Marienberg III - Campaign of Nations AAR

A Campaign of Nations AAR, from the September 1, 1813 (fictional) game turn:

Barclay de Tolly

FML Prohashka

General de Division Bertrand

Only a few days had passed since the last storming of Marienberg had been attempted, the strategic situation had not changed for Barclay de Tolly.  Unless the French in Marienberg could be forced out then the Allied supply lines could never be secure.  De Tolly would not be able to pursue Marshal Macdonald north out of the Bohmian mountains and the stalemate would continue.

What had changed, a force of Prussians who a week earlier had marched out of the mountains south then east at the direct written orders of the King of Prussia had now been rescinded, the Prussians were back and at least one Division of them would be on hand for the coming battle, while the rest of the Korps and their attached heavy artillery could be moved into position to prevent any French interference in the coming battle.

This could allow Barclay de Tolly to bring his entire force into battle at Marienberg; giving him a more than 2:1 advantage ... the only question was would this be enough?

Facing this assault was the troops of IV Corps under General Bertrand, Marshal Macdonald would not be present, so Bertrand would be doing the job alone, same as last time.  What was missing from last time was two battalions of foot and a battery of artillery.

details of the deployment - missing are the Russian Hussars of Pahlen III - which would be deployed in reserve on turn 4 in the Allied rear center

Tabletop loaded with the most minis yet to date on this temporary tabletop

Russians on the Allied Left, two Divisions worth!

Left Wing under command of FML Prohashka

Left and center - loads more Russians and Prussians

Part of the Allied left overlapped into the center, where Austrians stood

Allied Center and right

Right flank refused ... no plans to cross that bridge this time

This time the French had built in field-works in the four days

Two such fortifications were done (improvised from the terrain pieces I have)

The vista of the filed from behind the French lines

Looking across the field from the French fortifications

The Allied commander determined that a 'forlorn hope' of a Cossack force would be sent far into the French right flank, with the mind to pin down as much of the French as possible and permit the 3rd Division of the 2nd Russian Reserve Corps to advance across the river.

Meanwhile the rest of the line would pour fire from artillery into every French position.

On turn 3 more Allies would be moving forward, as Turn 4 it was planned for the Russian Hussars to arrive in Allied reserve.

The French plan?  Kill off Allied units at a rate greater than twice the French losses.

Turn 2

Cossack Forlorn Hope

Turn 3, 0 French losses : 1 Allied loss

the Cossack forlorn hope was still intact!

Turn 4 score 0 French losses : 3 Allied losses

Russian GHQ was getting orders ready ...

HQ Cossacks shifted right to make room for the Hussars

Austrians remained in reverse slope to hold the center

On the left the Russians and Prussians surged forward

while on the far left, the Russian reserve infantry waited ...

Turn 5 French 2 lost : Allied 4

The Russians were now crossing the river in force

38th Division was holding the river line and taking casualties doing so

no-mans land between artillery batteries of both sides

the Allied right was scoring hits on Marienberg town

Austrian battery view of the no-mans land

Allied right flank

Newly arrived Russian Hussars of Count Pahlen III

Russian reserve, to be idle no more as orders were issued ...

that same reserve, far behind the fighting lines of the 3rd Division, now forcing the river line ...

Turn 6 was one of maneuver still 2:4

Turn 7 French 3 :: Allied 4

Russians in a square on ground that had been filled with horsemen and other Russian foot only an hour before

French Hussars were now sallying out from the makeshift barricades

Bertrand knew that if the French firepower kept on failing as it currently was then IV Corps could not hold this ground ...

seeing a moment of delay Bertrand orders the French foot artillery to limber for movement

Fontanelli and his 5th Division were taking some hits and still held Marienberg and the bridge

Turn 8 French 3 :: Allies 4

Cossack forlorn hope still taking action in the French left!

A most complex pairing off with four units in melee at once!

Turn 7 French 5 :: Allies 7

Cossack forlorn hope was still wreaking havoc not recovered from a blown condition since turn 2

French artillery line up on the riverbank, Austrian columns in their sights

Lancers make for one more charge

the whole of the river line was spitting fire

Austrians dropped in great numbers, causing the division to break morale and retreat

lancers ready for one more charge

Turn 10 French 5 :: Allies 9

With the whole of the left flank committed to battle FML Prohaska could only await news of the river line success or not ...

Turn 11; French 6 :: Allies 9

lancers hit 38th Division one last time, shattering the infantry and overrunning the battery

view of the Allied left, with all Russian forces now committed to attack

lonely Austrian battery poring out fire from the hilltop, with the Division retreated behind them

Allied success at last on the left, a portion of Marienberg town was now under Austrian Jagers control

still not getting the needed 2:1 ratio the situation was not lost, yet far from won for Bertrand

Bertrand needed more effect from his artillery and the Allies were not presenting any open targets ...

Turn 12 ; French 6 :: Allies 11

The fortifications guns were able to get some kills and a Russian division fled from the field

Turn 13 ; French 7 lost units :: Allies 13 lost units

with only the Hussars in reserve, all other troops committed Barclay de Tolly needed only one more French unit killed to win the day, this must be done without losing two of his own units ...

Austrians on the far right, were preparing to cross the river

French artillery in the center was deadly ...

