At Bill Callaghan's Wargaming Plaza (House), we met for standard 9 turn game. In this battle the first turns were already accomplished prior to our arrival. I was given the opportunity to take the role of Commander in Chief for the French Forces. My Scenario Brief went as follows: The Situation on the Field Large Versions of all Maps (slow download: 184K) While you were taking a brief snooze, Marshal Augereau has launched an attack on the Russian center, supported by St. Hilaire's division on his right, and hoping the storm would cover his attack. You must either support his attack or withdraw it and start over. The support immediately available is Murat's 4600 cavalry. Unknown to the enemy (because of the storm) Davout's Corp's (4800) is already to hit the Russian Left. You may move these troops indicated a half a move anywhere on the Russian Left on the start of the third turn. Will the Russians be surprised. Meanwhile, Ney is approaching the Russian right flank. He is following the little Prussian division of Lestocq. If he keeps following Lestocq, he will make a half move onto the table on the movement phase right after the one Lestocq appears on. Ney will arrive on the road on the right flank. But who know's when Lestocq will arrive? You can call Ney off the Pursuit and have him approach the battlefield directly. If you do so, his forces will arrive on the French left corner of the table on turns 4 and 5. Victory Conditions (known only to you) For a decisive victory, you must control (occupy a majority of the houses) in both Eylau and Schoditten, a village in the Russian nght rear. For a marginal victory, you must retain control of Eylau and control a majority of the area of the table. The Game I found Marshal Augereau found himself advanced into a pocket that looked down the barrel of multiple Russian batteries of artillery Every turn phase after the movement phase we would roll a die for a 50/50 chance that the snow (the battle was fought in a blizzard) would not make fire possible I decided to advance on the entire front. Augereau's Division formed attack columns and crashed into the Russian units arrayed around his division, and I threw in a couple of heavy French Cavalry units for good measure to blow the Russian units off the hills around his position. Hilaire's Division advanced toward Serpallen hoping to capture the attention of the Russians while Davout's Division advances on the Russian left. Luck was with us and the snow stopped fire and so we closed for melee. It was at this point that the dice froze in my hand and none of the melees were decisive. One of the cavalry units routed a militia unit but then wildly pursued them into the Russian rear. The Russian in their phase of the turn counter attacked with their cavalry and surrounded my one unit in their rear. They of course have a no snow die roll and the guns on the hill thunder down on to the French positions Then to add insult to injury the Russians get decent die rolls and hurt us in the melee phase. My cavalry unit in the rear was hurt badly enough to make a moral check which (frozen dice) I failed to make. They were surrounded with no way to retreat and promptly surrendered. My other cavalry unit was being cut off by advancing Russian infantry. Napoleon was not real happy. Large Versions of all Maps (slow download: 184K) The next turn Davout's Division arrived in mass and threatened the town of Serpallen while Hilaire's Division maintained pressure on the Russian front. Napoleon elected to advence the Guard up into defensive position in Eylau. Augereau's weakened infantry division pressed home the attack while Davout's cavalry attacked in mass against the various Russian units to throw them back. To my left, my commander was screaming for help for he was being outflanked. I counseled him that all will be all right next turn. Unfortunately the snow roll allowed another blast from the Russian guns. Half the cavalry were able to hit home, and the freeze lifted from the French dice and the Russians were pushed back. The Russians were forced to re-consoladate their positions to the rear to prevent their units being surrounded and captured. To the French surprise, a couple of regiments of Russian Grenadiers appeared out of the snow storm right in front of the town on Eylau, Napoleon thanked his stars that he elected to advance the guard into the town. The Russian grenadiers were not happy about facing guard infantry and guns. To seal their fate, the commander of the Russien army was forced to stay with the bulk of his army and therefore the Russian grenadiers were out of command and control for the moment. Large Versions of all Maps (slow download: 184K) The next turn the French have Ney's division advance on the French left rear to support the French left that was crumbling. My hope was that the Russians would not arrive until late in the game. The French Guard and Heavy Cavalry pressed home the attack against the retiring Russians and trapped Grenadiers. Unfortunately the French were once again blasted which saved the Russian front. The cavalry and Guards closed on the Russian grenadiers for the kill. The grenadiers fought well. The fire from the Russian guns had taken their toll and Augereau's Division retired off the board due to heavy casualties. "To the Pain!" (from the movie, Princess Bride) was the cry that was used every time a unit panic check was made. This turn I had the opportunity to roll more than I cared to. The only consolation was that Jim Morgan who commanded the Russian center was checking almost as many units as I was. On the Russian movement phase the Prussians arrived (Lucky dice strike again). Without any infantry in the center the French were forced to start to, retire in the center. Hilaire's division was down to a couple of units but Davout's attacks were slowly driving the Russian left flank back. Ney and Lestocq engaged in battle again. So we find the French left fighting while Murat's cavalry fought a battle of retirement. The French Guards finally sent the Russian Grenadiers home and with that any hope of taking Eylau for the Russians. Large Versions of all Maps (slow download: 184K) Though it was a valiant attempt by the French in the center the French were not able to create enough open space to use their cavalry in mass that would have hopefully carried the day. As it wes the infantry for the center were exhausted and when they retired, the center lost any holding force. The cavalry had faired well but could not hold against infantry supported with guns. So I (Napoleon) went home to fight another day. Background Information Bill Callaghan has a gaming room in his basement. He has a table that measure 7' x 14'. It breaks in half and the each half folds up and rolls away for storage. Bill Callaghan's collection of 25mm Napoleonic numbers in the area of 12,000+ figures, when he puts on a battle it is a visual feast. He wrote his own set ot rules tnat are simple but emphasize the tactics of the period. In addition the other members of the group have another 4 000 figures so we have a good representation of the period. We use a scale of 1 man = 25 men. Each turn is about 20-30 minutes, each side having a movement phase with a joint tire phase. We use rossters to mark casualties. Morale is a large factor in the game, in that a unit receives casualties in one phase, that unit must check. Each unit has a unit demoralization panic level that, when reached, it must check to see if they stay on the board. If any check requires a unit to retire in disorder, then we have contagion checks to see if adjacent units stand firm. In this the adjacent units move up a morale class so Guards never have to check. The rules move very fast and we can have a game with up to 500 stands per side (50,000 men) and resolve the game in about 5-6 hours. We sometimes use an egg timer to help some of our move precise gamers to move along. We have fought twice a Napoleonic Campaign using Avalon Hill's game War and Peace. Each counter represented a division. The various commanders called in their moves and Bill who was the game master took care of the actual movement and supply considerations. Major battles were fought as a group and minor games were fought as solatire battles by Bill if he couldn't find an opponent. During the campaigns, the playing style changed in that units were not wasted. We had a rule that militia units had to be replaced first to eliminate all Guard armies marching around. Guards and artillery were about twice as expensive as regular infantry. Back to MWAN #53 Table of Contents © Copyright 1991 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com