And the Kosen winner is....

The next game will be a Lasalle battle 'The crossing point. Kösen. October 21, 1813'. The scenario is an adaptation of the C.S. Grant’s ‘Crossing Point’ scenario of his book ‘Programmed Wargames Scenarios'(Wargames Research Group, 1983) but located after the battle of Leipzig. Summarising up, the French must to destroy a bridge to cover their retreat, whereas the Austrians, which have seized it previously, try to prevent it.
As indicated in a previous post (See this post) all the Scenarios of the book “Programmed Wargames Scenarios” are heavily randomised, giving a different game each time. The map, deployments an orders below was one of the four designed after rolling all the required dice in the Gran’s Scenario altough an EXCEL spreadsheet was used instead, when applicable.
Due to the different scales, the actual procedures were a combination of Gran and Lasalle ones. Bold sentences refer to Gran’s scenario. The full OOB appears in he previous post on Kosent and the AAR of a previous re-fight, done with a home divisional version of Napoleon's Battles ,can be found at the main web site, or in the posts of this blog with the label Kosen.

Deployment
Austrian (blue) forces
- Its mission is “to hold the crossing point” in order to ensure the bridge over the Elster, thus allowing them to outflank the retreating Grande Armée.
- The Vanguard (all the Infantry units of the Light Division plus its Brigade commander) must be deployed on th table “50% north and 50% south of the river”. Their orders allow for “A flexible defence with the ability to respond to attacks, follow up and counter attack. Well ordered and controlled withdrawal if required”.
- Reinforcements: the rest of the units (: Chevaux-Leger No.5; Chevaux-Leger No.7 plus Horse battery; IR No.8 plus Brigade battery; IR No.7; IR No.37 and IR No.60 plus Brigade battery. The normal arrival procedure (p. 91 of the e-Lasalle book) is used.When a unit arrives, a dice will indicate the entry point with 1 or 2 being F, 3 or 4 being G and 5 or 6 being H. The first unit in a brigade marks the enter point used by the others units in the same brigade.
- All the Austrian reinforcements will enter in march column formation The Brigade commanders arrive with their first arriving unit, Divisional commanders will enter with their first or second arriving brigade (50%/50%). The C-i-C will enter with his first, second or third arriving brigade (20%/30%/50%).
- The orders for the reinforcementes depend on the situation at the bridge:
Situation good (no danger to the crossing point) Reinforcements disciplined and deploy as ordered
Situation in balance (50/50) Reinforcements rush exuberantly into the battle
Situation bad (crossing point about to be lost) Reinforcements rush exuberantly into the battle
French (red) forces
- Its mission is “to seize and destroy the crossing point".
- There are no French units on the table at the start so all enter as reinforcements. The arrival Lasalle procedure is slightly modified: “Take the number of the current turn. Add to this the Vigor modifier of the subcommander in command of that reserve force. Then roll one die, and if it is less than the modified turn number, the reserve force has arrived “
- The order of march is the following:
       Point K: 1/12th; 2/12th; 3/12th; 12th Division battery Division; Young Guard Light Cavalry; Old Guard Horse Artillery
       Point L: 38th Wurttemberg; 15th Italian Division Division
- Each Brigade commander enters with his brigade. Each Divisional commander enters with his first division. Morand can arrive with his first, second or third arriving brigade (50%/30%/20%). Bertrand enters along Morand.
- The initial Bertrand’s battle plan is “Advance to medium range and send forward a parley party under white flag to debate the crossing. If this is rejected then a unit of cavalry, close at hand, should attempt to rush the crossing by surprise”.
- However, “the response to the arrival of reinforcements will cause varying stages of increased urgency in his attempt to achieve the objective. A single dice throw for each enemy unit to appear will provide a gradually accumulating score which will reflect the response of the Red Commander.
      Less than 10: no change in orders or activity.
      10-20: increased urgency. Troops in charge range will come to contact. Troops still not deployed will advance at 'forced march'.
      21-35: attempt to seize crossing immediately. Troops still not deployed well forward will 'double' forward.
      36-50: panic attack on crossing by all forces which if repulsed will result in disorder and poor morale.
      51 or more: all attempts to storm bridges will falter and retire. Assaults will break down into fire-fights and forward movements will cease.”

