Wargame Rules Review – Fifth Wargame

Start of wargame

Good defensive position for 2^nd Russian army

The woods on the left, and the inn on the right, help the defence

The French have to cross hills in the centre and right

This will greatly slow down their advance.

 

Both armies start the game with heavy casualties.

5 Russian brigades have 10% casualties

There are also one cavalry and one infantry brigades missing

This is due to concentrating surplus battle casualties

 

8 French brigades have 10% casualties

One infantry brigade is missing due to surplus battle casualties

End of wargame

The French have captured the woods on the left and the inn on the right

However they have failed to attack the Russian centre

This is because they lost both cavalry brigades trying to capture the Russian guns

The Russian cavalry were also routed by French artillery fire

But the delay halted the French advance in the centre

 

The Russian centre and right withdrew closer to the town in good order

The woods delayed this withdrawal, and resulted in the main Russian casualties

 

At nightfall the Russians were redeployed around the town

But they had suffered 4 infantry, 3 artillery and 1 cavalry casualties

They also had five brigades in rout

The French suffered 1 infantry and 2 cavalry casualties

They had two brigades in rout

 

Comments

At this stage of the campaign all corps have suffered battle casualties

This makes their brigades morale very brittle, and more likely to rout

It is particularly difficult to attack when this happens

The defender can fire on the attacker as they move into artillery range

 

The attacker must weaken the defending infantry with artillery fire

Or he must take out the defending artillery with his cavalry

Both are difficult if his artillery and cavalry start with casualties

 

At long range 9 pdr guns require 6 with 1D6

12 pdr guns require 5 or 6 with 1D6

The Russians had two 12 pdr batteries

The French had only one 12 pdr battery.

 

The French had better cavalry, but both brigades had 10% casualties

They charged the left and centre Russian artillery

Both received casualties, both failed their morale

One brigade routed, the other was shaken

The shaken brigade was counter charged by a Cossack brigade and routed.

 

Once more dice played an important part in this game

The French had better dice and rolled four sixes

The Russians had poor dice and rolled four ones

This added to the “ebb and flow of the game, but did not dominate play

 

We are now comfortable with the new rules and the game flows much better

However we are also very nervous when rolling dice!

 

We both feel that the new rules add a lot to our enjoyment of our wargaming