The final? OOB for 'le Boi de Paris'

After some trials with EXCEL spreadsheet, that confirmed the statistical predictions, I have decided;

(1) To use only the full (i.e. with all its attached units) 15th Prussian brigade in its role of advanced-guard of the Prussian IV Corps

Prussian IV Corps
C-i-C Bulow (+1/*)

15th Brigade Losthin (+/*)
Lobell (-1/-)
1/18th Infantry Regiment R/E/SK2
2/18th Infantry Regiment R/E/SK2
3/18th Infantry Regiment R/E/SK2
Thile (-1/-)
1/3rd Silesian Landwehr Regiment U/A/SK1
2/3rd Silesian Landwehr Regiment U/A/SK1
3/3rd Silesian Landwehr Regiment U/A/SK1
Massov (-/*)
1/4thSilesian Landwehr Regiment U/A/SK1
2/4th Silesian Landwehr Regiment U/A/SK1
3/4th Silesian Landwehr Regiment U/A/SK1
6pdr Foot Battery #14 Foot/3 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer
Falckanhauser (+1/*)
1/2 3rd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry Regiment S/A

Attached
6pdr Horse Battery #11 Horse/3 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer
Brauer (-/-)
3/4 3rd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry Regiment S/A
Eicke (+1/-)
6th Hussar Regiment V/E/Pu
Haslingen (-1 /-)
2nd NeuMark Landwehr Cavalry Regiment S/A

(2) To increase the theoretical frecuency of appearance of French units from 33.3 % (1 and 2 on a 1D6 roll) to 50% (1, 2 and 3 on a 1D6 roll)

The infantry and foot artillery units will be taken successively from the 19th and 20th divisions of the Lobau's VI Corps and the cavalry and horse artillery units successively from Domon's and Subervie's cavalry divisions.

French VI Corps
C-i-C Lobau (+1/*)

19th Division Simmier (+/*)
1st Brigade Belair (+1/*)
1/5me Ligne R/E/SK2
2/5me Ligne R/E/SK2
1/11me Ligne R/E/SK2
2/11me Ligne R/E/SK2
3/11me Ligne R/E/SK2
2nd Brigade Thevenet (-/¶)
1/27me Ligne R/E/SK2
2/27me Ligne R/E/SK2
1/84me Ligne R/E/SK2
2/84me Ligne R/E/SK2
1/8 Foot Artillery Foot/3 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer

20th Division Jeanin(+1/*)
1st Brigade Bony (+1/-)
1/5me Leger R/E/SK2
1/10me Ligne R/E/SK2
2/10me Ligne R/E/SK2
2nd Brigade Tromelin (+1/-)
1/107me Ligne R/E/SK2
2/8 Foot Artillery Foot/3 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer
Auxiliary Horse Battery Horse/2 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer

3rd Light Cavalry Division Domon(+1/+)
1st Brigade Bony (-1/-)
4me Chasseurs a Cheval R/E/Pu
9me Chasseurs a Cheval R/E/Pu
1st Brigade Bony (-1/-)
12me Chasseurs a Cheval R/E/Pu
4/2 Horse Battery Horse/2 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer

5th Light Cavalry Division Subervie (+1/+)
1st Brigade Bony (-1/-)
1me CheLeg Lanciers R/E/Pu/la
2me CheLeg Lanciers R/E/Pu/La
1st Brigade Bony (-1/-)
11me Chasseurs a Cheval R/E/Pu
3/1 Horse Battery Horse/2 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer

Next, the actual Prussian columns and the shape of the tablemap!