Watch this thread!

P.S. By the way, the winner was.... Scenario number two

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Kösen 1, 2, 3, 4

The next thing will be a re-fight of Kösen. The scenario is an adaptation of the C.S. Grant’s ‘Crossing Point’ scenario of his book ‘Programmed Wargames Scenarios'(Wargames Research Group, 1983). The General situation is as follow:
"Blue has a small force, which has moved north at great speed to secure the crossing point and arrived there in the early hours of the morning. They know that a Red Force is on the way to seize the crossing and is likely to start arriving from the north shortly after dawn. Blue has reinforcements on the way but they are being hastily assembled and may arrive at any time during the day and in any order. Dawn is 0630."
The historical background is taken from G. Nafziger's 'Napoleon at Leipzig. The Battle of Nations 1813’(The Emperor Press, Chicago, 1996) and is located after the Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig and his western retreat:
"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”.

The real combat involved elements of the Austrian 3rd Armeeabteilung under FZM Gyulai and the remaining rests of the Bertrand’s polyglot IV Corps (comprising French, Wurttemberg and Italian units). The O.O.B's were 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. The final OOB's, used in the previous fight with my divisional home-version of Napoleon's Battles were:

Austrian 3rd Armeeabteilung (Blue force)
13 Battalions/2 Regiments/3 batteries; Army Moral 47 Break point 16

C-i-C Gyulai (-/¶)

Light Division Crenneville (-/-)
Infantry Brigade Hacht (-1/¶)
Waradisner Grenz R/I/SK2 +
St George Grenz R/I/SK2 +
7Jaeger R/E/SK2
Cavalry Brigade Kopp (-1/-)
Chevauleger No. 5 R/E/Pu +
Chevauleger No. 7 R/E/Pu +
6pdr Horse Battery Horse/2 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer

2nd Division Murray (-/*)
1st Brigade Lamezan (-1/-)
1/Erzherzog Ludwig-Josef IR 8 R/E/SK1 +
2/Erzherzog Ludwig-Josef IR 8 R/E/SK1 +
3/Erzherzog Ludwig-Josef IR 8 R/E/SK1 +
1/Kurfurst von Wurzburg IR 7 R/E/SK1 +
2/Kurfurst von Wurzburg IR 7 R/E/SK1 +
3/Kurfurst von Wurzburg IR 7 R/E/SK1 +
6pdr Brigade Battery Foot/4 cannon/Medium
2nd Brigade Lowenwarth (-1/¶)
1/Mariassy IR 37 R/E/SK1 +
2/Mariassy IR 37 R/E/SK1 +
1/Gyulai IR 60 R/E/SK1 +
2/Gyulai IR 60 R/E/SK1 +
6pdr Brigade Battery Foot/4 cannon/Medium


French IV Corps (Red force)
14 Battalions/3 Regiments/3 batteries; Army Moral 44 Break point 15

C-i-C Bertrand (-1/*)

12me Division Morand (+1/*)
1st Brigade Belair (+1/-)
1/8e Légère R/E/SK2 +
2/8e Légère R/E/SK2 +
2nd Brigade Toussaint (-/*)
1/13e Ligne R/E/SK2 +
2/13e Ligne R/E/SK2 +
3rd Brigade Hulot (+1/-)
1/23e Ligne R/E/SK2
2/23e Ligne R/E/SK2
1/137e Ligne R/A/SK1
2/137e Ligne R/A/SK1
1/2 Foot Artillery Foot/3 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer
2/2 Foot Artillery Foot/3 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer

