Sean had produced a scenario for a scaled-down Borodino game a while ago so we decided to give it a run out on a club afternoon. Sean had the French while I took the Russian's. Even though the battle was scaled down the armies were still quite large, with around equal numbers but the French having a quality advantage and the Russians an excellent defensive position.
The Russians deployed with some Militia holding the woods on their left, the 1st Army holding the central hill, the 2nd Army the hill with the Raevsky Redoubt (which we forgot to bring with us!) and the Guard and Cavalry Corps in reserve. A screen of Cossacks was thrown forward to delay the French. The French placed their Polish on the right, the main body of French in the centre supported by the Guard, their Cavalry Corps in reserve and the Italians on the left:
The Poles advance quickly on the Russian left while a mass of French infantry move forward in the centre. The Cossack screen has withdrawn on the flanks but stands firm in the centre to buy time:
The Italians start to cross the river:
The French infantry attempt to drive off the Cossacks by musketry but don't do them much damage. Holding the river bank they will be hard to dislodge by infantry:
The Cossack's resistance has forced the French to commit their Cavalry Corps to drive them off:
Remarkably the Cossacks survive being attacked by a Cuirassier brigade and a Dragoon brigade though they are forced back:
Meanwhile the Poles close in on the Russian militia defending the Russian left fank:
Having committed the Cavalry Corps the French throw them forward again to try to finally drive off the Cossacks and Russian artillery holding the hill. As a precaution much of the Russian infantry on the hill adopts a 'prepared' formation in case the cavalry break through:
On the Russian right the Italians are now faced with another river to cross before they can engage the 2nd Army. The Russians prepare to face off the attack and send some extra troops to face it:
The valiant Cossacks are finally dispersed but the artillery holds on. The French cavalry has taken quite a lot of damage and been repulsed for now while the Russian infantry on the hill is largely undamaged:
The French cavalry withdraw as their infantry start to cross the river. The Poles begin their attack on the Militia in the woods:
The French Imperial Guard has also moved up, half supporting the attack in the centre while the other half moves towards the Italians who are faced with crossing the river against superior numbers of Russians at the moment:
The Poles drive some of the Militia back but the heavy terrain means the attack is slow in developing:
The entire battlefield! The Russian left flank has been driven back and some of the Russian Guard are sent to bolster the Militia against the Poles. In the centre the Russian infantry and artillery (now very low on ammunition) closely supported by the Russian cavalry corps await the attack of the French infantry and Guard. On the Russian right there has been little action so far.
The Poles assisted by some German infantry push the Militia back further outflanking the end Russian brigade on the hill:
French attacks drive off the remaining Russian artillery in the centre:
The French launch a massive attack on the hill. The Russians are hoping night will fall soon:
The attack is beaten off other than on the left of the line where the end Russian brigade was driven back by the attack of the French infantry to the front and the German infantry in the flank. It is a breakthrough of sorts but the Russians have reserves available to counter it:
On the left the Poles have run out of steam and are largely a spent force:
A second wave of French attack in the centre but are thrown back again. On the right the Italians prepare to cross the river but it is almost nightfall:
Most of the French army has taken heavy losses and is unable to mount further attacks with any prospect of success. The remaining Russians stand firm and the French decide to withdraw leaving the field to the heroic defenders of the Motherland:
It was an impressive looking game with two substantial armies battling it out to the end.
From the Russian perspective the Cossacks in the centre did a fantastic job holding back the French for four or five of their turns (when they only get fifteen turns in the day). Normally I'd have withdrawn them after they stopped the French using march moves but in this case facing infantry and with the stream to protect them I decided to leave them to fight it out. They were undoubtedly fortunate to survive both the French infantry firing at them and the attack by two French cavalry brigades.
The pressure of losing so much time then told on Sean as he sent in the cavalry first without infantry support then, once the cavalry had been repulsed, was forced to send his infantry in without taking time to weaken the Russian line with skirmish fire.
I think it was a tough scenario for the French, the left flank of the Russians was secured by the woods which I could fill with the Militia confident that their problems facing cavalry and firing poorly wouldn't be such a disadvantage as they would be in the open. The centre and right flank had all the rivers covering them making it hard for the French to co-ordinate their attacks and slowing them down considerably.
With the hindsight from playing this game as the French I think I'd deploy as much artillery in the centre as possible and use that and a single cavalry brigade to drive off any delaying Cossacks then bombard the Russian line. Meanwhile I'd send the Poles and Italians down both flanks and hope to draw off some of the Russian reserves to counter them. Once I'd shot away all the artillery ammunition in the centre I'd then use a march move to throw in the French infantry followed up by the Guard and Cavalry Corps to try to break the Russian centre. I'm not at all convinced this would change the result though.......
