor slowing the French infantry is the speed of their March.

French Turn 7

By the end of Mike's turn 7 the Allied destruction was complete.  At the bottom of the picture I've lost the Bridge and the river.  At the top of the picture my cavalry is getting hammered.  In the middle are lots of Bavarians sporting "spent" counters (which are actually Bavarian blue) getting hammered by the French.

The Bavarians guarding the bridge/village got assaulted and lost - with no where else to go the survivors attempted to swim the river.....

On the Allied left / middle I still held Hanau, with the surrounding fields littered with the wiped out French attackers.

Out of troops and options, I conceded at this point.  

Closing thoughts

My strategy had been to hold the French up for as long as possible in the woods - this was an error on my part, I think.  It did take Mike time to deploy his troops and get momentum, but the woods hampered both sides, so the wood fighting turned into a battle of attrition and he had more troops of better quality.  I also kept the French bottled up so far in the woods that my Allied artillery could not see them - or shoot them.

My cavalry attack in the North did distract Mike and we had a big several turn cavalry scrap - which i eventually lost.

My concentration on keeping most of my troops in the woods meant Mike was able to send troops to threaten Hanau and to roll up my line.

Mike's numbers and quality did tell in the end - by turn 6 I had units at break point and by turn 7 it was all over.

A comprehensive Victory for Mike and an enjoyable game.  It goes quite quickly, we played it in 4 hours (having set up the previous time but allowing 1/2 to 3/4 hour for lunch).

Mike's French, my Allies all Baccus.

Dresden - 26 & 27 August 1813, refight Friday 17 & 24 January 2025

 The battle of Dresden, 26 & 27 August 1813, is the next scenario that Mike and I have tackled from Dr Mark Smith's "Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles" scenario book.  I had played it once before, a number of years ago, as French and really not done well.  This was Mike's first go at the scenario.

Mark has introduced some interesting elements to this scenario - the French have fortified redoubts to occupy, with half a gun in each.  The incessant rain on the first day of the battle means that the river that splits the French right/Austrian left area of operations becomes impassible, so on the French right flank it is about holding/dominating the two bridging points.

I chose French, Mike opted to be the Austro/Prussian/Russian coalition.

The map:

Set up

The whole battlefield - the Elbe is the wide river, lower left.  The Weisseritz is the medium sized river, this is impassible on day 2 and only has two crossing points.  The bright green rectangle is the Gross Garten.  Shedloads of French troops wait to be released into Dresden from the Eastern bank.

The French left, Dresden and it's suburbs lower left, a thin cordon of defenders in the redoubts.  I deployed a 4 block unit and gun as far forward as possible as a "speed bump".

The French right - a couple of redoubts, otherwise just empty of my defenders!

Turn 2

At the end of turn two the French have re-inforced Dresden.  More re-inforcements wait to cross into the city.

The French left wing, with French troops in the Gross Garten buying time.

The French middle - holding off the Russians in the centre, but only just.

The French right - the Austrian advance has stalled and i diverted my reserves here.  Mike has already had one unit go spent.

Dresden city hall - actually it's for a Franco Prussian game, but it gives a bit of grandeur!

Turn 4

By turn 4 the battle was shaping well for the French as night fell at the end of day 1.  On the left, Dresden is a solid wall of French defenders and Mike halts outside the city limits.

In the middle Mike did take a redoubt, but the French & Allies are now racing to put troops on the hill.

On the right, Mike took up defensive positions, whilst my French controlled both river crossings.

Turn 6

At the end of turn 6, two turns after the night interval, the battle was going well for the French.  On the left the city was well defended, mainly by the Young Guard.  For some reason the Old Guard infantry kept failing their movement rolls!

In the middle a to and fro battle developed for possession of the hill, with both sides attacking and then getting repulsed.  This is where I channelled my reserves and aggressive/killer best troops.

On the right the Austrians could only hold on, so both sides did not do much fighting.  The Austrians started to direct their attention to the upstream bridge.

Turn 8

By the end of turn 8 the French left had advanced to take on the Allied right and was regaining the Gross Garten, putting pressure on the Allied middle and trying to retake the hill.

The French right held the Austrian left and blocked the Allied advance on the upstream bridge.

Turn 9

At the end of turn 9 the French had won a decisive victory.  On the left, they were catching and destroying the retreating Allies.  Dresden is now empty of French defenders!

In the middle the battle for the hill continued as the Allies clung on.

On the right the Austrian left held on, but the troops trying to take the upstream bridge had broken and retreated with heavy losses.

Game end

In this game everything had gone well for the French.  The Austrians had low movement rolls and had not taken any redoubts or suburbs early on.  The French "roadblock" unit in the Gross Garten was destroyed, but contributed to the Allied right's slow progress.  

The French re-inforcements deployed quickly and the French right did really well, stopping the Austrian left and inflicting enough casualties early on to stop the Austrians and make them go defensive.

