Battle and Campaign Casualties

 

 

The only purpose of my 1813 campaign is to provide interesting battles to wargame.  Each campaign phase is now designed to provide about 9 battles

However I also want the campaign to recreate an acceptable Napoleonic strategic appearance.  This second objective has long caused me serious problems in designing and managing the campaign.

Most, if not all, historical campaigns follow the same general principles.  The attacking general aims to achieve overwhelming odds and a strategic advantage for the opening battles of the campaign.   This was particularly so during the Napoleonic period.  Having achieved this initial objective the attacker would follow up and seek to destroy the weakened enemy army.

Any wargamer will quickly realise that this is not going to achieve my objective of interesting wargames.   And certainly not six or more battles/wargames per campaign phase..   In most wargames casualties are much higher than in historical battles.   It is very hard, if not impossible, to wargame a tactical retreat.   This is particularly true if the wargame rules used rely heavily on luck, in the form of dice.  

If the winning army is allowed to aggressively pursue the retreating losing army, the second and subsequent battles will be very uneven.  This is because it is hard to win a wargame when one side starts the game with many more casualties than the other side, and particularly if those casualties are in cavalry or artillery.

It did not take me very long to realise these limitations.    And given that I wanted each wargame to be enjoyable, I have to find a way to reduce the impact of losing a wargame.   I did so by allowing both armies to be reinforced to reduce the effect of battle casualties.  

First I kept the actual wargame casualties, but moved them into one infantry brigades per corps.   For example if there were seven infantry casualties spread between four brigades, I would concentrate them all in one brigade with seven casualties and three brigades with no casualties.   This worked quite well, because both armies would have three full strength brigades and the odd casualties in the fourth brigade would mean it was non operational.

But it didn’t work so well with artillery and cavalry casualties.  There is only one brigade of each per corps, so they could not be concentrated in one brigade.   In my rules each casualty is minus 1 on morale and combat tests, so a brigade with two casualties is effectively non operational.

I overcame this problem by keeping all casualties in the brigade which received them, but reducing each brigade to just one casualty.   This meant a slight disadvantage for such a brigade of minus one for combat and morale tests.   Because both armies had similar numbers of brigades affected this worked reasonably well.   I have used this system for many years.

In my current campaign rules each army has nine corps, divided into three armies of three corps each.   These armies can only move east or west, and consequently remain opposed to the same opponent throughout the campaign phase.  If one side has more brigades affected than the other, this will remain a problem throughout the whole campaign phase.  

However recently I have become increasingly aware that even these reduced casualties can give the winning side too much of an advantage.   And particularly when the casualties are cavalry or artillery.

Using one 6 sided dice, adjusted by appropriate plus and minus factors, to decide all combat and melee tests give a fast and decisive result.   When two very experienced players regularly game together this is necessary to avoid long and protracted wargames.   But it can make it very difficult to overcome casualties.

For example in counter battery fire a total of 6 is required at long range, and 5 or 6 at close range.   If one side has just one casualty it is impossible to hit the enemy gunners at long range.   It is also difficult to prevent enemy cavalry from charging and routing the gunners.

I have therefore decided to play test a dramatic change in the rules.  In future battle casualties will be recorded, but ALL will be replaced before the next battle/wargame.   I appreciate that to most wargamers this would be too drastic to be acceptable.   And if the aim was to replicate historical campaigns I would agree with them.   But our aim is to wargame battles where both sides have an equal chance of winning each game.   Otherwise the player who loses the first battle of a campaign will almost certainly lose all subsequent battles also.

Already we start each new campaign phase at full strength.   This change will mean that we now start each battle/wargame at full strength.  I am not sure whether this adjustment will remove some of my enjoyment of the campaign itself, which is why I am going to play test it to see how we feel about it.

Ingolstadt Campaign – Day Three

Campaign Map

14 August 1813 – Southern Germany – Day 3

French attack Bergheim and retreat to Lauf
7th French army – retreat to Lauf
8th French army – attack Bergheim
9th French army – regroup and resupply

Austrian defend Bergheim
1st Austrian army – advance to border
2nd Austrian army – defend Bergheim
3rd Austrian army – regroup and resupply

Battle of Bergheim – End of Move 2

The Austrian army was deployed on the three game objectives at the start of the game.

