The Battle of Soltau

27 September 1813 – Hannover Campaign – Day 4

French retreat to Hannover to regroup army group
Prussians attack Soltau

The Prussians occupy Lehtre and attack Soltau
1st Prussian army – attack Soltau
2nd Prussian army – occupy Lechtre
3rd Prussian army – regroup at Peine

The French retreat to Hannover and defend Soltau
1st French army – retreat to Hannover
2nd French army – regroup at Laatzen
3rd French army – defend Soltau

Table at start of battle

Both armies are deployed on the table at the start of the battle
3rd French army are at the top, on or around the three objectives
1st Prussian army are at the bottom advancing in column of march

Marshal Murat had taken command of half of 8th corps on the right hand hill
General Kleist has taken command of half of 1st corps on the far right

There are three game objectives
Woods on the left
Hill in the centre
Farm on the right
The army who holds two at the end of 12 moves is the winner

Table at the end of the battle

The main Prussian attack was in the centre and on the left

3rd Prussian corps attacked the woods on the left.
The French fought hard to hold the woods, resulting in heavy casualties
The arrangement of the woods make it difficult to defend
The Prussians easily took the nearest section disrupting the whole defence
The French were driven from the other two sections
They counter attacked, but eventually had to retreat

2nd Prussian corps concentrated on the two hills either side of the road
Once taken they advanced either side of the hill
Their cavalry held the area between the hills and the woods
Their artillery advanced between the hill and the farm
This allowed them to support 1st corps attack on the farm.

General Kleist took command of half of 1st corps
He deployed the cavalry and artillery to pin the French on the extreme right
He did not take much part in the fighting, but did allow the infantry to attack the farm
Most of 7th French corps were deployed behind the farm, safe from Prussian artillery
The Prussians took the farm, but lost it to a late French counter attack

At nightfall the Prussians hold two of the three objectives
The French hold one of the three objectives
The Prussians win the battle

The French have lost 10 infantry, 2 cavalry and 2 artillery casualties (4400 men)
The Prussians have lost 10 infantry casualties (4000 men)

The French have 10 brigades in rou
The Prussians have 3 brigades in rout

Comments
From the casualties this appears to be a close run battle.
But the French have 10 brigades in rout, the Prussians only 3 brigades

On the left only one French brigade is left to cover the rout of 9th corps
Only one Prussian brigade is in rout

In the centre two French brigades are deployed in front of Soltau
Three brigades are trying to rally behind the town

All of 2nd Prussian corps, less one brigade, are formed ready to attack

On the right 7th French corps are firmly in control of the farm
Only one infantry brigade and the corps artillery are in rout
However 1st Prussian corps is redeployed ready to counter attack
2nd Prussian corps artillery are deployed to support them

Marshal Murat would be unwise to attempt to fight a second day of battle.

He could leave 7th corps in Soltau, forcing Kleist to lay siege to the town.
But he would find it difficult to regroup 8th and 9th corps to relieve the siege.

This must be considered a convincing Prussian victory

Designing my fictional 1813 maps of Europe

 

Map of Europe

Previously I explained how I created my 1813 armies.   All were designed to fit on my 6x6 foot wargames table.   I would now have to design my campaign.  

The most important part of a campaign is the campaign map.   It was essential that I would be able to transfer the battles on the campaign map to the wargames table.    Thus my 6x6 foot table had to be the building block of my fictional campaign map of Germany and Spain.    It took many years to develop my current map, or rather series of maps.

I started with a road map atlas of Europe and tried to make each square a wargames table.   This proved impossible.   I experimented with having the atlas as a strategic map, and a series of home made tactical maps.  It was a lot of work, and it never felt right.   It was impossible to recreate mountain ranges, rivers and keep major cities and towns as strategic objectives.

From the start my 1813 world would be divided into five theatres of war.   In Germany there would be north (French v Prussian), centre (French v Russians) and south (Bavarian v Austrian).   In Spain there would be north (French v English) and south (French v Spanish).

The campaign would have to be divided into an endless series of mini campaigns.   Each would be about the size of the Waterloo campaign.   Each would provide about 6 battles to wargame, and last about two months real time.

Eventually I came up with a fictional map, or rather a series of maps.  

Above is my map of Europe.  The map is divided into countries and then military Regions.   Regional borders are shown in purple.   For example there are four regions in Spain and two in Portugal.   Each region is divided into nine military Districts.   Each district is a mini campaign area.   The white lines show the five campaign theatres as explained above.   You will see that there are three regions in each theatre, providing a possible 27 mini campaigns.  Each square on this map is a mini campaign.