38me Division Franquemont (-1/*)
Wurttemberg Converged Line R/E/SK1
Wurttemberg Converged Light R/E/SK2

15me Division Fontanelli (-/-)
Italian Converged Light R/A/SK1
1/Converged Line R/A/SK1
2/Converged Line R/A/SK1
3/Converged Line R/A/SK1
Italian Sapper Company

2me Guard Light Cavalry Division Levebvre-Desnoettes (-1/*)
Young Guard Lanciers V/A/La +
Young Guard Chasseurs V/A +
Young Guard Grenadiers V/A
5/Old Guard Horse Battery Horse/2 cannon/Medium/1 Howitzer


The Grant's book presents always several alternatives for deployments, orders, goals and reinforcements for both sides, thus opening an almost infinite variety of Scenarios, that are randomly chosen (i.e throwing several D6 dice). With the help of an EXCEL worksheet, I have designed four Scenarios... but only one will be fought.

Follow this thread!

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Wethau for Lasalle. The A.A.R.

After a long delay (too many job activities!), I have uploaded to main site the Scenario and the AAR of the combat of Wethau for Lasalle
The result was a Drawn battle in terms of Lasalle conditions, but if the Austrian and French aims are taken in account, the real result was an Austrian tactical victory, because the Augereau IX Corps was delayed in its advance towards the Leipzig rendez-vous.

See also the posts with the label Wethau in this blog to see a day-to-day account of the wargaming refight. The posts also include the previous fight at the Wetha bridge, A Song of Drums and Shakos Scenario, that was also an Austrian victory. The Emperor's aigles are not being lucky!

Next Lasalle scenario (date unknown!) will be a Lasalle refight of Kosen, already fought with my Divisional Napoleon´s Battles home adaptation.

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Wethau (VI). The end

The French situation has worsened around the Mertendorff ford and the French have been forced to evacuate the village, while the Allied cavalry is trying to outflank them

In the Wethau area the things are not going better for the French, although the 2/86e de Ligne has momentarily stopped the advance of the 1/von Strauch #24 IR and their divisional artillery is firing at full speed against the Austrian cavalry

But the 2e Dragoon Regiment is broken by the Vincent#4 Chevauxlegers

and the 3/32e de Ligne is caught in the wrong formation by the Kaiser#1 Chevauxlegers and is also wiped out

The surviving French cavalry in the center is forced to retire towards the far bank of the stream

so the French wings must retire at full speed. The 51e Division from Wethau

and the 52e division from the Mertendorff ford.

The Kaiserlicks have won the day!

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Wethau (V). The cavalry battle

The fight in the centre and near the Mertendorff ford has become a large cavalry battle. The Austrian C-i-C is using his cavalry superiority in the zone to launch a powerful all-of-all attack. The French infantry, in square or deployed in the village, can only wait the final of the combats around them.
Initially, the 22e Dragoons rejects with some difficulty the Austiran Erherzog Johann #1 Dragoons

But their comrades of the 25e Dragoons are routed (but not broken) and fall back before the Klenau #5 Chevaux-legers.

While in the extreme flank, the 18e Dragoons suffer the same fate at hands of the Austrian Kienmayer #8 Hussars

The French centre is broken at the French wings are at serious risk of becoming isolated

At the same time than their right flank is in danger to be turned by the Allied cavalry and Cossacks

The things are becoming really bad for the French!

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Wethau (IV) The fight near the bridge

The fight near the Wethau bridge is becoming general. The arriving Austrian reinforcements, 1sdt and 2nd battalion of the von Strauch#24 IR (1st Brigade/1st division/II Corps)are running at full speed to help the 1/Brooder Grenz.

But the Croats are broken by the 2/17e Légère

Meanwhile, the 1/von Strauch#24 IR finishes the almost broken 2/58e Ligne after a fierce hand-to-hand combat

And then routs easily the combined attack of the 6/121e and 6/122e Ligne battalions

While their comrades of the 2/von Strauch#24 IR also breaks the 2/17e Légère near the woods

The French infantry is having a very poor performance!