All three are in the centre of the able, the bridge on the left, the road junction in the centre and the farm on the right.

The first two battles of the campaign had not gone well for the French army, and it was essential that they won this one. In previous battles the defender had placed troops at both ends of a bridge, the attacker then put an equal number of troops to attack the bridge. The winner of this isolated combat did not have any effect on the main battle. So this time both commanders ignored the left bank of the river.

The battle opened with a cavalry melee on the left, which the Austrians won. The Bavarian army deployed out of artillery range, and moved their guns forward. For a short time there was an ineffective counter battery battle, which allowed the routed Bavarian cavalry brigade to rally.

The attacking player ordered all three corps to attack, with the cavalry leading. The cavalry melee was won by the Bavarians, and the Austrian infantry had to form square. The supporting attacking infantry smashed the squares, and the Austrians retreated.

Both sides lost a lot of cavalry and gunners, but the Austrians also lost morale and five brigades routed.

Overnight the Austrian army retreated, and abandoned the walled town of Bergheim

Comments

This campaign has gotten off to a bad start, with the attacking French losing the first two battles. This is very unusual, because the attackers have a distinct advantage in the early battles of each campaign phase. The defenders are dispersed and must concentrate to fight. In addition the attackers have fewer brigades detached on garrison duty. So they normally manage to take the first three objectives, which are the border towns. The advantage then shifts to the defenders as they can dictate where the next three battles will take place, and collect their detached garrisons as they retreat from the border towns.

If the attacking army fails to take the border towns, or worse still are forced to retreat back across the border, then effectively the campaign phase has ended and the defending army wins. In addition there are only three battles fought, rather than the anticipated six or more.

In this campaign the Austrians won a technical victory at Weichering, where they held one of the three objectives and disputed a second, however they suffered more casualties and had to retreat the next day.

They won a decisive victory at Buxheim, and the French/Bavarian army had to retreat back over the border.

So this battle was critical for both sides. If the Austrians won again, then they would win the campaign. In fact they lost, they will have to retreat and the campaign continues.

My Blogging Experience

 

In April 2009 I started work on my first blog, which was called “Walking Napoleonic Battlefields”.  It was a record of the many holidays Jan and I have spent exploring battlefields in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.   Our first such holiday was to Waterloo in July 1971 and the last recorded was our second visit to Austerlitz in July 2002.   The aim of this series of blogs was to explain how we planned each visit and illustrated by photos we had taken at the time.    There is no better way to understand a battle than to walk the battlefield yourself.  And particularly if you have researched and planned the holiday yourself.   I hoped that by explaining how easy it is to do others might be encouraged to do so themselves.   I don’t have any stats for this blog because I used a different email address to set up each blog, and no longer have the passwords

In May 2009 I started my current 1813 Napoleonic campaign, and at the same time I started a blog to record the progress of the campaign and to provide a permanent record of all the battle reports.   It is a campaign diary, with one entry for each campaign day and one entry for each battle report.   I am not a great believer in the stats provided by the blog, but at present it states that I have 1001 posts and have had 122344 views.

Also in May 2009 I started a second blog called “Jan and Paul in Spain”.   This would be a record of our life here and the aim was to keep our family and friends in the UK informed of how our life in Spain was progressing.   Apart from Wargaming, our main interest was hill walking.   Within weeks of arriving in 2006 we had joined a local walking group and most blog entries recorded our many walks in and around our home in the Jalon Valley in the Costa Blanca.   The blog stats confirm I have posted 1084 posts and claim there have been 335220 views.

It was not until July 2009 that I started the fourth blog called “Napoleonic Wargaming”   This would allow me to air my general views on my favourite subject, as distinct from the factual reports on “1813 Campaign Diary”.  I didn’t have any clear idea just what I would post on this one, but it would allow me to expand on rules and Wargaming experience on the campaign diary.   According to the blog stats I have written 1069 posts and there have been 548863 views.

“Walking Napoleonic Battlefields” was a one off project, and would only last as long as it took to research and post each visit.  

