Results from battle north of Spree River

Newly Promoted Marshal Prince Poniatowski

No details yet, this link: CLICK will take you to an album of one of the players from the game.

Freshly promoted Marshal, Prince Poniatowski took to the field of battle in Brandenberg ...

After Action Report f the Battle of Kremmen available at MurdockS MarauderS

Allied Supreme Imperial Command

Allied Supreme Imperial Command

For one brief period in late August 1813, there existed an opportunity for both the field commanders and the Allied Monarchs to meet.

A critical step of strategy was decided upon, one that would dictate the Allied armies movements for the next few weeks of the campaign.

It was great to be able to setup this strategic communication with five players on three continents with time zones ranging from UK, to Eastern North America and Pacific Time all the way out to Western Australia.

The story line will continue to be shared here, when able.

Count on a full after campaign, detailed account of the various actions ... this campaign is certainly one for my record book!

Marienberg II AAR

General Barclay de Tolly

General Barclay de Tolly has been active in the Bohemian mountains near Marienberg.

This After Action Report goes into detail about the engagement.

Now the allied forces appear to have stalled in the region south of Dresden.

Battle of Kamenz AAR

Blucher at Kamenz

Find the After Action Report for the Battle of Kamenz on MurdockS MarauderS blog.

The battle was a draw for losses, however the French are having to continue a retreat to the south and west, now definitively driven out of Silesia and away from the Bobr.

Blucher is certainly living up to his historical narrative in driving away Oudinot.  Will the 'master' Bonaparte show up soon in the sector, as was historically the challenge?

Blucher is relentless

GdK Blucher is relentless in his pursuit of Oudinot.

Now another battle will result from Blucher driving hard with Russian Dragoons to overtake the leading elements of Oudinot's retreating Corps.

After action report, AAR to come after this weekend.

Austrians Triumph at Second Bautzen

Charging Austrian Hussar

The Austrian Army under command of Feldmarschal-lieutenant Graf Radetzky has won a close fought victory at Bautzen in the Campaign.

For full details of the battle, played over two successive weekend meetings of the Australian gamers called the Avon Napoleonic Fellowship, may be found HERE.  <-- click the word HERE.

Players now have the up-to-date maps and the 24th of August move is in progress.

Grand Battle at Bautzen - Austrian attack

Table setup as seen from the west behind French lines looking east towards Austrians

The first sneak peek at the 'Second Bautzen' battle has come in from the tabletop in Australia.

The battle will have another day of action to complete the battle, so we cannot yet reveal a winner.

Battlefield at the start, French to the left, Austrians to the right

Ideally in another seven days we shall have the full details of this mighty encounter, pivotal at this point in the campaign.

Second battle south of Potsdam

MurdocK's MarauderS have played out another battle of the campaign south of Potsdam.

Read the After Action Report here.

Battles abound!

After a delay caused by travels we have resumed movement in the Campaign of Nations.

Radetzky von Radetz, Joseph Wenzel Graf

Now looming before Radetzky, commanding the Austrian forces charged with assaulting French forces at Bautzen, is the task of overcoming the French with the Vanguard and Cavalry of the Austrian Empire.

Our campaign has progressed differently than the historical one and this battle is shaping up to be one of some significance.

The orders of battle are being prepared and we are awaiting word of the table(s) that will take on this titanic engagement.

There was a march and an Order named after this famous Austrian commander, to hear it and read more about this click here.

Overall picture update from mid August

In an effort to give an overall picture of the campaign so far ... without giving away too many details:

Barclay de Tolly

Barclay de Tolly has pushed open a pass though the Bohemian mountains south of Dresden, though that path is not yet clear of French resistance.

The Marienburg battles have been a set of cavalry skirmishes followed by a general build-up for both sides in the narrow flat area near Marienburg.

Then on the 21st of August a great battle ensued, where the Prussians were able to force a passage while Austrians and Russians held off the supporting French allied nations corps of Germans and Italians.