North Germany Theatre Map

Each theatre has a map showing the three military regions in much more detail.   This is the one for North Germany.  The 27 districts are shown in purple dotted lines.   Each district is a mini campaign, each smaller square is a wargames table.   This map shows the main terrain features, which are based on actual rivers, cities and towns.   The road system is fictional, red lines show major roads connecting regional cities, the yellow roads connect towns within a region.   There is one city for each District, which becomes the mini campaign objective.    Main rivers are shown, but do not follow their actual course.

Hannover Campaign Map

This map is used for the campaign movement.   It covers half of two districts, both Hannover and Brunswick, in order to show the main supply depot of both armies.   It would also be used if the attacking Prussians failed in their attempt to take Hannover, and had to retreat towards Brunswick.

Each small square is a 2x2 foot square on the wargames table.   There are nine tables shown, each has nine squares within a black dotted line.   Each table has a city or town, which would be the game objective.

This map is very detailed and shows not only the city and towns, but also villages villages and farms.   It also shows hills and woods.   Each square is numbered, which corresponds with the number of the table 2x2 foot square.   As well as the main (red) roads and secondary (yellow) roads, it also shows unmarked tracks (brown).

Hannover Campaign Map

This shows the deployment of both French and Prussian corps on the morning of 26 September 1813.   The stars shows the centre of the battle for Lehtre, with 2^nd Prussian army advancing to attack 1^st French army.

Start of battle of Lehtre wargame

This shows the wargames table at the start of the wargame.   The nine map squares have been transferred to the wargames table using the nine scenic terrain squares with the same numbers.  Each square has a terrain feature which can be used in the battle report.   The three squares at the top is the French reserve area.  The town in the centre is Lehtre, which is the campaign battle objective.   The three squares in the centre are the wargame objectives.   The side which holds at least two of the three will win the battle/wargame.   The three squares nearest to the camera is the Prussian deployment area.

The corps are shown in the same position as on the map.   At the start of the wargame the attacking Prussian army has been deployed on the table at the bottom of the photo.   This is to speed up the initial moves when the attacking army would have to march onto the table.   There is a gap of 20” between the two armies, longer than long range artillery fire which is 12”.

The campaign and its mapping system sounds very complicated when I try to explain it.  But I hope you will see from the above that it is really very simple.  Setting up the table from the map only takes about half an hour, and is just a matter of following the map numbers and corps symbols.

Designing buildings and woods

  

Commercial buildings

When I left the UK almost all of my wargame buildings were commercial, mostly from Hovels.   I collected a large collection of 15mm north European and Spanish buildings. This photo does not really do them justice, as they are two or three deep. I choose 15m because I planned to have 18mm and 28mm duplicate armies. I painted both, but now only use the 28mm figures. I found that the 15mm buildings looked “right” with the 28mm figures.

My home made town walls are also on this shelf, plus a large collection of German paper buildings which are more suitable for the 18mm figures.

North Europe buildings

There are kept on my main shelves, where I also keep my 18mm and 28mm armies. The 28mm are one corps to a base as shown. Once more the photo does not do them justice, but you can see them all on the 531 campaign battles/wargames recorded on my 1813 campaign diary blog. Slightly more than half are suitable for Germany, slightly less for Spain.

Most of these buildings are scratch built and there are:
Two villages, including church
Two walled farms/manor house
One inn
Hedges and stone walls to create farms
Four churches for cities and towns
10 scratch build houses to create a wide variety of towns, when used with Hovels

 

Spanish buildings

Again these are scratch built and consist of:
Two walled villas
Two villages including church
Farm buildings to use with hedges and stone walls
Four windmills, popular on Peninsular battlefields
10 town buildings to create towns when used with Hovels

Four windmills  

The four boxes on the top shelf have stone wall and hedge sections
About half are bought and the remainder scratch built.

Woods

I have about 40 commercial trees. All are 15mm, which look right with 28mm figures. All woods consist of a dark green felt cut to irregular shapes to create different size of woods. The trees are free standing, and can be removed when I want to move model soldiers through the woods.

Villages

All built up areas are free standing. Villages can be open or walled and have one church and two buildings. They are placed on a 6x6 inch piece of light brown felt. Buildings can be removed to allow movement or fighting inside the village.

 

Towns

Each town has two pieces of felt. They consist of one church and six buildings, mostly scratch built. There are a sufficient churches and buildings to allow for a wide variety of towns. Larger Hovels buildings are sometimes used to add variety.

