Monday 9 April 2012

The retreat from Moscow 1812

For Sunday's game we chose to use the same terrain as the "Roman Baggage Train" but adapted it to a French column retreating from Moscow, having to cross the river in the face of stiff opposition from a Russian force.Paul and Graham were the Russian commanders ,whilst John and Robin were the French commanders.The scenario and terrain notes are shown below,the objectives were very clear.the French had to cross the river,the Russians had to stop them!

This is an overall view of the table,showing the vast and sprawling French column approaching the river crossing,which was very well defended by Paul,initially,and then by Graham on move number 4 (he was positioned in the woods awaiting a messagge from Paul that the French were coming)

We covered the table with a white cloth to give a bit of atmosphere to the game,complete with snow covered treesand a couple of cottages.



This shows hill "C" and the defenders which consisted of a foot battery and 3 regiments of inf. as it happens they remained on their hill for the whole game and beat all of Robin's attempts to attack them.




These are the troops on hill "A" which,after a shot of cannister,retreated off the hill closely followed by French Hussars and inf.




This shot gives a good idea of the length and mix of the French column,Robin commanded the right and I commanded the centre and left. Another shot of the column,from behind this time,you can just pick out the "Little Fella" wearing a grey coat in the distance.



Robin has occupied hill"B" in the shot below and the centre of the col.is moving towards the river edge and bloody battle!



Graham has been informed that the French are near,and he is debouching his troops from the woods,he had command of 6inf. regiments(3 of which were Grenadiers) and 2 Heavy cav. regiments.



Robin's troops can be seen attacking hill"C" for the first of three attempts.unfortunately all attempts were unsuccessful but managed to keep alot of troops tied down which would otherwise have been free to attack my right flank.


I,unwisely, decided to attack Graham's heavy cav with my heavy cav. to give me a bit of room to manoeuvre my Guard and supporting inf.however the fortunes of war did not shine on me (I blame the dice!) and I was driven back,the melee swung backwards and forwards for three moves though.and I did manage to get some sort of firing line formed.


This shows Graham's firing line preparing to sweep all before it, although it never actually fired a shot !!It was an impressive formation and proved more than enough to stop the French.


The Russian cavalry are winning the melee in this shot,and pushing the Cuirassiers bak into their own troops and causing a bit of panic!!



The cuirassiers are retiring! The reserve battalions are broken by them,the attacks on the Russian held hill"C" have failed,what else could possibly go wrong????


Well, this shows the French "high water mark",no more progress could be made, and we decide to call it a night,everyone seemed to enjoy the game and of course there's always Thursday to look forward to.
































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