Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Pretzen Report

Pretzen 1807 Report

Played: April 12th 10am to 2:30pm
Length: Played 16 turns
Commanders: Mike (von Netting and Dohorov) and Jeff (Ushakov) vs. Gary (Ferey), Carl (Amey), and myself (Vivies, Artillery, and Durousnel)

So, with a quick moving game in mind, we played out our battle on Saturday April 12. Mike began the battle as the sole Russian commander as Jeff was a bit late. Each side set up 24” in from the table edge while the 3 objectives were lined up along the center line of the table. Not very complicated and certainly not very original!
Starting positions and general course of battle.


It became obvious early on that each side was employing a similar strategy. Both sides rushed to gain the village in the center while attempting a right hook to flank the enemy. As it turned out, the Russians won the race to the village and seized control of it while Vivies deployed his Legere battalions into a skirmish screen to spar with the village occupants. In concert with this, the French guns deployed to the righ t of the village to hammer away on von Netting's Russians while Ferey pressed the Russian flank.

At the other end of the French line Amey's troops were trying to hold the hill against Ushakov's larger brigade. The fact that Ushakov had artillery support and Amey's men did not quickly began to tell. Amey's units suffered a series of lucky Russian volleys and heavy fire from the Russian guns. Soon, the Frenchmen began to waver under the weight of fire.
By turn 6 it was becoming apparent where any reserves would go as Ferey and the artillery was battering von Netting's Russian brigade at the same time that Ushakov's Russians were beginning to push Amey's Frenchmen backwards. The Russian reinforcement proved to be a single Hussar Regiment (VETERANS) while the French drew 2 Chasseur Regiments (LINE). The Russian cavalry galloped towards von Netting's wavering wing while Durousnel's Chasseurs moved as quickly as possible to support Amey's crumbling brigade.

As soon as they arrived on the wings the cavalry units went onto ASSAULT orders and formed to charge. The Russian cavalry charged into Ferey's troops as a battalion of the 46e was FALTERING. This put the French battalion into flight as it RETREATED while the Russians pulled up before hitting the hastily formed squares of the remaining French units. This charge stalled Ferey's advance for a long time as the French had to organize themselves against the lurking cavalry.

Menawhile, true to my form, I attempted to charge the flank of the Russian Lithuanian Musketeers with both Chasseur regiments and both failed to charge! This gave the Russians time to form squares which relieved some of the pressure on Amey's shrinking battalions. The Russians began to break off from Amey's brigade as they organized to repel cavalry. After reorienting themselves, the Chasseur brigade charged the Russian artillery on the hill. After a weak blast of defensive fire the artillery was swept over by the French cavalrymen. Ushakov's units were now pinned in between the remnants of Amey's infantry and Durousnel's cavalrymen to their rear.

Such was the situation when von Netting's units finally began to succomb to the ongoing fire from the French artillery and Ferey's volleys. While von Netting's brigade did not break, which would have emptied the village and ensured a French victory, it was now a shambles and it would soon be compelled to leave the field.

At this point the battle was declared over. The French cavalry and Ushakov's infantry were jointly occupying the hill on the French left wing. Amey's brigade was retreating back towards the French center having lost @ 50% strength. Vivies' units were still sparring with von Netting's infantrymen in and around the village. Ferey had swept von Netting's men off of the right wing hill and were ready to press on towards the Russian's center.

The battle was judged to be a minor Russian victory since they still held the village and everyone felt that the numerous Russian squares could, sloooowly, push the French cavalry off the hill. Due to the relatively small number of units involved the battle was a tense affair as each shot, morale check, and move had a bit more importance. For once, I think we remembered enough of the important rules during the game that nobody felt like we missed out on something that may have been a “game-changer”.


If Gary shares some of the photos that he snapped then I will try to post them later...

Monday, April 14, 2014

Pretzen 1807 Scenario

Here is a fictional scenario set in 1807 prior to battle at Heilsberg. It is a very simple scenario designed to provide a quick game. As usual, this scenario was designed for our favorite set of Napoleonic rules - General de Brigade (Deluxe). A short battle report will follow...