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Le Bois de Paris: The OOB's

I have used the historical units for both the Prussian (15th and 16th brigades of the IV Corps) and French sides (VI Corps and the Domon and Subervie cavalry divisions).
Regarding the Prussian forces, I am not sure about to use either the 15th or the 15th and 16th Brigades in the game. It is a sensible question that must be answered before the play starts, because the composition and strenght of the Prussian columns clearing the wood, is depending from that choosing.
On the contrary, there is not any question about the French forces., that will be used as a pool, from which the adequate unit will be extracted following the die roll (See the previous post). (Edited: Not all the French units of the OOB will be on the table)

Prussian forces
IV Corps Bulow

15th Infantry Brigade Losthin
18th [6th Reserve] Infantry Regiment (3 battalions)
3rd Silesian Landwehr Regiment: (3 battalions)
4th Silesian Landwehr Regiment: (3 battalions)
6-pdr Foot Battery 14 (8 guns)
Attached:
2nd Neumark Landwehr Cavalry Regiment (3 squadrons)
3 and 4/3rd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry Regiment (2 squadrons)
6th [2nd Schlesian] Hussar Regiment (4 squadrons)
6-pdr Horse Battery 11 (8 guns)
Detached: 1 and 2/3rd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry Regiment (2 squadrons)

16th Infantry Brigade Hiller
15th [3rd Reserve] Infantry Regiment (3 battalions)
1st Silesian Landwehr Regiment (3 battalions)
2nd Silesian Landwehr Regiment (3 battalions)
6-pdr Foot Battery 2 (8 guns)
12-pdr Foot Battery 13 (8 guns)

French forces
VI Corps Mouton

19th Division Simmier
1st Infantry Brigade Belair
5th Line Regiment (2 battalions)
11th Line Regiment (3 battalions)
2nd Infantry Brigade Thevenet
27th Line Regiment (2 battalions)
84th Line Regiment (2 battalions)
1/8 Foot Artillery (8 guns)

20th Division Jeanin
1st Infantry Brigade Bony
5th Light Regiment (1 battalion)
10th Line Regiment (2 battalions)
2nd Infantry Brigade Tromelin
107th Line Regiment (1 battalion)
2/8 Foot Artillery (8 guns)

Attached:
Auxiliary Horse Artillery Company (6 guns)

3rd Light Cavalry Division Domon
1st Cavalry Brigade Dommanget
4th Chasseur-à-Cheval Regiment (3 squadrons)
9th Chasseur-à-Cheval Regiment (3 squadrons)
2nd Cavalry Brigade; Vinot
12th Chasseur-à-Cheval Regiment (3 squadrons)
4/2 Horse Artillery Company (6 guns)

5th Light Cavalry Division Subervie
1st Cavalry Brigade Colbert
1st Chevau-Legers-Lanciers Regiment (4 squadrons)
2nd Chevau-Legers-Lanciers Regiment (4 squadrons)
2nd Cavalry Brigade Merlin
11th Chasseur-à-Cheval Regiment (3 squadrons)s
3/1 Horse Artillery (6 guns)

More to follow

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Wiederitzsch: the AAR

At last I have uploaded the pictures and the AAR of Wiederitzsch at the main web site.
You can watch it at The battle of Wiederitzsch.
Enjoy!

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Le bois de Paris ... or the Wood of Paris (I)

Today is the 196th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, so it is a very adequate day to follow with the preparations of the next engagement: Le bois de Paris (or the Wood of Paris). This small solo scenario is an adaptation of the Rich Barbuto's scenario published in Lone Warrior (See previous post). I want to play it as an introduction to the larger Plancenoit scenario.
The object of the game is for the Prussians to attack Plancenoit. Therefore, when a Prussian battalion launches its assault, I consider that activity indicative of Prussian success.
The Prussian 15th Brigade is formed in two columns. Each column has a single advance guard and one or two flank guards, in order to advance along the four posible roads (see the map). The order of march of the infantry, artillery, and cavalry within each column, can not be changed until after the forces had actually entered the battlefield. Artillery can go only in the high road.

General sequence [Items between brackets are still in doubt]
(1) At the start of each [French] turn, roll 1D6 to see if a French force shows up on the board that turn. A result of 1 or 2 [1 to 3] means that a French force appears.
(2) Roll 3D6-2 to determine where this force appears (see the map).


