The narrative and pictures from Kosen

I have uploaded the narrative and pictures of the combat at Kosen to the main site. Apart from the demolition of the Kosen bridge over the Saale River, the main combat achievements were those of the French 1/23me Ligne. That battalion leaded by the divisional commander, General Morand, evicted the Saint-George grenzers from the nort riverbank, assaulted Kosen through the bridge evicting the Waradisner grenzer from Kosen and rejected until three Austrian assaults before being routed. Their sacrifice allowed the demolition of the bridge.

A new boardgame from Kevin Zucker

The postman arrived with "The Habit of Victory", the last boardgame form Operational Studies Group.
* Campaigns of Napoleon System, Series 2X. Game Mechanics are the same as Napoleon at the Crossroads, with the addition of the cards.
* Card Assisted Game (CAG) plays with far fewer dice rolls, and quickeroverall.
* Each card represents a Movement Command specifying attrition, administration, etc., and allows for one-time events such as: political, military, officer feuds, and guerilla war. Because they define Movement more closely, the cards make attrition a matter of a quick read-off at a glance.
* Three short introductory scenarios simulate the battles of Pultusk/Golymin, Eylau, and Friedland.
* Three full-sized campaign scenarios depict the three phases of the war-the Crossing of the Bug and Battles of Pultusk and Golymin, the campaign and battle of Eylau in February, and the final miscalculation by Bennigsen at Friedland.
* A massive Grand Scenario of up to 69 turns.
* During major battles entire armies can be concentrated under just a few leaders. At other times units can be dispersed independently along with Cavalry Vedettes which help confuse the enemy.

The game covers the 1806-07 winter Campaign of Napoleon at Poland so its subject is far from the Campaign of Leipizg. My interest in this boardgame lies on the cards which I plan to use in combination with "Napoleon at the Crossroads". At this moment there are no plans at OSG to launch a set of cards for use with this last game, so many thinking will be necessary to carry out the adaptation.

Kösen bridge is blowing up

The battle for the bridge at Kösen is finished. After rejecting the Light Austrian troops (Grenzer and Jaegers) from the north bank of the Elster River, the General Morand at the head of the 1st battalion of the 23me de Ligne evicted the Austrian garrison from Kösen. After this exploit, that heroic unit rejected several Austrian attacks being at last routed by the force of Austrian numbers. However, his sacrifice bought sufficient time to allow the Italians sappers to prepare the explosive charges and to demolish the bridge. The left flank of the defeated Grande Armée is safe.
Until the upload of the after action report and pictures to the main site, you can watch the instant of the explosion with the French and Italian Light troops lining the northern riverbank and the Autrian Line infantry starting their useless ocupation of Kösen after routing the 1/23me.

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Bridge demolition

My next scheduled game: "The crossing point at Kösen" is based upon an engagement around a bridge over the Saale River that the French want to demolish whereas the Austrians need it in good shape to pursue the defeated Grande Armee. A question arose during the design: what's the time span needed to demolish (blow up) a permanent bridge?The author of the 'Programmed Wargame Scenarios', C.S. Grant, did not give any clue about that topic, but in the 'Notes on bridge demolition' (accompanying 'The bridge' scenario in the same book) he indicates that 5 hours were needed to make the plans for demolition.A search for more information lead to Napoleon-Series Forum where Ned Zuparko provided the following info:
"Charles Totten's 1880 "Strategos: A Series of American games of War Based upon Military Principles..." In Volume II, pg 23, Table G ("Time required for various purposes) includes:
98. Destroying a pile bridge........... 2 to 6 hours
99. Burning a wooden bridge (esch 50'), Case 5 Table II................ 30 to sixty minutes
100. Extinguishing same, if possible (after 20 minutes, 10:1 against) 15 min- 1 hour"In Google books I carried out an Advanced Search with bridge demolition. The best result was: Aide-mémoire to the Military Sciences: Framed from Contributions of Officers... where some useful information was found but not about the necessary time span. After several attempts I discovered American Kriegsspiel (p.124)"DESTRUCTION OF BRIDGES AND FORDS.
§ 264. When four three-inch guns fire upon a bridge 1,000 yards distant with shells it will in the general case be destroyed in about 10 or 15 minutes.
§ 265. A wooden bridge is rendered impassable by tearing up the planks in 15 or 20 minutes; a brick or stone bridge in 30 minutes or 1 hour. To burn a wooden bridge at least haif an hour’s preparation is required. To prepare to blow up a wooden bridge at a particular time, 90 minutes; a brick or stone bridge, 2 or 3 hours.
A ford may sometimes be destroyed in 1 or 2 hours"
So the consensus lies from 2 to 6 hours with the older sources giving smaller time spans. The mechanism finally incorporated in the Scenario was:

