The 17th May 1742, exactly as it was historically, only the complete reverse

The Battle of Chotusitz, the second, large battle of the War of Austrian Succession (First Silesian War) was the 'subject' of our most recent game set in the mid-18thC (aka 'Mark's period'). Fitting then that his newly 'rediscovered' (i.e. cleaned out) shed was venue for the game that he planned using information from Jeff Berry's marvellous 'Obscure Battles' blog and single-handedly staged using his now extensive Prussian and Austrian armies and his/our version of Zimmermann's 'Wargames Handbook'.

The historical action, began as an encounter battle in which Prince Charles Lorraine of Austria saw an opportunity to attack with his army of around 25 000 and destroy Prince Leopold's isolated advance guard of around 12 000.

 Leopold's command, with a 'sea' of white in the distance.

 Not bad odds; if you are Austrian.

 Cavalry on the Austrian left/Prussian right.

The Austrians began with my favourite, subtle tactic, 'advance everywhere'. I advanced my infantry slightly, so as not to be pushed from the board.

On the Prussian right, I pushed the cuirassiers forward slightly as I had a 'cunning plan'.

 Good news for we Prussians as the lead elements of the heavy cav. arrived on the left.

 Jeetze's infantry awaited the arrival of the white horde.

The following events left me feeling pretty happy with things at this early stage.

Waldow's lead 7th cuirassiers managed to deploy, with the 12th behind. Still outnumbered, but at least not in road column.

A sneaking unit of infantry loaned a hand, unseating some of the Austrian heavies who opposed Waldow's men.

Ha ha! My cunning plan. Prussian heavies on the right charged the Austrians, ensuring the advantage of the charge impetus not afforded to their foes. 
The Zimmermann rules operate in two 'cycles' in which the first player moves half distance, second then follows, any artillery/musket fire occurs, then second player moves second half, followed by the first and any mêlées are conducted. Troops that did not move in the first cycle may conduct a full charge move. This is what I did with my cuirassiers, fortunately getting the '2' to '3' on the die required for each of the three right-most units in photo. The Austrians did their part and 3/4 units failed to loose their carbines effectively.

Four mêlées in which we had the advantage, surely it should go pretty well?

What the phuck?! Apologies dear reader, but I was astonished and full of 'blue' language as 3/4 mêlées were lost, two Prussian units retreated in disorder, two standards lost, to one captured, while the only defeated Austrian unit retreated in order. So much for the cunning plan...

This was repeated on the left, admittedly where the Prussians had the lower odds thanks to the failure of the 12th cuirassiers to assist their fellows. This also left them (the 12th) 'stuck' in place (and effectively blocking the bridge, at the crossing of the creek).

At least the first exchange of volleys had not gone too badly for our 'boys in blue'. We had, however, taken more casualties where we needed to inflict more.

Back on the right, I sent the 3rd dragoons against the nearest Austrians (dragoons). Needed a '2' or better. Rolled '1'. Oh dear, that left them ripe to be charged in the next turn.

At this point the Austrians were, rightly, feeling pretty chuffed with the situation.

Then, the greatest captain of his age sprung his trap. On he came with the main Prussian infantry. Look at all those lovely grenadiers. Wvenge, wvenge, time for me to have some fun! In a turn or two we'd be smashing through that Austrian centre, I thought.

Not again? On the left, the 5th cuirassiers (heavily disguised) at full strength, charged the formerly victorious, now somewhat undermanned Austrians, who were unable to get the impetus bonus. I have to stop rolling '5's in mélée (two dice). Even though my opponents were only rolling '8's or '9's it was sufficient. More 'blue' language...

Perhaps a 'fit of pique'?
I figured that it was better for what remained of Jeetze's infantry to charge against the weakest Austrians rather than to stand and get 'blown' away or to withdrawal, since that would have left them ripe to be charged in the rear in the next turn.
It wasn't.

Another cavalry mêlée on the right. Combat factors around 70 to 60, so we were behind, but it only needed a few 'pips' more on the dice to win.

 Nah. *And* Buddenbrock was captured.

Of all things, it was a unit of pesky hussars that victoriously charged into the rear of the beaten Prussian cuirassiers. They panicked, as did three of their mates.
The language was bluer than a West Australian summer sky!

In what was to be the final act of the day, most of the cavalry on the left decided to withdraw along with the defeated 5th cuirassiers. Basically putting them back to the starting positions.


With only one unit of Leopold's (Jeetze's) infantry still on the board and five cavalry units gone, the Prussian losses required an army withdrawal test at over 1/4 losses. There is a 2/3 chance to pass. I rolled a '2'. Game over.

While basically decided by the die roll, it would have been a sensible decision for Frederick, as the photos below demonstrate. Leopold's command was shattered. In a repeat of the historical Mollwitz, the Prussian heavy cavalry had performed dismally. By withdrawing, Frederick could fight another day, keep his developing name intact, while laying the blame at the feet of Leopold.

The game statistics add weight to the sense of the die in this decision.

Prussians
Captured two flags, lost 158 figures.
Victory points 8

Austrians
Captured four flags, captured General Buddenbrock and suffered 89 figure losses.
Victory points 19

So, the game lasted four turns (hours) and ended with one army withdrawing. As Mark quipped, "...it was exactly the same as the historical action, only the complete reverse"!


I don't usually like to blame the dice, so reflected on what I did wrong. Since it was the accumulated losses that were the Prussian undoing, I guess my mistake was to leave Jeetze's/Leopold's men under fire for too long. I should have manoeuvred to form two lines and enabled a withdrawal/exchange. This may well have worked as the Austrians would have taken too long to outflank the Prussians, perhaps...

