Blücher - Spring 1813 Map Campaign - Second Campaign turns

Having finished off all of the four battles after the first few turns of campaign movement we'd been waiting for a chance to get the next campaign turn done and then play any battles immediately after. Well that just didn't happen so we decided finally to just get the campaign turns done. This we did on Monday at COGS.

We had to remind ourselves what had happened previously in the campaign and then we managed to play through two campaign turns. In the first of these turns no battles were declared. The French pulled back from the South and decided to concentrate their attacks in the North. The allies also tried to move their forces North to head them off.

A single battle was declared by the French in the North and the remaining forces jockeyed for position. Attempts were made by both sides to stop opponents reaching the battlefield.

In the end though the French have the upper hand with a 6 corps including the Imperial Guard on the table at the start and 1 corps in reserve. The allies have 4 corps, with guard forces from both Prussians and Russians, but also two weaker corps. They have also got 5 other corps of varying sizes ready to come on as reserves.

As you can see nearly all the forces are involved in that big battle. The remaining forces in the South will not be fighting this turn.

So now we need time to actually play this huge battle. We'll need a whole day. It looks like Gerald won't be able to get to the next Dales Wargames, so we'll probably have to play it my house.

Blücher - Spring 1813 Map Campaign - Forth Battle

Its taken quite a while to find a day to actually play this game, but finally today we completed the forth, and largest, battle of our Blücher Spring 1813 campaign. 

This battle was over the town of Brandenburg which the French held. They needed to push beyond it to enable them to take Potsdam and make their way towards Berlin. The Allies needed to ensure this didn't happen and if possible capture Brandenburg.

On the Allied left flank the French had an impressive force. A thin line of Prussian infantry and artillery was all that stood in their way. They assaulted in columns behind their eagles...

On the road to Brandenburg Bülow's Russian Corps stood and considered attacking. But the French forces looked far too strong to even consider it, so they set up a line on the road and awaited the French attack. They must not allow the French to take the road.

And it was not to be. The French forces in the Brandenburg area proved to be mostly Marie Louises, the young conscript troops, fanatically loyal to their Emperor, but no match for the steadfast Russians. They broke on them like the sea against rocks...

On the left flank the Prussians held a desperate defence. Their numbers dwindled, but they kept the French at bay. Cavalry sallied forward to pick off French troops too slow to retreat to safety. Then the French reserve cavalry arrived. The crème de la crème of the Grande Armeé were reduced in stature after the defeats of 1812 and could not turn the tide for the French.

On the Brandenburg-Potsdam road the Russians saw their chance to begin an assault on Brandenburg, but it was not to be. The French troops, though massively reduced, were too strong and the assault faltered.

In the last few turns the Allies realised that they only needed to rout one more unit of the French to win the battle and take the entire battlefield, pushing the French out of Brandenburg automatically. But the French began to retreat and there was no way that total victory was going to happen.

As the sun began to set in the West, the battlefield became quiet. The two sides counted up their losses. Both sides had fought hard and lost many men, but the French were hit harder. They paid dearly to hold the key town of Brandenburg. The Allies had regained one location making it slightly more difficult for the French to manoeuvre next turn.

And with that this turn of battles is completed. We didn't have time to start the next campaign turn. That may have to wait until August now... 

Blücher - Spring 1813 Map Campaign - Second Battle

The second battle of our campaign was to be played at a normal club-night at COGS so we had to choose a smaller one. 

The battle was for the key town of Altenburg, to the south of the map. This town blocks the road that the French are using to advance further into Prussia and also split the French forces and so is doubly important.

Blücher held the town with half of his corps. Barclay de Tolly's corps was just off the map and would come on as reinforcements. Marmont lead the French IV corps in the assault and was hoping for support from XII Corps just off to the west.

Blücher garrisoned the town with infantry, including a guard unit and put his horse artillery on the hill with cavalry behind to defend. As the French columns advanced he bombarded them and swept some cavalry around to the right flank. This served both to threaten the French columns, slowing them, but also to head-off the reinforcements.

The French columns pushed some of the infantry out of the town, but the guard held strong. The cavalry danced around, jockeying for position on the right flank. Things were not looking too good.

Then the Russians arrived and their columns of infantry counterattacked into the town, pushing the French troops out and destroying some units completely.

However it wasn't long before the French reinforcements arrived, but with the Prussian cavalry watching their deployment onto the battlefield they were unable to reserve move enough to really take part in the battle.

As the sun set the French decided that their attack on the town was only going to reduce their strength for further battles and so they called off the assault. The Allies held the town for very minor losses and they'd given the French a bloody nose in the process.

