Black Powder: the Bridge at Ebelsberg

Introduction

It's been a very long time since I've played Black Powder.  It might even be as much as 2.5 years ago - that's when I last reported on such a battle: Grochow, 1809.  But despite all this, we haven't forgotten about the game and how much we enjoyed it.  Indeed, last Christmas I got the "Clash of Eagles" supplement.  Although this officially covers the 1812 invasion of Russia, it does have a wealth of stuff that is suitable for my 1809-ish Austrians, French, Confederation of the Rhine &c.

The Scenario

So, armed with this new inspiration it was time for a game.  We pitted my relatively small French & Allies force against Steve's much larger Russian army.  We couldn't really put these numbers head-to-head; the Russians would have a considerable advantage in numbers.  Instead, I took a scenario from the "Blunders on the Danube" Piquet supplement and adapted it.

The Battle of Ebelsberg

In the original battle of Ebelsberg in 1809, a large French army tried to catch a smaller Austrian group as it retreated towards the single bridge over the large & impassable river Traun and into the town of Ebelsberg.  There's a catch, though: the Austrians were waiting for one last, straggling brigade before they could retire.

Historically, most of the Austrians were extracted with a mixture of skill and luck, but the French managed to seize the bridge before the Austrians could demolish it.  This led to some vicious fighting within the town on the next day.  We'll be gaming the approach on the first day.

Our Version

Firstly, the forces are all shifted around to suit the armies available to us.  The Russians would be attacking (instead of the French) and the French would be defending (instead of the Austrians).

French Forces (General LeBeaux):

• 1 relatively strong French brigade is deployed across the road to Ebelsberg, in the middle of the table (Brigadier Gerard).
• A weak brigade of mixed units from France and Hesse-Darmstadt holds the village of Klein Munchen (Brigadier Meier).
• A weak Bavarian brigade enters from the south, starting on turn 1 (Brigadier Shultz).

Russian Forces:

• 2 small brigades of cavalry are already on the end of the table.
• An entire division of infantry (plus their artillery, of course) is approaching from the west.  Their light brigade is already on table; the two line brigades will enter from the left, starting respectively on turn 1 and turn 2.

So, the Russians outnumber the allies by somewhere between 3:2 and 2:1 (I didn't bother to count).  As per the Clash of Eagles supplement, they have a weak command structure and aren't good at musketry, but are stoic against casualties and well motivated to get stuck in to melee.

We decided that we'd randomise command values for officers.  Each of the commanders-in-chief would have a base rating of 9 and would add the roll of a fudge die (i.e. '+', ' ' or '-'), whilst each of the brigadiers would have a command rating of 8 plus a fudge die.  The result:

• The Russian C-in-C was a brilliant general with a rating of 10.
• The 2 Russian cavalry brigadiers were (from memory) a respectable 8 and 9.
• Every other commander rolled a '-', thus leading to a command value of 8 for the French C-in-C and a 7 for all the French brigadiers and all the Russian infantry leaders. It looks as if this is the dregs of the French army; either that or they are under-supplied, tired, hungry and dispirited.  Ooh, err...

Our Game

On turn 1, the wayward Bavarians started to arrive.  Their somewhat plodding general assumed that they were too far from the enemy to need to deploy for action, but he was wrong.  A dashing Russian cavalry leader led a wild charge which saw one infantry column caught in the flank whilst still in column-of-march [for anyone who doesn't know about horse & musket warfare, this is an extraordinarily bad thing for the defenders.  Indeed, for the cavalry involved in such an attack it's possibly the highlight of their entire careers].

Amazingly, the Bavarian 13th Line infantry didn't disintegrate immediately.  They took enormous casualties and were driven back a long way, but they passed break test after break test and just hung on.

As more elements of the Bavarian column arrived, their own cavalry charged the approaching Russian cossacks.  For a few moments, it looked as if the situation might be stabilised...

...but the Russian cavalry, having pursued the 13th Line almost to Klein Munchen, finally dispersed them.

At the same time, the Bavarian cavalry, having seen off the cossacks with some enthusiasm, encountered a fresh unit of Russian dragoons.  The clash between these squadrons was brutal: the lighter Bavarian Cheveaux Leger were swept away - but the dragoons were hit hard as well.  Indeed, that loss caused the demoralisation of the Russian heavy cavalry brigade; they played no further part in the game.

The damage had been done, however.  The Bavarian brigade was also demoralised; it retreated off the table (and presumably found somewhere a bit quieter to huddle until they could surrender and be taken prisoner).

