Hildesheim Campaign – Day One

 

19 August 1813 – Northern Germany Day 1

The campaign opens with a Prussian surprise attack on Hildesheim district

The Prussians are deployed to the east of the Goslar-Hildesheim border
They are out of sight of the French, but are concentrated ready to attack
1st Prussian army – observe Seesen
2nd Prussian army – observe Holle
3rd Prussian army – attack Harsum

The French are deployed to the west of the Goslar-Hildesheim border
One corps from each army is deployed on the border
The remainder are in reserve for ease of resupply
1st French army – defend Holle
2nd French army – defend Harsum
3rd French army – defend Seesen

Battle of Harsum – End of Move 2

The winner must occupy at least two of the three game objectives

Village on the left
Woods in the centre
Hill on the right

The Prussians start the game with a considerable advantage
All three corps enter the table at the start of move one

One French corps occupies the woods in the centre at the start of the game
The other two corps will not arrive until the start of move 2

On the left the Prussians reach the village first, however it is occupied by one brigade
They send two brigades to attack the village, the rest deploy to slow the Prussian advance
The French occupy the village on move 10, but lose it on move 12

At nightfall neither side hold this objective

In the centre the Prussian gunners are routed by the French gunners
Without artillery support the Prussians are unable to attack the woods
At nightfall the French hold this objective

Only infantry can fight on the hill on the right
Both CinC lead three infantry brigades to take the hill
After a prolonged melee all six brigades are routed
However the Prussians rally first and take the hill
At nightfall the Prussians hold this objective

Neither side has taken two of the three objectives
But there are three Prussian brigades in rout and only one French brigade
The French are declared the winner

Comments

Very interesting and enjoyable first game of the new campaign
The Prussians should have won, they had the advantage of surprise
This translated to all three corps arriving on the table at the start of move 1

The French had one brigade on the table at the start of move 1
But the other two would not arrive until the start of move 2

As always luck played an important part in the game
Artillery fire on gunners is usually ineffective
It takes a roll of 6, with a six sided dice, to hit gunners
Yet in the centre the Prussian gunners were hit three times
This is a compulsory rout, and they were out of the game
Without artillery the Prussian corps could not attack the centre objective

The Prussians took the village on the left towards the end of the game
However the French had their best skirmish brigade to counter attack
They also redeployed their artillery to fire on the garrison at short range
In the last two moves they caused three casualties (30%) to the garrison
The Prussians routed and abandoned the village
It was too late for the French to occupy the village
And the Prussians had an elite brigade ready to counter if they did

The most interesting part of the game was the infantry battle for the hill on the right
In my current rules only infantry can fight on hills, cavalry and artillery can move but not fight
Both CinC took command of three brigades of infantry each and marched onto the hill
Only two brigades on each side could deploy to skirmish or melee.
Over a period of three moves all six brigades were routed
The Prussians went first, but also rallied first, and were able to return and occupy the hill

Not a good result from the campaign point of view
The attacking side have lost the first battle, and will have to retreat

Hildesheim Campaign – Introduction

Europe

The next campaign phase is set in northern Germany and the objective is to take the city of Hildesheim. This will be the 94th campaign phase since we started the 1813 campaign in April 2009. This map shows the location, and winner, of each of those phases.

This is not the original campaign map. In July 2021 I created a series of maps covering all of Europe and divided into fictional regional areas. This was to avoid the difficulty of researching actual maps and trying to confirm national and regional boundaries in 1813, plus location of rivers and mountains. I divided Europe into 33 military regions, each of 9 districts. Each district is a campaign phase, and has 9 towns each of which is a wargame table.

North Germany

This may shows the new military regions and districts. But it also shows the historical national boundaries, such as France, Hannover, Westphalia and Prussia. This is only for information, and to help orientate. The rivers shown do not follow their actual rout, but are so that I can include them in the campaign.

There are three regions in North Germany
Osnabruck Region – French rear area
Brunswick Region – campaign area
Berlin Region – Prussian rear area

Brunswick Region

There are nine districts in Brunswick Region

There have been 24 battles fought in this region

The French have won 13 and the Prussians11
Each star shows the location of a battle fought

Hildesheim Campaign

The campaign is fought between the French held city of Hildesheim, and the Prussian held city of Goslar.

First French army is commanded by Napoleon. It is divided into three armies, each of three corps. They are deployed to the left of the border. The map shows the location of each of the nine corps at the start of the campaign phase.

The Prussian army is commanded by Blucher. It also has three armies each of three corps. They are deployed to the right of the border. Their objective is to take and hold the city of Hildesh

Infantry Combat and Morale Values - The Solution

Typical Austrian Corps

All corps of all nationalities, except for the French Old Guard and the Spanish Army, will have the same combat and morale value as follows:

1 infantry brigade CA FB SC
2 infantry brigade CB FC SA
3 infantry brigade CB FB SB
4 infantry brigade CC FC SC

1 cavalry brigade CB

1 artillery brigade CB

C indicates the class of troops, used for morale
F indicates firepower, used for volley fire
S indicated skirmish ability

A are elite and will add plus 1 for combat or morale
B are trained
C are conscript and will be minus 1

In addition each casualty will deduce 1 for both combat and morale tests

In the past the same grades were used, but each brigade had a different combination of plus or minus for morale, volley fire or skirmish. This made it difficult to compare and identify different abilities on the wargame table. The order of battle sheet had to be consulted each time there was a combat or morale test.