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Wethau (III)

The 1/Brooder Grenzer has managed to stop the outflanking French attack by breaking the 3/10e Légère caught in the defile between the cemetery and the woods.

The all-arms Austrian Light Division is desperately buying time, while awaiting the arrival of reinforcements, while the French are trying to fan out from the Wethau bridge.

The Allied C-i-C is trying to break the French line, by pushing the French Quenet's Dragoon brigade towards Wethau, to isolate it from the rest of the French cavalry reinforcements.

The Austrian cavalry converges towards the French bridgehead in the Mertendorff's ford.

While the Cossacks try to oppose the Dragoons while awaiting the arrival of the Austrian Hussars.

The Allies must to attack or perish!

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Wethau (II)

Facing a double menace, Liechtenstein, the Austrian C-i-C, takes a risky option using all his cavalry to break the French line.
The Kaiser#1 Chevauxlegers Regiment, facing the flanking fire of the French artillery, takes the 27e Chasseurs a Cheval Regiment in flank breaking them, while their comrades of the Vincent#4 Chevauxlegers carry out a similar maneoeuvre against the 14e Chasseurs a Cheval Regiment.

The Austrian pressure is breaking the French centre and manwhile, near the Mertendorff ford, the Er. Ferdinand #3 Hussars and the Klenau#5 Chevauxlegers Regiments make a combined attack that will break the French 3e Hussar Regiment. However the 'Spanish' Quenet's Dragoons (1st Brigade/5th Heavy Cavalry Division) are running fast to close the gap in the centre of the French line.

After routing the French Hussars, the Klenau#5 Chevauxlegers charge the French Foot battery, while the French infantry forms square and the rest of the French 'heavy' cavalry reinforcements, are arriving in the rearguard.

Meanwhile, a lucky French volley has blown up the Austrian battery near the cemetery. This is a very funny Lasalle feature!

The French try to take advantage of the Austrian right flank weakness, but they have only a lone unit, the 3/10e Légère Regiment, that is advancing fast between the cemetery and the woods. However, Liechtenstein has sent the 1/Brooder Grenz IR and 7th Jaegers to stop the menace.

Wethau is becoming another cavalry battle!

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Wethau (I)

The combat of Wethau has started. The Augereau's plan is simple: carry out the Wethau village covered by the cavalry, while the rest of the infantry in the far right flank is trying to outflank the Austrians. On the other hand, Liechtenstein has massed his cavalry on the plain on his left flank, while awaits for the arrival of more infantry to force the French to re-cross the stream.
A massed French attack, carried out by the 3/10e and the 3/32e Ligne has broken the Austrian Jaeger #4 battalion garrisoning Wethau winning all the village for the French.

The full Aymard's brigade has deployed in the left (far) bank of the Wethau stream, ready to begin the crossing, but they must wait because the Allied cavalry is mastering the plains beyond.

The Vincent#4 Chevauxlegers have charged the 27e Chasseurs a Cheval that have crossed the stream to protect the Aymard's left flank. However, they are countercharged by the 14e Chasseurs a Cheval, that are protecting their comrades, and are routed, but not broken.

The advance of the Lagarde's brigade at the Mertendorff ford is being delayed by the presence of the Allied Streifcorps cavalry. Only the 3e Hussars is protecting that flank against the Cossack hordes and the menace of the regular Austrian cavalry.

Watch this space!

Note: The full details of the Scenario have benn uploaded to the main web site

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Wethau. The deployment

The French have arrived before Wethau and its vital bridge, defended by the Austrians. The Allies, Austrians, Prussians and Russians, are trying to delay the Augereau's march towards Leipzig. However, the French are outflanking the Allied first line of defense over the Wethau stream. Below, you can see some pictures of the opposing forces.