“Jan and Paul in Spain” was started as a longer term project.   The first blog covered our move to Spain in 2006, so there was a considerable amount of work to catch up to 2009.    I have always recorded our holidays and day trips by taking photographs, and then filing them on my computer using a series of annual, monthly and then daily folders.  I continued this when we moved to Spain.   The photos taken of each walk and holiday formed the basis of the blog, with a short description or summary as appropriate. As I was now using a digital camera it was easy to take more photographs of each walk.   The blog also allowed other members of the walking group to share with their own family and friends.   So it is quite possible that there were indeed such a large number of views.   Remember that each blog would probably be viewed by the same family member or friend.

“1813 Campaign Diary” was also planned as a long term project.  However I did not understand how blogs worked, so I expected to have to start a new blog for each campaign phase, or mini campaign.   The first one was called “1813 Campaign – Magdeburg” and for some time I created a new blog for each phase.   It would be a few years before I realised that by using the labels function I could separate each campaign phase on one blog.   This system also changed over the years as I developed a better “filing system”.   By its very nature this blog provided content for a new blog post each week, and continues to do so. 

“Napoleonic Wargaming” had no long term plan.   I wanted to be able to post a different subject each week.   Having to work to a timetable is something I enjoy, and prospective readers would know that a new post would come out each Sunday.   It would be a general blog where I could explore all the different aspects of Wargaming this period.   I could explain problems experienced with my ongoing 1813 campaign, or explore different ideas for new maps or rules.   However right from the start it required inspiration for something new each week.   The advantage of wide range choice of subjects is that I could work on posts as and when I had inspiration.   I would often have four or five posts in reserve.   Recently I have found it more difficult to find something new to write about, and I decided to post a summary of my “1813 campaign diary” as a regular series on “Napoleonic Wargaming”.   Each one has a map, a short description of campaign movements and also of the daily battle.  In addition I would comment on the actual wargame, particularly if I had encountered a problem with the rules.

I feel that this latest development has become too much a part of “Napoleonic Wargaming” blog, and I am now looking for something different to break up the weekly posts.  I will let you know when I have found it. 

Ingolstadt Campaign – Day Two

Campaign Map

13 August 1813 – Southern Germany – Day 2

French attack Buxheim and occupy Weichering
7th French army – attack Buxheim
8th French army – hold Amberg
9th French army – occupy Weichering

1st Austrian army – defend Buxheim
2nd Austrian army – advance to border
3rd Austrian army – retreat to Manching

Battle of Buxheim – End of Battle

7th Bavarian army, commanded by Marshal Massena, has orders to attack Buxheim
1st Austrian army, commanded by General Schwartzenberg, has orders to defend Buxheim

Bavarians have10 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery
2 infantry brigades are detached on garrison duty

Austrians have 9 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, and 3 corps artillery
3 infantry brigades are detached on garrison duty

The Austrians know that the French have attacked the town of Weichering, but are not yet aware of the outcome of that battle. 2nd corps is deployed close to the border to observe any enemy movement. 1st and 3rd corps are under orders to move forward at daybreak to support 2nd corps.

Massena is aware that he has lost the element of surprise, and orders his army to advance at first light and attack Buxheim

For the first six moves the battle goes well for Massena.
On the left 21st corps deployed north of the hill, 3rd Austrian corps south of the hill
In the centre the cavalry reserve, and 21 corps artillery, support 20 corps
On the right 19 corps have forced 1st Austrian corps to withdraw from the farm

At the start of move seven the cavalry reserve move forward to engage the Austrian cavalry
They lose both cavalry melee and rout with 10% casualties to each brigade
The Austrians have received no casualties, the nearby artillery fail to hit them at short range
One brigade charge and rout the gunners, the second brigade charge and rout infantry brigade
The Austrian cavalry rally and are still full strength, they have broken the Bavarian centre

Massena abandons his attack on the farm and orders his army to retreat

Cavalry Melee

Comments

In one move an almost certain Bavarian victory turns into complete defeat.

The Bavarian commander combines two cavalry brigades to form a reserve, and puts it in the centre to support his main attack. The Austrian commander quickly follows suit, to counter this move.

