We played our second game of Et Sans Resultant (ESR) using the new rules. We played the “Gorodechno” scenario from the ESR book “Master of the World — 1812 in Russia” which was a good sized game for four players. Our second game of ESR went much smoother and faster than our first game, and we achieved a result about half through the 28 turn duration of the scenario.
(For extensive comments about how the new ESR rules work, see our previous post about the Battle of Swolna. Our comments about ESR in this report will be much more limited.)
The Battle of Gorodechno, fought on 12 August 1812, saw a detached army of Saxons and Austrians (who were French allies at the time), led by General Schwartzenberg of Austria, attacking a Russian army led by General Tormasov.
The scenario begins with the Saxon corps arriving from the north and making a road march down the western side of the table. The head of the Saxon column has progressed about half way across the depth of the table. In the northeast corner of the table, the advanced guard and cavalry division of the Austrian corps face an infantry corps of the Russian army, while the remaining two Austrian infantry divisions are marching off-table behind the column of Saxons. A second Russian infantry corps and a Russian cavalry corps are deployed in the eastern and southeastern sectors of the table respectively.
Terrain: The battlefield is 6X4 miles, with the long axis running east-west (we played using the 100 yards per inch scale, on a table that was roughly 9X5 feet). A marshy stream runs the length of the table from east to west, about 3/4 mile to 1 mile south of the northern edge of the table. This stream is only crossable by a ford and a poor bridge in the east, a poor bridge in the center, and a poor bridge in the west (where the Saxons are crossing). After crossing the bridge in the west, a main road from the north passes through a large forest before entering open terrain and exiting the table to the south, heading toward the town of Cherechev. Another main road from the north crosses the bridge in the east, then passes over an open hill, then passes through a large forest before exiting the southern edge of the table, heading for the town of Kobryn. In general, the terrain is covered with gentle hills, and there are several areas of dense forest and marshland — particularly on the eastern side of the table.
Victory Conditions: The Austro-Saxons must control the southern exits of both main roads, and a majority of the Russian formations must be broken or retreating at the end of the battle. The Russians must maintain control of the road to Kobryn and prevent enemy formations from exiting via the Cherechev road.
Objectives and Orders: The first few turns were spent issuing and activating objectives and directives (i.e. orders). The Saxon objective was placed near the southern end of the road to Cherechev, which was close to the objectives placed for the Russian infantry corps (under General Sherbatov) and cavalry corps (under General Lambert). The Austrian corps and the leading Russian infantry corps (under General Markov) had their objectives placed on a hill located to the south of the central bridge. The corps commanders of both armies then issued orders for their formations to Move toward these objectives, with other formations Supporting those moves. The armies were thus set in motion to meet at the objectives.
(Comment: It seemed odd to us that the formations of the marching Saxon corps had to halt and wait while an objective and directives were issued and activated, but in ESR, unless the scenario specifies an objective and directive for a particular force, the force begins the game on a default Defend order.)
Moves: In the northeast, the Austrian advanced guard exchanged artillery fire with the guns of the Russian division across the stream. The heavier and more numerous Russian guns were having a greater effect, so the Austrian formation converted its orders to Withdraw and pulled back out of range. Seeing this, the Russian corps commander, General Markov, ordered his defending division to split, leaving one battery and eight infantry battalions to guard the crossings, while two batteries and four Jager battalions were ordered to move to the central bridge to support the fighting there. Other than some desultory artillery fire across the stream later in the game, there was no further action in the northeast.
The first real clash came near the central bridge.
The second infantry division of Markov’s corps reached the corps’ objective on a hill behind the central bridge, where its left wing found itself in range of the flank of the Saxon cavalry brigade that had just crossed the bridge. Russian artillery and skirmish fire inflicted some fatigue before the cavalry moved away to the south — toward the Saxon objective.
The Saxon cavalry may have evaded the fire of the Russian infantry division, but its ordeal was just beginning. Its move to the south had placed it in front of some guns of Scherbatov’s corps, which inflicted more fatigue. During the Combat Phase, Markov’s supporting light cavalry brigade converted to an Attack order and charged the fatigued Saxon cavalry. The combat assessment was 16X the remaining cohesion of the Saxons, which routed the squadrons in contact and broke the brigade — effectively for the remainder of the game.
The following turn, the victorious Russian cavalry brigade found itself facing Von Sahr’s small Saxon infantry division, supported by three batteries. The Russian hussars should have taken the opportunity to convert to a Withdraw order and gotten the heck out of there, but their commander forgot that he had that option, so they charged the fresh Saxon infantry. That was too great a task for the hussars, and they were broken in the ensuing combat.
Back at the central bridge, the defending Russian division reoriented itself to face Siegenthal’s arriving Austrian division, which was beginning to cross the bridge. The leading units of Sigenthal’s division were roughly handled, and the division was forced to retreat back across the bridge and move out of range. This forced Hessen-Homburg’s trailing Austrian division to divert off the road to avoid Russian artillery fire, and march overland toward the western bridge, which was designated as the new Austrian objective. This concluded the action at the central bridge, as the action shifted to the southwest.
In the southwest, the Saxons deployed their leading cavalry brigade (an Austrian chevauleger brigade on detached duty), which covered the deployment of Le Coq’s large Saxon infantry division. The infantry then advanced to the Saxon objective, with the chevaulegers supporting their left flank.
Russian General Lambert then ordered his leading brigade of Uhlans to charge the Saxon infantry. The Uhlans came off the worse in the resulting combat and retreated, but they inflicted some fatigue on the Saxons and bought time for both of Scherbatov’s Russian infantry divisions to move forward and unlimber all of their artillery, which fired upon the Saxons, causing mounting fatigue. About the same time, General Scherbatov ordered the hussars of his light cavalry brigade to charge the Austrian chevaulegers. The resulting combat forced both cavalry formations to retreat, but this attack exposed the flank of the Saxon infantry. Sherbatov then charged the Saxon infantry in the front and flank with his own infantry. A dice roll of “18” (on three D6!) gave the Russians a huge advantage in the combat, which forced the Saxon division to retreat.
With Hessen-Homburg’s Austrian division still crossing the western bridge and just starting to deploy within the forest, the Saxons were left with only Von Sahr’s weak division to try to stem the tide of Russians. General Schwartzenberg accepted that his combined army had been defeated. Victory for Russia!
Conclusion: We played about 14 turns and reached a result in just under four hours of playing, with much larger armies in play, so we managed a much better pace than in our first game. The ESR mechanisms are becoming more familiar to our players. (One mistake we made was allowing the Russian artillery to move through the dense woods in the Russian deployment area. The rules themselves are silent about this, but the Quick Reference Sheet shows that artillery cannot move in dense terrain. This mistake might have enabled the Russian artillery to reach the central bridge one turn faster than if they had gone around the woods, but that did not greatly effect the play of the scenario.) By closing off the eastern and central bridges, the Russians forced the bulk of the Saxon and Austrian army to squeeze through the western bridge and forest road. The three Austro-Saxon formations that squeezed through this narrow corridor were then overwhelmed by the six Russian formations that were sent to defeat them. God was on the side of the big battalions!
- TJ