Friedland 14 June 1807 - refight 2nd August 2024

A week after losing really badly at Eylau I once again donned the hat and cloak of Napoleon to fight the next battle in Mark Smith's "Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles" scenario book.  See here for more on these scenarios.  Mike hosted me in his wargames room in sunny Ilkley and battle commenced.  

Firstly, here is the map:

I was on the left of the table and Mike was to the right.  Here are the initial dispositions:

The French left

The French right.  The brave Russians have advanced as far as the bend in the river.  In the background is Friedland, with an impassible river on two sides and a Lake and a stretch of impassable river on the other.

Russian Turn 2 - French reinforcements head left

In the centre the Saxons & French assault Bagration's troops.  If Saxons are your thing, see my 1809 army here

By turn 3 things are hotting up.  In the centre the reinforcements shift left, whilst an infantry unit backed up by the Imperial Guard push towards Friedland.  

To the left Mortier has lined the ridge and the French cavalry are heading towards the extreme left hand river crossing objective.

Meanwhile, Ney is in the Sortlack Forest, wishing for some sort of road to get him out and adding a little impetus to getting the traffic jam sorted.  Overall the French are swinging left whilst pressurising the defenders of Friedland.

By turn 5 French plans are going well, if a little slow.  On the right Ney exits the Forest and moves to the centre.

In the centre the French cover Friedland and continue to shift their troops to the north of the Muhlen Floss.  The Russians defend the trees to the left and reinforce Friedland.

On the French left Mortier bombards the trees but bides his time.  His infantry, supported by K Cavalry, advance towards the extreme Russian right.

A little later....  French assaults go in to the middle of the Russian line.  Ney's infantry head for Friedland at top speed.

Mike shifts his Russians as the French assault on the centre pushes in his line.  French weight of numbers begin to tell as more fresh Frenchmen pile in.  Mortier provides flank cover at the right end of the wood.  On the extreme left the French and Russians standoff, neither side prepared to risk an assault.  In real life both side's skirmishers are probably trading food and drink...   

About turn 7 Ney's Corps infantry has moved into combat range of Friedland and driven off the Russian artillery defending the town.  One unit of Ney's cavalry has taken a big loop to go to Sortlack and claim that village for France.

On the left the extreme left is static, the French have broken the Russian line and are facing the Friedland defenders over the Muhlen Floss.

Here's another photo of the centre, before the assault.

Here's the French going in with the Russian defenders getting flanking fire across the Muhlen Floss.  The Russians get pushed out of Friedland and lose enough VPs for a French win.

The final French move in close up.  The Guard cavalry was made up of the Empress dragoons (who got a post here ) and the Dutch lancers (post here ).  Yes, I know they weren't there, but they are pretty and they need some time on the table.  It was nice to be able to field almost all of the French troops needed.

In conclusion:

Mike fought really well, made good use of cover and defended stoutly.  My dice rolling was better than Eylau and I won more firefights and hand to hands.  

The battle was in contention all the way through and delivered HQGE High Quality Gaming Experience - which is what we expect from BBB.  

Thanks to Mark Smith for an interesting and engaging day's fun!

Eylau - 8th February 1807 - refight 26 July 2024

 A couple of weeks ago my regular opponent Mike and I tackled Eylau as a BBB war-game, this being one of 16 scenarios from Mark Smith's brand new book "Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles".  Mike is keen to play them all and I'm happy to help!

Here's the NBBB book cover:

Eylau - the battle was between the Russians and the French, with the Russians taking a stand on day 1 and being pushed out of Eylau.  Mark's scenario starts on the morning of day 2, with the French getting reinforcements and seeking to destroy the Russian army.  On the day the battle took place in a snowstorm, the scenario has special rules whereby visibility, movement and firepower are all adversely affected by the snow.  The snow is diced for at the start of each pair of turns.  As on the actual day of battle, you can advance under cover of the snow only to have it stop snowing....    

The map of the battlefield:

The French start holding Eylau, on the left, they must cross the lower lying areas and assault the Russians to take the 4 other objectives, or at least 3 of the other objectives to get a win.  The French must attack and the Russians just have to pile in.

My plan was to go left with Soult, who had nice big veteran units, and right with Davout.  The French middle would advance slowly and keep the Russians occupied.  We both knew that with variable visibility, there was a chance for the French to use the cover of the snowstorm to get to grips with the Russians without getting hammered by the artillery on the way in.

Here's the battlefield (yes, it's not very snowy...) showing the initial deployments:

This is why I thought Soult could lead the attack - 3 x 6 strong units of Veterans

Turn 1, Soult's troops move forward at snail's pace - bad weather means one full move, one half move & one, off picture, not moved at all.  The artillery floundered through the snow just to get hit by counter battery fire and have to retreat.

Turn 1, worried by Soult's lack of progress, I move the French centre forward, in the top right of the photo Davout arrives with his Corps.  

Turn 2 saw more slow French, next photos were at turn 3:

Soult, on the left, made contact

In the centre, the French continue to slowly advance.  

On the right, Davout fails to break through and the Russians rush reserves to block him.

Augeraux's Corps and the French Imperial Guard have a huge scrap in the centre.  Sadly the French heavy cavalry on the hill fail to move for this turn, or indeed, for the rest of the game.  They stood there taking hits and not adding their numbers or "K" factor to anything! 

Around turn 4, the French were having mixed success:

Soult attacks but fails to break through - the French start to go spent.

The Guard push the Russians back and part of the cavalry reserve break through the Russian lines

Davout loses a division and starts to withdraw, unable to break through the Russians.  French heavy cavalry stays on the hill.

By turn 7, Soult has run out of steam and retreats

The French cavalry, followed by the Guard, breakthrough.  Mike starts pivoting his guns on this nice, big target.

By turn 8 the French cavalry, slowed by the snow, get wiped out and the Guard are pushed back to the middle.  The Russians start to put pressure on the French centre.  Davout has now retreated off the table.

Ney turned up, but slow movement rolls, Soult's retreat and not enough firepower meant that this was too late.

It was at this point that I conceded the game, Mike had retained his 4 victory point objectives and I only held Eylau because he couldn't be bothered to take it, rather than my ability to defend it.

Final thoughts:

1. The battle was fought in a snowstorm.  This slowed me down and made it harder than normal to co-ordinate attacks.  My cavalry breakthrough was slow enough that Mike obliterated the cavalry before they could get out of gun range or run around causing chaos.

2. Mike hung on and deployed his reserves wisely.  The French were threatening, especially Davout on the flank, but the French never had enough of a win in the individual combat to break the Russians decisively.  Davout was failing his assaults by the narrowest of margins, but it was enough to stop him.  Mike moved the troops he needed to get the result he wanted.

3. It is an engaging game - it was in doubt until the last two turns, when I was running out of troops.

4. One Heavy cavalry unit just sat on a hill - never moved at all!

I had a chat with Mark, the author.  He was surprised that I had lost so heavily (even though he knows my legendary ability to throw "1") as he had received complaints that the scenario was skewed to favour the French.  So, we now know the Russians CAN win decisively at Eylau.

Even though I lost, it was thoroughly enjoyable, thanks Mark for the scenario and Mike for the game and lunch!!