Summer game - Albuera

The “Summer Game” this year included a surprise major flank attack.  Always tough to do on the tabletop.  Must keep it secret (or else what is the point…), have the players accept that: “whoops, things are not quite how you might think they are” and still make it still interesting for the players to make a fair game of it.

Luckily for me, as “Game Master / Scenario Designer / Deliverer of Information”,  I had a good group of wargamers who readily accepts such trials with aplomb.  In this case, the Battle is Albuera, the Peninsular War/ Spanish Napoleonic affair, in which the outnumbered French under Soult, sought to out flank the British/Portuguese/Spanish army to relieve a British siege - or as I suggested ‘take Brussels’ as I substituted the afore mentioned with British/Hanoverians/Dutch-Belgians/ Brunswickers from my Waterloo collection.

My Dutch-Belgian militia playing the part of Spanish troops now in an about-face from their original position to face the very wide French flanking maneuver.

Westphalians on the Albuera river bridge.
 Unlike Godinot's efforts they
did not advance against the town.

To keep the subterfuge, I renamed all the commands.  For those who might want to follow at home, I list the OOB:
Allies
Colville = Cole (some British, some Hanoverians/Portuguese)
Cooke = Stewart (with the best of the British regiments)
Clinton = Lumley (with all the cavalry)
Alten = Hamilton (Hanoverians playing Portuguese)
Chasse = Zayas (with the best of the Spanish)
Perponcher = Ballesteros (with the rest of the Spanish)
Brunswick = Lardizabal (the black clad lads as the Spanish vanguard)

French
Junot/Westphalians = Godinot
Reynier/Saxons = Gazan
Bertrand/Italians = Girard
Morand/French = Werde
Pajol with the cavalry = Latour-Maubourg

The element ratio to actual troop numbers is a bit different for this battle as it is a bit smaller than our usual affairs so 1:1,000 for the infantry, 1:800 for the horse and 1: 1 battery for the artillery.  The experienced Ron and James  (who drove all the way from Oregon to participate!) were amazed at how few artillery shot they would have, especially after the cannon heavy affair of Borodino a few games ago)

Duchy of Saxony "helping" the French...a good excuse to get these boys on the table.  (converted plastics) 

Now for readers familiar with this historical battle, I did not have the player place their commands in the actual positions but allowed a rather ‘free-form’ affair.  To be forthright, I did describe much of the pre-game scenario set up to suggest the French would attack all along the river.  To add to the surprise for the British/Allies, I shifted the centre of the battlefield, as indicated by the bridge and town of Albuera, a bit to the right so leaving the tempting large area of their left open so subtly suggesting (?) the attack from that side whereas the historical attack, and that I allowed for the French players, was to the other. Not to have them cover the “corners” too closely I suggested they heed the military axiom that “he who defends everything, defends nothing”.  However, the Allies commanders ( James and Ron ) did spread themselves a bit thin as the frontal divisions covered much of the table. In their defence, they have played enough of my scenarios to know I will have surprises!  James said their plan was to have the Netherlanders and Hanoverians do all the initial fighting.   “To let the foreigners do all the fighting and then have redcoats come in finish the job and get all the glory. Instead, it was the Brits who took the blunt of French flank attack and we (shamefully) needed the arrival of Germans to save the day. The French very well could of had the better of us, but for stiff upper lips and all that…”

Birds-eye view of the initial French flanking maneuver. Much deeper toward the Allies rear than the historical attack.    

View of the French masses with the cavalry leading.  The French commander admitting that he left himself little maneuvering space.

As I did allow each side to plan in secret, even I was surprised by the British blocking force in front of the French cavalry. 

And indeed the French (et al) almost did collapse the British.  However, inexperience with the rules by the French players and a spirited defence allowed the British to recover and bring in fresh troops into the fray.

Alten's Waterloo uniformed Hanoverians (playing Hamilton's Portuguese) slowly, with Ron's poor move dice unfortunately, finally prepare to come into the battle.

The British army now virtually facing in the opposite direction but still allowed to maintain formations as the French fail to pin much of their army.

At a certain point Peter who controlled the majority of the flanking attackers for the French, did not think it prudent to continue the battle and so withdrew the majority of the force before it would collapse completely.  This left Jim, who controlled Junot’s/Godinot’s command, dancing around at the bridge, to accept the result and so end the battle.  James and Ron sighed in relief but British American (!) pluck saved the day.
As in the real affair, the French attack simply ran out of steam.

Westphalian 2nd Cuirassiers

the element of the 2nd Westphalian Cuirassiers 

The 2nd Westphalian Cuirassiers created in 1810 followed the Grande Armee into the depths of Russia during Napoleon’s ill-fated 1812 campaign from which few survived and the unit was never reestablished.  While historically limited to only one campaign, however the unit has an interesting uniform which I could make out of some spare plastic bits from a larger trade I made recently.  Among the trade items was plastic Perry models still on the one sprue but missing some bits.  A look into my parts-bin replaced some of the missing arms and equipment, etc.  The helmets are really the only difference from the French version and minor at that;  so I could easily remove the French horsehair and greenstuff the appropriate woollen comb of the Westphalians.  The only other major difference having the saddle cloth in the regimental orange. (for the French it was dark blue)

For the rivet counters: The 1st Westphalian Cuirassiers wore white but had only a frontal cuirass but no back plate.  And no, I will not want to try to scrape away the back to make that particular unit. One unit of Westphalian cuirassiers is plenty, thank you.

a wargamer's aside:
What was the worst order in military history?
In First Place:
" Lord Raglan wishes the Light Brigade to advance rapidly to the front...."
and in Second Place:
"Hello, MegloMiniatures? I would like to purchase 182 packs of...."

