Battle of Vitebsk, 1812.

I ran a game of Bloody Big Battles (BBB) for an experienced boardgamer who is new to wargaming with miniatures.  The Battle of Vitebsk (1812) provided a well balanced and relatively simple scenario for two players.

Historical Background:

This battle near the city of Vitebsk saw the French advanced guard under Marshal Murat attacking the Russian rear guard.  Historically, Murat attacked straight ahead, personally leading the cavalry assisted by General Nansouty, while Viceroy Eugene led the French infantry.  As an interesting side note, Murat was Napoleon’s brother-in-law, and Eugene was Napoleon’s adopted son.  Both were conducting the battle in view of Napoleon, which must have been awkward!

The Russian defenders were commanded by Generals Tuchkov, Ostermann-Tolstoy, and Pahlen.  Other strong Russian forces were nearby but not engaged.  The actual fighting on the day was limited, with Napoleon calling off the attack at an early hour.  Additional French forces were en route, and Napoleon intended to continue the battle the next day.  The Russian army used this opportunity to slip away and retreat to Smolensk.  However, as a wargame this battle can be fought with greater intensity and it has some interesting grand tactical and tactical possibilities.

Scenario:

As the basis for our game, I used a scenario published for the Et Sans Resultant (ESR) rules, in the ESR campaign guide, “Master of the World, 1812 in Russia”.  The scenario adapted easily to BBB, using a ground scale of 150 yards to the inch.

I used the Orders of Battle published in the scenario with some slight modifications to get the scale to conform with our standard method of basing 18mm miniatures.  Each cavalry squadron group in the scenario became one base in BBB, representing 225 mounted men on a 1″ wide base.  Each infantry battalion became 1.33 bases in BBB, so each 3/4″ wide base represented 375 men.  The number of individual artillery batteries in the scenario was reduced so that each artillery “battery group” in BBB represented about 16 guns, on a 1.5″ wide base.  The bases were grouped into cavalry and infantry brigades of 4-6 bases, with artillery “battery groups” on single bases.  Only the above-named leaders were represented in the game.

Unit ratings using BBB:

To reflect the fact that the French troops were tired after a rapid and long march into Russia, all of the French units were rated as Trained (T).  The sole exception was the large brigade of cuirassiers that was relatively fresher, which was rated as Veteran (V).  (In BBB Veteran units can take 3 hits before becoming spent, while Trained units can take only 2 hits).  All of the French infantry brigades were rated Skirmish (S), except two brigades that contained light infantry battalions which were rated as S3.  The cuirassier brigade and the lancer brigade were rated as Aggressive (A).

To represent the ability of Russian infantry to hold steady under fire, all the Russian infantry units were rated Veteran.  Only the two infantry brigades that contained some Jager battalions were rated Skirmish, no other Russian infantry brigades were given a skirmish bonus.  All of the Russian cavalry brigades were rated Trained, and the two Russian hussar brigades were rated Aggressive.

All infantry on both sides is armed with smoothbore muskets (SM) and all artillery is smoothbore (SA).

Orders of Battle:

French:  Marshal Murat, C-in-C

IV Corps:  Viceroy Eugene

13th Division:

6 SM, S3, T

4 SM, S, T

6 SM, S, T

Artillery, SA

14th Division:

6 SM, S3, T

4 SM, S, T

6 SM, S, T

Artillery, SA

I Reserve Cavalry Corps:  Gen. Nansouty

1st Heavy Cavalry Division:

6 Cuirassiers, V, A

1st Light Cavalry Division:

6 Lancers, T, A

4 Chasseurs, T

Horse Artillery, SA

Russians:  Gen. Tuchkov I

III Infantry Corps:

3rd Infantry Division:

4 SM, V

4 SM, V

IV Infantry Corps:  Gen. Ostermann-Tolstoy

11th Infantry Division:

5 SM, S, V

5 SM, S, V

Artillery, SA

Artillery, SA

23rd Infantry Division:

4 SM, V

4 SM, V

Artillery, SA

III Cavalry Corps:  Pahlen

4 Dragoons, T

4 Dragoons, T

4 Hussars, T, A

4 Hussars, T, A

Horse Artillery, SA

Terrain:  We played on a 4X4 foot table.  The terrain is generally open and rolling.  The Daugava River runs along the northern edge of the table and is impassible.  The Russians are defending the eastern half of the table, deployed on a series of adjacent gentle hills that have no effect other than blocking line of sight.  The Russian right flank (north) is anchored by the small village of Kakuvyachino and a small wood next to the river.  The Russian left flank (south) is anchored on a very large forest, most of which is further encumbered by a marsh and a stream.  The combination of all three of these features makes this third of the table very slow going for infantry and almost impassible for cavalry and artillery.  The French begin on the western side of the table, which has a large forest in the middle of their deployment area, with open ground on the two flanks  A stream runs through no-man’s land between the two deployment areas and flows north into the river.  The stream is crossable by all units with a slight movement penalty.  The main road bisects the forest on the French side of the table, then runs through the Russian deployment zone, then bends and exits the table to the southeast.  The road has no effect other than to negate the movement penalties for moving through woods and crossing the stream.

Deployment:  

The Russian initial deployment was generally dictated by the scenario.  The Russian front line had to include III Corps and all the cavalry.  Tuchkov placed the two infantry brigades on his right (north), on the hill near the village and small woods, under his personal supervision.  The cavalry under Pahlen was on the hill on the left (south), with the horse artillery in the center near the road.  Ostermann-Tolstoy’s corps was in reserve, about 900 yards (6″) behind the cavalry.