The combat is about to begin!

Note: To see all the posts about this combat, select the 'Wethau' label in the right column or follow this link: Wethau combat.

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Coming back!

After a very busy period of time with too many academic and home duties, I can resume the wargaming activities. This is the moment to play the last designed Lasalle Scenario: the battle of Wethau that was left 'frozen' the last December to explore the posibilites of Sirmish games via Song of Drums and Shakos.

You can see above a scheme of the final terrain with the initial deployment and below two pictures of the actual terrain.

Watch this space!


The Lasalle Scenario file is available at Googledocs

Edited 11th March: The Document in Google docs is now open to everybody"

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My comments about the Song of Drums and Shakos Scenario

The play of the SDS Scenario went smoothly, despite some mistakes I made initially in relation with the Activation step. I forgot to take in account the modifiers of the Leader and Élan Special rules. In SDS a model is activated by rolling one, two or three dice against the model’s Quality (see below for Solo modifications) that for the normal rank-and-file men is Q4. However, Leader rule makes that any model within Long distance from a Leader has its Quality rolls increased by one. Élan Special rule adds a further +1, making that a model with both rules will activate on a roll equal or higher than 2 (66.7 % probability). These Special SDS rules, that make easier the Activation, were not applied until mid-game, resulting in some turns wasted with only one or two, or none models activated (see below for the reason behind). Since the error affected both sides, Austrian Jaegers and French Voltigeurs, no biases were introduced.
The SDS rules are very easy to learn and apply and can be summarized in a single one-side Quick Reference Sheet (QRS). It is worth to use it: I wasted some time searching the rulebook for the way a fallen figure stands up after a combat… well the procedure was described in the QRS!
At last, the found difficulties were caused by my lack of familiarity with Skirmish-type games. It is curious, but after one is used to visualize the retreat or rout of an entire battalion or brigade after a firefight or combat in a tactical o grand-tactical game, it becomes more difficult to visualize a single man in a similar situation in a skirmish game.

SDS is, in my opinion, well suited to solo play. As you could know, there are two general ways to play solo battles. The first is to take a side under soloist control and to fight against a randomized and/or programmed enemy. This implies to devise one or several alternative plans for the other side, a task that can be too laborious. The other possibility is to play both sides but randomize the available options. You are like a god, so if you don’t introduce any bias, pure chance will drive the play. The crude facts originated will be explained after the play by finding the adequate narrative, and I assure you that the search for the plot under a random sequence of events is also very fun. I used this secoind way in the Scenario..
The only randomized mechanism I used in the Wethau Bridge scenario was the Doghi’s mechanism for Activation that is the hearth of the SDS motor. To activate a model in SDS (or in any of the ’Song of Song of Blades and Heroes’ family of games) you roll one, two or three dice, at your choosing, against the model’s Quality. If at least one dice is equal or higher than the Q value of the model, this becomes activated. However, two dice failures imply that your turn immediately finishes with the initiative passing to the other side, so finding the equilibrium between activation and loss of the initiative is the crux of the game. The Doghi’s system uses a D3 die that indicates the number of dice to be rolled in each case. The system is elegant and easy to carry out and produced a very interesting game.
I used no figures in the Scenario: every day computer tools, i.e word processor, worksheet and presentation programs, were used instead. No pictures are available but the game was very enjoyable and fun and, maybe I’ll use the AAR as a script for an AAR with miniatures.

(French Voltigeur picture was taken from Iron-Mitten blog)

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The Wethau Bridge for Song of Drums & Shakos (II)

The French Voltigeur 3 evades initially the combined attack but, two against one is too much for him and falls mortally wounded under a powerful attack of Jaeger 4. Seeing the rest of Jaegers crossing the bridge, Sergeant Bauduin and Voltigeur 5 prudently retreat behind the fence, but Lieutenant Meunierreacts  at last and a group of three Voltigeurs (6, 7 and 8) goes out covered by the aimed fire of their comrades behind the fence, that kill Jaeger 4.