Encounter near Pretzen1807

This fictional encounter is set after the miserable winter campaign of 1807. It supposes that the French (weak) 2nd Division of Soult's IV Corps encountered units of Titov's 3rd Division from Dohturov's Infantry Wing while the French were probing for holes in the Russian lines prior to the Battle of Heilsberg. Both sides quickly become aware that holding the small village of Pretzen would be very useful in controlling the road into Heilsberg. With this in mind, both sides act quickly in an attempt to grab the village and other important terrain features.

Each side will potentially get a small reinforcement of via a dice roll against a reinforcement chart. Any reinforcements will enter at the center point of that side's table edge. The reinforcement roll will happen during the orders phase of turn 6. Each side makes only one % roll to determine reinforcements.

Reinforcements Roll %
1-33 Light Cavalry “Brigade” (no lances) with one unit of 12 Figures VETERAN with AVG Brigadier
34-66 Light Cavalry “Brigade” (no lances) with one unit of 12 Figures ELITE with AVG Brigadier
67-00 Light Cavalry “Brigade” (no lances) with two units of 12 Figures LINE with AVG Brigadier

Terrain Notes
The Village – Pretzen will hold 1 battalion of 24 figures and counts as COVER -2.

The Hills – All hills are GOOD TERRAIN and do not modify movement in any way. Line of sight is blocked by hills.

The Woods – All woods are DIFFICULT TERRAIN. All woods are light woods with 6” visibility.

The Roads – All roads offer x2 speed for INFANTRY units in MARCH COLUMN that spend the entire move on the roads.

Victory Conditions
The victory conditions are fairly straightforward. There are 3 objective points and whoever controls 2, or more, of those points will be the winner.

















Russian Units
GL Vasily Titov

Brigade GM Brisemann von Netting
Chernihov Musketeers Col. Panchulitzev



1st BN
24
LINE

2nd BN
24
LINE

3rd BN
24
LINE

Dniepr Musketeers Col. Gurih



1st BN
24
LINE

2nd BN
24
LINE

3rd BN
24
LINE


Brigade GM Nikolai Ushakov
Lithuanian Musketeers Col. Lebiadnikov



1st BN
24
LINE

2nd BN
24
LINE

3rd BN
24
LINE

Taurida Grenadiers Col. Danzass



1st BN
24
ELITE
1st RATE SK
2nd BN
24
VETERAN
1st RATE SK

Division Artillery
Foot Artillery



Battery 1
3
ELITE

Battery 2
3
VETERAN


Cavalry Brigade GM Ivan Dorohov
Olviopol Hussars Prince Drucki-Sokolniki
12


Isoum Hussars Col. Andrei Tolstoi
12










French Units
GdB Claude Carra Saint-Cyr

Brigade Vivies – GdB Guillaume Raymond Amat Vivies
24e Legere Col. Pourailly



1st BN
24
VETERAN
1st RATE SK
2nd BN
24
VETERAN
1st RATE SK

Brigade Amey – GdB Francois Pierre Joseph Amey
4e Ligne Col. Boyeldieu



1st BN
24
LINE

2nd BN
24
LINE

28e Ligne Col. Toussaint



1st BN
24
LINE

2nd BN
24
LINE


Brigade Amey – GdB Claude Francois Ferey
46e Ligne Col. Richard



1st BN
24
LINE

2nd BN
24
LINE

57e Ligne Col. Rey



1st BN
24
VETERAN

2nd BN
24
VETERAN


Division Artillery
Foot Artillery



Battery 1
3
ELITE

Battery 2
3
VETERAN


Cavalry Brigade Durousnel – GdB Antoine-Jean-Auguste-Henri Durousnel
7e Chasseurs a Cheval Col. Hippolyte Pire
12


20e Chasseurs a Cheval Col. Bernard Pierre Castex
12





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Pictures