GDK von Blucher

Blucher, using a flank force of Dragoons has pushed a crossing of the Bobr against Marshal Oudinot.

The exact details of this engagement are not clear as of this writing, though it is clear that Oudinot retreated with the greater part of his infantry and artillery, while Sebastiani and the light cavalry performed screening duties and thus were much more wounded.

Michel Ney

While at BERLIN, Marshal Ney has performed a heroic feat, the city is encircled and the defenders either pushed back or retreating, the situation in north Brandenburg and south Pomerania is unclear.

Ney has paid for these victories with his life.

What is known is that Potsdam is not secured and the General Bulow has come out swinging - gaining a victory south of the city and opening a wedge in the French lines.  Whether this will be enough to relieve Berlin is not clear.

 Still not yet seen are Schwartenburg and the main Austrian Armies along with the Allied Monarchs.

 Napoleon Bonaparte and the Imperial Guard has yet to be located, and so remains a constant threat to the Allied planning. 

Where will he appear and strike?

Campaign within a campaign?

The battle of Olbernhau, in the Bohemian mountain passes, has certainly all the elements of a great multi-day campaign on its own.

The Marienberg region, hex 35,27 on the campaign map

Jim, one of the commanders in the greater Campaign of Nations, has posted some of the details of this particular region as part of his after action report from a cavalry battle earlier in the Campaign.

The PART 1 section (click the link) goes over these details rather thoroughly I thought.

Most certainly the map of the region is likely to be put to use again ...

Battle of Rothenburg 20 August 1813

In our simulated Campaign of Nations a Russian force was ordered to cross the Bobr River region near Rothenburg.

Mark's 9th Hussars being featured on the tabletop

The Battle of Rothenburg was played out using SHAKO rules by the Avon Napoleonic Fellowship.

Click the links above to go to the game and blog.

In the end the crossing was not hotly contested ...

Cossack & Lancer Skirmish Series

The provision of information is always critical in the development of a Campaign.

Lancers

During the period of the 1813 Campaign the eyes of the Allied armies were the Cossacks, for the French it was the Hussar or Chasseur that probed, while the Lancer performed screening duties.

There is a critical set of information, both sides want to get at this information and preserve the secret of their own from the other side.

To 'game-out' this situation, the game master is proposing a 7 game skirmish series, where the winner of four of the games will get to have the enemy information and preserve their own secret.

The location of the battle series is not revealed until after the series is played out ...

Game1 : Lancers win  - L1 :: C0
Game 2: Cossacks win   -  L1 :: C1
Game 3: Cossacks win - L1 :: C2
Game 4: Lancers win - L2 :: C2
Game 5: Lancers win - L3 :: C2
Game 6: Lancers win  - L4 :: C2

Lancers win the series 4 games to 2.

Battle at Berlin - other images

One of the player for the Battle of Berlin I, has posted up an image album of his iPhone shots from the field.

The Impetuous Maréchal Ney, Prince of Moscow

The first battle before the walls of Berlin is settled now.

Maréchal Ney, Prince of Moscow

Maréchal Ney, Prince of Moscow; took upon himself the Herculean task of storming the south gates of the city just as night was falling.

Taking command of a company of Grenadiers and Voltigeurs from 1st Battalion 29th Légère Regiment the impetuous Maréchal Ney attempted to force an opening through the scatterings of Cossacks that were still active on the north side of a bridge which had been holding up III Corps all day.

The Cossacks were screening back the French as they scrambled to get through the open gates to the city ordered by Russian General Harpe.

When last seen Maréchal Ney was set upon by a squadron of Cossacks, in the dim light his hat disappeared, then his horse could be seen being led away by the Cossacks as the south gates to the city closed behind them.  There were dead Frenchmen and horses in all directions around the bridge and scatterings of men were moving into the buildings outside the walls of the city.  Darkness overtook the battle scene and as III Corps had no chief of staff, Général de brigade Jomini having deserted three days before, the men of the 9th Division settled into a bivouac to await orders for the next day...