[In reviewing this now, I realise that the Bavarian brigade should not have broken at this point, though they were indeed perilously close.  I had miscounted the number of units in the formation; they had lost 50%, excluding artillery, but not over 50%, as we require for a brigade to become demoralised.  Oh, well - it probably wouldn't have made much difference in the long run anyway...]

Elsewhere, large columns of Russian infantry plodded forwards, although their commanders didn't seem to be in any great hurry.  The more advanced units started to engage the nearest French, though 

true to form their shooting didn't achieve much other than to make a noise and a lot of smoke.

Since there were no survivors from the Bavarian contingent and therefore no need for them to stay where they were, many of the French units started to move back towards the bridge.  There was still a long way to go, mind.

The Russian advance was most active on the far right of the table.  Their leading infantry came off rather worse in an exchange of volleys with the French 4th Line, but there were plenty more attackers nearby to fill the gap.

A single unit of French heavy cavalry tried to fend off a Russian hussar brigade.  Both sides were wary, but in the initial clash both the French and one of the Russian squadrons were devastated.

With the French cavalry out of the running, the other Hussar squadron fell upon the flank of the exposed French infantry and sent them routing in all directions.

About this time, the Russian C-in-C all but gave up trying to get his subordinates to move their forces.  Instead, he took over command of all the units that were near his position and formed them into an ad hoc task force, which then proceeded to steamroller forwards.

The French continued their retiral, hoping to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers so that they would have time to negotiate the bottleneck of the bridge.  However, at least some of the Russian units kept up with them and stayed within musket range.

For a brief moment, it looked as if the bulk of the French infantry had indeed outdistanced the enemy.  The leading Russian battalions were pinned in square by the threat of a lone unit of French light cavalry, whilst the intermittently-rallied Carabiniers again slowed the Russian cavalry brigade, though at some cost to themselves.

The Russian commander was wary of the garrisoned village of Klein Munchen; past experience suggested that this type of position would be tough to crack with just infantry.  However, the Hesse-Darmstadt artillery was in the field outside the village.  A battalion of Jaegers assaulted the small battery and overran it; despite being lashed with canister and shot they simply ignored the casualties and came on regardless [by rolling a double '6' to save hits and thus managing to avoid the need for a break test]!

So, did the French escape?  For (I think) 3 turns in a row, Brigadier Gerard failed to give a coherent order to any of his units!  The French C-in-C ("LeBeaux") was too busy trying to shore up the right flank to intervene, so nothing moved.  Maybe a wagon was stuck on the bridge?  Or perhaps there were arguments over which unit should go first, or engineers were busily trying to prepare the bridge for demolition?  Whatever the reason, the delay was costly.

Russian infantry poured around the village, keeping carefully out of musket range, whilst (some of) their artillery pounded the buildings and their occupying Hessians.  The only good news for the French at this point was that a blunder sent a second Russian battery retreating at full speed back to where they had just come from.

Finally, a few French units formed into column of march and hightailed it along the road and across the bridge, whilst the French cavalry tried to slow down the Russian advance.  But there were simply too many attackers and the retreat had been delayed for too long; most of the remaining French units were caught in a pocket; we called the game rather than play it out to the inevitable end.

Conclusion

4 French units made it to the bridge (in column of march) and escaped; this was definitely not as many as I'd hoped.  It's just as well that Brigadier Gerard was captured, else I'd have had him court-martialed and shot!  I also note that not a single Russian unit was routed, though a number of them were shaken and only just survived break tests.

It sounds like a very one-sided massacre, doesn't it?  The early (and incorrect!) loss of the Bavarian brigade didn't help, yet the game felt remarkably even.  Right up to the very end it was possible that another 4 or 5 French units might have escaped, possibly even more.  Both sides had their chances and their frustrations, so it was engaging all the way through.

The bottom line: both players enjoyed this battle immensely, it was refreshingly different from the traditional "encounter" game and the way events unfolded with surges and pauses in the action felt like a real Napoleonic battle (as we understand it).  I don't think we could ask for more, really 😄.

Black Powder: Grochow, 1809

Introduction

The battle of Grochow was fought on April 25th, 1809 between the Polish and Austrian armies (at least, according to my "Blunders on the Danube" scenario book).  An Austrian division under Von Mohr had been ferried across the river Vistula to threaten a Polish garrison, but Prince Poniatowski led 3 columns of Poles to contest this bridgehead.