This secure right flank enabled the French to concentrate on the middle and left sectors, where French quality and quantity stopped the Austrians then drove them back.  The French were able to keep moving and ensure that reserves were fed into the weak-spots in the line.  The battle for the central hill was a real to and fro affair, but by the end of the game this position was in danger of being outflanked.

It was a really enjoyable game, my thanks to Mike as a worthy opponent.

Bautzen - 20 & 21 May 1813 - replayed 20 Dec 2024 & 3 Jan 2025

 Mike and I decided to skip the battle of Lutzen (2 May 1813), as we've played it a couple of times before, moving swiftly to the battle of Bautzen.  The Russians and Prussians dig in behind the Spree river - Napoleon frontally assaults on day one whilst Ney attacks the right of the Allied line on day two.  

In this battle the French get bridging trains (one per Corps), so it's not just a charge across the bridge.  If only I had some suitable pontoon bridge models!  

Here is the map - Napoleon to the left, Ney at the top, Allies in the middle.  Having got used to playing with Veteran French in the last few battles, I now found that in taking the French I was mainly playing with trained troops - less likely to charge home if fired upon, they go spent on fewer casualties.  

The Set up

Here is the table ready for the start.  The on table troops in the foreground are Soult (left) & Marmont, who will advance to the Spree and cross it.

On the other flank McDonald, the Guard & Oudinot prepare to assault across the bridge and pin the centre.

Mike had troops in Bautzen, with his main defence line dug in further back.  I didn't expect to do well with the frontal assaults, I hoped that my flanking manoeuvres would do better.

Move 2

After two moves things are hotting up.  On the right Oudinot has pushed his troops in column to take on the defenders of Jenkwitz.  In the middle Mcdonald has taken Bautzen and is heading for the main line of resistance.  

On the left Soult and Marmont have crossed the river.  One of Napoleon's challenges in 1813 was a lack of cavalry.  Mike added to my troubles on the day by long range artillery sniping, which took out Soult's cavalry....

Move 3

By the end of move 3 the battle had split into 3 sectors.  On the right Oudinot squared off against Gortchakov.  Neither side had quite the numbers to kill anything, but steady Russian fire kept the French infantry from charging and the cannon from being deployed.

In the middle Macdonald & Marmont, supported by the Guard, attacked the defensive lines.

On the left Soult was left to his own devices.  The Russians lined up on the hill and brought up their guns.  The French assaults were disrupted and never developed, but the Russians were not willing to counter-attack and give up their defensive advantage.  They did try a sneaky flank attack (just above the six islands in the river) but were held off.

Move 4

On the French right we have Oudinot - he has formed "block" in preparation for another charge - to his right rear is his supporting artillery, driven off by the pesky Ruskis again!

In the middle the French throw in the Guard against the dug in Allies.

On the left the Russians hold the hill.  The French hang about at the bottom of the hill, whilst Soult diverts a division to avoid the outflanking Russians.  If only the cavalry were still around!

A close up of the central battle - The Guard to the right, Marmont & Mcdonald to the left.  The line in foreground are re-grouping after losing an earlier assault.

At the end of move 4 night fell, in the real world we had a cup of tea (Yorkshire, of course!) before resuming play at the start of day two.

Move 6

2 moves into day two, things have started to improve for the French.  

On their right flank Oudinot has broken through, aided by the Guard cavalry doing a flanking charge on the brave defenders of Jenkwitz.  In the centre the French assault the defences, throwing in masses of troops and the Guard.  

On the left flank Soult is joined by Ney.  A series of low movement rolls means the French advance slowly (or not at all, in some cases!) but Mike responds by building a defensive line and holds the hill.  Those 4 lakes act as some sort of "super moat" - breaking up the French attacks.

Move 8

On the right the French drive a massive wedge into the Allies and start taking VP (Victory Point) villages (red exploding markers).  

On the left the French take the big hill (worth a VP) but fail, so far, to get the last remaining VP village or the road exit.  If only I had not lost my cavalry!  I did manage to capture more non-VP villages...

Move 9

On the right the French broke the Allied line, but were too far away to get troops to the road exit.  It had been a long hard slog to get this far!

On the left the French failed to get the VP village across the stream but did hound the Russians away from the important VP hill.

At this point Mike and I called it a day.  The final French turn saw them masters of the battlefield and in possession of 3 VP, but with no further moves left to take further VPs and Mike too depleted to attempt to take any back, it was a draw.

Once again an exciting game with ups and downs, decisions to make and engaging to the end.  A couple of thoughts:

1. French troops are no longer veteran - and the enemy has skirmishers.  The French superiority margin is wearing down and thinner than earlier battles.

2. Cavalry - as French, you don't get much.  The Guard cavalry did a great job, but I lost 2/3 of my cavalry early on and that meant I could not exploit at the end of the game.

Once again, a well written and finely balanced scenario gave rise to an interesting and engaging game.

Photoshoot

French Chasseurs of the Guard

Guard artillery + line = Grand battery

Italians charging up the hill!

Guard Cavalry backing up an infantry charge

My Middle/Young Guard - in this case loads of Veteran stands lumped together.  Proper troops have been painted and await warmer weather for basing.