Battle for Berlin

A grand battle for Berlin is shaping up now, with Marshal Ney advancing in force on the city.

Berlin c. 1800

In 1813 the city and region of Berlin had a population of around 1.5 million, given that the allied armies had failed in May of 1813, there were efforts made to shore up the defenses of the city, notably written by Bulow.  However, in the rush to enable recruitment and finding the cupboard empty of arms, many of the Landwher regiments were only partly armed with muskets, the rest having not much more than pikes or farm implements.  The Freewilliger corps were even more hastily armed.

Certainly there would have been the manpower to improve the city defenses, similar to that found in advance of the Borodino battle, where massive earthworks were prepared.

What of the situation for our fictional Berlin in August 1813?

How many defenses were actually prepared to the south of the city?

What sort of civil defense measures might have been possible?  Conscription? More wild partisan-like units?

What would happen to the million plus inhabitants of the city once Ney's advance cavalry guard arrived on the 18th August?  Would there have been an evacuation already?  Would there be a panic, that might interfere with military operations?

Please do comment on your thoughts about this situation.

Post script battle from playtest at Potsdam II

Jim, one of our campaign players, had run the second encounter at Potsdam during the playtest phase.

His Blog post about that battle can be found here:

First battle action Campaign in action

General Barclay de Tolly

General Barclay de Tolly is leading his column north out of Bohemia, when the leading Russian Hussar Division encounters two Divisions of French Light Cavalry, Chasseurs and Hussars.

Now the columns must form up into battle formations from their march columns and move into engage with the French, for de Tolly has decided to force a battle here in the passes.

The battle details have bee sent out to the table partners, now we shall see if any could run this battle in the next 10 days.

Oders are posted

All players have sent in their start positions and first wave of orders, they have been collated and potential battle situations have resulted.

The first run of the main campaign is underway.

As we are going to be using a simultaneous movement system I shall not be sharing the strategic map details here on the blog.  For now the 'starting area' map will have to do ... once battles are joined more details can be shared.

Playtest Ended, French Tactical Victory

With the victory of French ADC Baron Corbineau over the Russian ADC Pozzo di Borgo in the second battle of the upper Spree the play test phase of our game plan has come to an end.

You can read all about the details at MurdocK's MarauderS.

The victory for the French over two days of battle has resulted in a third crossing of the Spree River, meaning that a larger force of French could easily mount an assault on the city of Berlin.

With the play test now done, we have been working ferociously towards having the details mapped out for the main campaign.  Players now have their commands and are laying out the forces accordingly.

As we have a 'team' of French players it is my pleasure to state that we will be having a simultaneous movement system in the main campaign and a referee to provide the thrills, chills and spills of 'fog of war' issues in the game.

Watch the extra pages here at Campaign of Nations for the juicy details of game mechanics and in the coming weeks we shall be able to share some of what has been going on behind the scenes.  I say 'some' as we will need to keep certain details confidential so as not to spoil the game action.

Final battle of playtest ... Pozzo di Borgo vs. Oudinot

In a second clash along the Upper Spree river, this time the Russians and Swedes are outnumbered.

Strategic situation from Cyberboard map

Oudinot leading XII Corps from the south and Baron Corbineau leading XIV Corps and III Cavalry Corps from the North against three Russian Corps and the whole of the Swedish Heavy Cavalry ... battle awaits!

Question of Supply

From an answer to a question about supply from our Army of Bohemia commander:

Supply symbols at edge of map, this is one of the Austrian ones south of Prague

If you wish to set up a magazine, you may.  I will have supply data on the blog soon, basically so long as you are on or within 1 hex of a road you are 'in supply'.  If you cannot trace a road back to your supply line (because enemy has crossed that road) then you have 2 days supply to 'get back' into supply or there will be consequences (at least the spent/disorder issue may come into action).  Other than getting surrounded the allied forces do not have as many supply headaches as the French because most of the populace is not on the French side.

