Saturday, June 2, 2018

After Action Report: Hypothetical Campaign in England, 1806 (second playing)

We reset the board for the hypothetical campaign in England, and played it a second time.  The group was smaller, which made for quicker play, and we were able to finish the entire scenario in about four hours.  The game ran 9-10 turns, depending upon the number of times Napoleon tossed in his entire hand (discard eight, draw eight) rather than playing cards (play four, draw four).

Like the first play-through, this one too ended in a French victory.  However, this session was actually much, much closer on points than the first.

CB and I played the Anglo-Russian force (CB played the two British commands and I took the Russian command.)  While there were moments where it felt like we were close to a narrow victory, we never seemed to have quite enough command or cards or luck to quite pull it off.  Had we just been able to destroy a few more high-point French brigades, or take a couple more of the objectives, it woulda coulda shoulda been .....

The final tally for the Anglo-Russians:

French Losses
       6 Artillery batteries (66 pts)
 5,220 Cavalry (48 pts)
14,800 Infantry (180 pts)

Total = 294 pts from destroying enemy formations
Objectives held = 1 (50 pts)

French losses just were not that heavy, and even where they did take losses, they did not tend to lose entire formations.  The Anglo-Russians held only a single objective, and so the final tally was 344 points.  That more than doubled the total from the first session where the Anglo-Russians only managed 165 points, and British losses amongst their Guard units were extremely light.

The French played a good game, and had a good plan.  Hold in the center, pull back on the left (against the Russians) to minimize combat but protect objectives, and hit hard on their right.  The French dice rolling was totally unreal.  Here is an all-too-common example where four French batteries rolling 10 dice each vaporized an 8-stand British Infantry Unit in a single turn:

1st battery : 10d6 = 2 hits (1 Fatigue marker, 1 stand lost, 7 left)
2nd battery : 10d6 = 4 hits (1 Fatigue marker, 3 more stands lost, 4 left)
3rd battery : 10d6 = 2 hits (1 Fatigue marker, 1 more stand lost, 3 left)
4th battery : 10d6 = 4 hits (1 Fatigue marker, 3 more stands lost, cue funereal music)

The French also made good use of timely card play and combined arms to savage the Russian army.  Of the four divisions, two were annihilated, one damaged, and one left largely intact.  The intact division was the elite Guards division (yay!), but the Officer (Constantine) was killed in service to his brother, Alexander, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias.  The only good news for our side was that as the French were clearing huge numbers of Russian infantry from the tabletop, their poor value accrued few points.

The final tally for the French:

British Losses
       4 Artillery batteries (40 pts)
   540 Cavalry (0 pts)
19,600 Infantry (84 pts)

Russian Losses
       12 Artillery batteries (84)
     180 Cavalry (0 pts)
28,000 Infantry (190 pts)

Total = 403 pts from destroying enemy formations
Objectives held = 5 (250 pts)

Grand total for the French = 653 points

This results was a tiny bit better than the French total from the first outing (623 points).

Even if the French luck was a little less hot, my sense is that the Anglo-Russians still are likely to lose this one without some change to the location of the objectives.  If the French are forced to be the attacker across the entire line that spread their forces more thin, and make it easier for the other side to engage en masse.





Sunday, May 6, 2018

After Action Report: Hypothetical Campaign in England, 1806

We started a hypothetical campaign this spring where Napoleon invaded England, and through diplomacy, recruited legions from both Scotland and Ireland to help with his intended conquest.  For their part, the English convinced the Russian Tsar to send a small army to support the Crown. An initial scenario set in 1805 was bloody but inconclusive.

The next session was set in 1806, and imagined a follow-up engagement with forces largely similar to the 1805 scenario.  Pictures of the initial battlefield and the ending positions are below.

This battle ended after only four turns when the British-Russian side conceded defeat, and left the field to the French and their Scottish-Irish-Bavarian allies.  The British losses were very high, and if not for six (!) one-stand units left on the tabletop, the disparity in victory points would have been much higher.

Russian losses
1,800 cavalry
0 infantry
5 artillery batteries

English losses
3,420 cavalry
24,000 infantry
4 artillery batteries

French losses
3,600 cavalry
14,400 infantry (including 1,200 Irish)
3 artillery batteries

Total victory points for the Anglo-Russian side: 0 for objectives + 165 for destroying enemy units = 165 points

Total victory points for the French and French-Allied side: 300 for objectives + 323 for destroying enemy units = 623 points

Commentary
The French were organized into three large corps commanded by Ney, Davout and Lannes.  The French also had a cavalry reserve corps under Murat and a small guard corps under Bessieres.  This side featured ease of movement -- the number of activations available each turn was equal to the number of formations.

The weakest French corps - the one on their far left under Ney - conducted a tactical withdrawal, moving slowly to the rear and center.  On the far right a strong corps under Lannes, augmented with a division of dragoons fought a heavy engagement against Moore's Light Division, also augmented with two British cavalry divisions.  The British elected to cede this flank to the French, and the main result was a great loss of cavalry on both sides and relatively few casualties otherwise.  The French were able to collect all of the objectives available on this flank too.

The main French blow fell in the center.  Napoleon was able to launch Davout, Murat, and elements of the guard against a relatively thin British line.  Because the British also advanced aggressively in the center before their Russian allies could engage, the French could apply nearly their entire effort on a small number of British divisions each turn, tearing them apart with both musket and artillery fire.

The British and Russian commands were all unwieldy.  Each commander could activate only two formations each turn, and the Russians had four formations, and the British had 10 (but two commanders).  The command situation limited what this side could do, leaving them in a position best suited for localized counterpunching v. broad movements and mass action.  The best situation might have been a steady advance on the British far fight by Kutusov and his four divisions while focusing both British commanders in the center so that four British divisions could be moved freely each turn (along with four brigades or batteries).

The (fictional) aftermath of this drubbing is that the British sue for peace.  Napoleon accepts, ending the blockade of the Continental System, and creating French client states in Scotland and England.  The Spanish continue to ally themselves with the French.  Everything is looking very rosy for the Emperor.  However, their are storm clouds to the east where Austria and Germany are concerned about growing French power.  And they may be able to find a willing partner to take action in Russia...

Battlefield view. Anglo-Russian force is on the left and the French and French-Allied force is on the right.

French Cavalry Reserve under Murat.

French Guard Corps.

Extreme French left.  Corps of French-Allied troops under Ney.  Bavarians, Scots, and Irish!
Extreme French right under Lannes.  His corps was joined by a French dragoon division before play began. 
Extreme British left.  Dundas is in the bottom left corner.  The British Light Division under Moore suffered few casualties, but also caused few.  The supporting infantry division in the center-right counter-marched the first few turns, and saw little action.  Two British cavalry divisions joined this flank prior to the start of the battle.  

The British center under the Duke of York.  This entire force was nearly destroyed by Davout and the French guard.  One player called it the English Jena-Auerstedt.

The Anglo-Russian far right.  Kutusov has four large divisions.  One is green, and one is elite, but the other two are regular line.  Unfortunately for the British, the Russians were not able to engage before the battle was lost.  Only the Russian Guard Cavalry fought, and then were destroyed by two French heavy cavalry brigades (which were also destroyed in the process).