EC-BC Playtest 2: The Eagles Wavre...

We will cross the ford, outflank the Наглец  Frogs and take the hill!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kutuzov_fili.jpg

The two sides face off again on One-Hour Wargame #12: An Unfortunate Oversight. This time the Russkies are on the attack. They've great Gun support with two massed batteries, but only three Infantry brigades and one Cavalry brigade.

The French have four Infantry brigades, one Cavalry brigade and a battalion of Lights.

Both sides have a general, the counter with two mounted fellows on it.

French set up first. One question for them is what to do with the lights. There's no rough terrain for them to work in, and the town can be Assaulted. If the Russians throw an Infantry battalion at it, they may not be able to hold it. In the end, I put Infantry in there since they are the most powerful unit and have the best balance of firepower and endurance in the game. As long as they are completely within the town, the Artillery can't see them unless they got very close. And the reverse is true.

French setup is below. The hill is the victory objective, and the Cavalry and lights will take the outside flank, with three Infantry brigades on the inside to hold the hill itself. All Units must be "within" 12" of the town, which I take to mean the entire Unit is within 12", not just an edge.

Russkies set up with their batteries close enough to Bombard the French force, and the rest prepared to cross as quickly as possible, lead by the Cavalry.

Russians have Initiative automatically on Turn 1 since they are the Attacker. As is often the case, they manage to blow the Order roll for the crossing - clearly, crossing the Ford is more difficult than I think! They roll a natural '1' which goes up to '2' since I always give the Attacking side a +1 on Order, to make up for the burden they have of movement. Now the question is - what to do with the Orders...

I could give the Guns Bombardment orders to soften up the French...

...but I feel time is of the essence and order one Infantry to follow the Cavalry which is being lead by the General personally, so counts as having the 2 Orders needed to March. Both roll quite well for the March, and it looks like the Russkies are off to a quick start!

The French outperform on Orders, and prepare their outer flank and first Infantry to March.

End of Turn 1, the french are on the hill, and have the outer flank covered.

Turn 2, Order rolls are both a '3', and Russkies retain IN. They push on while urging their other Units to move along and the Guns to Bombard - which causes 2 Hits on the French Infantry on the hill but one goes Low on Ammunition. In retrospect, I should have Marched the other two infantry while holding with the advance force...

French Action Phase, they charge in with the Cavalry, getting three Hits to two [I changed the Hit number for Cav v. Cav to 5+ from 3+, as they historically tended to engage quickly but not cause a lot of damage to each other]. As they got three Hits, the Russian Cavalry take a Permanent Hit as well.

End of Turn 2, the French look like they will easily hold the hill and possibly trash the Russian advance guard. Have I once again bolloxed things up for the Russians?? Where is Kutuzov when you need him??

To make things worse, the French seize IN turn 3. I think the French will win again...

At least the Russkies rolled for plenty of orders, they will need them. The French blow it with one Order. They decide on a very limited objective for the turn - finish off the Russian Cavalry. The Russians opt to March reinforcements, while pushing their Infantry forward to support the Cavalry and one Bombardment, also.

Despite the Order which give them a bonus die in the melee, the Russians are crushed by the French Cavalry who obey Napoleon's First Law of Wargaming - Roll Lucky! They get the two Hits needed to destroy the Russian Cavalry, who get no hits in return.

The Action Phases see the French repositioning themselves well, outnumbering the Russkies where it counts. The Russkies manage to roll a crazy march of 14" and have two Infantry in position. The third is getting along while the Bombardment results in another Hit on the French Infantry on the hill.

In the Fire Phase, the French blast the left Infantry for 4 Hits to '5', one Permanent. In response, they take only one Hit back. It's not looking good for Mother Russia, altho the French are a bit strung out they have four Units fighting on the objective, and the Russians are down to two.

OK, with a few detailed turns in there to give a feel for the game mechanics, we'll move a bit quicker now.

