Blucher:The Battle of Eylau

Recently I have taken on the development of a scenario for the Battle of Eylau, Feb 7-8 1809.  The battle took place between Napoleonic France and the Empire of Russian and their Prussian allies. The battle was the culmination of Napoleon's campaign against Prussia and Russia in the Fall and Winter of 1806-07.  The battle is regarded as a draw since the Russian and Prussian armies retreated, but Napoleon's army was in no shape to pursue and retired to winter quarters shortly after the battle.

I have always been fascinated by the battle ever since I started miniature wargaming in the mid 90's. My first rules were Napoleon's Battles and I always fascinated about gaming the Eylau scenario that came with the rules.   Its was a mid-size scenario which made it feasible as a goal to paint enough figures and the description of a battle that took place in the midst of a blizzard.  Nonetheless my initial dreams came to naught.  Eventually I abandoned my 15mm Napoleonic project to take up other persuits, especially 15mm Seven Years War.  I did briefly start a 6mm Napoleonic project which didn't go very far.  Eventually I stopped miniature wargaming altogether for a few years  where apartment living was not conducive to miniature wargaming.

Eventually I did take up the hobby again mostly concentrating on my 15mm Seven Years War and some medieval Ottomans, Serbs and Hungarians.  Since the birth of my second child about 2 years ago painting and gaming time have been severely curtailed.  With limited painting time I opened up my old 6mm Napoleonics and found I could actually accomplish some painting projects with my limited amount of available time.   When Sam Mustafa announced the upcoming release of the long awaited Blucher rules I begain planning to build up my French and Russian 6mm armies.  I've been a fan of Sam's rules (especially his 18th c. rules Might and Reason) and was excited to give them a try  (You can read about my experiences with Blucher in my earlier posts).

This summer I decided to take on developing an Eylau scenario for Blucher.  I initially thought this would be an easy conversion using scenarios from other rules, but Blucher has a unique system for using artillery which I find very innovative and unique.  Instead of depicting every artillery battery as a distinct unit, players have a choice.  1. Artillery batteries (6-12 guns) can be attached to infantry units, thus increasing that units firepower. or 2.  Three batters can be combined into an Artillery Unit which is depicted on the battlefield.  This is a much different approach to other similar Napoleonic wargames and required some searching through orders of battle to know who had how many guns and which type.

Another task developing the scenario which took a lot of time was developing my own map.  This took better part of the summer (between work and other ongoing projects that I won't bore you with here) using paint while looking at maps available online and in a few books I used (see sources in the scenario.  You can upload the current draft on the Honour forum.

I am currently conducting a solo playtest and hope to have a few games do in a few weeks.  Here are some pictures from my current setup.  The scale I used for the map may be a bit too large.  I am currently using 2" bases with 6mm figures and the map measures 4'x6'.

If you can't tell that's a white sheet.  I don't have a special winter mat so an old sheet is filling in.  Blucher is played with cards which are faced down until the unit is activated or revealed.  I put the figures on their unit cards for theses pictures  and will remove them to start the game.

The French are on the left and the Russians on the right.

Here is a look at the French army you can see spread out.  I set up based on historical deployment and you can get a sense how strung out the French were trying to pin the Russians until reinforcements arrived on the Russian army's flanks. 

A close up of the Russian position of Serpallen.  One of three Russian victory locations. 

Here's the Russian right guarded by Cossacks.

Here's some Russian artillery looking down on the French in Eylau which had been fought over the previous night.  Basically the French Marshal Soult's IV Corps took the town spontaneously to get some shelter for the cold.  

More Russians

Here's Eylau occupied by Soult's IV Corps.  I used burned out building here.  The Buildings are currently off of their base to make room for the figures.  When the figures are hidden, the buildings will be set on top of the unit cards, until the unit is revealed.

 Once I get my solo test done I'll be sure to update my scenario and post a revised copy to the Honour forum.

Thanks for looking.

Scharnhorst Part II

Here's the situation around turn 8.  Not much happened before hand.  Ney's Corps on the upper right moved to take the town and move on the Russians right flank.  It took several turns to accomplish this as movement was slowed by the rough terrain and the stream.  Ney also had to share some MO with the French cavalry on the upper right which were also slowed by the stream.  Eugene's  stayed put occasionally firing it's artillery into the Russians on the Hill.