The Battle of Borodino - finally, the game!

The convention game finally played!













Finally the day arrived when we could finally place down all the miniatures on the table to do the game which many of us had done much effort to create.  I was worried (but had plans to compensate for) any of the boys not coming through with the figures they had promised to paint.   But they all came through.  Thanks guys.  Good job!

The battle deployment as seen from the southwest.

The French and allies

The Russian deployment.  Six painters contributed to create this army.

Mind you I still had one gentlemen who had me extremely concerned as, even on the morning of the game, he said he was going to apply the flocking and it should be dried in time if he left them in the car to bake in the sun!  He offered beer to calm my heart.  It helped.

After an extensive “training” session so that players would not make poor tactical decisions thereby granting their figures more time on the table, we got to it.

The deployments were based on the historical model but I allowed the players to rearrange within the area to their own whims.  The two what-ifs I allowed was the possibility of Napoleon releasing the French Imperial Guard but only if he thought the battle was won.  However the battle might only be won if the Guard was used. Nice Catch-22……

The other was the use of the Russian artillery reserve which was not used during the real battle. However if used too much the Russian army counts down in their morale (which did indeed happen)

Obviously those who painted up their corps commanded those and a few who are regulars to the rules had their pick of commands.  Seth and I were the umpires and later commanders; and we had a good number of the players with good knowledge of the rules to mentor the others, so we had very little of the usual rules confusion you encounter in many other types of games at conventions.

Russians:
DavidB with his Tuchov’s Corps and of Sieven’s cavalry
RonP  commanded my Borozdin Corps
StevenN commanded his painted horse of Korff
RodF with his Dokhtorov’s corps
JamesC commanded his Raevsky corps in the centre and his Karpov’s cossacks on the left
BobS commanded his Baggovout’s corps on the Russian right


The French and allies were all painted by me and were commanded by:
BobE with Murat and Ney (he went through all the tutorials and could handle both easily!)
Morand by Keith
Eugene on the left by Lance.
Junot’s Westphalians by Preston
Davout by ShawnMcElvoy
and Pontiatowski by Mark Serafin


The ratio of artillery to troops in this historic battle was the most of any major engagement and so the artillery in this game was truly a killer.  The players soon found that their forces were weakened well before any combat began.  For those who played the rules before, this was expected, but for the couple of “parachuted” players who signed up, this proved not the usual easy-go style of wargame for them and I was extremely annoyed that they had the audacity to whine and complain that “I can’t even do anything!” Or in otherwise, gleefully charge and win. What did they expect?!  For what I and the many other players, understood to be a realistic representation of the horrible blood-fest of the Napoleonic battle. Davout complained that “there is no way I am going to win”  Well, you are in the middle of the battle and facing lots of artillery and must take a heavily defended fortification!  No one said war is fair. Or we have Poniatowski faced with retreating cossacks and a defensive position on a hill, but certainly not admitting that his movement/command rolls were well under average, yelled at me (!) that “what can I do with all that against me!!”  Again, who said war is fair.  Either leave or try your best I respond.   Like I say, extremely annoying and a real buzz-kill to the enjoyment of the all the others who committed a lot of energy into this project.
(footnote: their side decisively won nevertheless….)

opening phase.  

my Polish (Murawski Miniatures)

The game itself turned out to be roughly to the historical form.  The vast amounts of Russian artillery weakened the attacking French, while the French “grand battery” of Davout’s ground down the Russian numbers.

James' Raevsky Corps defending the Redoubt.

Around the Redoubt there was heavy fighting and the French finally took the Fleches (two of the main victory points)

My Russians of Borozdin's Corps defending the Fleches

Murat's Cavalry Corps in full stride.  My version of Murat in the rear (see making of at: link)

Cavalry reserves managed to get into it after the infantry losses gave them the room to maneuver and the clash of Murat’s heavies vs Korff’s horsemen was one of the highlights.

French and Ally cavalry, with Westphalian infantry, advance against the Russian center

The clash of swords!

However, as is the case of many Napoleonic battles the reserves, or lack thereof, would determine the outcome.  It was thought the time had come that the French Guard could be committed and Napoleon released the Young Guard to secure the Fleches and the Guard Horse to support Murat.  Likewise, Lavrov’s cuirassiers were sent to support the middle.  However both failed to engage and it was the hard work of the centre commands of the French to force the victory.

Tolstoy's corps ensconced around the village of Gorki.  It did not move as ordered to the center to support the defence there.  Such is the tide of battle.  However strategically it remained intact to fight effectively another day.

