Napoleonic Battle: the 1812 Campaign

Fig 1: French initial deployment

Had a really enjoyable game this Saturday. The scenario was a battle from the 1812 invasion of Russia, with the French forces turning back to stall the advancing Russian forces. The French deployed in two lines of defence, with a forward line (on the right) on a ridgeline anchored on a defended town, and a second line on a second ridgeline behind, with a final line on a bridge covered by a strongpoint in a village.

Fig 2: initial Russian deployment and axes of attack

I was playing the Russians, and my fellow commander and I had a fruitful discussion where we narrowed down our options to two: the first option was to fix but not assault the first defensive line while slipping cavalry into the space between the two lines, to block the second line from reinforcing the first, followed by an assault on the first line after sufficient artillery bombardment. The second option would have been a massing of forces in the space below the first defensive line (on the right of the image) before a single massive assault with all forces. We decided to go with Plan A, a slightly more complicated plan, but which worked out well in the end.

Fig 3: a view from the Russian side. The Adv Gd Div on the left is about to push forward. The French light infantry facing them will evade and give ground to them, allowing the cavalry from the Adv Gd access to the middle ground between the ridge lines.

The figures were not mine - I don't have a Napoleonic army any more - but were beautifully painted. It's been a long time since I've played a Napoleonic scenario of this scale  (I recall the previous Peninsula War game didn't have this sheer density of figures on table).

Fig 4: the artillery battery in the centre (comprising artillery from the Adv, 1st, and 2nd Divs) starts bombarding the centre, and the 1st Div on the right starts their bombardment of the French left.

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The initial advance worked out well for us: the light cavalry from the Advance Guard Division snuck through to the middle ground between the two ridges held by the French, after a series of attacks in that area, eventually was all wiped out, but not before accomplishing their task of isolating the forward ridge from reinforcements, allowing the rest of the Russian divisions to take their time to attack. While the frontal assault were dicey, the time bought by the Adv Gd allowed for a more measured attack that preserved our forces better.

Fig 5 the main bulk of the fighting happens on the left side of the battlefield: the 2nd and Res divisions are assaulting the left corner of the ridgeline, while the Advance Guard division is fighting in the open ground between the two French lines.

Fig 6: More or less the final position. The Adv Gd div has been all but wiped out, save the light cavalry. 1st, 2nd, and Res Divs have begun to occupy the ridgeline.

We ended the game when the Russians more or less took the first ridgeline (though the village in the centre was still occupied by the French it was a foregone conclusion).  Although I said the Adv Gd div was wiped out, one unit still remained: a single light cavalry unit that bypassed the second French line (which had advanced to the middle ground and spent the whole game trying to wipe out the Adv Gd div) and seized the bridge in the rear, cutting off the French retreat. We concluded that the French were now in a difficult position that would require them to give up the front line in favor of seizing back the bridge that was their line of retreat. They would undoubtedly do this, facing only one cavalry unit, but it would force them to retreat from the front.