The Russians were lucky in receiving early Reinforcements with some lucky rolls.  This had a big impact on the battle because the French were banking the Russian reinforcements wouldn't arrive until maybe turn 10.  Instead the Russian III Corps arrived on the middle left through the woods to oppose the French Cav.  The Russian Cav entered on the lower left and proceeded to move to act as a reserve and cover the Russian right flank.  So Ney had barely started his attack when the odds began to shift.  

The French could still pull one out since their infantry was better (esp at skirmishing) and outnumber the Russians on the right side.  If the French cavalry could hold off the Russians on the left and Eugene could hold the center.

Ney's attack progressed on the top part of the screen.  The French took advantage of their superior skirmish ability to eliminate most of  the Russian right flank.  On the French right (lower part of the picture) the French cavalry had difficulty holding back the Russians.  Outnumbered the cavalry would occasionally manage to push back one or two Russian infantry but those remaining would fire into the French cavalry.  The attritional effects of the game gradually forced  the French cavalry to pull back.

It didn't help the French that 3 of the 6 Russian brigades in this Corps were Grenadiers beginning with 7 elan including a +1 bonus in attack and defense.  These units were really tough and aggressive rarely bothering to go into prepared. 

Eugene's small Corps holding the French center held off Russian attacks for several turns sending back several attacks by Russian Grenadiers.  One brigade of Russian infantry attacked an rolled very well in several attacks forcing weakened French units to retreat.  In all told this unit won three combats.  You can see it penetrating the French line into the woods.

Ney managed to nearly eliminate the Russian right flank but one lone Jager brigade managed to survive many skirmish, firing and assaults time and again.  

Here's Ney's final attack on the hill about to eliminate that stubborn Russian Jager brigade.  Russian units with the 'steady' trait make them tough in combat (+1).  The French have an edge with their skirmishing advantage but it takes time to eliminate by skirmishing.  Time was something the French did not have. By this time the Russians have brought up the Cavalry reserves and units from the Russian left are approaching from the rear.

Here's another shot of the picture above from a different angle.  Both sides have lost 3 units at this point (including the Russian Jager about to get taken out).  The French have a morale of 6 and the Russians 8.

Ney's cavalry on the bottom left have been rallied by Ney using his Hero trait and are off to kill some Cossacks.  The Russians had two Cossack units guarding their right, but both were used in Recon for the campaign and were weakened from an Elan of 4 to 3.  The French are in bad shape but can still win.

Ney had finally turned the Russian right flank, but delays have allowed the Russians to reposition their left flank units to shore up their right.  Eugene is breaking in the center the the French Cav are being pushed back.  Ney's Cav at the bottom of the picture have eliminated one Cossack.  If Ney can get his relatively fresh infantry engaged they may be able to eliminate a few Russian infantry brigades.

Fresh Russian Cavalry arrive to shore up the Russian center.  

Here Eugene's small corps tries valiantly to hold off the Russian onslaught of two Russian corps.  Here Eugene's 'Vigorous' trait went entirely to waste.  To create 4 columns for Scharnorst I split his corps into two.  Since one column couldn't reach the battlefield he only had 5 of his 9 units present.  When activating a Corps with a vigorous commander cost is half, but Eugene's would  typically only save 1 MO a turn.  Hindsight I should have kept Ney and Eugene's corps intact and split the French cavalry. 

Here Eugene's remnants are getting crushed but the French have still not broke. Ney's cavalry at the top have been attacked by Russian Ulans while the remaining Cossack unit wisely pulled back to get out of the way.

Turn 28: the Final Turn the French army has still not broken, but the Russians need to break one French unit.  The Russian Dragoods in the center elimnated on of Eugene's remaining two brigades to give the Russian victory.  Another of Eugene's infantry brigades was broken by Russian Grenadiers and the Russian Ulans eliminated Ney's Calvary.

Here's the center of the battle at the end.  I left commanders on the table.  You can see Eugene surrounded on the upper right.  The French Cavalry around Murat have been so weakened they can no longer threaten approaching Russian infantry.

Here's a final picture from above.  