The sapper detachment accompanying the French force must be in contact with the bridge. Then, 4D6 are thrown and their sum is the number of (10 minutes) turns that sappers must be in contact with the bridge to demolish it. If the contact is lost for more than 3 turns, an additional D6 must be thrown.
In that way a pseudo-gaussian probability of distribution is found with a maximu likelyhood centered at 14 turns, i.e. 2 hours and 20 minutes. The play-testing will say if this was a correct estimation or not!

A bridge too far. Kösen (Saxony) october 1813

Napoleon has been defeated at Leipzig and the Grande Armee is retiring westwards.
"On 21 October Napoleon sent General Bertrand with a strong force to attack and destroy the bridge by Kösen [on the Saale River], in an effort to cover the French withdrawal from attack by the allies via that avenue. On the left bank, where Neu-Kösen lay, the road crossed a nearly unclimbable ridge, an important tactical position to seize as to stop the allies, who were advancing through Naumburg in their pursuit of the French” (G. Nafziger, 'Napoleon at Leipzig. The Battle of Nations 1813’. The Emperor Press, Chicago, 1996).
This combat was fought between elements of the Austrian 3rd Armeeabteilung under FZM Gyulai (Light and Line divisions) and the rests of the Bertrand’s polyglot IV Corps (comprising French, Wurttemberg and Italian units). The orders of battle are modified and adapted from the Nafziger's book cited above as well as from “The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book” (Greenhill Books, London, 1998) of Digby Smith. The Napoleon Series web-site (Allied OOB at Leipzig and French OOB at Leipzig) provided the names of the brigadiers. I have also added a division of French Young Guard Cavalry under Lefebvre-Desnoettes to add some color to the French units.
This scenario is an adaptation of the C.S. Grant’s ‘Crossing Point’ scenario of his book ‘Programmed Wargames Scenarios'. I hesitated whether to run this Scenario or to run the Tabletop Teaser No.1 "The Bridge Demolition" (from the same author) but the 'Programmed Scenario' is best adapted to the real situation..

The pictures of Leubnitz

As said in a a previous post, this engagement was fought during the last week-end and finished with a Prussian victory. The narrative and pictures have been now uploaded to the main site.
Watch the battle and see the heroic performance of the 2/6 Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment, routing successively the 14th Hussars, 2/103th Line, the 4/103th Line and the 2nd Italian Chasseurs a Cheval in the Leubnitz page.

A piece of Scenery

Cemeteries (graveyards) play an important role in many urban fights during the Napoleonic era. This one depicts a (christian) generical cemetery and will be used in the next episodes of the Campaign of Leipizg and in all Napoleonic wargames.

The recint is 4"x5" and can accomodate until six or seven 1" infantry bases (the ones used in my version of Napoleon's Battles) in open order. The walls are 3/4" high so 20mm figures can fire without problems. The materials used are 2mm-thick carboard, wood matches and pins. The crosses were made from spare plastic sprues. See the building of this piece at the web site: A cemetery

A Prussian victory!

From the dispatch of Generalmajor von Klüx, commander of the 9th Prussian Brigade to his Majesty Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia:
"Sire, the engagement at Leubnitz has finished with the total defeat of the French pursuing force. The French Avant Garde masked Leubnitz (occupied by the Fusiliers of the 1st Westpreußisches Infanterie-Regiment) but don't could break the stout Prussian line, which also defeated the assaults of the French main body (men of the 43me Division according to French prisoners) under the Maréchal St-Cyr himmself. The combats were very fierce showing the high spirit of fight and the patriotism of the men. All branchs behaved well but I want to praise the 7th Schlesisches Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment and, above all, the heroic performance of the 2nd battalion of the 6th Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment. This unit deployed in line under fire and defeated the simultaneous assault of two French columns taking many prisoners. The battalion was then caught in line by enemy cavalry (Italian Chasseurs) but maintained the good order and finally rejected the enemy. Our men are retiring in good order, because of the lack of French cavalry in good shape."

