Battle of La Rothier February 1814

We had a great game of Black Powder last Saturday. Bill, Bob, Gary, Steve and I fought out the 1814 scenario I had created and here is the background on it:

Northern section of the battle where Grand Duke von Wrede Austro-Bavarian V Corps attacked Napoleon's flank at La Rothiere. Marmont's weak corps attempted to cover the front between Chaumesnil and Morvilliers.

The scenario was a “what if” Marmont did not fallback and held on to Chaumesnil. This set up having the Young Guard attack V corps around Beauvoir Farm instead retaking Chaumesnil.

Marmont's French Corps Commanded by Bob Infantry Division - GdD Lagrange [Ld7] Brigade – GdB Joubert [Ld7]   8x Small Infantry Bns  Commanded By Bill Cavalry Division - GdD Doumerc [Ld7]   1x Hussar & 3 small Chasseurs Rgts &   2x 6lb Batteries Cavalry Division - GdD l'Heritier [Ld7] Brigade - GdB Lamotte [Ld7]   3x small Dragoon Rgts Brigade - GdB Collaert [Ld8]  2x Small Dragoon Rgts  Commanded By Gary 2nd Voltigeur Division - GdD Decouz [Ld9]   4x Young Guard Bns, 2x 6lb Batteries

Austrian-Bavarian V Corps Commanded By Steve Bavarian Infantry Division - GdD Rechberg [Ld8] 2x 6lb batteries Brigade GdB Bayern [Ld7]   3x small Chevaulegeres rgts Brigade GdB Prinz Karl [Ld7]   1x light, 1x infantry & 1x militia Bn Brigade GdB Maillot [Ld7]   1x light, 2x infantry & 2x militia Bns  Commanded By John Austrian Division - FL Splenyi [Ld7] Brigade Volkmannn [Ld7]   6x infantry Bns & 1x 6lb Battery Brigade Minutilly [Ld8]   1x hussar, 1x dragoon rgts & 1x 6lb battery

GdD Lagrange and GdD Doumerc troops began the battle on the table, while the rest of the units for both sides would move on to the battlefield throughout the game. See map above for various entry points for arriving troops.

The first couple of turns went as expected, four of the five allied brigades slowly moved onto the battlefield and a few rounds on long range cannon fire from the French ensued. 

Most of the Bavarian forced moved to the left, to assault the French battalions holding the hill. 

This meant that the Austrians were needed to take the farm, so the three battalions of the German regiment veered left and attacked uphill against the French holding the farm.

The three battalions of the Hungarian regiment and the cavalry brigade would hold off the massed French cavalry. The Hussars and Dragoons charge the French chasseurs, while artillery fired onto the French dragoon regiments. 

Off in the distance is Minutilly's Brigade of Austrian cavalry, the Hussars were able to chase away the French Hussars, but French artillery fire and a couple of failed charges ended the brigade’s day. While it did not break, BG Minutilly could not rally his brigade and they sat out the rest of the battle. That said, all three French cavalry brigades were kept in place as they were too fragile to risk charging. 

Bavarian light battalion off in the distance harried the Beauvoir Farm defenders.

The three German battalions of BG Volkmann’s brigade attacked the French repeatedly but could not break them. One battalion attempted to take the farm, but after a couple of rounds of combat were thrown back. BG Volkmann was soon shot dead as he tried to rally his men for a second go at the farm.

The Bavarians, who assaulted the French left, were more successful and eventually broke GdB Joubert outnumbered infantry brigade. This was punctuated by the charge of the 2nd Chevaulegeres, whose couple hundred cavalrymen were able to rout two French battalions in a matter of minutes! The day looked lost for the French, except that … 

Four battalions Young Guard of GdD Decouz 2nd Voltigeur division arrived to stem the French right and then proceeded to push the Austrians off the hill, breaking Volkmann’s brigade! 

The Bavarians hotly engaged the Young Guard to their front and succeeded in stopping the two battalions but at a high cost, GdB Prinz Karl small brigade of infantry had already broke and both of the remaining two brigades were moments from breaking ... and then both sides commanders called for a general retreat!
 