Final Results: 

Russian Victory 5 broken units

French Defeat: 8 broken Units

Final Thoughts:

I agree with most reviews on Blucher that it is a well designed Grand Tactical Napoleonic game.  The rules are easy to learn and organized while the games definitively bring the feel of a Napoleonic battle.

The Scharnhorst campaign adds another layer to the game in a easy to learn (but likely difficult to master) campaign system.  While I conducted Scharnhorst solo, it did in the end produce an interesting scenario that until the last few turns seemed to have gone either way.  The outcome of the battle was significantly affected by what happened in the Scharnhorst campaign.  

The Russian recon advantage helped the Russians mass their entire army in the battle.  Although if the French were not concerned with victory points on the campaign map they may have been able to do the same.  As I mentioned earlier, the French were also hampered by having their strongest Corps, Eugene's IV Corps divided, which 5 units were left out of the battle.  It would have been better to split the French Cav reserve.  

As with any solo game I think I was more aggressive with the Russians.  Their advantage in combat, especially the Grenadiers, and weakness in skirmishing, meant they need to close fast or suffer the consequences.  Historically the Russian infantry behaved that way.  I should have been more aggressive with Ney's Corps since time was not on France's side.  I wanted the French to take advantage of their skirmish trait and avoid close combat with fresh Russian infantry.  By the time Ney eliminated the Russian infantry on their right flank, Russian reinforcements arrived. 

In the end Scharnorst created a very interesting solo game for Blucher.  I will definitely try another Scharnorst game again. Hopefully I'll be able to get some local gamers to try it out, but I think I'll need to start some off using the basic game first of maybe a historical scenario.  This leads me to my current project as I am currently working on a Eylau scenario for Blucher in which I plan to have some local gamers participate.  

Thanks for reading,

Jim

It's Scharnhorst! Part I

I've really been looking forward to trying Sam Mustufa's new Napoleonic miniature rules Blucher. One thing that really caught my attention with Sam's podcasts and downloads was the campaign rules Scharnhorst.    Something that has always frustrated me about historical miniatures wargaming was the difficulty in making dynamic scenarios that are interesting, have some strategic scope outside of the battle and can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.  

Historical scenarios can do some of this, but there are only so many scenarios out there and they can take a lot of research and playtesting to get right.

Campaign games can also add these advantages but they can be very lengthy and extremely time consuming.  

Sam Mustafa's Scharnhorst does all three, and it is easy to learn and the campaign itself only takes about 20 min to play and is designed to create one battle.  

In short each player uses the Army Building section of Blucher to create two roughly matched armies.  I used my 6mm Napoleonic French and Russians.  I used the OOB of the Russian campaign to guide my building.  The French had two large Corps based on Ney's III Corps and Eugene's IV Corps and a large detachment of Cavalry.  The Russians had three smaller corps based on Bagration's 2nd Army of the West plus a cavalry detachment.  

My armies composed of the following: 

French: Army Commander: Marshal Murat: No Traits

III Corps: Ney Hero 10pts

     7x Ligne/Legere: 12pts ea, 2xfoot Art:2pt ea., 1x Lt. Cav: 10pts

IV Corps: Eugene Vigorous 15pts

     2x Elite Inf, 16pts ea, 6x Ligne/Legere: 12pts ea, 2x foot art: 2pts ea, Heavy Art Unit: 9pts, 1x            Lt Cav: 10pts

Cav Reserve:

     4x Lt. Cav: 10pts ea, 1x Horse Art unit 9pts each.

Russia: Army Commander: Prince Bagration: No Traits

III Corps:  

     3x Grenadiers, 16pts ea, 3x Inf: 11pt each, 2x foot art: 2pts ea.

VII Corps: Raevski Steadfast 5pts

     6x Inf: 11pt ea, 2x foot art: 2pts ea

VIII Corps

     3x Grenadiers, 16pts ea, 3x Inf: 11pt each, 2x foot art: 2pts ea. Heavy Art Unit: 9pts

Cav Reserve:

     3x Light Cav: 10pts ea, 2x Cossacks: 4pt ea.

Once each side has their armies, they then assign any number of cavalry for recon.  Whoever has the most recon points can decide which side of the map to enter and who goes first.  Since I was playing solo I decided to keep it even and have both detach two cav, in which each player roles to break the tie.  Russians won.  I can see Russians getting an advantage on this by purchasing a lot of cheap Cossacks.  Recon cav will be returned when a battle is started but with a loss of Elan.  Cavalry subcommanders can also be detached for recon too, but could potentially be lost.

