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The terrain and troops for Raguhn are redy. Below you can see the three sections of the battle field, as well as the troops, waiting for the deployment.
Note that whereas all French units will be used in the battle (assuming they arrive as Reinforcements), the Russian ones are a pool from which the actual fighting units, appearing on the table, will be randomly chosen.
A bloody skirmish took place this morning on the outskirts of the village of Herrnhut in northern Saxony. A Cossack patrol, from the Denisov #7 Cossack Regiment, surprised and completely routed a similar Polish patrol formed by men of the Krakus Light Cavalry Regiment. Both squads were scouting in front of their respective armies searching for information.
The ambushed Cossack have fallen on the surprised Krakus
According to local sources, the Russian Lieutenant Uvarov stood hidden in a small wood with the bulk of his men, while the rest of his squad, led by his NCO, dismounted and remained hidden in a nearby log cabin, from where fired their muskests against the Poles that, led by Lieutenant Kaminski, advanced in two groups separated by a few hundred meters.
The Poles were taken aback by the unexpectedCossack fire and, before they recovered, were charged by the ambushed Cossacks. After a series of bloody individual melees, the Krakus were slaughtered, suffering one dead and seven wounded, for only one killed and three wounded in the Cossack ranks.
The Krakus leaving the field in a very ignominiously way
Only Lieutenant Uminski and one of his privates were able to leave the field, closely pursued by the triumphant Cossacks. It is said that french HC is considering the poor performance of the Polish light cavalrymen, attributed (according the same sources) to the lack of carbines and musketoons in their weaponry but also to the to poor planning and cowardice of the young and inexpert Polish ADC.
For the Tsar and the Holy Mother Russia!
Taken from "The Courier of the Steppes" web site
So (for Murdock and friends) ALLIES 1 - FRENCH 0
A more detailed report will follow!
Murdock (from Murdock's Marauders fame) is playing a Napoleonic campaign game set around the Campaign of Leipzig, that you can follow at the Campaign of Nations blog.
In his last post, Murdock describes how the Game Master has found a way to simulate the acquisition of information by means of scouting parties. A 7 game skirmish series, will be played by Allied and French players, and "the winner of four of the games will get to have the enemy information and preserve their own secret".
This led to an interesting exchange of comments about rulebooks and mechanisms, and at last Murdock proposed me to play one of the 7 games as a solo game and using Song of Drums and Shakos. Details of units and strengths were quickly exchanged during a frenetic series of e-mails, and this is the final result:
The Probing Patrol (September, 1813)
Historical background
Somewhere in Saxony, the French and Allied light cavalry units are scouting the terrain between both armies, trying to gather information about the whereabouts and composition of the enemy.
The Polish General Uminski has sent a patrol of the 1st squadron of the Krakus Regiment, under their young ADC Lieutenant Kaminski, to scout towards the village of Herrnhut. Past the cemetery, the road leading the village crosses a stream and a drainage ditch through a plank bridge. There is a lone cabin log on the far bank at left and a small wood at the right flank and the Poles, fearing an ambush, approaches cautiously to the water stream.
Meanwhile and hidden in the wood, lieutenant Uvarov (a young aristocrat serving as ADC to Majorgeneral Tetteborn) watches the approaching Poles, while his men, veterans from the Denisov #7 Cossack Regiment, are awaiting his signal to fall over their ancestral enemies..
Terrain
In April 2011 I posted about the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. That post also included a video about the David Bowie's song 'Space oddity' (you can see here that post). Today I am posting a cover of that song, and the singer is now a true astronaut, the Canadian Chris Hadfield now onboard the International Space Station.
I have decided for Raguhn as the name of the new Lasalle Scenario. In the real world, that town was the final destination of Osten-Sacken's forces when escaping from French pursuit and the point where they crossed the Mulde River, thus reaching safety with the rest of the Blucher's Silesian Army.
In previous posts I have described the historical background and general situation, the OOB's and the map and Solo mechanisms ruling the Russian deployment. Is now the time for the French dispositions, the special scenario rules and the conditions for victory.
I have found some spare time today (winter weather helps!) to compose the AAR of the last SDS Scenario, "Surprise at Kosen". You can see below some highlights:
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| The alarm has been sounded and the Grenzer sentinel opens fire while the French are approaching under the cover of the cemetery walls |
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| French and Grenzer are facing across the stream after the first moments |
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| The hand to hand combat on the bridge is becoming more and more bloody |
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| The French and grenzer officers are fighting one with another |
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| A lucky French shot kills the Grenzer officer before he could finish the fallen French lieutenant |
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| A 'forgotten' Chasseur watches his officer standing defiantly amongst a pile of wounded and dead men |
The research for the new Lasalle solo Scenario (I am not still sure of the final name) is almost done. As said in previous posts, the French forces belong to Morand’s 12th Division of the Bertrand’s IV Corps, acting as right flank guard of the general French advance towards the Army of Silesia, and to Roussel’s 2nd Lt Cavalry Division (Sebastiani’s II Corps) part of the french advance guard. The Russians are part of the Osten Sacken’s XI Corps, left behind in a dangerous isolation, when Bluecher realized that Napoleon himself was advancing against him at full speed with several Army Corps and tried unsuccesfully to cross the River at Duben (see the Duben Scenario and the corresponding AAR). The actual strategical situation at October 8 is depicted on this re-touched contemporary map (see the original version in Napoleon-Series).
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| Marshall Bertrand |
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| General Osten-Sacken |
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