The Scenario
A small but powerful rearguard must hold a bridge for the time it takes to blow it up, while a much larger advance guard tries to capture the bridge intact. The original battle map, showing the starting positions of the "Red" (defending) and "Blue"(attacking) forces, is reproduced below.
In our slightly modified version, Red has two heavy cavalry regiments and two battalions of infantry north of the bridge, while a battalion of light troops is occupying a nearby wood. South of the bridge another battalion and pair of artillery batteries are in reserve. Engineers (at "X") have begun preparing the explosive charges, which take a full 10 turns to make ready. Whether they actually explode in time will depend on dice throws. A small village is immediately to east of the river crossing on the northern bank.
Blue, with two light and one heavy cavalry regiment, two batteries, six battalions of close order infantry and one battalion of light infantry are nearly all off map, with the exception being small parties of light cavalry scouting the approaches. How, where and when Blue forces will arrive (at either points A, B, or a combination of both) was unknown by either side, as the columns had become mixed during their march towards the objective. Things were so arranged, however, that Blue was guaranteed to have all his units on the table by the begining of turn six at the very latest.
In our version the opposing forces consisted of the following:
Red Force: Marshal Ney
Combined Voltigeurs
3rd Infantry Division
3rd Swiss Regiment (General Castella de Berlens)
The Neuchâtel Battalion (Marshal Berthier)
4th Bavarian Line Infantry Regiment (General Quisestil)
1st Heavy Cavalry Brigade
8th Cuirassiers (General Nansouty)
Empress's Dragoons (General d'Ornano)
Provisional Artillery Brigade
1st Battery, Horse Artillery of the Guard
1st Battery, Foot Artillery of the Line
1st Battery, Horse Artillery of the Guard
1st Battery, Foot Artillery of the Line
1st Line Engineer Company (played by the Carabiniers of the 13e Legere)
Blue Force: His Dastardliness, The Baron von Driberg (graciously impersonated by General Wallmoden)
2nd Silesian Schutzen Battalion
1st Brigade
10th (First Silesian) Infantry Regiment (General Zieten)
2nd Neumark Landwehr Infantry Regiment (General Pirch)
2nd Brigade
1st Brigade Russo-German Legion (General Arentschildt)
5th Wesphalian Landwehr Infantry Regiment (General Gneisenau)
3rd Brigade
25th (Lützower) Infantry Regiment (Colonel von Lützow)
3rd Brigade
25th (Lützower) Infantry Regiment (Colonel von Lützow)
18th (6th Reserve) Infantry Regiment (General von Bülow)
Combined Cavalry Division
Leib Hussars (Colonel von Clausewitz)
6th (Lützower) Ulans (Generaladjutant von der Infanterie)
Garde du Corps (Generaladjutant von der Kavallerie)
Freikorps Artillery Brigade
1st Battery, Russo-German Legion Foot Artillery
1st Battery, Lützower Foot Artillery
The outcome, shall we say, was full of surprises. A full report follows next week.
Till then
WM
That's is an interesting little scenario and reminds me of the classic Sittangbad game in Charge.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing this one play out.
It was, as hoped, a bit of a corker Mark!
DeleteMark beat me to it, it looks almost identical to Sittangbad from CHARGE! published in '67. I've only played that once, as the attacker, and almost annihilated the rearguard while taking very few losses. Unfortunately I had taken my eye off the ball (and the clock) and the bridge was blown and with it my chance to win the game.... D'oh!
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of Charge!, but I failed to spot the similarity to Sittangbad. Mr Grant makes no mention of it, interestingly!
DeleteGreat looking set up Matt. I actually remember both those magazine covers quite clearly, would have been a youthful 20 back then, where did the years go!
ReplyDeleteI was eleven at the beginning of 1978 and far too broke to buy wargames madazines, so these are entirely new to me. My mate DF found them somewhere.
DeleteThis looks fun Matthew, I hope that both DF and yourself will be wearing bright jumpers and pointy shirt collars for the occasion!
ReplyDeleteHis Dastardliness was...er...imaginativey attired, as will be revealed next week. As for me, I'm a pointy collar man through and through, but can't quite manage the luxurious barnet anymore.
DeleteI’ve got those Battles. Often wondered what happened to the youngsters on the cover of Battle as most were the same age as me or just a tad older. The two lads are Mike Webb and Brendan White; the couple on the March 78 copy are Ann Kislingbury and Frank Conner.
ReplyDeleteI wondered if anyone would know them! Well done for remembering their names. I expect they're all living the highlife in the Bahamas these days.
DeleteI cheated and looked them up… 😆
Delete*Laughter*.
DeleteYou just have to love 70's fashion, and it was clearly important to dress well for the club! I trust the battle report will come with lots of pretty pictures. Anything less would be a disservice to your beautifully appointed miniatures!
ReplyDeleteHaving been convinced at an early age by all and sundry that the 60s had been infinitely superior in every respect, I spent the 70s feeling a bit doubtful about that. This may be why I've ended up at the tweedy end of the spectrum.
DeleteMy photos were not all that flash, to be honest, as we had a lot to get through in a short time. My report will be more of a technical exploration of Stryker's latest Beta issue of "Muskets & Marshals 7.0". If this particular battle is anything to go by, I'll need to develop radically new tactics.
A very pretty set up Matthew…
ReplyDeleteI’m looking forward to seeing the battle play out…
All the best. Aly
Thank you Aly. All the mucking about rulers, compasses, craft knives, paint rollers and masking tape was deeply satisfying. I was definitely in my happy place.
DeleteI continue to plod through the photos and will report in full at the weekend.