Wargame Rules Review – Fourth Wargame

Start of wargame

Another open battlefield, but with woods on both Russian flanks

This type of terrain gives an advantage to the defenders

Especially in this game, when the Russians have less cavalry than the French

Russians are deployed in the middle of the table

French will arrive at the bottom at the start of move 1

Both armies start the game with medium casualties

This means brittle morale for both sides

 

The Russian CinC has taken command of both cavalry brigades

However they are both Cossack and one has 10% casualties

He had kept them in reserve in the centre

 

The Russian artillery are superior to the French

They have two 12 pounder batteries, which add plus one when firing

None start with casualties

End of wargame

 

French have three cavalry brigades to Russian two brigades

They are also better quality.

However they have only one 12 pounder artillery battery

Two of the three batteries start with 10% casualties

 

As the French advance they come within range of the Russian guns

However the Russian gunners roll very low dice, and fail to inflict any casualties

The French artillery open fire, but the infantry and cavalry remain out of range.

 

The Russian infantry withdraw to the second line of woods, to avoid artillery fire

This allows the infantry to advance on both flanks

However they must weaken the Russian artillery before the centre can advance

 

The Russian cavalry advance to support the centre

The French artillery on the right cause 10% damage to the Russian gunners

They fail morale and are shaken

Worse still the Russian cavalry are less than 4” behind, and also lose casualties

They fail their morale and rout.

 

The French cavalry advance in the centre, the Russians fail to inflict casualties

The cavalry charge and the gunners seek safety with the nearby infantry

 

All three Russian artillery and cavalry are all now out of action

This allows the French infantry in the centre to advance

The Russians start to withdraw towards the town, leaving their artillery behind

 

Comments

This game has highlighted the increased importance of the dice roll

The Russians rolled low for both artillery fire and morale tests

Morale was already low due to previous battle casualties

Five French brigades, and six Russian, started the game with 10% casualties

This meant a minus 1 on each combat or morale throw.

 

The Russians should have won this game.

They had more infantry

They had better artillery

They had a strong defensive position

 

The French had more, and better, cavalry

But they also had battle casualties and hence brittle morale

So they did not dare to risk the Russian artillery in the centre

The flank attacks would almost certainly take too long

Particularly as the Russian infantry withdrew rather than risk a fight

 

The game was decided by a particularly good French dice throw (a six)

And two particularly poor Russian throws (a one and a two)

 

It could just as easily have gone the other way, and the French lost

 

This is the result I was looking for when I changed the rules

Neither side made any tactical errors

Without the dice the game would almost certainly have ended in a draw