Grand Campaign BATTLE at LUBBEN - Allied overview

General Blucher urging on his cavalry to recover position

The Allied positions on the 12th of September 1813 (fictional) were spread from the town of Peitz, north of the Spree River down through Lubben and further south to Luckau.

These forces were all contiguously connected, though only a small force of cavalry under Röder was the connection south of Lubben.

That day, Blücher was to learn that his cavalry strike north of the river was at a phantom and that the French Guard light cavalry had evaded contact while he engaged the French 1st Corps infantry.

Now the Allied forces might have only a day to gather as the French made the move to encircle Lubben, or at least cut it off from any further re-enforcements.

overall field positions on 12 Sept 1813 in our campaign

With Blucher rushing his tired troopers back to Lubben, there could be little chance of taking action against the French on the 12th ... the 13th though would be a day for maximum risk of major action in the Lubben area.

Allied forces:

From Peitz: (still blown from battle on 11 Sept)
General der Kavallerie Blücher (with escort of Don Cossack Guard brigade)
von Ribbentrop

Cavalry Corps:
St Petersberg Cossack Brigade
Lokouffkin Cossack Brigade

Provisional Heavy Cavalry Corps:
1st Dragoon Brigade
3rd Cuirassier Brigade of GM Duka

1st Light Cavalry Corps:
1st Chasseur a Cheval under Pantschulid Brigade

2nd Hussar Division Kalovsky Brigade

IN LUBBEN:
GM Langeron
commanding horse batteries left by cavalry 11 Sept (1xhorse)

9 Corps Aleusiev:
9 Division Udom II
Schapskoy Brigade
Durnov Brigade

5 Division Rusdevitch
Tern Brigade
Anensur Brigade
Tichanovsky Brigade

9 Corps Artillery (horse battery in FPGA)

10 Corps Kapzevitch:
8 Division Urussov
Schindshin Brigade
Revin Brigade

22 Division Turtshaninov
Schapskoy Brigade
Durnov Brigade

Detached Corps: Pahlen I

8th Corps St.Preist
11 Division Gurgalov
Kartvenkov Brigade
Turgenev Brigade
Bistrom II Brigade

17 Division Pillar
Kern Brigade
Shertov I Brigade
Charitanov Brigade

Reserve Cavalry Corps Gallitzin V:
1 Cuirassier Division Depradovitch
Arnesiev Brigade
Rosen Brigade
Guard Cossack Volunteers Brigade

2 Cuirassier Division Kretov
Karatiev Brigade
Leontiev Brigade

Reserve Cavalry artillery  (2xfoot 2xhorse)

On the road just south of Lubben:  (facing battle with French Cavalry Corps V (two Div of Dragoons))

Cavalry Reserve: Generalmajor von Röder
von Wrangel Brigade
von Starkenfels Brigade
von Mutius Brigade
Attached artillery (horse battery in FPGA)

On the road 12 miles south of Lubben [Allied staging area]:

Allied Monarchs
General Quartermasters: Generalmajor Baron Langenau

2nd Army Abtielung: General der Kavallerie Graf Meerfeldt
1 Division Ignaz Lederer
Sorenberg Brigade

Artillery (1xfoot in FPGA)

IN LUCKAU (just south of the 12 mile staging area):

5 Guard Corps Yermolov
1 Guard Division Rosen
Potemkin Brigade
Krapovitzky Brigade

2 Guard Division Udom I
Krishanovsky Brigade
Scheltuchin II Brigade

3 Grenadier Corps Kaevsky
1 Division Sulima
Zweilikov Brigade
Acht Brigade
Yemelianov Brigade

2 Division Tchoglokov
Pissarev Brigade
Colovin Brigade
Hesse Brigade

2nd Division: Feldmarschal-lieutenant Fürst Lichtenstein
Klopstein Brigade
Meszerey Brigade

1st Army Abtielung: Feldzeugmeister Graf H. Colloredo

3rd Division Greth
Mumb Brigade
Quasdannovich Brigade

Artillery (1xfoot in FPGA)

Kuirassier Brigade Rothkirch



These forces have been examined for use in the Fast Play Grand Armee (FPGA) rules and will need 44 brigades and 10 gun stands along with numerous officer stands.  The game moderator does not have enough base stands for both this army AND the French attackers in the correct FPGA sizes.  So alternatives are being examined for the game planned to be played out on 23 January 2015.

