Popov's Farm, Russia 1812.

We had a terrific game last night,courtesy of Brian,who devised the scenario,designated the figure numbers,and even wrote out the order sheets.
The scenario consisted of a small French force,9 inf.regiments,2 cavalry units and a horse battery,had to defend a Farm and Barn (full of supplies and gun powder) from and advancing Russian force consisting of 12 inf. regiments,3 cavalry units and a foot battery.

Graham and I were in charge of the French whilst Paul commanded the Russians.

This photo shows the French in the Farm and the rest of the force moving into position,Graham commanded the centre,and I commanded the flanks.

This is a shot of the whole table,with Brian looking on in amazement.
The Russians are advancing in column,and moving into their attack positions,with all of the cavalry on the right flank.Paul had decided to put in a "vigorous" attack on the Farm and our left flank,this was ,eventually, very effective!!

This shows Paul's attack going in on our right flank,he was initially repulsed at the farm,but managed to drive one of Graham's inf. regiments back,to cries of dismay from Graham,however I got a regiment onto the flank of the Russians,and for a while,stabilised the position.

Not content with attacking our right flank,Paul and his Russians had the audacity to attack our left flank too!!
This is a good shot of his battery opening up on our infantry and cavalry,whilst he manoeuvres his cavalry to threaten us and try to force us into square.

In this shot I have managed to get a French infantry regiment to line the river bank,and shoot into the flank of any approaching Russians.This was very successful,and drove a couple of units away,however Paul was persistent in his attack,and very soon had beaten us back across the bridge,and I had to abandon my lovely position on the flank,to join in the melee across the bridge!!

The French are now in trouble!The Russians are pushing us back,and Brian has issued a note to us telling us that the powder in the barn is useless and that we have only limited ammuntion for our guns...Sneaky GIT !!

This is a shot from behind the Farm,the Russians are beating us back across the bridge,and Graham is moving his cavalry forward to support them,and to block Paul from taking us in the rear.

This is a good shot of the Russian attack across our whole front,the farm is holding on, but is being cannistered,whilst the Russians are about to launch themselves on my demoralised infantry.You would have thought that after decades of wargaming, an experienced player wouldn't get caught in line by cavalry.however..........

Homer Simpson has a phrase for this,DOHHHHH !! Yes, Paul's Lancers have caught me in line,and I hang my head in shame,This was the beginning of the end for the French,Paul could now launch his heavy cavalry,and untouched infantry at our rear. HOWEVER..........

I'm not the only Homer Simpson who command troops! Paul was caught by Graham's Lancers whilst advancing in column!!
This really was the end of the game,the French had no troops left to retrieve the situation,the Farm was just about to be captured,our supply and communication line had been cut,by the Russians being over the bridge,and both flanks had collapsed,so Graham and I announced that Paul had won!!

This was a good and well thought out game,our thanks to Brian.Roll on next Sunday,we'll be recreating the Battle of Naseby,1645.