Since I failed to find any corroborating data about this battle in any online source, the scenario book is the only detailed reference I have for the battle.  Indeed, one Wikipedia article mentions the correct date and place for the battle, but claims that it was fought between a different Polish leader and a Russian force!  Were the Russians invading Poland in 1809?  I'm sorry to say that my education has failed to provide much detail on wars in eastern Europe...

Either way, the scenario can be gamed as written even if there is some doubt (in my mind) about its authenticity.  So, what have we got?

The Scenario

In the game, 1 large and 2 smaller columns will attack Grochow.  We didn't have any Polish figures, so we substituted Steve's Russians instead.  This shouldn't make any material difference, as the number and classes of the units were given in "Blunders on the Danube" and we kept to those forces.  The attackers have 6 turns to take the town of Grochow; if they can do this then they win the game.

It'll be a difficult task, though.  The town is heavily garrisoned by Austrian infantry and can only be reached by passing through gaps in impenetrable forest.  There's also a small Austrian detachment in the village of Radzymin; will they be able to threaten the Russians' flanks or rear as the attackers pass by?

We decided to use my "Black Powder Personality Cards" once again.  The cards for the fairly poor quality Austrian commanders gave 2 of them a high level of decisiveness, though with their otherwise under-average abilities, this might be better termed "arrogance".

On the other hand, we had some personal difficulties in reconciling the highly skilled Russian leadership with the portraits on the cards!  It did cause a few hesitant laughs, for sure.

So, the numbers of units are about equal, but the Russians are mostly light cavalry with only a few infantry units.  The Austrians are the other way around: mostly infantry with only 2 units of cavalry.  The Russian leadership is much better, but even so, how is a mostly cavalry force going to assault a town?  It's going to be tough...

The Game

Near the town of Grochow, the Russians advanced rapidly and, with their skilled commanders, deployed easily into an attack formation.  Their plan was (I believe) to knock out the supporting Austrian infantry from both flanks of the town before turning inwards and assaulting the built-up area from 3 sides at once.  In past games of Black Powder, we've found that units in buildings are exceptionally hard to dislodge, so this plan was probably their best hope.  Still, it looked like a pretty tall order...

Straight away, one of the Russian attack columns came under heavy fire and was halted, disordered.  Even at this early stage, the assault looked unlikely to achieve its objectives.

In the sideshow near Radzymin village, a lone Austrian Hussar regiment saw off successive, but uncoordinated, charges from 2 Russian light cavalry units.  Indeed, in the first fight, every hit was saved and so neither regiment took any damage (I guess they just rode past each other, shouting insults).

This couldn't go on forever, though.  In the end, the irritated Russians brought up 2 fresh regiments of light dragoons and obliterated the tiring Austrian hussars.  Still, they'd tied up 4 times their own numbers for several turns...

Still trying to prove their worth, the Russian light cavalry regiment who had failed to damage their Austrian counterparts before now saw an opportunity to charge an enemy battery in the flank.  The artillery should have been toast, but once again neither side inflicted any casualties.  We had to look up the rulebook for this one, as it was a situation that none of the players ever imagined would happen.  Our reading was that the cavalry retired and the artillery held their position; no doubt the gunners jeered mercilessly at the backs of the retreating cavalrymen!

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, in the next turn this battery was caught in the other flank by the Russian light dragoons and annihilated.

Back at Grochow, the fighting was furious now.  On the defender's left flank, the attack had stalled, but a Russian column managed to charge the militia on the right.  Astonishingly, the raw Austrian troops wiped out their attackers.

In this they may have been helped by a blunder by the Austrian subordinate Oberst Anon.  He had tried to rally the damaged front line of militia, but instead caused them to fall back.  Miraculously, CinC Von Mohr roused himself from his normal inefficiency to order the fresh, reserve unit into position just before the Russians made contact.

With time running out, the increasingly desperate Russian commanders threw in their other flank attack.  This infantry unit was savaged by musketry as it charged, then fought to destruction by the large unit of Austrian regulars who were facing it.

The next volley from the Austrians also routed the one and only Russian artillery battery.  With no cannons and with only 2 infantry units left, the Russians decided that their chance of taking Grochow was negligible and so they conceded the game.

Conclusion

This is the first time that we've played a historical scenario, even if there is some doubt about who actually fought in the real life battle.  OK, we substituted one of the sides and used Russians instead of Poles, but that wouldn't have made any substantial difference.

As written, I cannot see how the Poles/Russians can possibly take Grochow in this game.  Sure, they have large numbers of light cavalry, but those aren't much use in an urban assault.  The attackers also have very good leadership and the defenders are poor in that respect, but all the Austrians have to do is stand there and get in the way  Their sub-standard generals don't really interfere with that!  