Battle of Craonne, 7 March 1814: can one ever improve upon the Emperor's plans?

The scenario we picked was straight 'out of the box' - thanks to Chris Leach for producing a very easy to set up and finely balanced scenario out of the wider historical battle, optimised for Shako. Here it is:

And the order of battle here, heavy on Imperial Guard as historically:

As numerous historical sources attest, the historical encounter was both 'one of the most desperately contested battles in which Napoleon ever took part' (Maycock) and also one where it very tempting to believe that with a change of plan - something more ambitious, perhaps - it might be possible to outfox the Russians and win a more comprehensive victory than was achieved on the day. 

Such was my intention, anyway, as the surrogate Napoleon on the day. It was, however, an undoubtedly strong defensive position - below, viewed from the East. This was a battle where reputations could be very easy to bury. 

Historically, Ney attacked directly up the slope in the trees visible in the left background of the picture, with Grouchy in support. My plan was for Marshal Ney and General Grouchy to march north, to beyond the wooded area in Leach's map, and only then swing West to attack Gen. Vuitsch, in the left foreground of the picture. If he could be dislodged, I reckoned, then Gen. Laptiev would look dangerously exposed, whilst Gen. Boyer could be relied upon to dislodge Gen. Swarikin from Heurtebise, especially with the eventual support of Gen. Charpentier's troops after Move 5. It was nothing if not simple. But there were evidently huge risks. Who would want cavalry alone challenging a ridge, for example, as Gen. Nansouty would be asked to? 

And my real concern was that Gen. Vorontzov would order an immediate attack and cut Ney off - a risk that I seemed to have averted, as the movement began.

And so the plan was on its way, or rather, Ney and Grouchy were on their way, the latter commanding my favourite French troops, the dragoons. .

At the end of the second move, they had got this far, and seemed out of danger from a flank attack - even the Russian artillery firing had been sporadic and relatively ineffective, whilst the skirmisher exchange had been even-handed:

Apparently there had been orders to the Russian reserve under Gen. Stzawitzski, although what they were, I never found out - I was told they were later contradicted.

Events were about to supersede them in any event. Gen. Boyer, acceding to the command as historically, was about to press his attack on Heurtebise. How long to cross the woods, I wondered, how long?

The next move brought Ney almost into action. The 1st Young Guard Regiment, seen on the left of the picture heading up the 1st Young Guard Division, were to cover themselves with glory in the battle. 

But I can assure you, those Russian lines looked steady and formidable, and with additional defence benefits, this was to be a mighty difficult obstacle. Maybe that gun might be the weak point? It won't get the defence bonus.

I must not omit events on the French left, though. Gen. Nansouty's cavalry were engaged in the wide outflanking manoeuvre they'd been ordered to execute, with the objective of disruption rather than actual achievement. The Guard cavalry had not performed especially well, the Russian 2nd Hussar Regiment distinguishing itself with courage and verve. Here the position at the end of Move Four.

Events then moved apace. Marshal Ney's attack began, and it must be admitted that from now on, the die rolls were with me. In the picture below Marshall Grouchy is in the foreground, rounding the corner and preparing to assist in the attack. How many divisions would they put to flight between them? 

There was the undisputed bravery of the 1st Young Guard Regiment, about to engage in the decisive moment of the day, the storming of the heights by taking the Russian gun and establishing a foothold on the scarp. Gen. Meunier's finest moment: as he said privately of the Regiment, «Ils ont gagné la bataille par eux-mêmes».

Combined arms was the objective, however: 

And combined arms the achievement, as the French gun finally got into action and 5th Dragoons and 1st Young Guard, having gained the heights by overwhelming the gun, between them crashed into hapless Russian battalions.

Gen. Grouchy's dragoons, which had rolled 6 after 6 for initiative and ended up swamped in staff officers, continued to sweep round the flank:

And now indeed the overall position was beginning to look perilous for the Russians, with Vuitsch's division being pushed back and Gen. Swarikin under attack from both Gen. Charpentier and Gen. Boyer, by Turn Six. The mass French artillery, however, though they looked mighty impressive, achieved absolutely nothing during the entire game. Dice can be so cruel.

As late afternoon beams of sunlight crossed the battlefield, the plight of Gen. Voronzov became clear. Here, the overall position on Move Seven.

And here, the desperate defence of Gen. Laptiev, who succeeded in extricating himself, to the general relief of the Allies. 

But with two Russian divisions broken by Move Nine, we decided to call the battle for the French - a victory, but not a glorious victory, which would only have been possible if three Russian divisions had been broken in the same turn. If not, the action would have continued until the end of the day, traditionally twelve turns in Shako, and every Russian division left on the table would have been broken. The numerical advantage of the French, the way that the Russians had been forced into square, was clear:

And equally, the risk to the Russians of being completely surrounded as the gamed ended:

It was time to take stock. For all my boldness, it had become clear that the Emperor had sized up the situation correctly. There was little to gain for all Marshal Ney's and Gen Grouchy's marching, nothing that could not have been achieved equally well by a straight attack on Gen. Swarikin from Move One, which would probably dislodge him and enable pressure to be placed on Gen. Laptiev earlier. I was left with two consolations: first, that I had at least equalled the Emperor's achievement; and second, that I still believe I achieved it with less risk of defeat. A hugely enjoyable day's wargaming, and yet further evidence, should it be needed, of how well Shako can work in delivering outcomes close to their historical equivalents, details of which in this case may be found here: 

http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/Battle_of_Craonne.htm

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