 

Cities

Cities have four pieces of felt, and take up most of one square. A combination of Hovels and scratch built town houses are used to populate the city. Our largest Spanish or German church is used on one square, and one large Hovels building on each of the others. We have pretty basic city walls which can be used if necessary. This photo shows our campaign version of Ratisbon, which bears no resemblance to the actual city at all!

In our next post I will explain how it all comes together in the campaign.

Designing my wargame table

Table at the start of a wargame

The wargames table is 6x6 foot and has space for nine 2x2 foot scenic squares. It must be capable of creating any battlefield on the campaign maps.

Scenic boards side A

I have made 21 scenic squares from 2” thick hardboard. Each board is numbered 1 to 21 on the side. The boards are painted green, then roads and rivers painted on them. Seven of those boards have hills, which are made from pollyfilla. Because of the hills these seven boards can only be used on one side.

Scenic boards side B

The remaining 14 are have scenery on both sides. This means that there are 36 different combinations. It may seem confusing that those 15 boards are only numbered once, but it is immediately obvious which side should be used when compared with the campaign map.

The five hill boards, numbered 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 21.
They consist of 3 oblong hills, 2 ridges and 2 passes.

There are seven river sections, numbered 9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15.

There are 3 straight sections with roads, 2 straight sections and 2 bends

There are nine blank sections, numbered 7,8,13,14,15.17.18,19 and 20
These are used for buildings and towns

There are four straight road sections, numbered 10.11.12.16 and 20

There are four T junctions, numbered 8,9,18 and 19

There are two curved road sections, numbered 16 and 17

There is one cross roads, numbered 7

This is the only board used on every single wargame
It is always used with the city, which has four town sections.

Comments on scenic boards
All of these scenic boards were made before we set up a single wargame, so the different types required were guess work. The exception if 21, when I found that I needed more than two oblong hill sections.

Given that it was all guess work, I was really pleased to find that they work remarkably well. I have never had a campaign map which I could not recreate using these scenic boards.

Some have been used more than others. I hardly ever use the two curved road boards, numbered 16 and 17. But the reverse sides, straight road on 16 and blank on 17, are both used all of the time.

The sections most in demand are the blanks. I often have to adjust the first draft of the campaign map when I find I do not have sufficient blanks.

Next time I will cover the scenery required to make up each scenic block.

The Battle of Lehtre

26 September 1813 – Hannover Campaign – Day 3

French abandon Peine
Prussians attack Lehtre

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

The French retreat to Laatzen and defend Lehtre
1st French army – hold border
2nd French army – retreat to Laatzen
3rd French army – regroup at Soltau

Table at the start of the battle

All three French corps are deployed on and around the objectives
1st Guard corps on the right, 2nd corps in the centre and 3rd corps on the left

Prussian corps are deployed closer to the camera
4th corps on the right, 5th corps in the centre and 6th corps on the left

There are three game objectives
Woods on the left, hill in the centre and fortified farm on the right
The army who holds two at the end of 12 moves will be the winner

Table at the end of the battle

On the right the Imperial Garde are firmly in control of the walled farm.
Early in the battle their cavalry charged and routed the Prussian dragoons.
Without cavalry support 4th Prussian corps could not hope to take the farm

In the centre Napoleon has taken command of two brigades from 2nd corps
He holds the hill throughout the battle, despite a Prussian attack
As night falls 5th Prussian corps regroup and again attack the hill
This time they break and rout the French defenders

2nd French corps holds the area between the hill and the woods
Their artillery cause 20% casualties to the Prussian gunners, who rout
Without artillery support the Prussians cannot hope to attack

On the left the battle for the woods is undecided at nighfall.
Throughout the battle the Prussians have attacked.
But they are unable to take all three sections of woods
At night fall the Prussians hold one section, and the French hold two

The Prussians have been unable to take two of the three objectives
The French win the battle.

The French have lost 10 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery casualties (4200 men)
The Prussians have lost 7 infantry and 2 artillery casualties (3000 men)

There are 5 French and 5 Prussian brigades in rout

Comments
In most battles the attacker selects two of the three objectives to attack
He may move forward to attack all three, but usually abandons one objective

In this battle the Imperial Garde held the farm on the right
So this was always going to be the most difficult objective

Early in the battle the French cavalry charged and routed the Prussian dragoons
Without cavalry support the Prussians were content to observe and pin the French
Napoleon could have attacked with the Garde, and would probably have won
However it was too early in the campaign to risk the Imperial Garde.

In the centre Blucher took command of 5th corps.
His gunners were twice routed by the French artillery
Without artillery support he was unable to attack

The most interesting part of the battle was the woods on the left
This was the first Prussian attack, and it continued throughout the battle
There are three wooded sections and the Prussians would have to take all three
They managed to take two sections, but the French attack retook one section
At nightfall the French held two sections and the Prussians one.