No French forces can be placed behind a Prussian force, i.e. a location that the Prussians have already "cleared". For example, if a Prussian column has passed through checkpoint 5 en route to checkpoint 6, then a French force can not be placed at point 5. When this anomaly occurs, the French force is placed at checkpoint 12.
(3) Roll 1D6 for the composition of the French force, according to the following table.

• 1: 1 infantry battalion
• 2: 1 infantry battalion
• 3: 1 infantry battalion
• 4: 1 cavalry regiment
• 5: 1 cavalry regiment
• 6: 1 artillery battery same type that its support (see later)

French Cavalry and artillery are not allowed in woods, so if the location is in the woods and the roll indicates cavalry or artillery, then roll again until you get an all-infantry result.
If "1 battery" is rolled, roll 1D5 and go through the table to find the artillery support. (All the die rolls can be made with "physical dice", with exception of this last, that must be made with EXCEL: I have don't found D5 dice!)
The French unts must be taken from the Lobau's VI Corps or from the Subervie and Domon cavalry divisions (See previous post)

French actions
If in the open, the French force starts in attack column facing in the most advantageous way. It can use subsequent turns to put itself in the best offensive or defensive posture. If the French force appears in a wood, chose the best position to block a road. Often that means placing the unit along the front edge of the wood.

Movement rates
Use Lasalle movement rates. To get the on road rate, the infantry must be in march column. Woods are rough terrain

Note
The 3D6-2 distribution gives a triangular distribution with the central values having a higher probability of appearance than the extreme ones. See the accompanying diagram.

Next, the Prussian forces!

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A small divertimento: Le Bois de Paris

During my research for the Plancenoit Scenario (remember: If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism. If you copy from two, it's research!) I found buried in a sub-sub-sub...sub-folder a little gem. It is an old article written by Rich Barbuto and published in the Lone Warrior #147 and #148 issues, that I downloaded in 2004 from the now defunct Magweb site: Waterloo: The Paris Woods Scenario Parts 1 and 2.

In the author's own words:

"... After the Prussians had managed to escape the Ligny battlefield and consolidate in and around the town of Wavre, Blucher made the most important decision of the Waterloo campaign: to send two corps, up to half of his army, to reinforce Wellington if the British would stand and fight. The Prussian Fourth Corps, under General Friederich Wilhelm von Bulow, had not fought at Ligny and was relatively fresh. Although this body of troops was furthest from the British, Blucher nonetheless ordered it to move first. At 4 a.m. on the morning of June 18th, Bulow started his troops toward their British and Dutch Allies. The men slowly moved through the Second Prussian Corps and through the narrow streets of Wavre where a fire broke out. Moving along a single road, the boots of the soldiers and the hooves of their horses churned the roadbed to viscous goo. Struggling slowly forward, the Fourth Corps kept the other three Prussian corps locked in position as Grouchy eventually approached Wavre ...

... This solo battle is a “what if” scenario. What if the Prussians had started toward Plancenoit a few hours early and what if Napoleon had sent forces to dispute the Prussian advance east of Plancenoit. The fight would be between well concealed French forces firing out of woods against the heads of thin columns of slow-moving infantry...

... Marshal Grouchy's lack of energy and muddled judgment contributed to Napoleon's defeat. But the Emperor himself shared much of the blame. What if Napoleon had been quicker to see the threat posed by Blucher and quicker to parry it? This scenario plays with that possibility. In this solo game, I hoped to simulate a situation in which Napoleon reached out to stop Blucher's Prussians from drawing close to Plancenoit and Napoleon's very vulnerable rear area. Instead of meeting Blucher's piecemeal attacks on Plancenoit, I wanted to see if I could prevent the Prussians from ever reaching the main French forces. Could Napoleon perhaps have done this by blocking Blucher as the Prussians worked their way through and around the Bois de Paris?...