Playing this sort of campaign battle is a completely different experience from playing a one-off game of Blücher. You have to be careful not to over-commit your units and end up with a much reduced force for future battles. It's very easy indeed to do this. The French lost units they could really have done with not losing in this battle. I suspect this may affect them badly in future campaign turns.

There are two more battles to play out in this campaign turn. One looks like we should be able to get it done in a COGS evening, but the other is going to require more time and it could be a while before we get chance to play it.

Blücher - Spring 1813 Map Campaign - Setup and First Battle

We finally started our Blücher Spring 1813 Map Campaign today. 

I first planned to start this about 2 years ago and got everything ready apart from a few extra units. Since various lock-downs occurred and diversions to other projects and hobbies I only finished painting those last few units a few weeks ago.

With a Dales Wargames meet today offering a rare chance to play for a whole day it was possible to start the campaign.

My son, Brendan, took control of the French, with help from David, and Gerald took control of the Prussians supported by myself with the Russians. The campaign is based on the same system and maps as used here, though with the order-of-battle based off my own interpretation of the lists in the George Nafziger book, "Lützen and Bautzen". The French have to have a decisive battle and get some of their troops off the east edge of the map.

After a few initial turns of movement the map looked like this.

The Allies had declared 4 battles in an attempt to block the French movement. The columns marked with A are Allies, F are French.

We decided the play the second from top battle involving F3 and A1, with A10 and A11 as reserves. This would actually involve Napoleon and his guard attacking 2/3 of Yorck's Corp with Tomassov's Russian guard and reserves coming on as reinforcements.

The terrain meant that the Prussians were defending the town of Wittenberg, with most of their forces on the far side of the impassable River Elbe. The only way to them was through Wittenberg or across a pontoon bridge further upstream.

Initially the Prussians were fighting to save their lives and hold ground. Some valiant landwehr held the French guard cavalry. The French needed to destroy just 4 Prussian units before the Russians could arrive in order to win the battle and take control of all the board. The French however, had the problem that their supply-lines were cut by Prussian units. Any lost units could not be recovered at all.

Then the Russians arrived on the eastern side of the battlefield and the objectives changed. The French changed direction and moved to block the Russian's advance with squares of infantry.

The French guard managed to charge the Russian guard and grenadiers as they advanced through the woods and damage them significantly. However the Russian cavalry and artillery managed to destroy several French infantry units completely. They are now out of the campaign.

Licking their wounds the Russians retired from the battlefield. As the afternoon waned the French ceased their attack and both sides re-organised.

This was a great start to the campaign and we're looking forward to getting more battles played soon.

Blücher - Lützen 1813

Today at Dales Wargames we played the Battle of Lützen 1813. This was using the Old Meldrum Wargames Scenario with very minor modifications to meet my available terrain and troops.

Initial layout as prepared at home yesterday

The battle sees a small French force defending 4 villages/towns against attacking Prussian and Russian troops. The forces arrive on board at specific times during the day as the battle escalates. Initially the Prussians and Russians have the advantage in numbers but this see-saws between them and the French as each turn progresses.

The key to the battle is for the Allies to push the French out of the 4 urban areas before the French manage to bring up reinforcements.

Initially the Allies push forward into the first and the largest urban area before the French can prepare. The Cavalry are useless in urban areas so move out to the left to put pressure on the French flank.

The French pull their flank back to the objective villages and get ready to repel the attack. The prussians push into the town and are initially repelled. They get a foothold though. The allied cavalry advance.

The first set of Allied reinforcements arrive and the cavalry push past the objectives to try to slow the French reinforcements moving up on each flank. There is bloody fighting over the objectives, but the Allied greater numbers and the poor quality of the French conscripts mean the allies are winning.

The Allies are really making inroads into the urban areas. Meanwhile the French reinforcements have to deal with the screening cavalry. Marmont's corps finds itself stopped in its tracks, but Ney manages to sneak towards the objective area.

By mid-afternoon the Allies have 3 of the objectives. Ney's troops are putting up a fight for the fourth, but the Allied numbers are greater. Marmont's corps is stalled completely by the Allied cavalry and artillery.

Still Ney is holding on, but still the Allies continue to push. Serious French reinforcements will arrive soon and its important the Allies have control before they do.

The French Imperial Guard is spotted in the distance and the Allied cavalry has to pull back. But the allies have just been reinforced by a terrifying amount of Russian artillery. The Guard can't get in to help Ney and the last of his brigades is destroyed. The Allies have all the objectives, they just need to hold them until the end of the game.

Some Italians and Croatians arrive on the Allied left flank, but the Allies have put in a defensive line and they are just too late to be useful.

On the Allied right flank French reinforcements arrive unexpectedly. The allies quickly prepare a defence. It doesn't have to be a strong one as the day is coming to an end.