Another Cavalry Clash northwest of Lubben

Desperate for information about French troop movements GdK Blucher ordered a massive cavalry sweep into the roads north west of Lubben south of the river Spree.

Russian Chasseur a Cheval

The summary of the battle from Jim:

In a nutshell, a French ambush worked well but they were spotted in hilly and wooded terrain in time to avoid utter surprise.  The french jumped the two Russian CàC units but only sawed off the skirmish, no killed units on either side.  Neither the french nor the Russian units rallied promptly, allowing the Cossacks time to worry their way around the French flank.  The french backed off while trying to recover units (1 of 3 in effective command and in order).  With units finally recovered, a second melee was initiated with the Russians coming off the worst but not losing anyone.  They were then able to move to the edge of the board while the French, heavily outnumbered, did not get an opportunity to land another strong blow without overpowering counter attack. The kicker however was the French never really got their first attack in as hoped, and it could/ought to have gained 3 or more kills.

view of Jim's table just as the trap was sprung!

10th September 1813 has been a busy day for both sides with fights on both the north and south of a line of troops from Lubben to Dresden.  Map details go out soon now for the orders of the 11th ...

Battle of Meisen Bridge

Austrians forming a rear-guard

The Austrian 4th Army Abtielung 1st Division was facing the French II Corps 4th Division at a crossing of the Elbe east of Meisen.  The French had been building up defenses since the 28th of August, now here on the 10th of September the Austrians were ordered to attack.  2nd Division was forced marching up with the
Abtielung (Corps) artillery to support the assault.

1st Division was mostly Hussars with some Cheveauxleger and Grenzer battalions along with a 6lb Horse battery.  Facing them behind their two weeks worth of fortifications at the bridge were 3 battalions of Leger and 9 of Line foot along with 2 12lb Foot batteries under Dubreton's command.

Due to the need for the forced marching 2nd Division to come up the battle could not start until 15h00.  The Cheveauxleger set up a screen while the Grenzers and horse batteries got into position to rush the bridge and fire on the French on the far bank, while the 2nd Division arrived and moved up the three heavy batteries that were the 4th Army Abtielung reserve.  This took some three hours to accomplish under French artillery fire, the 1st Division suffered some 35% casualties during this phase, scoring negligible hits on the French.

By 18h00 the main assault was under way, with the Austrian Foot batteries pounding into the French defenses and all-out assaults began with the Grenzers.  The first hour saw 10% casualties on the Fernch and 30% on the Austrians, with the Grenzers all but wiped out.

Undaunted the second wave went in at 19h00, over the next three hours successive battalions of Austrian foot stormed the bridge, again only 10% casualties were suffered by the French; while a whopping 50% were suffered by the Austrian attackers.  Faced with withering losses Austrian Wing Commander
Generalmajor Baron Trapp called off any further assaults and by 22h00 on 10th September 1813 the attacks on the eastern bridge of Meisen was over, the Austrians were in full retreat to Furstenwalde.

Battle was 'simulated' using GURPS Mass Combat system and the troop strength sheets combat system.

Skirmish series for Alexandria Hussars

Alexandria Hussar Badge

The Alexandria Hussars have been tasked to keep French from learning about the dispositions of General der Kavallerie Blücher army now in the Lubben area.

They are also tasked with penetrating the French cavalry patrols and learning all they can about the French troops in the regions west of the city.

An epic skirmish series now begins!



Skirmish Results, updated as games are completed:

Uniform of the Alexandria Hussars

Game 1: French WIN
Game 2: Russian WIN
Game 3: French WIN
Game 4: Russian WIN
Game 5: Russian WIN
Game 6: French WIN
Game 7: French WIN

Game 6 synopsis: Extremely narrow french victory.  The pretty much wrecked part fo the Russ. hussars at the start.  The Russians mounted a fierce counter charge and nearly knocked the French out (remarkable coming from way behind) but came up short.  Someone’s morale has to fail first, it was the Russians.