"Blunders on the Danube" is a scenario book written for "Field of Battle", but unless those rules operate very differently from Black Powder then it's hard to see what the attackers could do differently.  I commend Steve and A. for trying (and at least they did manage to savage the Austrian detachment at Radzymin), but really I don't think they were going to win this one!

Black Powder: The Three Villages!

Introduction

The battlefield after 1 move.  Mouse-over the image to see who is who...

So, last weekend Steve came round for a day's gaming.  This is something we're fortunate enough to be able to do every few months and since it's quite a long journey for poor Steve, we try at least to make it an activity-packed visit.  This time we managed to fit in 2 games.

As is customary, we started with a big game of Black Powder using our 6mm Napoleonic forces.  We also managed a game of Song of Blades and Heroes, using my Robin Hood-themed warbands.  More on that another time.

On with the show: here's a description of the Black Powder game...

The Scenario

In 1809, a large Russian force is approaching a plain which contains the 3 fictional, central European villages of Großrinderheim, Württemfeld and Tauberbischofsberg.  Help (?) is on its way to repel the invaders, in the shape of a mixed force of French and Confederation of the Rhine troops.  The Confederation troops are outnumbered but have a more flexible command structure.  Would that be enough to make a difference?  Oh, the allies also have a lot more artillery than the Russians...

Victory would be determined very simply: each of the 3 villages is an objective.  Whoever holds more villages at the end of the game would be declared the winner.  The game would end either when 1 side were all dead or ran away, or when we ran out of time or energy to continue!

In the past, we have found troops in buildings to be nearly invulnerable under the Black Powder rules.  Since we didn't want this game to stagnate, it had to be at least plausible to assault an occupied village.  To achieve this, we reduced the morale save modifier for troops in houses from +2 to +1 and the combat result bonus from 3 to 2.  Maybe these buildings are wooden rather than stone?  Or maybe our troops haven't read the manuals on the best way to defend such a position?  Who knows?

The Forces

Most of the troops we used in this battle were fairly standard, with few special rules employed.  However, we wanted to test out the optional rules for Personal Characteristics of Commanders.  We could just have rolled dice for the results and written them down on paper, but I like things to be a bit easier than that.  I've made a deck of cards with a reasonable distribution of these characteristics on them, so all we needed to do was draw one card for each general and brigadier.

Russians

The Russian force was made up of 3 identical brigades, each consisting of 4 infantry units, 1 battery of artillery and a unit of (unreliable) Cossacks.

When we assigned characteristics to the Russian commanders, we discovered that the corps commander, Generallieutenant Raevskii, was average but that his subordinates were anything but!  Generalmajor Rylieff was timid and hesitant (!), Generalmajor Pantzerbeiter was decisive (probably an emigre with something to prove, I think...) and Generalmajor Palitsyn was also timid.  OK, this could be interesting...

Totals: 12 infantry, 3 cavalry, 3 artillery units.

Confederation

The Confederation had 5 small brigades (1 Bavarian, 2 French, 1 Hesse-Darmstadt and 1 mixed light cavalry).  Each of these typically had 2 units of infantry or cavalry and 1 battery of artillery.

The commander (French general Saint Cyr) was decisive, but all 5 of his brigadiers (Cossons and Dalesme for the French infantry, the Hessian Schiner, Bavarian von Minucci and cavalry commander des Essarts) were all completely bland.  A bit disappointing, perhaps, but I suppose it simplified things.

Totals: 9 infantry (7 normal, 2 small), 2 cavalry, 5 artillery units.

The Game

The Russians moved first and immediately force-marched regiments of infantry into all 3 of the villages.  Some of their support forces were a bit slower off the mark, but they were well entrenched in the objectives before the Confederation forces got close.  As the armies approached each other there was an outbreak of firing all along the line, though most was relatively ineffective due to the use of skirmish screens.

The exceptions to this were in the centre, where the French General Cossons steadfastly kept his infantry in attack columns (without a screen!) and the otherwise professional Dalesme advanced the "Lucky 56th" Ligne into a storm of cannon and musket fire without any support.

