Battle of Montmirail
It wasn't so much that I really enjoyed the recent refight of the
Battle of Montmirail (although I did), because I enjoy lots of the refights I do, but I did become quite intrigued by this battle for reasons I can't fully explain. I think it has something to do with time but I will return to this point in the Game Notes at the end. Anyway, I decided to leave this one up and have another go; if nothing else, I am becoming more familiar with the
Horse, Foot & Guns rules and the way the different troop types interact and I thought it would be interesting to see how it went with both sides led more competently!
I didn't change any of the scenario details from the first game (please choose the link above if you want to browse the orders of battle and set-up and so on), so this time it is straight into the action:
The Set-Up:
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| Just to remind ourselves, infantry of the Imperial Guard (right) under Napoleon's gaze (bottom-right) and Ricard's Division of Marmont's Corps (left) face the Russian infantry and guns of Sacken's Corps across the stream. |
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| Whilst Nansouty's Guard cavalry occupy the French Right flank |
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| Sacken's Corps confidently facing the French, believing them to be a mere detachment to sweep aside |
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| A wider shot |
The Battle:
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| Sacken's infantry storm across the stream towards the French Left |
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| French fire drives back part of the leading Russian division... |
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| French artillery makes life difficult for the second Russian division |
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| Nansouty's Guard Horse Artillery joins in the fun... |
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| The Russian Cavalry (top) extend their position to cover the French Right Flank |
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| Sacken's troops make another effort to get forward against the French Left |
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| ...and this time they do manage to get forward through the storm of musketry and attack! |
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| Which does them no good at all, as half their number are laid low in about quarter-of-an-hour: the French infantry in and around the village are simply not going to be shifted! |
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| Nansouty's Guard Heavies have suffered greatly under Russian artillery fire |
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| Sacken desperately tries to re-organize his troops for another assault... |
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| But as quick as he organizes them, the Imperial Guard artillery blasts them! |
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| More Imperial Guardsmen join Napoleon, just what Sacken's hard-pressed Russian did NOT need... |
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| Nansouty puts in an opportunistic attack against the Russian Left Wing, hoping to separate the Russians from the Prussians, should they arrive |
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| A closer view |
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| And a closer view still! |
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| But Russian gunners are not easily scared by pretty uniforms and gleaming swords - the Chasseurs a Cheval of the Imperial Guard are blown back to their starting point! |
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| And the Guard Lancers do no better!! The Russian cavalry now seize their moment to attack the remaining French brigade (centre)... |
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| And this too is forced to seek sanctuary behind its own artillery! (right) |
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| The Russian horsemen try to complete their victory by taking the Guard Horse Artillery's guns too! |
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| And succeed! Glory! |
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| Is a short-lived thing! Because the Chasseurs a Cheval do not get those beautiful uniforms for nothing! They rout the Russian Light Cavalry, then charge the Cossacks too... |
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| Who uphold the Russian honour by dispersing the French Guardsmen!!! |
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| The position on the French Right; Nansouty's Lights have suffered terribly and so the reminder of the Guard Cavalry start to move right to support them (centre); Napoleon brings some Guard infantry around to support the centre-right (left) |
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| A wider view of the whole battlefield - note that Ricard's infantry have advanced forward to the stream on the French Left |
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| French artillery fire sets the buildings of the village alight... |
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| Napoleon sends forward two brigades of Guard infantry... |
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| Which are devastated by Russian artillery fire! |
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| More Guardsmen assault to the South (left) of the bridge against Sacken's improvised defensive line |
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| And suffer the same heavy casualties!! |
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| Napoleon orders another division of Imperial Guards forward (bottom-centre) |
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| Whilst Nansouty gets his forces ready (bottom-right) |
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| Sacken throws in another counter-attack against the French Left... |
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| But Ricard's recruits prove their mettle once again and see it off, gingerly crossing the stream... |
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| Sacken leads his cavalry in a charge |
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| A wider shot |
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| Whilst the Russian Cavalry, mainly Cossacks, try their luck against the French Guardsmen again |
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| Sacken's boldness is met with success (centre) and one of Ricard's brigades is destroyed |
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| Fortune is favouring the Russian horsemen today... |
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| And they complete the defeat of the Imperial Guard cavalry!!!! |
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| The French Right has ceased to exist |
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| The Russians appear to be holding on in the centre |
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| And yet more French Guardsmen succumb!! Can Sacken pull this off?!!? |
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| No!! Ricard's brigade on the extreme left routs another Russian brigade and at this point, the whole Russian Army's morale collapsed - so close to the point of victory! |
Game Notes: A very exciting game and one that reads back quite oddly. What the dynamic is is that the Russians are pretty weak for their task really and in this game they lost a lot of men very early on, so they were always quite close to collapse. They therefore invited Napoleon's counter-attacks and generally held firm, whilst getting very lucky in some of the cavalry combats. This strategy was imposed upon Sacken because waiting would have just meant getting pounded by the Imperial Guard artillery until he broke. This set the dynamic for the action, and very interesting it was too!
I still wasn't entirely satisfied though, because the Prussians had still not been able to make an appearance because the battle ended too soon! I began to suspect a reason for this...but more in the next battle report, because I played out this scenario for a third time to see how it all panned out. I will just say that I thought it was a very fundamental way that the Horse, Foot and Guns rules are designed, without much attrition.
Wow, I thought the Russians had managed to sneak a great victory, but was not to be! As always post game thoughts make for an interesting and thought provoking read.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Steve, I appreciate that. I thought they were going to pull it off too!
DeleteI liked the way the game developed, how long does a battle of this size take to play with these rules?
ReplyDeleteThis one took me about 90 minutes of playing time.
DeleteNice report. It's nice to see a good ruleset like HFG get more coverage. Personally, HFG making all elite troops the same seems a little too vanilla. I think one could justify giving the Old Guard Regiments (Grenadiers & Chasseurs) an extra +1 (in addition to being elite). This would distinguish them from all other elite troops.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Dave. I do see what you mean. D6-based games have a real problem with troop quality differentials because every 'pip' of modification already has massive effects, so I can see why Phil Barker was reluctant to go down this route in all his DBx games. Personally I tend to feel that the problem is more on the lower end of the scale rather than the higher, and it may be more of a problem that Inferior may cover such a wide range of troops. Anyhow, I wouldn't rate the 1813+ Imperial Guards as any better than 'Elite' anyway (they didn't have the same exacting standards for entry in 1813 as they did in 1807, say). Maybe a once a game re-roll for the most veteran brigades might work.
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