Once again the FRENCH WIN a skirmish series, pushed to seven games where a lowly French trooper takes out a Russian lieutenant, to end and win match seven!

now the French gain valuable information about the Russians in Lubben, while Blucher must decide what his course of action will be with less information about French movements...

Action West of Gersdorf

Fabulous miniatures from Jim's collection took to the field for this action, played on a tabletop in Quebec, Canada

Casualites are : Allies: 5 Cs French : 2 Westph. Chasseurs à C., 1 Westphal. Hu.

The game was pretty much a draw which ended when the French side failed its 50% morale roll and so surrendered the field. The Russians were in no better shape at that point but passed theirs. I used the Div. morale rules for the small forces and set up following James' recommendations.

The french guns destroyed 4 Cs units with canister. They were less effective at range (the horse guns were out of their canister range). The Russians used a pincer movement. One pincer maneuvered through a small wood to hide from guns but this offered only temporary comfort as they were attacked right away by a hussar unit upon clearing the forest, losing a CS unit. This did siphon off the attention of half the french cav and allowed an overloaded attack on the Russian left to close, using the leading unfortunate CS units to shelter the rest by drawing the canister fire. The survivors closed and 2 and 3 on one melees ensued. A CàC unit broke a cossack easily and was recalled rather than doing a breakthrough. The Russian DR unit broke the two Westphalian CàC units, the second on a breakthrough.

The horse guns got out of trouble but the Heavy gun had to stick it out. They broke two CS units with canister and damaged another (one horse gun was now screened). A new round of melees with the remaining "live" CS units (not broken or blown) resulted in the destruction of the remaining Westphalian CàC unit through a 3 on 1 attack. The morale rolls ensued. The MR3 Sappers formed square and were accordingly left alone by the filthy cossacks.

The Russians were saved because the french arty did not succeed in killing one unit per turn early on and having closed quickly, they were able to simply throw more dice in massed attacks. The Dragoon unit was able to go in untouched and made the difference by having the advantage in two separate combats, they broke the two Westphal. Chasseur units. The 3rd Westphal hussar unit was beaten by a massed attack and a another massed attack by the Cossacks was lost, but they survived as dice difference was 2 and the damage by shared amongst 2 participants.

Full AFTER ACTION REPORT link will be attached once the AAR is posted.

Marienberg III

IV Coprs Commander General Bertrand

A third major engagement has come about in the Bohemian mountain pass of Merienberg.

Read the After Action Report here on Murdock'S MarauderS

New Major Battles on the horizon and a critical skirmish series

Cavalry Skirmish

With the 1 September 1813 turn now in progress there are two major battles, one minor one and another cavalry skirmish series to take to the tabletop in the next 10 days.

This time the cavalry are from Prussia and Russia, mixes of Landwher, Cossacks and Hussars.

Tabletop game players from the UK, Spain and USA will take on the action.

The minor battle will be handled by our Australian contingent and the Canadian crew at MurdocK's MarauderS will take on at least one of the major battles.

Watch for results in the next week!

Large Battle near Luckau = French withdraw.

Large Battle in Marienberg = Narrow Allied victory, French retreat.

Cossacks engage in south-west = French drive off Cossacks.

Skirmish Series:
Game 1: Allied Victory, with Russians doing the heavy lifting. Allies 1 : French 0
Game 2: Allied Vctory, with Brandenburg Uhlans leading the way.  Allies 2 : French 0
Game 3: French Victory, convincing.  Allies 2 : French 1
Game 4: French Victory, very close.  Allies 2 : French 2
Game 5: French Victory minor tactical victory - including a turncoat squadron! Allies 2 : French 3
Game 6: French Victory, decisive!  French WIN SKIRMISH SERIES 4 games to 2 for Allies.

More of the 'second' cavalry skirmish series

Over the December period a skirmish series of games was called for to determine whom would have the 'upper hand' in penetrating the cavalry screens - and thus gain vital campaign information ...

This After Action Report from The Avon Napoleonic Fellowship, tells the tale of one of these recent skirmishes.

Orders have come in following these skirmishes ... armies are on the move!

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?

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.

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 ...