I choose the provided Eastern Europe map since these armies were based on 1812 (see below).  Each side then divides their armies into 4 columns (5 for larger games) which are then moved around the map trying to gain victory points and or engage the enemy in battle.  The Russian army was easily divided into four columns.  For the French I split IV Corps into two columns, which would have a big impact on the battle ahead.  In hind sight the French should've split their cav in two columns as you'll see. 

Since the Russians started with recon they decided to enter on the right hand side of the map because there was a nice concentration of victory points (towns and villages there).  Then French then entered on the Left.  

The Russians quickly gobbled up a bunch of Victory locations and even managed to gain a large village on the top right before the French could react.  The French initiated a battle by Turn 3, of which both sides try to maneuver the rest of their columns into the designated battle zone ( see above A3-5 and B3-5).  Because of their low VP and percieved threat of a Russian take over, the French player left Column C occupying a village in B-2 while the Russians were able to maneuver all of their columns on the map or as reinforcements.  Here the Russian's advantage in having the recon advantage was key.

Now both players set up the battle map based on the terrain depicted in the Scharnhorst campaign map.  I have of felt these setups can be intimidating, confusing and logic defying.  Blucher's map set up procedure is very simple and straight forward with a "Don't be a Jerk" portion anyone who has done random map setups can understand.

Here is the map upon set up:

Here's as much of the map as I can get in one shot.  Ney's III Corps is on the upper left.  Part of Eugene's IV is in the center, and the French Cav Res on the lower left.  The French will not get any reinforcements. 

Here is the Russian setup.  VIII Corps with the Heavy Art is on the left and Raevsky's VII corps on the right.  The Russians could've occupied the large Village on the upper right but would've lost contact with the Russian Corps on the left.  Since the Russians had most of the map VP's they could afford to loose the village and still win.

Here is a clear shot of the French setup.  Since the Russians had more VP's the French would have to break the Russian army to win.  they could Tie VP's if they take the upper right village.  The French strategy would be to use Ney's III Corps to overwhelm the Russian right with Eugene in support.  The Cav reserve will move up to support Eugene and hold off any Russian reinforcements due to arrive on the left side of the picture.  If Ney can take the hill they will  then proceed to roll up the Russian flank.  Hopefully before any reinforcements arrive.

The Russian plan was for both corps to hold on until reinforcements arrive.  III Corps would arrive on the center left (according to the picture) while the Cav Reserve would arrive on the lower left.

See Raevsky on the hill.  No Redoubt this time.  Usually the cards would be turned over like blinds until revealed during the game.  I turned them face up for the pictures.  Playing Solo I already knew what was where, although I couldn't remember which Russians were average infantry and which were grenadiers. 

Here's Ney's III Corps opposite the key village and a stream.  Lets see if the "Bravest of the Brave" can hit the Russians hard enough before their support arrives.

Next I'll give report about the battle that took place using Scharnhorst....

First Foray into Blucher

Here is an image of my 6mm French and Russians facing off using the new Blucher rules written by Sam Mustafa.  http://www.sammustafa.com/honour/ 

I based my 6mm Napoleonics on 20mm bases for infantry and 25mm magnetic bases for Cavalry.  This will allow me flexible basing for different size games and allow me to begin playing Blucher with my current collection.  4 bases will will fit on 2" bases shown above.  As my collection grows I can fit 6 bases of 24 on a 3" base and could fit 32 on a 3.5" card.

Here are some 6mm Baccus Russians sitting on 2" bases.

Sam Mustafa's Honour website provides downloads of generic cards for the new Blucher rules.  The cards are 3.5" but I found that if I set my printer settings to fit two pages of cards on a sheet of paper and printed them landscape they come out exactly 2" as seen above.  I printed several copies of each on green and blue cardstock for Russians and French respectively.

Here is a picture of my current battle using Blucher's innovative Scharnhorst Campaign game.  It is a 300pt game of Russian vs. French based on 1812 orders of battle.  

Here is Marshal Murat leading the French forces.  These are Adler 6mm.  I will post more on the game and Blucher's  Scharnhorst campaign system in the future.