Kosen: A Scenario for Song of Drums and Shakos

The French Army has been routed at Leipzig and is retiring westwards. In an effort to cover the French withdrawal, Napoleon has sent General Bertrand, with a strong force, to destroy the bridge over the Elster River at Kosen, thus delaying the Allied pursuit.
Lieutenant Michel from the 2/8e Léger (Belair's Brigade, 12e Division, French IV Corps) has been sent, with a pair of sappers and a small detachment of his battallion, to destroy a small secondary wooded bridge, located in the outskirts of Kosen over a watermill channel. However, a Grenzer squad from the Waradisner Kreutz Grenzer No. 5 Regiment (Crenneville's Light Division, Austrian 3rd Armeeabteilung), has already occupied and garrisoned the area.

Old Glory French Elite Company Skirmishing

French Squad 12 men 552 points
- Lieutenant Michel
Points 82 Quality 3+ Combat 2
Special Rules Elan, Leader, Light, Pistol, Sword
- Sergeant Funes
Points 66 Quality 3+ Combat 2
Special Rules Light, Musket, NCO, Sword
- One Light Voligeur (marksman)
Points 50 Quality 4+ Combat 2
Special Rules Elan, Light, Marksman, Musket
- Two Sappers
Points 27 Quality 4+ Combat 2
Special Rules Blunderbuss, Engineer, Strong, Axe
- Seven Light Voltigeurs
Points 42 Quality 4+ Combat 2
Special Rules Elan, Light, Musket

My Hat 8204 Grenzer Infantry Close order unit

Grenzer Squad 12 men 503 points
-  Natporucnik Kocsis
Points 70 Quality 3+ Combat 2
Special Rules Leader, Light, Pistol, Sword
- Sargeant Spasic
Points 66 Quality 3+ Combat 2
Special Rules Light, Musket, NCO, Sword
- One 'Big Brother'
Points 62 Quality 4+ Combat 3
Special Rules Light, Musket, Strong, Fear
- One Marksman
Points 41 Quality 4+ Combat 2
Special Rules Light, Marksman, Musket
- Eight Grenzers
Points 33 Quality 4+ Combat 2
Special Rules Light, Musket

The gametable is shown in the Figure. The central square is the legal SDS playing area for 20mm figures: a 90x90 cm square. The general description is a wooded zone traversed by a channel with a wooden bridge. The outskirsts of Kosen are in the southwest side. A small cabin and a stone walled cemetery are near the bridge. Some scattered trees provide the only cover besides the cemetery.

Next: the Scenario specific rules and the Solo solutions

Note: The French Voltigeur model is taken from Macphee's Miniature Men blog. You can find more Grenzer information in my blog and also at my main web site.

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Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!

Titan's features

On November 13 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved the name Mount Doom for a peak on Saturn’s moon Titan.  According to the Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, this mountain lies at the heart of Mordor and is the only site where the One Ring can be unmade. Titan is like a geek heaven, with place names coming from both J. R. R. Tolkien’s mythos and Frank Herbert’s Dune series.
All mountains on Titan are named for fictional peaks in Tolkien’s books. In addition to Mount Doom, there is Mount Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, where Bilbo and company travel to fight the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit and also the Misty Mountains which house the Dwarven city of Khazad-dum and the mines of Moria, where the dwarves dug too deep, unleashing the Balrog that kills Gandalf (well, almost killed him).

The plains of Titan are named from planets in Frank Herbert’s Dune series such as Arrakis Planitia, named for the planet where Paul Atreides becomes Muad’Dib and learns to ride the mighty sandworms. The Chusuk plain and Sikun labyrinth are also named for planets in the Dune series.
There are many other features in the Solar system that do not follow the habitual mithology nomenclature. You can see the current list of categories in the IAU's web site.
Note. As many of you will know, the post title is the Khuzdul battle cry of the Dwarves and its translation is Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!

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A change of plans and a Swedish "Song of Drums and Shakos" blog

With so many job and family duties my wargaming activities are again resenting, so the time horizon to play the "next battle" is becoming more and more delayed.
The only way to exit from this blocking situation seems to be a skirmish encounter using "Song of Drums and shakos", in the same way I made the last January with "The Wethau bridge" scenario.
The finding of a Swedish wargaming blog, Northern Wargaming, with a SDS scenario, at last has brought me to decide about that issue.
While I build the OOB for my Scenario, you can read the AAR of the Famined French Scenario.

Enjoy it!

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A French TV series about 'The Note-books of Captain Coignet'

Chants de l'armée française dans JRC por MarechalLannes

A friend of mine posted some days ago in the ALKAID Wargames Forum, a link about a French TV mini-series from year 1969, "Jean Roch Coignet" based on the "Cahiers du Capitain Coignet".
The book is published in English by Greenhill Books, under the title "The note-books of Captain Coignet" (See here for a review)

The above video is part of a Daily-motion account with many other Napoleonic videos and there is also a Youtube reproduction list

All those videos are only a small sample of some of the episodes, but the full mini-series can be acquired (French version) in Amazon

Enjoy!

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