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....