The Musketry Exchanges

For most of the game, fire was given and taken all along the front line, with the Russian line anchored in the 3 villages and the Confederation just beyond them.  Rather than bore you with a turn by turn account, here are the highlights:

• French Hussars tried to outflank in the north, but were met by Cossacks.  In an inconclusive skirmish, both sides withdrew behind their infantry supports.
• In the south, a probe by Bavarian cavalry and light infantry was met by a Russian square.  Without any nearby artillery, the Bavarians were unable to advance any further and a stand-off developed.
• First blood went to the concentrated French and Hessian artillery on the northern ridge.  One unlucky Russian regiment was decimated and then fled in rout.  There were still plenty more like them, though...
• At the near end of the line, the Russians found themselves unable to make use of their superior numbers.  A combination of hesitant command and the occasional blunder led to a bunching of units with no room to deploy.
• Meanwhile, the Russian front line took a pounding, especially from the Confederation artillery that was mostly placed along the ridges in their rear.  In particular, the Russian centre fell into disarray and had trouble reacting.

The Assault

Seeing the Russian centre apparently in disorder, General Cossons ordered his columns to attack.  With banners waving and shouts of "Vive L'Empereur!", the 24th Légère and 44th Ligne regiments marched in double time towards their enemies.  At the last moment, the columns broke into a run and crashed into the confused Russians.  At the same time, General Dalesme's 4th Ligne made a diversionary attack on the village of Württemfeld, fully expecting to withdraw after distracting the defenders from the fight to their flanks.

Disoriented the Russians may have been, but they were going nowhere!  2 of the attacks stalled and halted in stalemates, whilst the 44th Ligne was repulsed in disorder.  Oh, crumbs!

Near Tauberbischofsberg in the north, a single Russian regiment attempted to close with some of the artillery that had been galling them all through the game.  This was a small but bad mistake; the nearby French cavalry made several fake charges to force the attacking infantry into a square.  As soon as this happened, the Hessian artillery and skirmishers set about the poor Russians with a vengeance.

All the square could do was hold on and pray for deliverance; if they moved then the hussars would have been on them in a flash and if they didn't then they would be pummelled with cannister from the cannons.  A unit of Cossacks attempted to charge the guns to relieve their infantry, but these light cavalry refused to charge home and withdrew after taking a few losses.

The Turning Point

In a completely unexpected turn of events, the next round of the 4th Ligne's diversionary attack on the central village succeeded in eliminating the defenders with no real loss to the attacking regiment.  The French soldiers quickly occupied the objective and then poured a thunderous enfilading volley on the unsuspecting Russian regiment at the far side.

Seeing this, the nearby "Lucky 56th" Ligne charged at the wavering Russian unit.  In a tremendous crash, both regiments just disintegrated, leaving whoever was left alive streaming from the field.

Suddenly, it was all over.  The Russians had lost 3 regiments completely, but enough of their other units were shaken for 2 of the 3 brigades to now count as broken.  Since most of the brigades in the army were broken, the entire army was broken.  This came as a complete shock to both players, I think!

Rather than play out the rest of the game, we decided to allow the defeated Russian army to retire in (relatively) good order.  No doubt the small numbers of Confederation cavalry and the ever present Cossacks would have prevented a close pursuit and a total rout.

Conclusion

Well, that was unexpected!  Most of the Confederation units had taken some hits, but were still in good shape.  The Russian infantry never really got going; their superior numbers (especially in the south!) couldn't be brought to bear because of a mixture of hesitant leadership from General Rylieff and frequent disorder in the front lines.

Heroes of the hour were the Confederation artillery: the guns lined the ridges and pounded away on the masses of infantry below.  Some counter-battery fire from the few Russian cannons to get into action had done a lot of damage, but not enough to silence their enemies.

The cards for leaders' characteristics seemed to work well.  We found that most of the time the characteristics didn't have much influence on play, though just occasionally they made a critical moment more ... interesting!  That's as it should be.  Having the cards laid out made it easier to remember which commanders had these special rules.  It also brought a more personal touch to the game: the officers had both names and portraits (even if the pictures are technically all in Russian uniforms!)

Finally, next time I think the Confederation should take fewer brigades, but with more regiments in each one.  5 sub-commanders is really a bit too many!

Black Powder: The Falten Pass

Introduction

Last Saturday, Steve came round to visit and we spent much of the day gaming.  First up, as always, was an outing for our 6mm Napoleonic forces.  We did play a different game afterwards; you'll hear about that another time!

For the Black Powder game, a division of my 1809-ish Austrians took on a roughly equal quantity of Steve's Russians.  There were only a few differences between the forces: the Austrians had slightly heavier cavalry but the Russians had more cannons.  Also, many of my Austrian infantry units were larger than average, but General Gruneberg, my commander-in-chief, was addled with gout and had to be ferried around in a coach. Here's how it went...