In the ESR scenario, all French forces enter the table on Turn 1 on the western edge.  However, our table was 12″ deeper, so we allowed the French to deploy anywhere within 12″ of their baseline.  The scenario stipulated that Eugene’s infantry corps had to deploy on or north of the road.  Eugene placed his two limbered artillery batteries on the road through the forest, one division in the forest, and one division to their left in open ground.  Nansouty’s corps had to deploy south of the road.  His cavalry and horse artillery set up in the open ground south of the forest.  Murat placed himself in the center, where he could command elements of both wings.  He would spend most of the game ignominiously commanding the artillery!

Victory Conditions:  The French win if they can drive 3/4 of the Russian army off the table, or exit a combat unit off the Russian table edge via the road.  The Russians win if they can prevent the French from winning.  The game begins at 1000 hrs and can last until nightfall at 2100 hours (22 possible turns).

Special Rule:  Historically, Napoleon stopped the battle at 1300 hours.  To reflect this, the ESR scenario has a possibility of ending the game at this point.  I amended the scenario to have Napoleon appear in the French deployment area at 1300 hours, at which point Murat would have to stop whatever he was doing and move his leader figure back to Napoleon to be yelled at. The French player was unaware of this rule, but he was told that Napoleon expected quick results!

Battle Report:

The French infantry advance was initially slowed by coming out of the woods and crossing the stream.  The French lancers and cuirassiers made a short move forward, staying out of Russian artillery range, while the chasseurs made a full move forward to shelter behind the edge of the forest on the Russian left flank.  All the French artillery moved forward 6″ and unlimbered. Counter-battery fire from the Russian horse artillery silenced one of these batteries before it unlimbered.

In their turn the Russians made a major adjustment to their deployment.  On their left, Ostermann-Tolstoy’s infantry and artillery moved to the front, displacing the cavalry to their rear, while one infantry brigade reinforced the right wing.  One of the foot batteries was damaged and silenced by the French guns before it could unlimber.  On their right, the Russians held their positions.

The French infantry then advanced another 9″ while the cavalry made a short move forward to get within charge range.  Deciding his artillery was too far back, Murat ordered his batteries to limber and move forward, with one battery being silenced during its move by the Russian guns.  Do to some poor activation rolls later in the game, the French would never have more than two of their batteries in action at the same time.

With the French cavalry now within charge range of the Russian left wing, the Russians prepared to be charged.  One infantry brigade moved into the edge of the forest then turned 45-degrees to its right to be able to provide defensive enfilade fire.  Russian artillery focused its fire on the French cavalry, killing a base of cuirassiers.  On the Russian extreme right, one infantry brigade in line formation moved forward into the small woods, then turned to shoot at the endmost French brigade.

If the French infantry had continued their advance, the Russian brigade in the small woods was in position to threaten their flank, so Eugene detached two brigades to charge those Russians.  Defensive fire disordered and halted one brigade, but the second brigade forced the Russians back 3″.  Continued fighting in these woods would see the Russians eventually pushed back to the village, with the loss of one base, but this prolonged combat effectively took two French brigades out of the larger battle.

On the French right, the chasseurs moved into the forest to threaten the flank of the endmost Russian infantry brigade.  Meanwhile, the cuirassiers and lancers moved to within 9″ of the Russian line.

In the Russian turn their artillery continued to punish the French cavalry, taking a base from the lancers, but the horse artillery ran low on ammunition.  In the forest, the Infantry brigade turned to fire on the chasseurs, and also killed a base.  The skirmish bonus of the Russian Jagers made the good Russian shooting even better.  On the Russian right, the fighting in the woods continued.

The French cavalry brigades all rallied and made charges.  All of the charges were either stopped by defensive fire or beaten in the melee, and the cuirassiers lost a base.  The French infantry was doing better, charging and forcing back a Russian brigade and attached battery, with a base loss.

The Russians temporarily restored the situation on their right by charging with a dragoon brigade and a hussar brigade, which came at a cost to the hussars.  On the left, good shooting eliminated another another cuirassier base, causing the cuirassiers to become spent.  Russian shooting was effective all game.

The French rallied and made one more big push, with Murat himself coming forward to take command.  The spent cuirassiers made a forlorn charge to block the fire from one battery, while the lancers charged in the center, along with an infantry brigade Miraculously, the cavalry survived the defensive fire without loss.  The lancers made it into contact, but the cuirassiers and the infantry were repulsed.  The lancers went on to win the melee, driving a Russian infantry brigade and the horse artillery back with a loss.

At the same time, the rest of the French infantry made another charge near the village, but were bloodied and repulsed by hot shooting which caused the Russian infantry to go low on ammunition.

The Russians then tried to finish off the lancers by shooting them with canister while charging them with a fresh hussar brigade.  The lancers lost a base to shooting, but then, amazingly, won the melee vs. the hussars (the net modifiers were -1 to +2).  This was the French high water mark.

At that point, Murat threw in the towel.  All of the French cavalry were spent, plus two infantry brigades were spent, while the artillery was far to the rear and still not concentrated.  Six French cavalry and six infantry bases were hors de combat.  On the other side, the Russian defense was a bit disorganized but still mostly intact, having lost only three infantry bases and two hussar bases.

Just at this moment, Napoleon rode onto the battlefield with his entourage and summoned Murat to meet him for a little chat….

My board-gaming friend enjoyed the game and he easily picked up the mechanics of the rules.  After the game he realized he should not have led with the French cavalry.  Had he given the superior shooting of the French infantry some time to weaken the Russian defenses and then committed fresh cavalry to finish the job, this game could have had a much different ending.

Once again, BBB worked very well for a smallish Napoleonic battle with two corps per side.  I think brigade-sized units work best for playing Napoleonics with BBB, although smaller sized units work okay too.  We have yet to try playing BBB with division-sized units in this period — we are reserving that experience for a really bloody big battle!

• TJ