In the end despite a valiant attempt from some French reinforcements the Allies occupied all four of the objective urban areas at the end of the last turn and so won the game.

It's been a bloody battle, especially for the French. All the lost units are lined up beyond the river on the allied right flank, we gave it the nickname, "The River Styx"

What a great scenario this is! Well done Old Meldrum Wargames. It's good job I have Dales Wargames to get to play at. This scenario took 5 hours to play after we'd set up. There's no way we could play it at COGS.

Right now I'm looking at the next of their 1813 scenarios, Bauzten. This one is an even larger battle.

Back to 1813 - Bavarians

It's been a while since I had painted any of my 1813 miniatures. I started again a couple of weeks ago, but those were just more standard French infantry and conscripts so I didn't bother photographing them.

This time however it's something a little different. Some Bavarian Infantry and Artillery for XII Corps.

6mm Heroics and Ros for use with Blücher as usual.

The whole of XII Corps.

Blücher French Shako Dice Cup

So right back when I started playing Blücher I found this blog post. I was impressed and wanted to make a Shako dice cup of my own, but with so many minis to paint and terrain to make I never got around to it.

When I got my 3d printer a few weeks ago I thought I might be able to make a cup easily. I found some 28mm French Foot Artillery minatures on thingiverse which I could see had nicely detailed Shakos and thought that could be the basis for my new cup.

It wasn't so easy. I had to modify the STL mesh itself with Blender, adjusting the position of vertices and wiring up new edges and faces before being able to cut out the centre and split it into two parts for printing. Quite a bit of work, but a great learning experience.

It sat for a while unpainted as other projects again took priority, but last night I completed it. I'm really pleased with it even though it was a lot more work than I had expected.

STL files are here.

1813 Hesse-Darmstadt Chevau-légers

I've run out of minis for my 1813 armies!

The last thing I've been able to paint is a unit of Hesse-Darmstadt Chevau-légers for XII Corps. The only unit I can paint for XII Corps! I used the Bavarian Cavalry models since they have the right style of helmet.

Never fear, an order has been put into Heroics and Ros for reinforcements, it'll be a few weeks before I get them.

In the meantime my English Civil War armies will get some work done on them.

An 1813 Scharnhorst Game

With much of my 1813 re-organisation done. I thought it a plan to get a game of Blücher in with my son. He took the Russo-Prussian force commanded by Blücher himself and I took the French Army of the Main commanded by Marshal Soult.

At the start of the game there were a lot of Prussians on the table, not so many French though!

After the Scharnhost phase Brendan looked to be in a very good position. Though I had more victory points on the map he had declared a battle with all his troops off the board and most of mine as reserves. However looking at it we realised he had to hold both objectives on the board to win, whereas I would just have to take one of them.

At the top of the table in the photo is my single on table column, facing off against all three Prussian Corps. The Russians have been left as garrison duty in the town.

With such an overwhelming advantage initially Brendan's best hope might be to deal me a swift and decisive blow before my reinforcements arrived. So he attacked... My French line looked very, very thin.

Luckily though they held in time for my reinforcements to arrive and that thin line became really quite thick.

But undeterred Brendan attacked all along the line.

My troops held, they took losses, but they held!

Meanwhile over by the town at the other end of the table my second reinforcement column arrived.

They attacked the Russian troops garrisoning the town and unbelievably two units of Marie-Louises pushed the Russians out! The Russians counter-attacked and pushed the Marie-Louises out... and then the French counter-counter-attacked... and on and on... every turn the town changed hands.

Eventually the Russians had a real foot-hold and the French forces were almost spent, but then the other French column arrived and continued the assault. The Russian cavalry tried to hold them out of the town, but they couldn't stop the French continuing their frantic battle.

The fight for the town continues.

Meanwhile on the other flank, the Prussian assault finally stalled and started to fall-back. Realising that the key to victory was the town I did not follow them and let them go. I could now take the town as I had fresh troops over there and the Russians were almost spent.

The Prussians fall back across the river. The French let them go.

In the end there was nothing the Russians in the town could do, there were too many fresh French units and they were pushed out. They could not hope to re-take it as there were no troops left anywhere near. They were unable to break the French army and so Brendan capitulated as the sun began to set on the battlefield.

Yet another great battle with loads going on.

It was the first time I'd really used attached artillery with my units instead of massed batteries and it does work. The conscript troops, though poor, were more effective than expected. The cavalry in the French force poor to say the least, but it managed. It's quite a different force to play with compared with the early war army. Brendan was using both Blücher and Bülow and so never had to worry about having enough MO pips, even with such a large force. I did struggle sometimes though!