Aftermath

Overall it was an excellent game with a nice ebb flow for both sides. It was at the end of the day a minor French victory, as they did hold the farm.

The couple of objective scenario special rules I added work so, so. I have to rethink the French cavalry reserve rule as it really made no sense for the French not to immediately bring on GdD l'Heritier dragoon division. But I thought the bonus break point for holding the farm work well.

Ken will be running his Waterloo scenario again next month, with a few changes made from the first time we ran it at Drumbeat.

Battlegroup 28mm WWII

We had another game of Battlegroup last Saturday … Each side had a reinforced company from the Fall of the Reich supplement. Steve commanded the Russian Mechanized force and Bailey commanded the German Kampfgruppe (I commanded the store … so I was only able to rules mediate for most of the afternoon).

It is hard to see but the SU-85 in the middle of a ridgeline.

 

The game started with both sides recon forces on the table, but it was not long before the first wave of reinforcement troops arrived (each side rolled very well on turn 2). The German forces pushed into the center and up the right flank, while the Russian force mirrored them on the other flank.



It was going well for the Russians as they quickly knocked out a Marder III and Jagd Panzer IV, plus another section of troops were able to move up the German left flank and capture an objective. At this time they held three of the four objectives. They had a good base of fire on the right flank and overwhelming troops on the left. It started going bad when a lend lease Sherman blew up from a mine strike though.



Then it went from bad to critical when the Tiger showed up! It proceeded to drive into the open area, disregarding all enemy tanks. It was hit six times but none of the hits failed to do any damage to it. Of course it put an end to the fire, by brewing up three Russian tanks in rapid succession!

Both sides placed their FO’s in the center of the lines and proceeded to call down mortar and artillery barrages onto the table. The German FO tried several times unsuccessfully to get the division big guns to fire. The artillery fire on both sides really pinned down the action for several turns, but eventually the Germans began to push on both flanks, and moving into close combat range.



The casualties were extremely heavy for both sides, and it looked like the Russian would hold as a T-34 took out a half track and most of a German squad (who failed to hit with their Panzerfausts). But then a Panzerschreke team, which had been sneaking up the right flank woods, fired and brewed up the T-34.

 

This last exchange of fire was to much for the Russians and they retreated from the field.



Aftermath

This game we tried a couple of rules adjustments … as we play in 28mm we increased all measurements by 50%. I thought it worked really well for the most part, though the large open areas seemed more daunting to cross.

The second adjustment was to change most of the tables to formula’s. As an example, armor levels are listed as a Letter and you cross index the letter with the penetration number of the shot to get a “kill” number. If you convert the Armor Letter to a number you can find the Kill number by just subtracting the Pen value from the Armor value.

The only House Rule we used was to add a couple of maneuvers to vehicle movement, so that they did not move exactly like infantry. Namely they could turn, rotate or reverse in addition to moving forward. This worked ok, but do think I need to tweak it some more.

Napoleonic Hungarian Infantry

I have finished another battalion of Hungarian infantry for my Austrian army. I already had two battalions, so this one was to bring the brigade up to three battalions, like my other German brigade of three battalions.

I don't have a standard yet for the battalion. But I am going to use a high priced cloth flag, and currently waiting for it to arrive. Though pricy, the samples I have seen are very nice!

The figures are Perry Miniatures and as usual are extremely well sculpted and casted. I really like painting perry figures and choose them if possible.

The only downside with this particular code was that half the figures muskets were down, so I had to go back and make sure those figures were in the front rank. However, this meant that when the battalion is in Attack Column (shown above) the bayonets poked into the back of the front rank stands, which is a minor inconvenience.

I have already started my next project, Austrian Cuirassiers from Perry Miniatures. I think these should be easy to paint up and have set a goal to finish them before our next game in three weeks.

I am kind of in a “1813-14” mood for nappy’s, so have lined up several more Austrian units, a couple of Cuirassier regiments, a Genz battalion and 2-3 Landwehr battalions. I will have do up a few more leader stands and might throw in a 12lb battery.