This leaves one cavalry brigade, on the right of the table. The Bavarian cavalry charge and rout the Austrian brigade. This leaves them with a decisive advantage on their left flank.

The Bavarian reserve cavalry now advance, to clear the way for the main attack in the centre. They are immediately charged by the Austrian reserve cavalry. The Austrians roll a 5 and a 6, this means the Bavarian cavalry have received 10% casualties to each brigade. They test their morale and roll a 1 and a 2, they fail and both rout

The nearby Bavarian artillery fire on the nearest Austrian brigade, they need a 2 or more to hit at close range, and they roll 1. The Austrian cavalry rally and are both full strength. One brigade charges the gunners, who are too close to react, they rout with 10% casualties. The second brigade charges the nearest infantry brigade. The infantry test morale to form square, they roll a 2, this means they are shaken and cannot react. The cavalry charge home and rout the infantry with 10% casualties.

The Bavarian centre is broken, and worst than that the Austrian reserve cavalry are still full strength. The Bavarian infantry in the centre form square, as do the infantry to their right behind the hill. Both corps start to retreat in square.

The Bavarian left are still in a very strong position. They have driven the enemy out of the farm and sent their grenadier brigade in to take possession. Their cavalry and artillery are pushing back the rest of the Austrian corps. However with the centre and right in retreat, the whole Austrian army can turn on them. So they must also retreat.

A very dramatic end to the battle. But also a very disappointing one. No one likes to win a game, or lose one, solely on the luck of the dice. Very good Austrian dice combined with very poor Bavarian dice has brought about this result. But a game is a game, even if the result will have a dramatic effect on the whole campaign, which is only on day two out of nine.

Ingolstadt Campaign – Day One

Campaign Map

12 August 1813 – Southern Germany – Day 1

The French are deployed to the west of the Nuremberg-Ingolstadt border
They are out of sight of the Austrian army, but are concentrated ready to attack
7th French army – observe enemy
8th French army – observe enemy
9th French army – attack Weichering

The Austrian army is deployed to the east of the Nuremberg-Ingolstadt border
2, 5 and 8 corps are on the border to warn of any attack
The remainder of the army are in reserve to make supply easier
1st Austrian army – defend border
2nd Austrian army – defend border
3rd Austrian army – defend border

Battle of Weichering – Start of Battle

9th French army, commanded by Marshal Ney, attack Weichering
3rd Austrian army, commanded by General Mervedt, defend the border

French have10 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery
2 infantry brigades are detached on garrison duty

Austrian have 9 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, and 3 corps artillery
3 infantry brigades are detached on garrison duty

The French have the element of surprise in this first battle of the campaign
They use this in the south because this is the most difficult area to attack
All three corps are concentrated and will reach the river together

Only one of the three Austrian corps are in position to defend the river
The other two will not be able to reach until the start of move 2

Battle of Weichering – End of Battle

On the left the Austrians have held the hill
The French have supported the centre, and not attacked the hill

Centre the French have forced the Austrians to withdraw
But after a prolonged fire fight have failed to take it

Also in the centre both armies have created a reserve of two cavalry brigades
They struggle for control of the centre, and all four brigades suffer casualties
But the melee is a draw, and both withdraw into reserve

On the right the French have moved through the pass between the two hills
They outflank 7th Austrian corps, who withdraw with one brigade in rout
At nightfall the French hold the hill.

The French have lost 2 cavalry (200 men)
The Austrians have lost 4 infantry and 3 cavalry (1900 men)

Comments

This game objective was to hold at least two of the three hills in the centre of the table.
The Austrians started the game in position on the centre of the three, a big advantage.
In addition the French corps could only cross the river by using one of the three bridges, this was a major disadvantage.

Cavalry can cross hills in column of march, but are not allowed to charge up, down or across.
Artillery can fire onto the hills, but must be on the edge to fire down
These two rules determined how the game would be fought.

The main French attack would be in the centre, but they must first force the Austrians in the centre to retreat out of artillery range of their side of the centre bridge. This was achieved by combining two of the three cavalry brigades to threaten the Austrian gunners.