Turn 4, the French retain the IN while the Russians bring up their third Infantry brigade. The firing lines are set, altho the French are a bit weaker they've the Cavalry supporting. They really need their other two Infantry brigades in the Action, but are clearly more than holding their own as they may break the center Russian Infantry at any moment.

Turn 5, the French Lights break, while the center Russian Infantry is just barely holding on.

Turn 6, the French Cavalry have a go at the Russian Infantry, who miss completely with their defensive volley. However, they roll great in the assault, and almost destroy the French Cavalry who still manage to put the hurt on them in return. Still, with a tie the Cavalry retreat.

Turn 6 Action Phases end with the French rallying one Hit while the Russians roll amazingly well and rally two Hits off both their center and left Infantry. But the Russian Guns both hit and the French right Infantry is one Hit from oblivion...

In the Fire Phase, the Russians blast the French right to pieces, and getting the last Hit needed to destroy the cavalry, while the French plink away in return but unable to seal the deal and bag any Russian Infantry - frustrating!

Turn 7 starts with a lone French Infantry holding the hill. The French have three fire dice in the main battle line, while the Russians have seven - the French must bring up their reinforcements!

Turn 7 sees the French in motion. The Russians again manage to rally off two Hits from their center Unit, and take two Hits again in the exchange of Fire. The fresh French Infantry gets a bloody nose from the same sniper-like accuracy of the left Russian Infantry. The French are outnumbered in the battle, but have the Force where it counts, while the Russians are not always going to be able to use their Guns to support their firing line. Both lines overlap the other's left, but who will exploit it successfully is the question.

Turn 8, the French blow all their rally rolls. They successfully move up their right Infantry to a flanking position on the Russian left, where their Infantry are two Hits from destruction.

During the Russian Turn 8 Action Phase, they manage to - again - rally off two Hits in the center, altho none anywhere else. The French have 8 Hits on their three Infantry, the Russians 12 and the French will shoot first. This seems like the end of a hard-fought attempt to force the crossing for the Russians...

The Russian Guns even miss AND go low on ammo. Dasvidaniya comrade?

But, wait... First, the French let completely miss! Just rolling average would've destroyed their opposing Russian Infantry! The second Russian battery gets a hit but goes low on ammo.

The Fire Phase ends with the French getting the worst of it, losing the center Infantry and the attached General, while again not eliminating any Russian Units.

"Sacre Bleu - le centre est frappe!!" Or something to that effect. "Merde!"

Turn 9, the French lose the IN to the Russians. To make matters worse, the wily Russky general rolls enough Orders to do anything he may want to do...

The Russians again rally well, losing two Hits on the left Infantry and one on the center infantry! Their guns then beat the heck out of the near French Infantry [altho I think I made a mistake with all the pic taking - one was low on ammo, most likely].

Still, the French rally two off their left Infantry, altho none on the Right.

In the Fire Phase, the French lose their Right Infantry.

Well, this isn't what I was expecting a few turns ago! The French should pull back and find another Corps nearby to beat up this isolated Russian bridgehead, shouldn't they? They concede...

Well, with all the pic taking and note taking, I may have made an error or two, but the Russians played very conservatively in the mid-game, and brought up their Infantry support quicker than the French, who didn't seem to need it right away and were solidly in a fight on the objective they didn't want to lose. Amazing Russian Rally rolls helped them hold on in the center, while French Fire was a bit weak and just enough to cost them the fight, especially when the Russian Artillery made their influence felt.

Overall, I think the rules are playing very well. I have made a couple of tweaks regarding cavalry and lights, and will probably have to take a deep breath and revisit these again later, and see if a few things can be simplified out. But Napoleonic forces tend to be a bit more complex, with most sides having balanced forces and lots of command choices. I feel like I played both sides pretty well, and that in the end the Russians out rolled the French at a few critical moments, which turned the tide in their favor. A real nail-biter, to be sure!