From the dispatch of General Claparéde commander of the 43me Division:
"My men found at Leubnitz a deployed Prussian column barring the Kulm main-road. I pushed vigorously the enemy line and, after fierce combats, I evicted them from Leubnitz and dispersed the rearguard which retired in disorder covered by its cavalry. Because of the fall of darkness and the weariness of the men I have camped in Leubnitz and tomorrow I'll resume the pursuit"

Thus is history written....

The engagement was fought during the last week-end and finished with a Prussian victory. I'll post the narrative and pictures to the web-site in the next days. Until then, you can see there the Scenario and watch here the "heroic performance of the 2/6 Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment".

A Holding Action

The date is August 28, 1813. The Army of Bohemia has been routed at Dresden by Napoleon himself and the Allied Sovereigns have decided that retreat into Bohemia is the better option. The Prussian Klux’s 9th Brigade (Kleist’s 2nd Prussian Corps) has been ordered by Wittgenstein to act as rearguard and cover the Army’s retreat through the mountains. Urged by Napoleon himself, the Maréchal Gouvion Saint-Cyr is pursuing the Allied with his XIV Corps and finally his 43me Division has caught the retreating Prussians deployed near Leubnitz on the road towards Kulm.
The above narrative is my adaptation of the ‘Holding Action’ scenario described in the C.S. Grant’s book (see previous post) to the Campaign of Leipzig 1813. The orders of battle are taken from the Nafziger's book 'Napoleon at Dresden. The Battle of August 1813’ (The Emperor Press, Chicago, 1994) with a little help from the members of the Benno’s Figures and Napoleon Series Forums, which kindly provided the names of the Prussian commanders.
Prussian Rearguard:
Klux’s 9th Prussian Brigade
1/2/Fus/ 1st West Prussian Regiment
1/2/3/ 6th Reserve Regiment
1/2 Silesian Schützen Battalion
1/2/3/ 7th Silesian Landwehr Regiment
Neumärk Dragoon Regiment
1st Silesian Landwehr Cavalry Regiment
6pdrs. Foot Artillery #7 (8 guns)
6pdrs. Horse Artillery #7 (8 guns)
Advancing French
Claparede’s 43me Division
1re Brigade Godard
2/3/ 27me Legere ; 3/ 29me Legere; 3/4/ 100me Ligne Regiments
2me Brigade Butrand
2/3/ 45me Ligne ; 3/ 65me Ligne ; 2/4/ 103me Ligne ; 2/ 59me Ligne ; 3/ 94me Ligne Regiments
2/ 7me 6pdrs. Foot Artillery ( 8 guns)
10me Light cavalry Division Pajol
14me Hussars ; 2me Italian Chasseurs a Cheval ; 7me (Polish) Chevaux-Legers Lanciers Regiments
7/ 3me 6pdrs. Horse Artillery (6 guns)

I'll try to fight this Scenario, according to the book, during the next week-end. See the first stages at my web site
.

Programmed Wargames Scenarios

I bought from Terry Wise's Athena Books this excellent book (Programmed Wargames Scenarios, C. S. Grant, Wargames Research Group, Goring-by-Sea, England, 1983 ) in the later 80's. The author is the son of Charles Grant, the famous pioneer wargamer, which also has writen the Tabletop Teasers.

The book provides programmed scenarios for solo wargaming falling into three categories: 'Attack and Defense', 'Confrontation' and 'Mini-campaigns'. In all the cases several posibilities for maps and deployments, and programmed options and responses for the two sides (blue an red) are provided. The player selects a side and then the actions of the other are randomly chosen amongst the alternatives given in the scenario.

I used the book to run some memorable wargamers and the notes and narratives of some of them, belonging to 1988 such 'Hill line defence','Pass clearance', 'Holding action','The weak flank', 'Crossing point' and 'The alliance', are still preserved in my dusty archives!

All scenarios in that book are from small size armies (i.e. divisional affaires) so I plan to use divisional Napoleon's Battles for running small engagements set in the times of the Campaign of Leipzig in 1813.