Little Wars and Borodino

I attended Little Wars Friday and Saturday this year. The show looked great with lots of attendees, many really great looking games, and the usual solid vendor area support.

I ran my Borodino game on Friday night (5pm - 9pm) and Saturday (10am - 2pm).

FRIDAY
Friday night's game was fully attended (6 players + 1 last minute add-in). The battle started in the south between the Russians and the Poles near Utitza. The French player was very aggressive and pushed the Russians back with heavy losses.
They then opened fire with the grand battery on the fleches, and launched a large-scale infantry assault in the center led by Davout.

The French attack quickly overran the first two fleches, but the Russians immediately counter-attacked and re-took them. The French then fed in more troops and drove the Russians back out. The casualties mounted, especially for the Russians. It started looking like the French players were going to break the Russian army quickly.

The Grand Redoubt (Reavsky)

The only unit on the table that I painted and based from scratch.

The Russians then launched a massive counter-attack capped by a 'Glorious Charge' card. The two units that charged were Dragoons and Cuirassier. They drove back the remaining infantry and over-ran the entire Grand Battery. This startled the French players, who thought that they were going to cruise to an easy victory. After a few more turns, the French were able to win, but the final score was 14 Russian units eliminated (14 needed for the win), and 11 French units eliminated (out of 13 needed).  Very close game and fun. All players seemed to have had a good time.

SATURDAY
The game on Saturday was both similar and very different from Fridays. The French team started out by inflicting many casualties on the Russians and opened up a huge lead that looked insurmountable. However, the fighting raged on both flanks instead of the center. The Cossacks led by Uvarov in the North charged across the stream just West of Borodino and were violently repulsed. In the South, the battle swayed back and forth around the Utitza mound, but the Russians took the lion-share of the losses.  By the time that the action died down and the two sides separated from each other to regroup, the French only needed to inflict 2 more unit losses on the Russians to win, and the Russians still needed to inflict 10.
Then things started to turn around:
An artillery dual began in the center with the Russians getting the best of it. Their guns were nestled safely in the fleches and on the high ground behind them while the French Grand Battery was in the open.
The French commander decided that it was time to launch his attack up the middle to finish the battle. The stream running in front of the fleches slowed the advance down just enough to allow the Russian artillery to rake the French ranks and break up the orderly formation.
The French pressed on, sensing that the Russians were bled white and on the verge of collapse. In truth, however, the Russians were ready and waiting with a powerful counter-attack. As the French attack flowed around the fleches in an attempt to close with the Russians, the Russians met them with a powerful combined-arms attack that drove the French back and crushed their will to continue the fight. The Russians had pulled off a miracle comeback and won the battle!

Credits:
Figures are Perry, Front Rank, and Foundry

Painting:
Russians by the esteemed Scott MacPhee
French: Mostly Fernando, some by Paxx88 and Artmaster Studios, and a few by me
French Allies: Paxx88, Artmaster Studios, Roger Murrow

Basing: Scott MacPhee, Paul Niemeyer, me

Assistant game judge: Paul Niemeyer (Thanks Paul!)


Here are a few of the highlights from Friday's games (My phone ran out of power on Saturday before I could snap some more...The Alamo and Omaha Beach games were unbelievable!):

Little Wars was fun as always. I am so thankful that there is a show like this so close to home.

Eylau - February 8, 1807 - Part I

Since it has already been a very cold and snowy winter here, I thought that it would be appropriate to do a refight of the Battle of Eylau using my 28mm armies and my homebrew rules based on the Command & Colors system. I took on the role of the French and Paul Niemeyer took the Russians. Today we played the first three hours of the battle. We'll be finishing the action on Monday.

Turn 1: 8am
The French and Russians are deployed near each other, but cannot see each other well due to a raging snowstorm. (Imagine the snow blowing fiercely and covering the ground.)

 French troops in front of Eylau. Notice the Brigade of infantry wearing white uniforms. I was very pleased to have some of these to deploy for the battle.

The Russian Line across the way. Notice the Grand Battery dominating the ridge.

 Augereau's Corps deployed south of Eylau.

 Russians across from Augereau.

 More Russians north of Eylau.

 The Emperor with his guard on the hill behind the town.

In order to simulate the confusion on the field due to the snow storm, I gave Paul a unique 'card' to play at any time: He could reposition any two of my infantry units before taking his turn. Naturally he couldn't wait and played it immediately before his first turn. In an ode to history, he moved Augereau's corps right up to the muzzles of his grand battery and opened fire on them.

Both brigades took some losses and fled.

 My response was to order Murat and the Cavalry reserve to charge the southern end of the Russian position on the ridge to (hopefully) clear off his artillery.

Six Brigades of Cuirassiers and Dragoons rode forward.

 Charge!

 Due to the snow the artillery fire wasn't very accurate and the charge succeeded in overrunning some of the guns.