Lavrov's Guard horse dispatched to help Korff in the centre but was not engaged.

With both elements at pip 1, it was a fight to the death for the control of the Fleches

Over on the Russian Right / French Left, the Kolocha River divided the battlefield. (which while not uncrossable, did disorder which has great effect on the troops) Both Platov’s horse (which historically went for a ride into the French Left) was also followed by Baggovout’s infantry corps;  moved over the river and seemingly had a mutually agreeable standoff with Eugene’s large corps.  Observing that “not much is happening over here.  Are you having fun?”  They both said yes at the same time.  So I left them to it.  Can’t complain if the boys are enjoying themselves!

The mutual standoff of the French Left Flank

The "casualties" grouped into their respective commands.  Some hard hit indeed.  Our elimination is combat effectiveness than straight kills.  All will come back to life in a campaign albeit slightly less effective.

Tolstoy’s command was originally assigned but that player unfortunately needed to leave (telling us in advance politely) and it was reassigned. Apparently while “orders’ were given that it move to the centre and while some movement was done, it was largely forgotten in its defensive roll to protect Gorki (another victory point).  Together with the inert Russian Guard of Lavrov and Baggovout’s corps, the Russian Right was intact and was deemed to be able to withdraw without difficulty.  The Russian centre was however destroyed and Tuchov’s corps was on its last legs and Karpov’s cossacks nearly eliminated.  While the French were in bad shape, the battle gave no doubt as to the victor.  The French gave a tired hurrah. A long battle.  As Seth suggested not only are the command morale flagging but that of the players as well.

The centre of the battlefield now very thinly held by both sides.  Hard fought and bloodied 

A quick presentation was given and a couple of artillery models were given to James who held up well defending the Redoubt against heavy attack with his well based figures and his good attitude.  The Tzar model was given to BobE for his help mentoring others and the hard slog in the middle, again without complaint.  He knew what to expect. It was The Battle of Borodino was it not!

More Napoleonic French Allied troops

 A quick display of the Napoleonic troops painted in the last few (ahem...) many weeks.

The Westphalian corps fought at Borodino but were either lightly committed or perhaps ? punished for either their actions, or for their leadership, as they were given the unenviable job of "cleaning up" the battlefield at its conclusion, with all that entails.

A box of Warlord French line infantry in mostly overcoats serve for the Westphalians. While it might be considered a sin by the "true Napoleonic" fan to not paint up these boys in their full-dress white uniforms, I was very happy to just paint up a few of the command and have the single flag give representation to this contingent.  I generally hate painting white, so the overcoats provide an easy escape!

My Westphalian Corps

Only one box of the Warlord French Infantry provided enough for this corps gathered for the 1812 Russian campaign, some 10,000 or so.

[ As an aside, the box cover says 36 figures but my particular box came with an extra sprue as to give me 42 figures so I could do up the full 4 x 10 elements ]

I indicated the Westphalian leadership may have been lacking.  Well, Jerome, King of Westphalia and Napoleon's brother, got in a snit, and left for the pleasures of his German palace putting Junot in command. Junot was apparently showing signs of his mental illness during the Russian campaign which will have him commit suicide a year later.

Perry's "Jerome" casting which has a very good family resemblance, I think.

The Polish allies were some of the French's more staunch supporters, as the Duchy of Warsaw being pinned between Prussia and Russia.  However unlike their German allies, the Poles did not really follow French military fashion for the most part and so had a different and distinctive uniforms.  The most obvious being the square topped headdress.  Much debated on how the top was decorated, after much research, and much of it conflicting even from respected authors, I finally decided on the "showy" white tape cross on the top and crown of the chapka as I wanted these to be obviously Polish on the tabletop.

The Polish infantry marching into action

the distinctive caps of much of the Polish army

Murawski Figures I used for the Poles and nicely detailed they are.  Paul Hicks sculpts.  I was given an extra casualty pack as complimentary compensation for an order mix-up [ very kind, that! ] and decided to use these to make a "mini stand" to place near any of my overcoat elements as to give a visual suggestion that they are Polish at the start of a game should I need more than the two elements I have painted.

the small additional stand giving credence for having the French in overcoat be a Polish contingent

Along with the infantry, I have added hussars for the Westphalian light horse contingent and for the Saxons.   The Perry box of plastic French hussars proves very useful as with only a few modifications many of the hussars of different nations can be constructed.  For example the Westphalian 2nd Hussars are the full dress version as I decided to add the pelisse and tall plume and shako cords as these are distinctive uniform items for this unit; while for the Saxons I made them more "campaign dress" with covered shako and no pelisse. Perhaps more experienced and thus a better unit it could be conferred. As the Saxons did not use the "wolfsteeth" with their sheepskin saddle cloth and were smaller in nature,  I could scrape off those bits as these are plastics.  I wouldn't even try if in metal!

my Westphalian 2nd Hussars representing that corps attached light horse division in the Russian campaign

my Saxon Hussars ready for action

Showing how the plastics can be easily modified to give distinctive looks along with the colour differences.

I think that concludes the French Allies contingents I need to fight most of the battles of the era's later years.  Gotta stop at some point!