The following is an account of the "Iowa Group" refight of the Battle of Borodino held May 23, 1986 in Marion, Iowa, along with some insights on staging a large game. My problems started with the arrival of the April, 1985 issue of "Miniature Wargames" and "A Battle Report of a Refight of Borodino at the Wargames Holiday Centre". As usual those color photos got the imagination going, but taking off for England was certainly out of the wargame buget. The next option was to do the battle here, in the same style as Peter Gilder's Wargames Centre. Actually this would be a logical expansion of our groups current Napoleonic gaming as we have been building/gaming the 1812 period while developing a napoleonic grand tactical set of rules.
In looking over the wargames Centre battle it appeared we might actually be able to put on a more "historical" version, yet use a smaller table and less figures. Gilder's version uses a 27' x 15' table, 6000+ figures and is played over a two day period. It appeared that they used a 1-20 figure ratio and 1"=10yd. ground scale. (guessing here) Our "Battle Fire" ru1rules had been developed on a grand tactical level of 1-100 figure ratio and 1"=30yd. ground Scale. This made it possible to put the entire battle on a 7' x 14' table, use exact historical numbers, and still have a battle that could be played out in an eight hour day. With the urge to try my hand with a "Big" battle, I checked over the various Infantry/Cavalry corps that were at Borodino and found that 20 of the 21 corps had already been spoken for by members of our group. Of these, nine had been completed with others in various stages of completion. At that point it looked like we were capable of doing the battle (a little painting ahead of us) with historical numbers and uniforms.
Next on the agenda was to talk the group members into doing the battle. To my surprise no one objected, screamed. bloody murder or attacked yours truely. Even convinced Greg Hopper to build the Westphalian Corps instead of the Bavarians that he orginally chose, so all 21 corps were spoken for. No date for the game was set as we wanted to wait until the majority of the figures were painted. To Keep track of painting progress a provisional order of battle was established using "Borodino" by Christopher Duffy.
As "Battle Fire" uses standard size units (Fr.Line Inf.Reg.-18 figures, Fr. Line Cav. Reg.-6 figures, Russian Line Inf.Brig.-18 figures) a check was made to see how close the order of battle was to actual unit strengths pr.esentat the battle. The Russian infantry/artillery were right on, while the cavalry needed to have a reduction of 6 to 8 regiments to arrive at historical numbers. The French strengths didn't work out so well, as actual size of French units had been reduced by the campaign prior to the battle. If we had used standard size units with historical number of units we would end up with 40,000 Inf/ 24,000 Cav over the historical numbers. At that point it was easier to cut entire regiments from the order of battle rather than make all the units but at reduced sizes.
So the French order of battle reflects cuts in proportion to troop types of 22 regiments of Infantry and 40 regiments of cavalry. This would put the game at less than the historical number of units present, but right on at the historical number of troops. Each member of the group was given a copy of this provisional order of battle and one was posted on the game room bulletin board, During our normal gaming get togethers, each "new" unit that was completed would be marked off the order of battle giving a running picture of the painting progress. By February, 1986 progress was such that I felt it was safe to schedule the game and August 23, 1986 was chosen. Invitations were prepared, with each group member invititing one or two guest.
In the late Spring the goal of having all 21 corps on the battle field took a set back as a player decided to "retire" from active wargaming. With him went a French Infantry, French Cavalry and Russian Infantry Corps. In the end Mark Cosgrove completed the majority of the two French Corps but the Russian Infantry Corps was never completed.(everyone was sick of painting Russians by then) So ended the goal of an exact historical numbers battle, but we had come close and for sure we will not have to or want to, paint French/Russian Napoleonics ever again!!