Neither side managed to hold two of the three game objectives.
At nightfall they each held one objective, with the woods in debate
However to win the attacker must take two out of three
In a draw the defender is the winner
And in this case the French held two of the three woods sections.

An interesting wargame and the French player (Jan) deserved to win.

Designing campaign maps

 

Table at the start of a wargame

The wargames table is the starting point for both my wargames and the maps of my fictional 1813 campaign.   It is 6x6 foot and has space for nine 2x2 foot squares.   This area would represent one map square on my stragetic maps, and nine map squares on the tactical one.   The above table shows the area I mean.  

For the campaign to work I had to be able to transfer any battle fought onto the wargames table.   So first I had to decide how I would use the 2x2 foot scenic squares to create the wargame terrain.

Campaign map master

The best way to describe this is to explain how the campaign map is created.

The area covered is from the attacking army depot to the defending army depot, which is always the campaign objective.

There are 108 squares, divided into 12 squares each three wide by three deep.   This area is one days march on the campaign map and also one wargames table.  

The map is four tables wide and three deep.

In the campaign each French and allied army has 3 armies each of 3 corps.   At the start of the campaign the two armies are deployed either side of the District border (the dotted purple line in the middle of the map).   A maximum of 1 corps can occupy each of the smaller squares, and on the wargames table one corps can fit in one 2x2 foot scenic squares.

The master campaign map starts with nine buildings.  The centre building at each end is a city and the army depot.   The other 7 are towns.   Each is an objective in both the map campaign and on the wargames table.  

Campaign map for Hannover campaign

This map shows the completed map with the location of each French and Prussian corps at the start of the Hannover campaign.   Three types of roads have been added, major are red, secondary yellow and tracks brown.

Cities and towns have been named.   Hills, woods, villages and farms have also been added. 

Most  important each small square now has a number, and this corresponds with a 2x2 foot scenic square.   This is how it is possible to transfer every small square on the campaign map to the wargames table.

Next week I will cover making the 2x2 foot scenic squares and the scenery that goes on top of them.

Planning the armies of the 1813 campaign

 

Typical corps

 

I explained last week how I found myself with a large collection of painted figures, from which I now wanted to create all of the major armies of the 1813 campaign.

I had a very clear idea what I wanted to achieve, but not how to do so.

I wanted to use every figure in my collection in a series of campaigns

So do so I wanted to use them in sequence, with one allied nation in each campaign

I had 160 infantry, 16 cavalry and 4 guns in each allied “army”.    This was to be a fictional campaign based on 1813.  But I wanted to make it “feel” and look like a Napoleonic campaign.   So the basic army had to be a corps.  It would be very unusual for a French army to have just one corps, so my existing figures would have to represent three or four corps.  My wargames table was built by using nine 2x2 foot squares.

They were three wide and three deep.   I found that if I divided each army into four corps they would fit one corps to one square.    Thus I could have three corps wide and one corps in reserve for each army.

Fortunately my armies provided 4 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 gun for each of the new four corps.   You will see what I mean in the photograph above.   Each corps would have 4 brigades of 8 infantry, one brigade of 4 cavalry and one corps artillery of one gun.   The four infantry figures left over would provide skirmishers if required.

I based the infantry and cavalry two figures to a stand.    This means that my infantry brigades could form column of march, column of attack, line and square.    My cavalry could form column of march and line.   I had to get used to 8 figures representing a brigade of infantry, but that was an acceptable compromise.  

Before leaving the UK I had discovered Le Feu Sacre (LFS) rules, which I really liked using.  However they are designed for a one corps game, with 12  infantry figures representing a battalion.  I decided to design my own rules, relying very heavily on the principles of LFS.   The only difference was that I replaced their orders of battle with my own 8 infantry figure brigades, 4 cavalry figure brigades and 1 gun for corps artillery.

These rules rely on command and control very heavily, which I liked.  It rewarded historical Napoleonic tactics.   Their command figure was brigade and division.   Mine would be corps and army.

I am very pleasantly surprised to find that the original planning back in 2008 has largely survived 18 years of frequent Wargaming.   We always have a game on the table and have a couple of moves four or five times a week.  It usually takes us about 10 to 14 days to complete a 12 move game.

The only major adjustment is that we soon adapted to three corps games.   This meant that each mini campaign order of battle would consist of slightly different armies as I switched the four corps to provide armies of three corps.

Next week I will consider designing the wargames table, which would be the foundation of the orders of battle and the campaign maps.