Napoleonics - French v Russians

 I had the chance to head up to see Graham H this weekend and have a game of 28mm Napoleonics. Graham has been building French and Russian forces for 1812 and we fancied something bigger than the skirmish games we've been playing recently. I found a scenario based on Pirna 1813 in which the Russians under Wurttemberg were trying to get over the Elbe whilst Vandamme was trying to cut off their route. 

This was a good sized scenario as it mean we could both use figures for both sides, making sure that my French (painted 17years ago and still looking fresh, bar a bent flagpole and broken bayonet!) and the Russians I inherited from a late friend's collection were both able to get on the table as too were Graham's figures.

For rules we used a set I made up based on Neil Thomas's Napoleonic Wargames with ranges and movement tweaked a little to fit my unit frontages. They seemed to work well enough - although they're probably too simple for many tastes they allow a decent sized game (a corps plus a side in this case) to skip along with all the usual formations. We played over the afternoon, getting 10 turns and a lot of chatter and lunch in and I will be back at some point to finish the game.

Playing the French I brought my corps on to find Graham's rushing deployed in an arc just forward of a small village on the road to the Elbe. My deployment zone was tight and my scouting lancers took some hits before I was able to retire them behind my infantry. However I managed to get my artillery into play and my divisional and corps batteries were soon pounding the advancing Russians.

Grahams right flank was open, that nearest the bridge, so he threw his cavalry forward (we both need Russian light cavalry, so stand ins were used!) and I was forced into square to see them off. By now my guns had torn through two Russian units on their left and Graham pulled his men back to the road and out of range. It was my turn to advance.

I limbered up my guns and pushed my left flank, closest to the river, forward. Now it was the Russian artillery's turn to cause damage. My morale tests were good while Graham's shots on target were mercifully few until I got into close range with one battalion. This gave me time to open up my divisions and get the brigades moving on my right along the river to try to force the Russian flank away from the bridge. 

The Russian reserves were now on the table - 3 battalions of Grenadier Guards, marching straight for the bridge. It was going to be a foot race to see who got their first and that will have to wait til we play next.