The Battle of Peinne

25 September 1813 – Hannover Campaign – Day 2

French advance to the border
Prussians attack Peine

The Prussians occupy Celle and attack Peine
1st Prussian army – occupy Celle
2nd Prussian army – observe Lehtre
3rd Prussian army – attack Peine

1st and 2nd armies move to border, 3rd army retreat
1st French army – advance to border
2nd French army – advance to border
3rd French army – retreat to Soltau

Table at the start of the battle

French are deployed at the top of the photo
5 corps occupy the hill in the centre of the table
4 and 6 corps are either side of the town
All three corps may move at the start of move 1

Prussians are deployed at the bottom of the photo
7 corps on the right
8 corps in the centre
9 corps on the left

The three game objectives are in the centre of the table
Woods on the left, hill in the centre, farm on the right
The army which holds at least two objectives at the end of 12 moves will be the winner

 

Table at the end of the battle

On the right 7th Prussian corps are in firm control of the farm.
4th French corps have been forced to retreat to the woods
Their grenadier brigade launched a last minute counter attack which failed
Two infantry and one cavalry brigade are in rout (blue stars)

Both army commanders have taken command in the centre
Yorck has captured the right hand hill with half of 8th corps
The other half has captured the left hand hill
5th French corps have withdrawn to Peine where they have rallied
Victor holds the area between the town and the woods with three brigades
Two infantry and one cavalry brigades are still in rout behind the town

On the left fighting for the woods continued until the last move
The Prussians took the woods by move 8 (of 12)
6th French corps counter attacked and took two of the three sections
At the start of the last move the Grenadier brigade had just taken the last section
A badly damaged, but well placed, Prussian brigade counter attacked
They caught the grenadiers in flank and routed them, taking back one section
Two French brigades were in position to attack the right hand wood section
Before they could attack they suffered casualties by supporting Prussian artillery
One French brigade routed, the second attacked the woods
Despite 20% casualties the Prussian brigade won the melee and held the woods

At nightfall the Prussians held two game objectives, the third was still in dispute
Consequently the Prussians won the battle.

French lost 11 infantry, 2 cavalry and 2 gunners (4800 casualties)
Prussians lost 6 infantry, 1 cavalry and 2 gunners (2700 casualties)
7 French brigades were in rout and 3 Prussian brigades

Comments

The second battle of the campaign was a more convincing win for the Prussians. They clearly held two of the three battle objectives, and were clear winners

The French had suffered almost twice as many casualties
However numbers alone can be misleading.
As often happens, the game was won (or lost) in the last 4 of 12 moves

The first four moves are usually getting in position and preparing to attack

The next four are artillery and cavalry trying to achieve an advantage for the attacker
It is during the last four that the infantry attack and hold, or lose, the objectives

This game was no exception to that general rule
The infantry skirmish and melee actions are very dependent on the dice
The attacking army usually attempts to take two of the three objectives
If the CinC has created a reserve this is often now committed
So the attacker may well have an advantage in the final two moves

If is during moves 11 and 12 that most casualties occur
The winning side has easy pickings are the losers break and retreat
This is why the casualties are often very one sided

In this game the French appeared very strong on the left and right on move 10
They were well placed to counter attack the farm and the woods
Both sides rolled both good and poor dice during those two moves
But the Prussian good dice came at the right time
The French were less lucky.

Another tense and very enjoyable wargame.

Wargaming the French Imperial Garde

French First Army at (fictional) battle of Hildesheim

I suspect that most, if not all, Napoleonic wargamers have at least one unit of French Garde, probably Old Guard grenadiers. I also suspect that most struggle to actually have a wargame with them. Their historical role was to form a strategic and tactical reserve under Napoleon’s personal command. They consisted of the best soldiers in his army, and were too valuable to risk in battle.

When I created my 1813 campaign my aim was to wargame with ALL of my model soldiers and use all of my scenery. This meant I had to find a role for both Napoleon and his Imerial Garde.

My Napoleonic order of battle consists of five Army Groups. There is one allied and one French in north Germany, Central Germany, Southern Germany, Northern Spain and Southern Spain.

Each army group has three armies. Each army has three corps. Each corps has 4 infantry and 1 cavalry brigades, plus corps artillery. There are 45 French corps, of which one is Old Guard and four are Young Guard. Each army group has one Guard corps. The Old Guard corps is part of First French army, which is commanded by Napoleon.

                                                   1st French (Old Guard) corps

1 Guard Grenadier brigade CA FB SC

2 Guard Grenadier brigade CB FB SC

3 Guard Chasseur brigade CB FC SB

4 Guard Chasseur brigade CB FC SB

1 Horse chasseur brigade CA Light

2 Guard foot artillery CB 12 pounder

C(lass) is morale, F(ire) is musket fire, S(kirmish) is skirmish ability
A is excellent and plus 1, B is average, C is poor and minus 1)

 

2nd French line corps

25 infantry brigade CA FB SB

26 infantry brigade CB FC SB

27 infantry brigade CC FC SB

28 infantry brigade CC FC SC

2 cavalry brigade CB dragoons

3 foot artillery CB 9 pounder

2nd and 3rd French corps have similar orders of battle

The Old Guard corps has slightly better morale than other corps.
Their musket fire is less effective than other corps
Grenadiers have poor skirmish ability, Chasseurs are average.

