What follows is an account of the mighty clash of arms that took place at Call to Arms 2025 with myself and my good friend the Baron von Driberg (BvD) on the one side, fielding a 6th Coalition Army of Prussian, Russian, British and Hanoverian troops; and KT and TT, père et fils, on the other, commanding the French.
The rules were Neil Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming Rules (NTNWR), which KT and I tried out a few weeks ago.
As usual, it was the spring of 1813, so in line with the times the French, Guard troops excepted, consisted mostly of hastily-raised conscript battalions. The Coalition Army, however, was scarcely any better, as it contained numerous barely-trained reserve and landwehr battalions. There was only a small scattering of regular infantry on either side.
As was their right, given that I had laid out the table, the Ts chose the side containing the town of Dappol, which seemed to have the best defensive prospects. The Coalition also had a fair bit of cover, however. Dividing the battlefield was the River Weser.
The French were organised into three main divisions:
On the left, commanded by TT, was the cavalry of the Imperial Guard and two of the Emperor's best infantry regiments: the Grenadiers a Pied of the Guard and the 13e Legere.
In the centre, commanded by KT were two more excellent regiments: the 67e de Ligne and the Chasseurs a Pied of the Guard, supported by the 3e Suisse and the 8e Cuirassiers.
And on the left was a mass of low quality conscript battalions supported by the 4e Chasseurs a Cheval and some artillery.
The Coalition dispositions broadly mirrored these, but were rather weaker in reality.
Facing the Emperor's best troops were a collection of similarly proud units, but they were somewhat overcrowded in the narrow space west of the river.
The Prussian centre looked solid enough, but was also a little hemmed in:
The Prussian right, however, consisting of reserve and landwehr battalions, was worryingly weak.
Much to our surpise, the French went immediately on to the offensive, with their cavalry boldly out in front, which caused no end of confusion in the Prussian ranks.
The 4e Chasseurs a Cheval were perhaps a little too bold, however, and the Prussian 2nd Dragoons prepared to strike!
This went very well at first, but they were to be very badly shot up by the French infantry over the next few turns.
The Swiss, meanwhile, were closing in on the 9th Reserve Regiment, with another French line regiment close behind. With only Landwehr in support, the Prussian right was looking severely outgunned.
It was time for a counterattack. This was led by the 6th Reserve Regiment, which did not go well at all, but the Russian Leib Grenadiers were able to mop up the 67e de Ligne in the following turn.
Meanwhile, east of the Weser, TT and I did a lot of marching and countermarching without really achieving very much.
In the end I felt that there was nothing for it but to go in hard with the Garde du Corps.
Although the Empress Dragoons obligingly ran away, this was to have no effect whatsoever on the outcome of the battle.
On the right things started to go very badly wrong when the Leib Hussars charged the Chasseurs a Pied. This barely troubled the Chasseurs, whereas the Leib Hussars were sent back reeling ...
... where they were then rapidly finished off by the 8e Cuirassiers. This left the 9th Reserves hopelessy exposed to an assault by the Chasseurs a Pied.
The Leib Grenadiers were not well placed to do anything about this!
We knew we were really doomed, however, when KT announced that two battalions of Marie Louises, advancing quite unnoticed and unopposed on the far right, had reached our table edge. Under NTNWR this forced us to remove four of our close order infantry battalions.
Having been badly smashed in the centre and otherwise woefully outsmarted, BvD and I decided that it was time to throw in the towel.
This was a crackingly entertaining game. I think it lasted about 10 moves or thereabouts, which was not too bad considering. What's more, a succession of old friends stopped by to say hello, which was very pleasing. It was great to see you, Chaps.
It was a grand day out and no mistake.
Have a great weekend,
WM