... To do this I would need terrain that represented the low ridges, gentle valleys, small villages, and narrow paths through tracts of forest that marked the route from St. Lambert toward Plancenoit. I would also have to come up with rules to cover fighting along narrow roads through forested terrain. More on that later. First, I took stock of my figures to see what I could muster for this experiment...

... I played the Prussians while automating the French. Each turn I rolled to see if a French force would enter the board. If so, I rolled to see the size and composition of the force and the location. If the location (I call them check points) had previously been cleared by the Prussians, then the French could not enter there but would enter in the vicinity of Plancenoit. The faster the Prussians could move, the earlier they would clear checkpoints, and the French would enter in less advantageous positions. This was really a new concept of a game for me and, as it turned out, a pretty rousing and surprising endeavor all the way around. Now, back to the corps commander’s orders group...

... To do this I would need terrain that represented the low ridges, gentle valleys, small villages, and narrow paths through tracts of forest that marked the route from St. Lambert toward Plancenoit. I would also have to come up with rules to cover fighting along narrow roads through forested terrain. More on that later. First, I took stock of my figures to see what I could muster for this experiment...."

All the article is here

I'm thinking to play this little game using Lasalle, but before some slight modifications must be made. It sounds very interesting isn't it?

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Plancenoit: the next battle

The anniversary of Waterloo is approaching fast. Every June, from more than twenty years, I read a book on the campaign of Waterloo but this time, I have decided that my next battle will be also devoted to that campaign. I never played Waterloo as a wargame, maybe because it was the end of my favorite military era, and still I don't want to play it, at least in full. Therefore I have chosen the combats around Plancenoit as the best option.
Plancenoit was one of the more bloody combats of the Napoleonic Wars. The forces involved were the French Lobau's VI Corps (19th and 20th Divisions) reinforced by the cavalry divisions of Domon and Subervie and eventually by the Duhesme's Young Guard Division and two battalions of the Old Guard, against the Prussian 15th and 16th brigades and the cavalry Reserve of the Bulow's IV Corps, reinforced by the 13th and 14th Brigades.
There is an abundant English bibliography about Waterloo, but the books talking about the Prussian actions during the campaign are somewaht scarce. I have used the controversial "1815: The Waterloo Campaign—The German Victory" by Peter Hofschröer (GreenHill Books, 1999) and the more specific French work "Plancenoit. Waterloo 1815. Les Carnets de la Campagne - nº 6" by Jean-Philippe Tondeur, Patrice Courcelle, Jean-Jacques Pattyn et Paul Meganck (Editions de La belle Alliance, 2003).
Of course, Lasalle will be the ruleset used, so maybe the OOB's will need fine-tuning, because the number of involved units is somewhat large.
Watch this space!

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More old pictures of Badajoz

Watch more amazing old pictures of Badajoz published by Miguel Angel Garcia in his blog!
He also has made an exhaustive study about the English siege of 1812, including old documents as well as photographs of the today ruined walls and bastions. The study is in Spanish but the graphical material is worth a visit!

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Blondie

Blondie is an American rock band that first gained fame in the late 1970s and has so far sold over 60 million records. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes. Its first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles and was noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco, pop and reggae, while retaining a basic style as a new wave band.
Lead singer Deborah Harry achieved a level of celebrity that eclipsed other band members, leading to tension within the group that led to its disbandment in 1982, although the band reformed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999.
Today they are considered one of the most interesting and influential bands of the Punk Rock, become the unique musical group that has secured numbers one in three decades consecutive.
The video above features "Dreaming", the lead single from their fourth album Eat to the Beat released in 1979, and the video below features "Sunday Girl" from the album Parallel Lines (1978).

Taken from Blondie (band). Wikipedia
Sitio oficial/Oficial site Official Blondie Web Site

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This blog, ALKAID and the Bicentennial of Fuentes de Oñoro

I am very proud to see that this blog and our pages in ALKAID are cited as links in the official site of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, along the historians Miguel Angel Martin Más and Françesc Pintado.

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