BORODINO GAME - UNIT STRENGTHS
- 85,000 French Infantry (853 figures (actual- 86,000)
30,400 French Cavalry (304 figures) (actual- 29,500)
456 French Guns (57 gun models) (actual- 587) (114 gunners)
76,800 Russian Infantry (768 figures) (actual 88,000)
23,000 Russian Cavalry (230 figures) (actual 24,000)
564 Russian Guns (47 gun models) (actual 640)
(141 gunners)
Total of 1621 infantry figures, 534 cavalry figures and 104 gun models/255 gunners. All figures 25mm (Minifigs (95%), Hinchliffe, and campaaign)
TERRAIN
Terrain for the Battle was taken from Knights Battles for Wargamers "Borodino 1812" by E.R. Holmes. On page 33 there is a fairly detailed map of the battlefield, showing major terrain points and elevations. I enlarged the map 3 or 4 times the orginal, then placed a scale template of a 7' x 14' table on the map to determine the parts of the terrain that would be on the table. Our game scale allowed for a 3 mile x 1%Z mile area. This ended up running from north of Borodino to just south of Utitsa, plenty of room for the battle thou 2 or 3 feet on each end of the table would have allowed for more maneuver room, which might or might not have been beneficial. The actual terrain used was a three dimensional sawdust/component system - similar to a sand table but without the weight.(I've promised Hal a detailed article on this table/system which should be done sooooon!)
The terain was laid out to exact scale except for the town blocks of Borodino and Utitsa which in 25mm took up more room than desired. Buildings for the towns were a combination of Gedemco, Gallia, plastic kits and scratch built houses. The "Great Redoubt" (6" wide) was scratch built (by Mark Cosgrove) and held (2) 12 gun batteries. The "Fleches" (each was V shaped 6" on a side) were also scratch built using the technique described in MWAN Volume 4, Number 6 page 27. For the woods area between the Fleches and Utitsa, 15-20 birch trees were scratch built and with various bushes made for a large woods area.
While getting things ready for the game I had an opportunity to read a two part article by Bill Protz in the June and July, 1976 issues of "Wargamer Digest"-"Leipzig as a Wargame-10,500 Miniatures Battle". Bill had several suggestions on staging a large scale game, such as using (1) basic elementary rules (2) make sure all players are familiar with rules and (3) allow offensive army to deploy near their objective instead of maneuvering to contact.
RULES
Bill's advice regarding elementary rules was obvious for such a large scale battle. To this end our group had been working for some time on a large scale grand tactical game in which players acted as Corps Commanders. Our play testing showed that a player should be able to handle two corps comfortably. We had previously played games with 6 players/12 corps in just over four hours and therefore no adjustments were made on the rules. As a short summary "Battle Fire" rules feature
- (1) 1-100 figure scale, 1"=30yd, 1 move=30 minutes, 11 gunner= 4 guns.
(2) Strategic orders (Corps level) are written or verbal
(3) Division orders are controlled by an initative card system
(4) Formations are limited to Column, Line Square
(5) Easily memorized movement speeds with road/rough terrain modifiers from roll of 10 sided die.
(6) All firing on 10 sided die system
(7) Percentile morale checks in 5% increments
(8) Combined close combat/ morale on per base point system.
(9) Strategic move system. Per Bill Protz's advice copies of the rules were made available to all players one month prior to the game. This really paid off as all players were extremely familar with the rules.
PLAYERS
When game day arrived we ended up with 11 players.(game was designed for 10-14 players) Coming from Indianapolis, an 8 hear drive, were Howard Anderson and Jeff Martin. "This better be good for 16 hours of driving or Greg is in trouble".(Good blame Greg not me!!)
My brother Mike, came up from St. Louis and Terry Paul came over from East Moline, Illinois. Rest of the gamers were from the local and surrounding area. Players were of varying degrees of experience in both Napoleonics and the rules system. Four players were experienced in both Napoleonics and the rule system. Three players had limited Napoleonic experience but some familarity with the rules. Three players had extensive Napoleonic experience, but had not played the "Battle Fire" system before and one player had no miniature experience but had played boardgames for 20 years. This mix of player experience is probably more typical than not for a larger game.