The Scenario

Somewhere in north-east Austria lies the Falten Pass.  A strategically-important road travels through a gap between rugged hills on one side and dense woods on the other.  Each of the Austrian and Russian armies have sent a division on ahead to secure this passage, but these forces have arrived at much the same time. Orders are clear: the enemy must not be allowed to control the pass!

This will be a straightforward "last man standing" battle between 2 relatively equal forces.  The only twist that we used was hidden deployment: a barrier of tall cardboard was erected down the centre of the table whilst we placed our armies on the board.

The Game

My brave Austrian infantry wait for the signal to advance

When the barrier was removed, I could see that the Russian infantry formed a line across the centre, whilst small cavalry brigades were present on both wings.  On the other hand, I had deployed all of my Austria line infantry towards the right, with cavalry to the left.  My plan was to advance the infantry as fast as possible towards the Russian-held village, whilst the cavalry would screen and delay the half of the enemy army that faced them.  Essentially, I'd follow the line of the road across the board.

Initially, my plan seemed to be working well.  The infantry advanced (though the 2nd Brigade, on the near side, was a little sluggish) and their supporting artillery caused some confusion amongst the opposing Russian cavalry.

The Austrian 2nd Brigade advances, whilst everyone else just watches.  Note the C-in-C's carriage in front of the village at the top left of the picture.

Now things started to fall apart a bit.  Major General Homburg's 2nd Brigade continued to advance in the centre, but the 1st Brigade (led by the less-than-brilliant Major General Von Tripp) halted.  The Austrian heavy cavalry moved across from the far flank to support the infantry.

This is where it all went downhill very fast.  Some of the Russian dragoons saw the exposed flank of the Austrian infantry and charged in.  The poor infantry were caught completely by surprise and the unit was devastated!

The dragoons followed this up by charging a small detachment of Austrian grenadiers, but they had obviously blown their horses.  Although General Homburg and his aides had to turn and flee to avoid them, the dragoons couldn't do more than make the grenadiers retire a short way.

Revenge was swift as the Austrian dragoons attacked the spent Russian cavalry whilst the reformed Austrian grenadiers poured fire onto their flank.  This was too much for them and the Russian unit broke and fled.

Then the second Russian dragoon unit attacked the 2nd Brigade's other large infantry unit.  Again, the flank attack caused serious damage, though this time the infantry regiment retired, shaken. They might as well have routed off the field, though: since the brigade morale was now broken they would never rally and would automatically withdraw from any enemy approach.

Austrian cuirassiers now moved to finish off the enemy cavalry.  Unwisely, they advanced into a firestorm as an enfilading Russian artillery battery shot them to pieces.  Men and horses were torn apart and the unit just disintegrated as the few survivors limped away.

Well, this wasn't going at all the way I'd hoped!  So far, my complete mismanagement had cost me an entire infantry brigade and half of my heavy cavalry with very little to show for it.  At least Steve had the good grace not to gloat.  Right, let's see if I can salvage anything from this mess...

OK, first let's eliminate the remaining, damaged Russian cavalry.  The Austrian dragoons charged their Russian counterparts; in the ensuing fierce fight the Russians broke and the Austrians retired, shaken.  Because the formation had already lost the cuirassiers, the heavy cavalry brigade was now broken and the Austrian dragoons couldn't be rallied.  They retired to stand nearby the forlorn remnants of the 2nd Infantry, all of whom would have retreated precipitously had any enemy approached them.

A pause in the action

By now, the entire Austrian centre was brittle and would have evaporated if anyone had looked at them sternly.  On the left wing (top of picture), a few light cavalry and infantry units were valiantly holding off a large part of the Russian army.  Actually, that's rather too grand a claim - in reality this part of the Russian force had a lethargic general who advanced his units with glacial slowness.  It's nice to know that the Austrians don't have a monopoly on incompetent commanders!

So that leaves the untouched 1st Infantry Brigade on the right wing.  Could they save the day?

The 1st Brigade advanced and engaged the enemy under the watchful eyes of both their brigadier and the Austrian commander-in-chief himself.  Actually, I suspect that the latter was just looking for a good inn where he could get a hot dinner and rest for a while in the parlour to escape the rigours of riding in a coach all day.  He wasn't going to get his meal...

One unit attacked the village, but the Russian garrison were too strong and the Austrian infantry withdrew, shaken and disorganised.  The other large regiment fared slightly better as they charged and routed another Russian unit in the open fields.