Each of the other corps in First Army have slightly lower morale
Their musket fire is less effective than other corps
Their skirmish ability is average because they are French troops.

You will see that the Old Guard brigades are only slightly better than other brigades
And the brigades of the other two armies are slightly worse than other armies

Each battle/wargame is decided by who wins at least two of three objectives.
Each objective is held, and attacked, by one corps
So at best the Old Guard brigade has a slightly better chance to taking the objective
But this is balanced by the other two corps having a slightly worse chance.

The explanation has proved more difficult than I anticipated, but I hope it makes sense. It is much more simple on the wargames table, where even the Old Guard grenadiers can be defeated by a Prussian landwehr brigade, if the dice is favourable to the Prussian player.

Battle of Celle

24 September 1813 – Northern Germany – Day 1

The campaign opens with a Prussian surprise attack on Hannover district

The Prussians are deployed to the east of the Hannover-Brunswick border
They are out of sight of the French, but are concentrated ready to attack
1st Prussian army – attack Celle
2nd Prussian army – observe Lehtre
3rd Prussian army – observe Peine

The French are deployed to the west of the Hannover-Brunswick border
One corps from each army is deployed on the border
The remainder are in reserve for ease of resupply
1st French army – defend Lehtre
2nd French army – defend Peine
3rd French army – defend Celle

Table at start of battle

French are deployed at the top of the photo
HQ, 7th and 9th corps are in and around the walled town of Celle
8th corps is in front of the town either side of the main road

The Prussians are marching towards Celle at the bottom of the table
Blucher has taken command of half of 2nd corps on the left of the main road

There are three battle objectives
Woods on the left, hill in the centre, village on the right
The army who occupy at least two objectives at the end of 12 moves will win the battle

French HQ, 7th and 9th corps cannot move until the start of move 2

Table at end of battle

On the left the late arrival of 9th French corps allowed the Prussians to take the southern half of the woods, and their cavalry and artillery forced the French to deploy north of the woods. They continued to hold the woods throughout the battle.

8th French corps occupied the hill in the centre at the start of the battle, and bore the brunt of the Prussian attack. 2nd Prussian corps advanced between the woods and the hill, supported by Blucher with cavalry and artillery from 1st corps. Two infantry brigades stormed and took the hill. However a late counter attack by the grenadier brigade from 8th French corps took it back in the closing moves of the battle.

On the right the French occupied the village before the 1st Prussian corps could reach it. Murat took command of the village and 7th corps cavalry. His independent command played a major role in holding the village throughout the battle.

Comments

The late arrival of two of the three French corps allowed the Prussians to attack all three objectives before the French could fully deploy. This allowed them to take the woods on the left and the hill in the centre. The village on the right was further north, and the French occupied it before the Prussians could.

By move 8 the Prussians held the woods and the hill, and were deployed to attack the village on the right. They only needed to hold two of the three objectives to win the battle, and that outcome seemed to have been achieved.

However the attack on the village was foiled by Murat’s bold counter attack. He held the village with two infantry brigades, and the cavalry in support. As the Prussians approached the village he led the French dragoons forward. The Prussian hussars charged to hold them, but lost the melee and routed. The dragoons then charged the nearby artillery, forcing the gunners to seek shelter in a nearby square and the attack Prussian infantry to halt and form square. The Prussian attack was in disorder and the village held until the end of the game.

On the hill in the centre two Prussian infantry brigades had routed the two French brigades and secured the hill. 8th French corps had been soundly beaten and three of the four infantry brigades were in rout. The northern end of the hill was very narrow, and only one Prussian brigade would deploy there, which they did facing north towards the retreating French infantry. The defeat of the Prussian attack on the village allowed 7th French corps to send their grenadier to retake the hill. They managed a flank attack on the Prussian brigade, which was an automatic rout. The supporting landwehr brigade failed their morale test and also routed. During move 12, the last of the game, the French grenadiers took control of the hill.

At the last moment victory was snatched from the Prussians by this daring counter attack.

The French have lost 12 infantry, 2 cavalry and 2 artillery casualties (5200 men)
The Prussians have lost 6 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery casualties (1000 men)

Despite winning the battle the French are in a very dangerous position, and in no condition to fight a second day. They have lost twice as many casualties as the Prussians and their centre has gone. As night falls Murat orders a general retreat and abandons Celle.

This ws a really enjoyable game, even for me as the Prussian commander.