La Rothiére 1st February 1814 - refight Friday 7 March 2025

 The next battle in the BBB scenario book is La Rothiére, 1st February 1814.  Napoleon is now defending France and on French soil.  The Allies, Austrians, Bavarians, Prussians and Russians are seeking to break through the French defences and head for Paris.

Here's the map.  

I took the French army and Mike was the Allies.  The scenario is 7 hour long turns.  There are special rules to cover the terrain (awful - mud everywhere!) and it's hampering effect on movement.  

Set up

Our initial deployments looked like this.  All photos taken from the south (French) side of the map.  Red markers are objectives (victory points).  I expected a tidal wave of Allies & planned a dogged retreat to the bottom right hand corner.

Turn 2 

By the end of turn 2, things were still OK for the French.  On the left I held onto the town of Morvilliers (bottom left) as the terrain and stream broke up Mike's Austro/Bavarian V Korps assault.  In the middle of the ridge was a battery backed up by cavalry.

Top left IV Korps moves towards the undefended ridge, seeking to cross it and take the objective village of La Giberie

On the other side of the battlefield, I hold La Rothiére (on the middle road) and the river crossing town of Dienville.  Mike has struggled to move his infantry forward, his artillery need a whole move to deploy, so he's not yet got his guns into action.  At the bottom of the picture the column s my mobile reserves, the block at bottom right can't move till turn 3.

Turn 4

On the left the brave defenders of Morvilliers repel numerous assaults as the difficult terrain and disrupted results hamper Mike's attempts to bring his numbers to bear.  In the top left corner Mike has only just reached the wooded ridge.

In the middle the Allies are moving slowly forward.  The brave defenders of la Rothiére hang on despite being outnumbered.  On the right I still stoutly defend Dienville and control the river crossing.  

Turn 6

The fighting around Morviliers continues, with the town defenders confident enough to form a line holding the ridge supported by artillery.  The Allies have put cavalry in the village, but my French cavalry have faced off against this threat.  Mike's troops swarm La Giberie, amazingly the defenders hang on, despite being massively outnumbered.

Here's the close up of the fight around Morvilliers.....

On the middle and right side of the battle,  the fight went well for the French.  The defenders of La Rothiére were slowly pushed out, but there was no decisive breakthrough.  The French lost Dienville but managed to retake it.  The French denied the river crossing to the Allies.   

Turn 7

On the left the French lost La Giberie as numbers finally worked for Mike.  

At Morvilliers the French defenders broke up repeated Allied assaults and inflicted enough casualties to cause one Allied to go spent, so no more charging across streams and up hills for them!

 

On the right the French held a position just outside La Rothiére and firmly in control of Dienville.  Both sides took casualties (that's spent Frenchmen behind the frontline), however the French didn't break and the Allies started to run out of troops capable of continuing the fight.  

Conclusion

At the close of play I still had 4 objectives - Mike had taken La Giberie and La Rothiére, but this had been a slow process.  Mike had taken Dienville, but the assault unit had then received no support, so was ejected, in turn, from the town. 

I had some really good die rolls and Mike had not had the same die success.  He needed to attack, but this proved a slow business and the artillery need a full move to deploy.  

I had expected to lose Morvilliers, however against my expectations (and Mike's hopes) the defenders managed to repel all boarders.

It's a great scenario, we played it through in a day and I thoroughly recommend it!

 

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.

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!!