When the Austrians paused to redress their ranks, the garrison of the village poured a murderous enfilading fire into their flank.  This was too much for the white-coats; they broke and fled.  With that, the 1st Infantry Brigade was ruined.  Since 3 out of 4 Austrian brigades were now demoralised, the entire army broke.  In any case, the Light Brigade on the Austrian left flank was under increasing pressure from overwhelming numbers of Russian troops; it would probably have collapsed very soon as well.  Game over!

Conclusion

What was left of the Austrian division probably could have conducted some form of fighting retreat, since the Russian cavalry units on one flank were totally destroyed and those on the other flank were heavily damaged (and there were no Cossacks around!).  Still, 3.5 out of 4 Austrian brigades were shattered in exchange for 1 Russian cavalry brigade eliminated, so I can hardly pretend that this was anything other than a major defeat.  Most of the Russian infantry were fresh and just needed good leadership to move into the fray.

Lesson of the day: watch those flanks!  And beware of enfilading fire.  Oh, also don't send in uncoordinated attacks by 1 or 2 units at a time.  In fact, could I have done any worse?

On the comedy note, the small unit of Austrian Jaegers that belonged to the 1st Brigade blundered on their very first order.  They spent the entire game hiding in the woods on the extreme right of the Austrian line, where they were too far away from their brigadier for him to issue them with a successful order.  Since my Jaegers had a rather fearsome reputation from some of our previous games, this helped to put things into perspective...

Black Powder: The Russians are coming!

Introduction

It's some time towards the middle or end of the Napoleonic wars.  Somewhere in central Europe, a Bavarian brigade is quartered in the sleepy town of Kufstein.  In the early morning, a frantic messenger arrives with news: an entire Russian division is approaching and will be here imminently!

General Hausmann, the Bavarian commander, quickly arrays his forces for defence and sends his own courier for help.  The nearest allied force is General Cotillard's French brigade, but can they reach the town before the Bavarians are attacked?  Even if they do arrive, the allies will still be outnumbered; can they avoid being overwhelmed by the Russian assault?

The Scenario

Terrain:

There is a small town (Kufstein) in the centre of the board.  The town is split into 2 districts by the road that runs through it; each district may be garrisoned by 1 unit.  All of this built-up area provides substantial defensive bonuses for any troops who are garrisoning it.

A few fields are scattered around the table.  The hedgerows which surround these provide some cover from shooting and a minor defensive bonus in melee.

There is a line of low hills to the east; these give height advantage when firing but they are too shallow to impede movement.

Forces:

The 3rd and 13th Bavarian line regiments garrison the town of Kufstein, whilst a couple of companies of the 6th light infantry hide behind hedges in a nearby field.

Allies:

• 1 brigade of Bavarians (2 battalions of line infantry, 1 battery of artillery, 1 regiment of light cavalry and 1 small unit of light infantry).  These are deployed anywhere on the table before the game starts.
• 1 reinforced brigade of French (2 battalions of line infantry, 1 battery of artillery, 1 regiment of light cavalry and 1 unit of light infantry) will arrive on the southern table edge from turn 2 onwards.  They need successful command rolls to move onto the table.

Russians:

• 2 brigades of infantry, each with 4 battalions of infantry and 1 battery of artillery.
• 2 brigades of cavalry (1 light, one heavy), each with 2 regiments plus a battery of horse artillery. 

All of the Russians start on the northern table edge and are available from the start of the game.

So, the Russians outnumber the Bavarians by about 4:1 .  Even if/when the French arrive, the Russians will still outnumber the combined allied force by about 2:1 .

Victory

This is determined only on possession of the town by the time the game ends (because we run out of troops or exceed a given time limit.  Or because we need to stop for lunch).  If either side holds both districts of the town then they win outright.  Otherwise if each side holds 1 district then it's a draw.

Our Game

Before the start of play, we decided to roll for the command abilities of each general and brigadier.  We used the very simple method of starting with a rating of 8 (competent) and then rolling a 'fudge' dice to adjust this up, down or not at all.  The results were thus:

• Bavarian: General Hausmann has an average rating of 8
• French: Both the allied commander in chief (Gen. Cotillard) and his brigadier (Gen. Leboeuf) have a dashing rating of 9.
• Russian: The Russian commander, General Raevskii, has an efficient command rating of 9.  Sadly, all of his brigadiers are plodding 7s.  Looks like Gen. Raevskii will need to do much of the work all on his own!

