After three weeks away from games the phone rang hot with pleas for a return of Blucher. Our club finds Blucher near perfect for a weekday evening game. We can put of figures on the table giving everyone a consider force and the feeling of actually commanding thousands of soldiers desperately engaged in a distinctly Napoleonic themed battle.
I put together two army listed to maximise units on the table as I expected four players. As it turns out, one decided not to play and another decided to not bring an army. Both sides used my figures - it would be 1813 French versus 1813 Prussians. Both sides were around 230 points.
Above shows the centre of the battle where most of the action would take place. The game began with the Prussian player pushing his cavalry division hard down his left flank to try and pin the right flank of the French in place. For three turns he used his available MO points on completing this advance and used an infantry division on his right to seize a village (shown in above image top left.)
The French did place some battalions into square which halted the Prussian cavalry. They unlimbered their horse battery and commenced fire attempting to whittle down the squares. And that's where the flank remained for 6 or more turns.
The right side of the above image shows the Prussian flanking cavalry and the line of French squares. It also shows the French response. Forming two divisions into a block and tromping down the middle of the board. (Below shows the single Landwehr cavalry unit that advanced up onto the hill. Again, without infantry support, the cavalry halted. With only a single battery of guns whittling down 4 infantry brigades was going to take a long time.
It took a little while to shake this attack into order but the French continually used the placement of their commander to energise this mass into forward motion throughout the middle of the game. Turn after turn the French chose to frugally spend MO then Napoleon would be sighted - emblazoning his troops with the energy to attack.
And what a glorious mass of infantry this was ... 9 full brigades.
The village (dimly seen at the centre top of the image) had been taken by landwehr but combined fire from two French batteries (include one heavy battery) had driven off artillery support from this flank of the Prussian army. It was a significant loss.
The Prussians, having spent their MO points elsewhere, had what appeared to be a thin line. It contained 2 grenadiers, line infantry and landwehr. The Prussian heavy battery (bottom right of above image) had been poorly sighted in the shadow of a hill. This robbed it of any line of sight to bombard and limited its angle of cannister fire.
The French smashed in. Often fighting two to one - or - if the odds were good - the French relied on their skirmishing to rob the elite Prussian grenadiers of vital elan.
As their line wavered, a vital but hitherto inactive third of the Prussian infantry finally sprang to life. It now toiled in the afternoon heat to enforce the dark blue line.
The French drums were pounded and brigade after brigade of Marie Louises were thrown in - this was not without loss - but each time elan was being drained from the Prussians.
Unlike the Prussian cavalry, the French horse advanced then repeatedly charged the Prussian squares - who were first peppered with shot (see the horse battery on the hill in the rear.) Cuirassier and dragoon brigades smashed into the Prussians. None would result in the glorious sweeping away of the square as hoped - it would take three charges before the square could not longer stand. The flank lay open with only way other square beyond the village total unable to bar the egress of the cavalry.
Looking from the Prussian right flank forward. The village was strongly held but that did not prevent the brigades to the left from being assaulted. Elan losses were racking up. The Prussian division holding their right flank had positioned their better line troops on the end of the line - facing a full French cavalry division. This left three landwehr along the line of the road. Also, as mentioned before, this part of the Prussian line had its artillery shot away early and three French batteries pounded the line as the French had advanced.
That missing third of the Prussians - dare I say almost their missing 9th legion - emerged from the shade of the woods and struggled into position. In the chaos of battle several messengers were either shot or lost at this point - in game terms this means the Prussians had short on MO in vital moments leaving troops inactive.
At close quarters, French skirmish fire and musketry volleys were brutal especially as, after a loss or two, the Prussians were pushing single brigades forward to be shot or charged by 2 or three French in return. Four wounded Prussian brigades now struggled to form and hold a coherent line against twice their number of French. Napoleon's fresh recruits poured into the gaps.
And then it was 10 o'clock and time for all good wargaming boys - who work long hours the next day - to begin packing up the miniatures and get ready for sleep. We all had a great time. The French players were jubilant - but we had started that way - but a clear winner had not been determined by the rules.
The post-match meeting of the minds came to the conclusion the Prussian left flank was completing weakened and compromised - especially as those French horse chose to ride around a helpless Prussian square and place themselves behind the enemy. Perhaps as many as 4 Prussian brigades looked like being cut off from retreat with around 3 already dispersed and 2 more mauled of elan. The French had lost 2 brigades of foot and 5 more showed wounds of honour from bayonet and musket ball.
In retrospect ... I put too many troops on the table - maybe would have been better if the final player had joined in? OR There could have been a little less terrain to enable less congestion. Also, we only rolled 2 dice for MO and perhaps should have gone to 3. But, I don't mind difficult command choices as it forces players to assess where the husband their resources. In any game, players who can best utilise their pieces rise - as it should be.
A really fun game with the right sprinkle of rules.
(And nice to see over 1000 infantry, over 60 artillery men and 100 cavalry on the table - all painted by me!)
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