I will have to work out the magazine concept - basically you NAME a location and 2 days later it becomes a self-sustained supply point - with a 2 hex radius if it gets cut off from the main supply line with enough to keep it going for 10 days.  As the Austrians were the supply 'masters' you will have 3 of these magazines and can change them at will - just taking the 2 days to 'move' from location to location.  Ultimately you will only need these once you are moving out from Bohemia.

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Follow up for other players:

Army of Silesia gets 1 magazine
Army of the North gets 1 magazine

French Grande Armee gets 2 magazines

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comments or thoughts on this?

Main Campaign Warning Order

The Campaign Commanders are receiving warning orders as this post is written.

LEIPZIG Campaign Start regions

The map given is for the starting deployment areas, once the battle proper starts then the 'gloves are off' and essentially anything (within the capabilities of the units of the period) goes!

Technical Support - dividing units

During the course of the play test it has come to light to have a few more Cyberboard helper items.

While I cannot claim to know all about Cyberboard, here is one method I have been using for managing the units:

Here I have selected the Cavalry Corps of Pahlen III.

here the cursor is over the unit showing the data

With the unit selected, simply double left-click to get the text box to show.

now the corps text box is ready to edit

I copy the primary headline text and the text for the unit to be 'split out', in this case the 1st Line Division of Millesinov.

The section to be 'cut out' is highlighted the 'control x' will cut it and hold it ready to be pasted

Now go back to the pieces selection, in this case Army of Bohemia and select the unit piece to be added to the board, in this case a Russian Cavalry Division.

left click and hold while dragging the new unit onto the mapboard

Now double left-click on the new unit and paste the data 'control v' into the text box for the new unit.

after entering the cut data, I go back and copy the formation - then with the header 'detachment' to identify that the unit is not the sole or parent formation

Also worth while to correct the formation data, [1] on the new division and [2] in the Corps parent formation and to correct the Troop Strength numbers subtracting 2688 from the Corps strength of 7008.  This makes tracking the relative combat strength of the units easier for both the player and game controller.  Note that the sub-unit Division does not have the Troops Strength of the whole corps formation, for now it is only the one Division.

Then completing the change by updating the parent Corps formation data.

updating the parent Corps formation data

Finally re-stacking the whole new group, simply highlight the whole formation by left click-hold and drag out a rectangle around the troops to be included in the stack.

selecting the troops for stacking

Then click on the auto stack button or you ma use 'control a' or use the drop down menu under Actions

once they are all 'stacked' together you will be able to shift around the entire stack

I also like to see the senior officers, so I commonly will 'send to the back' of the stack some split out or other blocking units so that the wing commander or ADC is visible on the top of the stack.   You can either send the top unit (the new counter) to the back or grab the ADC/Officer and move him to the top.

I hope that you find this little tutorial on unit splitting helpful.

French Strategic Flank action

The Play test continues - now I want to see if the Allies will take direct action to stop the French flank action moving in on Berlin or not ...

After 4 moves the Allied forces are out of Berlin with French across the Spree in 2 places

If the Allies permit French into Berlin, that could be the end of the battle ... unless they are able to blast a hole in the French line and capture Oudinot!

Playtest moving to final stage

Russians cross the Spree in battle with Polish forces

The play test continues, now with at least one more large battle to simulate.

Plans are to get into discussion about the issues that have come to light in the play test now in the first week of February.

The aim being to have the troops laid out and getting into motion with the full campaign before the start of March 2013, in order to have time to get the action moving and possibly have a resolution within the year.

Allied move in Playtest

Crown Prince Charles John

Following Potsdam, the Allied forces are to move ... can they push back the French enough to overcome the two secured crossings of the Spree River?

Second day of playtest map, in the west the troops are spent from the battle at Potsdam