Early Moves

Unsurprisingly, the Russians advanced straight away.  A dense block of infantry in the centre made good progress, but the cavalry brigades on the wings were less eager and only moved slowly.

Initial contact was made between the lead Russian infantry and the Bavarian light troops.  The Russian column suffered significant losses in the attack, whilst the small unit of defenders drew back in good order to look for another hedgerow.

Stagnation

The French relief force came marching on at the double as soon as they were permitted.  This didn't look good for the Russians.  General Raevskii was tearing his hair out; his cavalry (which should have been ranging far ahead and interfering with the French advance) sullenly refused to move.  Even the 2 Russian infantry brigades were only just bringing troops into action - and that was only because Raevskii was issuing many of the orders personally.

A couple of Russian battalions did make it into position to attack the town, but they suffered very badly from defensive file.  The Bavarian position benefited from thick stone walls, so the Russian musketry made little impact in return.

A lone Russian battalion made its way to the eastern side of the town.  The Bavarian light horse moved forward to threaten it and force the Russians to form a square.  If that happened then the nearby Bavarian battery would have been able to pummel the infantry.  However, in a (for them) rare command mistake, the cavalry regiment didn't move far enough and left itself vulnerable to being shot.  Russian marksmanship was poor, though and the light horse escaped serious injury.

The Bavarian cavalry soon rectified their mistake, made a feigned charge and forced the Russians into a square.  Once that happened, the horsemen retired a short distance and let the cannons do their terrible work.

The Assault

The main body of Russian infantry now attacked.  One battalion charged the Bavarian light troops in the ploughed field and were savaged in doing so.  Another unit attacked the town, but their support failed to materialise.  The attackers did well to hold on briefly, under the circumstances.

In a bravura performance, the Bavarian light infantry in the field destroyed the battalion that was assaulting them across the hedge.  A further Russian unit attacked the town, but the defenders routed the original battalion and drove the newcomers back.  Indeed, the second Russian infantry were driven back to a position from which the Bavarian light infantry could now enfilade them at close range!

The End

As the French infantry started to arrive at the town, the Bavarian cannon made mincemeat of the poor Russian square (which dared not move through fear of the Bavarian cavalry).

To the west of Kufstein, the story was similar.  French infantry marched up, arrayed for battle, just as the 2 companies of Bavarian light infantry shot the enfiladed Russian battalion to pieces.  One Russian dragoon regiment finally advanced tentatively, but this was countered by a French Hussar unit and even though the 2 groups of cavalry were close enough to shout insults at each other, no contact was made.

This was too much for the Russians.  One infantry brigade broke and started to rout off the field.  General Raevskii ordered a withdrawal for his other forces.  There was little hope of taking the town with the 3 remaining battalions of the unbroken infantry brigade and the Russian cavalry probably wouldn't have achieved much even if they could be persuaded to advance.

Aftermath

That did not go as I had imagined it might!  Poor General Raevskii was surrounded by dullards and incompetents.  Even though his plan was quite reasonable and didn't require much finesse, his subordinates just wouldn't behave.  In fact, it looked strongly as if the Russian cavalry commanders were more concerned with their inter-service feuds than with fighting the enemy.  I wonder if Raevskii was an infantry officer before his promotion to General; perhaps the cavalry looked down upon him?

Some awards are due, I think:

• Unit of the match: The 6th Bavarian Light infantry did fantastically well.  This was a small unit (just a couple of companies, really) that was expected to be little more than a speed bump.  Instead, they destroyed 2 Russian infantry battalions and single-handedly held up the entire Russian advance on their side of the town.
• Most incompetent: Major-General Emannuel of the Russian hussar brigade probably wins this.  At least 1 unit of the dragoon brigade did advance a little at one point (though they retreated almost immediately when the French jeered at them), but the hussars just stood where they were for the entire game.
• Most frustrated commander: has to be the poor Russian leader, General Raevskii.  He spent the entire game trying to marshal the 2 infantry brigades into action only to be frustrated by his subordinates.  As soon as the artillery deployed, an infantry battalion would march in front of it and block its line of fire.  Units which were sent to outflank the town would either wander in the wrong direction and obstruct other battalions or would advance too far and find themselves isolated and shot to pieces by the enemy.
• Most bored unit: The Bavarian 13th line regiment spent the game holed up in the houses of Kufstein waiting for an assault that never came.  Even the Russian units which fired at them failed to do any damage.  At one point it looked as if these enemies had been issued sawdust instead of gunpowder: their shots literally couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, let alone the carefully-constructed Bavarian loopholes in the masonry of the buildings.