On 23rd July, Napoleon ordered Marshal Oudinot (II Corps) to establish his headquarters at Polotsk and to destroy the Drissa camp so as to secure the rear of the main French army as it advanced deeper into Russia. Considering that the marshal was facing around 10 000, rather than the 30 000 that Russian General Wittgenstein actually commanded, Napoleon urged him to attack the Russian forces. Oudinot thus advanced towards Kliastitzy. Seeing an opportunity, Wittgenstein decided to attack first.
The vans of the two armies clashed clashed near Filipovo on 28th July. General-Major Kulniev with a mixed force of his Grodno Hussars, #4 Don Cossacks and a squadron of the Lifeguard Hussars (8 squadrons) met General Corbineau’s 6th light cavalry brigade consisting of 12 squadrons of the French 7th and 20th Chasseurs, and a Polish uhlan regiment.
We re-fought this action as our second game using the Capitán Napoleonic Wargame Rules for Company & Squadron Level Actions. We used the second edition (commercially-released version) of the rules. This set clarifies some of the questions that we had from our game using the first edition of the rules.
The normal figure scale in the rules was adjusted to approximately 10:1 for this scenario. Units represented squadrons of cavalry or commanders and their escort. The Russians had eight squadrons of cavalry (hussars and Cossacks) against 12 squadrons of the French from the 7e and 20e Chasseurs and 8e chevau-légers lanciers (Vistula legion lancers). This gave 1705 points for the Russians and 1956 points for the French.
This is a much belated photo-report of the game, our first for 2014, which was played on 19th January.
Early moves as the two sides jockey for position.
Early stages of the mêlée, seen from various vantage points. One of the key aspects that was clarified by the second edition of the rules was the manner in which figures 'pile in' in a mêlée, with figures lined up and others as support behind. This did lead to some 'novel' representations on the table-top!
It was another enjoyable game, but I think that both of Mark and I are far more comfortable at the grand-tactical level, rather than with this ‘cowboys-style’ of game. That said, we’ll use ‘em again sometime as a change of scene. I must find a suitable infantry combat or combined arms action. I’m thinking along the lines of part of a larger battle…
It must take some getting used to the smaller scale, I bet!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of getting some sort of skirmish rules myself, especially for our "Pirates in September" events. That would be just the thing for the sea-borne raid I'm thinking of. I might give Capitan a go!
In essence none of these skirmish rules are too far from Featherstone's "Skirmish Wargaming", although in these we liked the fact that they work the figures as units rather than a mob of individuals. They don't seem to have the morale right though. In the first edition, nothing passed a morale test and now it is impossible to fail! Unless we did it wrong, but I don't think we did. I'm toying with the idea of having a higher-level unit at which morale is determined, but we'll see.
DeleteThey be labels alright! Reminds me of an episode of Ripping Yarns to do with football when the players were more concerned about their shorts than the game. However I think what you have are "reference cards". I imagine a conversation between you and mark in which you promised not to subject him to any new labels. When he say them you quickly defended yourself by declaring them to be "reference cards" not a "great big label on everything" ;-)
ReplyDeleteThere were lots of these types of skirmishes and being able to game them as well as the big stuff is nice, particularly if they could be linked. I'm thinking of your telescopic game concept.
As for skirmish games, Songs of Drums and Shakos is something I really want to play more and I have a cunning plan...
Cheers
Marc
Very good, laughed aloud!
DeleteThese maxi versions worked better than the unit data cards that I did in our first game which we both struggled to read!!
Our initial swet of wargames rules were based upon Frappe, which uses a 1:10 scale. Being neither fabulously wealthy nor having endless table space, we modified it to 1:40. However, we did play a few small games at 1:10, and it did point out the distortion of frontage to depth necessarilty caused by our figures!
ReplyDeleteOverall, I prefer games at a higher level of command, though.
Ditto for this black duck Peter. These are nice for a change of scene, but do not hold the same level of interest (nor challenge).
DeleteMaybe this game set-up is too large for Song of Drums and Shakos, but a cavalry-only Scenario is always fun, with Independence of the ruleset used!
ReplyDeleteRafa
This one had us thinking of 'the mother of all', Liebertwolkwitz, which is on the radar, but with large-scale rules, of course!
DeleteMore good stuff. Not actually familiar with this battle may take a look when I swing round to 1812 again in 2022!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear about your long-term planning! We need the same thing, for some of the many that we missed in the bicentennial!
DeleteAbsolutely. I felt that having missed so many but done so much painting that another 10 years would be enough!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of a 'all-out cavalry scenario',, great pics, seems to be a hard fight!
ReplyDelete