16 April 1813 –
Northern Germany - Day 4
1st Prussian and 2nd French armies both regroup and resupply
In the centre 3rd French army attack 2nd Prussian army at Gadebusch
1st French army retreat to Wolfsburg, followed by 3rd
Prussian army
Battle of
Gadebusch end of move 12
Both armies start the battle with considerable casualties, particularly in the cavalry.
The campaign is going bad for the Prussians, and Blucher must hold Gadebusch until he received confirmation of what happened at Fletchingen.
The casualties made individual brigades very brittle and
prone to lose morale tests. However
because they applied to both sides, they largely cancelled each other out.
This may explain why the wargame went the full twelve
rounds
And until move 11 it could easily have gone to either
side
But as soon as the tide turned against the Prussians it soon became a rout
Comments
Making each army group larger and having three armies per side in the campaign is really working well.
When there were four corps per side in each campaign area
games tended to be smaller, usually one corps per side. The aim was to develop the campaign into
slightly larger games and finally one big one with all four corps per
side. But that was difficult to achieve,
and I only managed it once or twice.
I have to start the administration for the next day. This includes updating the supply situation of both corps and depots then writing orders for each corps. These orders are then plotted on the campaign map. If a battle results I have to create the initial battle report and battle maps. Casualty lists have to be amended to show current strengths and the wargames table has to be set up and the figures deployed from the map. This requires at least one more day.
So there were often many days, or even a week, before the end of one game and the start of the next.
With the new system I know in advance which of the three areas will be the location of the next battle/wargame. Before the current game has ended I can prepare the administration of the next day for that particular area. I can also update the order of battle for the two armies and even prepare the battle/wargame map for the next game.
This was all part of the general plan when I increased the orders of battle from four to six corps in each phase. But it has worked much better in practice than I had dared hope.
Thistlebarrow,
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that both sides were weakened but still managed to fight almost to the end of the day.
Your new organisation certainly seems to be making your wargaming easier for you, which must be a big plus for you.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteThe new organisation makes the campaign flow much more smoothly.
But it is the rule change that has made such a big difference to the wargames. In particular melee and firefight seem to be resolved much quicker.
And at this stage of the campaign most brigades have some battle casualties, and these often cancel each other out. But they are most telling during morale.
All in all I am very pleased with the recent changes.
regards
Paul