The Austrian commander took control of two of his three cavalry brigades to counter the French move. This resulted in a prolonged cavalry melee, which ended with all four brigades suffering casualties and withdrawing behind their infantry and artillery.

The French took the right hand hill, the Austrians the left hand hill. This left the centre hill to decide the winner. The French attacked to the left of the main road, where the cavalry melee also took place. The Austrians did withdraw, but kept a grenadier brigade on the centre hill. The French sent two brigades to attack the hill, but there was only space for the leading one to neither side wanted to risk a melee, so it would be a firefight which decided the winner. The Austrians lost 10% casualties, but passed their morale test and were still holding at the end of the game.

Each side held one of the three hills, and the third was still in dispute at the end of the game. The French failed to take two hills, so the Austrians won the game. However the right hand Austrian corps had suffered heavy casualties and had two brigades in rout. With only two corps against the three French, the Austrian commander could not risk a second day. So despite winning the game, the Austrians would have to retreat and abandon Weichering.

Start of Ingolstadt Campaign

1813 Campaign Phases 

This 1813 campaign started in April 2009 and since then there have been 93 campaign phases and 505 battles fought as wargames.    A campaign phase is a mini campaign, and usually lasts 6 campaign days, with a battle being fought on each day.   This map shows the location and winner of each of those campaign phases.  The map used is the latest version, not the original map used in 2009.

1813 Sixth Campaign

During that period there have been six major changes to the campaign.

April 2009               first campaign was solo campaign with paper maps

October 2009          second campaign was computerised and first attempt at PBEM

June 2013               third campaign reached 1814 set in France

February 2015        fourth campaign restarted 1 January 1813

February 2016        fifth campaign reverted to solo campaign

June 2020               sixth campaign created new maps with military regions 

This map shows the 19 phases of the sixth campaign, which has produced 132 battles to wargame.   

Ingolstadt Campaign Phase

This is the campaign map, which is used for daily movement.   It shows the location of the nine Austrian and nine Bavarian and Baden corps on the first day.   It also shows the infantry brigades detached as garrisons to secure the rear area of both armies.  The white star indicates the location of the first battle, which is at Weichering.

This is the second time I have used the larger map showing 15, rather than 12 towns.   This allows for the losing side to launch a counter attack after the campaign objective, which is Ingolstadt, has been taken by the French.   This will allow for a maximum of 9 battles, rather than 6 battles.

Southern Germany is my favourite of the three campaign areas in Germany.   This is because of the colourful uniforms of the Austrian, Bavarian and Baden armies.   At some time in the future I would like to introduce the Tyrol, with the Bavarian “guerrillas” of Andreas Hofer.   But it was a very limited campaign and did not really affect the larger Danube campaign.   However ever since I visited Innsbruck back in the early 1970s I have always wanted to do it!

Resupply in Germany

 

Ingolstadt Campaign Map on day one

Having spent so much time and effort working on supply and lines of communication for the campaign phase in Spain, I find myself back at square one for the three campaign theatre’s in Germany.

My campaign is designed to provide wargames, not to replicate the historical 1813 campaign. But just as I want my wargames to have a flavour of Napoleonic battles, I also want the campaign to have a Napoleonic feel about it. However I don’t believe that lines of supply played a major part in the historical campaign, or at least not to the extent that it did in Spain.

It goes without saying that supply was a major problem for every military commander throughout history, including in the 1813 campaign. But I don’t recall that the campaign in Germany was dominated by it, as it was in Spain.

It would be easy to create a complicated system of supply which would include living off the land. But I doubt that it would be worth the huge amount of effort required. Nor would I want it to affect the campaign objective of providing wargames.

I have decided that the most limiting factor will be the total amount of supplies available to both armies. This will be sufficient to allow them to fight for nine days, providing that they remain within a day’s march of the nearest garrison. They will also have to halt for a full day to resupply, which will prevent them from advancing nonstop. And finally each army will have to detach one infantry brigade to garrison each town within the area they hold. This will mean that the army which has won, and therefore probably suffered fewer casualties, will have to leave one brigade behind as they follow up the retreating enemy. The one retreating will collect the garrisons in the towns they a