9:00 am The fighting swirled for a couple of turns as the French cavalry pressed their attack home. Here the Carabiniers attack the Russian guns.

 ...and overrun them, but sustain heavy losses.

 Paul felt that he couldn't allow me to take possession of the southern end of the ridge as this would break his line and cut off his left flank deployed to meet Davout's corps, which was arriving on the battlefield to the south. So he played a 'Drive them Back' card...

 ...and launched a counter-charge with his Cuirassier and Dragoons released from his central reserve.

 They not only swept the weakened Carabiniers from the ridge...

 ...but killed Marshal Murat (sadly I don't have a Murat figure...I need to remedy this). This not only weakened my command control of the large cavalry force in the area, but reduced my over-all command control rating by 1.  Not good. Now both armies had a '5' rating.

I was forced to spend a turn regrouping my forces. I drew back the dragoons, moved up a fresh division of Cuirassier, and had Davout ride over to the left of his corps to take command of the cavalry action.

10:00am  The Russians bombarded the French near Eylau, and the French launched a renewed attack on the critical hinge of the Russians position in the south. In this picture, Davout  directs a brigade of his infantry to assault the village of Serpallen, while the Imperial Guard Heavy Cavalry makes a 'glorious charge' (+2 dice; retreat flags have no effect) on the embattled ridge.

 Charge!

The impact of the 'Big Boots' is tremendous! They ride right over the Russian Dragoon brigade, up the ridge into and over the Russian Cuirassier brigade, and on into and over the depleted Russian artillery unit that had just moved back onto the ridge.

 Finally coming to a halt in the face of a fresh artillery unit. What a ride!

 11:00am Paul, desperate to force the now swarming French cavalry off the ridge sends forward the only troops available: a unit of Russian Musketeers and one of Hussars. The French response is merciless. The musketeers are charged by Cuirassiers and Dragoons, and when they form square are blasted with grapeshot at close range by the French horse artillery. All that remains is a heap of corpses, and the Russian Hussars fall back off the ridge under pressure from the French Dragoons.

 Davout's attack from the south starts to make headway, and with the success of the French cavalry on their left, the entire Russian left flank is in danger of being overwhelmed.

 The Russian left flank opposite Davout's men as they move up through the forest.

The Russian commander reluctantly decides to pull his men back to retain contact with the main Russian position. 

 Davout doesn't want to let them get away unscathed, so he decides to keep up the pressure and orders the heavy cavalry to press them. The Russian infantry forms square, but is now pinned and can't continue the withdraw to their new line in the woods.

 Unfortunately this aggressive move leaves the French cavalry open to a counter-attack on their exposed right flank by the Russian cavalry.

 A Russian Cuirassier and a Hussar brigade charge home and scatter two French Cuirassier brigades.

 The Russian cavalry charge removed the immediate threat to the Russian infantry on the Russian left.
More to follow on Monday.
 

Borodino in 28mm

I've been working on the Borodino Project for quite a while.  It required units of French Allies including Saxons, Bavarians, Poles, Italians, Wurtemburgers, and Westphalians, as well as the main French army and Russian army.

Well, after more than a year of planning, buying buildings and terrain (Total Battle Miniatures); figures (Perry, Foundry, Front Rank, Paul Hicks, Calpe, Elite, and Westfalia); and contracting with some of the best figure painters currently working (Scott MacPhee, Artmaster Studio, Roger Murrow, and Darren Smith [Paxx88]), the game is finally ready to see the table.

Here are some pictures of the setup (though I am still waiting for a few units to arrive).

The town of Borodino is at the bottom of the picture, and the view is south. The Grand Redoubt is just south of Borodino, and the Fleches are at the top of the picture facing the massive French deployment.

The French forces south of the river (Ney, Junot, and Davout's Corps) prepare to launch the initial attack on the Russian Fleches.

The Fleches.

Poniatowski's Polish Corps prepares to move through Utitza on the way to attack the Russian left flank.

The Russians wait for them on the mound.

French Chasseur skirmish line in the woods north of Utitza.

Russian Opolchenie Militia wait behind the woods.

Another look at the French massed for attack.

And their Wurttemberg allies.

The center looking at the Fleches and beyond.

Vive le' Emperor!

Davout wishing he could re-direct the attack to his right.

French Cuirassier ready to go.

The French left looking at the Grand Redoubt and Borodino.

The cannon's muzzle in the Grand Redoubt.

Eugene's Italian troops on the French left.

Bavarian Infantry wasn't at Borodino in any numbers, but I've added them to Eugene's Corps.

The Russians wait for Eugene past Borodino in Gorki. Note: Uvarov and Platov's cavalry north of the River.

Russian artillery prepared in front of Gorki.

Kutusov and his staff watch the battle unfold.

Skirmishing flares up as the French attack begins.

Russian Hussars.

...and Cossacks in echelon behind them.

Russian Dragoons.

Russian Cuirassier.

Pas d' Charge!  The attack begins!