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