PRE GAME PREPARATION
Prior to the game the players playing Napoleon (Mike Walkner) and Kutuzov (Mark Cosgrove) prepared battle plans with initial deployments plotted on 11" x 17" game maps. French units were allowed to deploy within 30" (long artillery range) of Russian positions. Thursday evening prior to the game was table deployment night with visible units placed on the table. After that the various corps for the game wee arranged in their trays and placed around the room on counters. Each corps was labled so players could locate them easily. The order of battle was put on cards (2"x3") for each corps so players would have easy reference for unit organization.
Corps orders were written by each commander with Corps Commanders provided map inserts showing their unit positions and surrounding area. As player aids the following was for each player (1) % dice (2) 10' tape measure (3) 2"x3" note pad (4) 8%,"x11" two sided plastic card with game tables and (5) set of status markers. Also to assist players movement charts and game sequence were posted on bulletin boards.
ARMY OBJECTIVES
- (1) The main objective of the French/Allied forces was to inflict severe damage on the fighting capability of the Russian Armies so as to permit an early end to the 1812 campaign. As such the French/ Allied forces must also avoid excessive casualties themselves so as to continue the strategic objectives of the campaign.
(2) Control of Main Post Road.
(3) Control of Old Smolensk Road.
(4) Obtain control of rear area of enemy by exiting units off table to enemy rear. This will threaten supply lines, communications and lower morale. For each 30 points of units which exit enemy rear there is a 10% loss in morale for entire Army. (Maximum loss of 30%) Each infantry base = 1 point, each cavalry base = 2 point, if unit is guard status 2x points.
GAME/TERRAIN NOTES
- (1) All rivers and streams are fordable at all locations and are considered rough terrain.
(2) Semionovka Stream may be forded by artillery.
(3) F1etches are considered rough terrain for cavalry when being crossed from rear. No penalty from front.
(4) F1etches are medium cover, Great Redoubt is heavy cover.
(5) Ditch in front of Great Redoubt is considered rough terrain.
(6) All woods bases are rough terrain.
(7) Hill heights are noted on game map.
(8) Semionovoskaya "Village" is considered light cover.
RUSSIAN PLAN
Russian analysis centered on the belief that the French main attack would be in the area of the Fleches/Great Redoubt, as these had the best cavalry approaches. It was decided that the two strongest Infantry Corps would hold the flank positions, Tuchkov's III Corps on the left and Borozdin's VIII Corps on the right. Each Corps had strong grenadier divisions and would provide solid anchors to the flanks. Also it was felt that if an opening was presented one of these Corps could be used for offensive actions.
The job of holding the Great Redoubt area was given to Dokhturov's VI Corps with two batteries attached from the Artillery Reserve. The Fleches were held by Baggovut's II Corps with (6) 12lb batteries attached including the Guard Artillery. It was felt that the woods adjacent to the Fleches would be difficult to maneuver in and that a large attack would not be made in this area, so what better place to stick the Moscow Militia and Cossacks. Held in reserve in the center rear area were the remaining Cavalry Corps, Raevsky's VII Corps, and the Guard Infantry and Cavalry.
FRENCH PLAN
The French plan was similar to Davout's orginal suggestion for a outflanking movement in the Utitsa area. The Westphalians and Eugene's Corps were placed in position to advance on Utitsa with support from Nansouty's and Crouchy's Cavalry Corps. Also attached was a divison of Middle Guard. Set to make "pinning" attacks as necessary were Ney's Corps opposite the Fleches, Davout's Corps opposite the Great Redoubt, and Poniatowski's Poles opposite Borodino. Cavalry support to the French left was to be provided by Montbrun's and LatourMaubourg's Cavalry Corps. The remaining units of the Imperial Guard were to the rear between Eugene's and Neys Corps.
Battle Report: Refight of Borodino 1812
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© Copyright 1986 Hal Thinglum
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