Allied artillery on the left were now scoring more hits

Prussians had retreated, rallied, and were now ready to go back into the fray ...

still in reserve, the Russian hussars of Count Pahlen III

Turn 14; French 8 losses :: Allies 13 = ALLIED VICTORY

FML Prohaska was first to learn that the French were starting their retreat.  His exhausted divisions were not going to have to storm those French redoubts

Final French artillery salvos destroyed Austrian batteries

the many assaults had left one battery without crew, they would have to be abandoned to the enemy as the French retreat started ...

not assaulted at all this day, the bridge over the Main river would be unguarded by nightfall

the center of the field was littered with the terrible cost of victroy

Allied guns continued to fire even as the light was fading

French cavalry was still a threat to the Russian infantry, who wisely left them to cover the French retreat

the hasty fortifications served to keep the French guns alive, now they would have to rush to leave the field with their pieces ...

The Russians had made two division morale rolls at the end of turn 13, otherwise they would have been retreating already ... now with one more battalion lost, it was Bertrand and the IV Corps with the 6th Light Cavalry that would have to leave the field in the hands of the Allies.

almost as an afterthought the Austrian 1st Division of the 3rd Corps was across the river, threatening the retreat route ...

The Allies had won the day ... by the skin of their teeth (according to the Allied command player).

After taking in the losses, the end of day forces looked like:

French 6th Light Cavalry

IV Corps would be down to 2 Divisions ....

The Allies ended the day with:

Captured and recovered artillery would be put to use by Russian units as they still have the gunners available

Gyulai's command took a pounding in the two battles at the Main river, now not much more than a large Division

Prussians did re-engage, loosing the Jagers in the process

Hardest hit was the 3rd Division - virtually wiped out as their survivors will be used to bring 4th Div to full strength

The Hussars are still ready for action

of note the 2nd line Lancers will be re-set at one brigade, while the 1st Line Cossacks of Milleinov are going down in the annals in the stuff of legend as a forlorn hope that kicked butt!

The French would retreat to the west northwest, while the Allied army re-collected themselves on their hard-won field of battle.

the toll was high for the Allied attack ...

ECW Progress

The first four Pike and Shotte units are nearing completion here in February.

three more stages from top to bottom as the colors come alive

Been so busy with family, work and other issues, that I have not taken the time to share the progress here.

Campaign of Nations AAR Austrian Heavy Cavalry meet French Light Cavalry

This AAR is part of the Campaign of Nations Game.

Austrian Cuirassier advance

August 31, 1813 (fictional) : In an effort to cut off Oudinot's retreat path, a division on Austrian Cuirassier and attached artillery are dispatched to 'get onto' the path that the French must take in order to rendezvous with nearby forces.

Not to be so easily cut off, Oudinot dispatches his own Light Cavalry Divisions to blunt the Austrians and keep the path open for his infantry and artillery to reach Luckau and the I Cavalry Corps, VI and VII Infantry Corps already digging in at the town.  If these light cavalrymen cannot open the road, then Oudiot and XII Corps will have to fight in a strung out march position against strong Austrian Infantry formations coming from the south.  If they can open the way, then the safety of numbers will keep XII Corps from elimination.

These two forces, one on massive mounts with armored men, the other on smaller mounts without armor, both armed with artillery then met, south of Luckau ...

Table at deployment, a French flank force was still not seen

here are seen 1/2 of the Austrian Heavy Horse

Rules used were SHAKO version I, the Austrians had a keen, though relatively new commander.

We used the random terrain chart from the rules and came up with 1 forest section and 5 open ground!
It was fated to be a wide open free-for-all type of terrain, perfect for cavalry.

Turn 2 saw death pour out from French Horse Gunenrs

Turn 3 was some maneuver and recovery by the Austrians, who nearly failed a critical Division morale roll

the morale roll brought on by such losses - we simply 'tip over' the dead in our games, no need for counters or casualty rings here

Bu turn 4 the French began rolling for the flank force arrival, while the Austrians attempted a flank action of their own

By turn 6 the French flank force had still not arrived, it was time to have the other light cavalry start taking action ... orders were issued!

on turn 7 the dashing French Light Cavalry flank force arrived

Hussars and Lancers surged into the field from the south

Like a classic painting some photos turn out

Now the Austrian command was being directly threatened

Turn 8 was telling, with more Austrian Casualties

The new arrivals were going to have a head-long rush to meet Heavy Cavalry

Supported in their charge!

By turn 9 the Austrian HQ had moved again!  They were running out of messenger horses.

some photos just are so nice, they need no editing at all

Austrian Horse Guns score some late hits

while the French Horse Guns are masked by the new arrivals in their charge at the enemy

Last Turn, Austrians just run out of men on horseback, they could not muster to counter-charge the fast moving Light Horsemen

Thus on August 31, 1813 (fictional - for our Campaign of Nations game) the XII Corps and attached Cavalry arrived in Luckau, some 6 hours ahead of the pursuing Austrian columns.

While the Cuirassier were driven back, they were by no means out of the campaign.

ECW Start

Foote in the raw ...

The bulk of the planning for the English Civil War forces has been declared done, now that troops have arrived and pike supplies are plentiful I have begun assembly and painting of the Parliamentarian forces, my partner Bluebear Jeff, will be moving on with the Royalists.

The first of four Pike and Shotte units have been mounted to painting sticks and have taken paint this February.

First two layers from earlier in February

Vive la revolution

Stanford University has a new collection of images from the French Revolutionary period.

Check them out here.

600th post celebration of brushworks

This is the 600th post on the blog, as something of a celebration of my professional painting efforts I share with you the Dr. Who lot of minis that sold on eBay this past week.

The full set

Modern Dr.'s and special companion

Older Dr.'s and a familiar companion - that got a second run

Older companions with a 'connected' Dr.

Companions and adversaries

Villains

It was fun painting up these special minis, even better that they 'paid their way' as it were ...