End of Halle Campaign

Campaign Map on 10 November 1813

Having lost the battle of Radegast, 3^rd and 4^th Russian corps have to retreat.  This takes them off the campaign map and out of the campaign.   Although 1^st and 2^nd Russian corps had won the two day battle of Gerbstedt, they were now outnumbered by four French to two Russian corps.   They also retreated, again off the map.

So the French are clear winners of the Halle campaign.

Campaign Phases in Central Germany

This map shows the location, and sequence, of each phase of the current campaign in Central Germany.   You will see that the French have won six of the seven phases fought.

The Halle campaign lasted 9 days and there were five battles.  The French won three, the Russians two

                                          

The campaign started on 14 April and ended on 12 May 2020

Campaign Notes   

We completed this campaign a little faster than usual.   This was partly because we have had more time to wargame during our strict lockdown here in Spain.   But it was also influenced by a run of bad luck for the Russian Army.   They lost the first two battles, which forced them to retreat to the north edge of the campaign map.  

The first battle of Gerbstadt was a draw, but really a French victory which they did  not have time to complete.  The second battle was the only Russian win of the campaign.

The fifth battle, another French victory, forced the Russians to retreat off the map and out of the campaign.

It is strange that  the Russians have suffered a whole string of defeats throughout the campaign so far, reflected in them losing six of the seven phases.  

I am at a loss to explain why this should be so.  

The wargames decide the winner of each campaign phase.   Because our games are so balanced, and both Jan and I know the rules so well, the winner of each game tends to be the one who has the best dice.   As a result out of 34 games fought in this area, the French won 18 and the Russians 15, with one draw.   So the game results were fairly even. 

I am not good at working out odds, but they must be quite high against this result.   Given that the actual games won were not too uneven, the loss of the campaign might have been due to strategy or tactics.

Because I have been aware of this unbalance for some time, I have taken command of different armies for each of the past four phases.   However the luck seems to pass from Jan to me with the change of command.