In future the first brigade will be elite, and where possible grenadier figures will be used
They will be ideal for hand to hand fighting, average for volley fire and poor for skirmishing

The second brigade will be excellent skirmishers and jager, riflemen or light infantry figures used
They will be most suited for open order fighting, average for morale and poor for volley fire

The third brigade will be standard, trained infantry, line infantry figures used to represent them
They will be average for morale, volley fire and skirmish

The fourth brigade will be poor quality and landwehr or militia figures used when possible
They will be poor for morale, volley fire and skirmish.

This will make it very easy to allocate the most suitable brigade to each task, and also make it easier to identify them on the table.

 

French Old Guard

This is the only exception, apart from Spanish infantry. They are the elite of the French army, but by 1813 were not on a par with the Imperial Garde before the Russian campaign. I wanted them to be different from the other corps, but I may change my mind about that after play testing.

1 infantry brigade CA FB SC
2 infantry brigade CB FB SB
3 infantry brigade CB FC SA
4 infantry brigade CC FC FC

1 cavalry brigade CB

1 artillery brigade CB

The first two brigades are grenadiers, the last two chasseurs. So the elite skirmishers are in the third brigade. The fourth brigade are conscripts.

Typical Spanish corps

I have sufficient figures for four Spanish corps, but only enough cavalry for two corps. This was deliberate, because I wanted the Spanish to be weak in cavalry.

1 infantry brigade CB FC SC
2 infantry brigade CC FC SC
3 infantry brigade CB FC SB
4 infantry brigade CC FC SC
1 cavalry brigade CB 
1 artillery brigade CB 

At present I am using a completely different order of battle for the Spanish. This is because even in 1813 they were inferior to the French infantry, even to the conscripts. This will be very hard to replicate on the wargames table.

In addition only half of the Spanish corps have cavalry, which leaves them at a huge disadvantage.
To counter this I have increased their armies to four corps, rather than the three in all other armies.
They will also have the advantage of large bodies of guerrilla brigades to attack French lines of supply.

Once more I may change my mind about this after a period of play testing.  

Infantry Combat and Morale Values - The Problem

 

Typical Bavarian Corps 

All of the corps in my campaign, except for a few Spanish, have the same order of battle.

4 infantry brigades
1 cavalry brigade
1 corps artillery

I have always retained an element of national characterists in the infantry brigades, despite wanting both commanders to have an equal chance of winning on the table top. The order of battle for a typical Bavarian corps is as follows:

1 infantry brigade 4000 CA FB SB
2 infantry brigade 4000 CB FC SB
3 infantry brigade 4000 CC FC SC
4 infantry brigade 4000 CC FC SC
9 cavalry brigade 1000 CB light
9 corps artillery 1000 CB 12 pounders

The combat ability and morale of each infantry brigade is shown in the three columns on the right. C is class, F is firepower and S is skirmish ability

A is elite, B is average, C is poor.

All of these are affected by casualties, with one casualty (10%) reducing all three by one
For example a class A skirmisher becomes the same as class B with one casualty.

These abilities are different for each nation, but also for each corps within all armies. There are 1440 infantry brigades in the current campaign order of battle, and every one is slightly different.

Deploying an army on the wargames table requires some study of the ability of each infantry brigade, taking into account which have casualties. When I adopted this system, many years ago, I liked complicated rules and really enjoyed pondering the strengths and weakeness of each brigade in my army. But at that time we used to wargame once a week, at best. I did not run a campaign, so each wargame was stand alone. I was quite happy to spend considerable time planning each wargame and trying to be very clever pitting different abilities on the table. At that time I ran a wargames club from my garage, and we used my figures and scenery. There were up to 10 players, of very different abilities, knowledge of the rules and even interest in Wargaming. The games were mostly every march to the centre of the table, rolls lots of dice have plenty of casualties and fight until the last man standing – or we got to 11pm and the game just ended. Next week a different game with no reference to the outcome of the last one.

My wargaming is now confined to battles derived from my campaign, and my only opponent is my wife Jan. Over the years, and particularly since we retired, our preferred type of wargame has changed drastically. We started our 1813 campaign in April 2009 to provide us with interesting and enjoyable wargames. Since then we have played 511 wargames generated by the campaign. That works out at about 32 games a year. Our preferred type would now be called “fun”, as opposed to “aggressive”.

That is a lot of wargames to transfer from the campaign map to the wargames table, which is my job. I also deploy both armies on the table, though Jan can (and often does) amend the location within the game guidelines. To do so she has to study the combat ability of each corps in her army. It is to make this process easier that I am rewriting the orders of battle.

I will explain the new order of battle in the next post.