The fire exchange continues and Voltigeur 8 is killed by an accurate shot of Jaeger 3 (hidden behind a tree) so the French squad falls now under 50% strength making mandatory a moral test. Following the Scenario rules, all the men run behind the fence under the heavy fire of the Austrians, that have found now a better target in the Lieutenant Meunier.

A furious firefight starts now, with the French wounding Jaeger 7 and forcing Jaeger 6 to fall back, but the Austrian answer is immediate and Voltigeur 5 is killed.

At last, Jaeger 4, hidden behind a tree, shoots Meunier wounding him. This is too much for Sergeant Bauduin and the two remaining Votigeurs that runs towards Wethau leaving the wounded Meunier in Austrian hands.

Austrian losses: Wounded: UnterJager Gassinger and Jaeger 7. Dead: Jaegers 2 and 8
French losses: Wounded: Lieutenant Meunier. Dead: Voltigeurs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8. Sergeant Meunier and Voltigeurs 6 and 7 left the field.

Final result: AUSTRIAN VICTORY!

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The Wethau Bridge for Song of Drums & Shakos (I)

“He [Augereau] sent GB Subervie’e 9th(bis) Light Cavalry Division with some voltigeur companies towards Wethau, where there was a bridge over the Wethau stream…/…The [Liechtenstein’s] plans drawn up at midnight, set the attack on the bridge at 6:00 A.M…./… However, a later report from his scouts about the visibly alarmed nature and attentiveness of the French post, induced Liechtenstein to revise the time of his planned assault to 4:00 A-M. Oberst Frehierr Veyder von Malberg led his 7th Austrian jager Battalion in the assault and the attack succeeded completely…. The French detachment in Wethau was overthrown, GB Subervie escaped being taken prisoner ‘dressed only in his shirt’.” (Taken from George Nafziger, Napoleon at Leipzig. The Battle of Nations 1813, Emperor’s Press, Chicago, 1996. p. 82-83)

It is almost dawn of October 10. Hauptmann Babbel is leading a forlorn hope from the 7th Austrian Jager Battalion to spearhead the assault on the bridge over the Wethau stream, a strategic post guarded only by a squad of French voltigeurs. Some French can be seen there and here patrolling the area, two men in the southern bank and other in the northern one guarding the bridge, while other two are on sentry duty around a small house where the rest of the squad seems to sleep unaware of the danger.

The Austrian officer has divided his assault party in three groups. Unterjager Gassinger is leading three men in the edge of the left flank woods (one jaeger is a rifle-armed marksman while the other two caary, respectively, rifle and musket). A pair of jaegers has been sent to the right flank woods, while the Austrian main body is following the road under the Hauptmann’s direct command.

The Austrian rifle party opens fire on one of the French sentries forcing him to retreat towards the bridge without any appreciable damage, so Unterjager Gassinger runs to finish the work. At the sound of shooting, the center and right flank jaegers run also towards the bridge, while the Hauptmann Babbel chooses to remain prudently behind his men “to better observe the situation”

The Unterjaeger attacks the French Voltigeur 1 with his sword, but this parries the Austrian's thrust with the bayonet causing him to fall to ground grievously wounded. Jaeger 2 runs to avenge the death of the NCO but an accurate shot of Jaeger 3 kills the French. Meanwhile, the Jaegers 6 and 7 are converging towards the other French sentry (Voltigeur 2).

But the French, warned by the fighting noise, retreats at run crossing the stream, while his comrades in the north bank fire, resulting in Voltigeur 3 instantly killing Jaeger 2 with a well aimed shot. Meanwhile Jaeger 5 and Voltigeur 4 engage in a sort of musket duel over the stream that finally results in the death of the French. Sergeant Bauduin remains mesmerized, unable to sound the alarm, while the main body of the Austrian party is running towards the bridge.

At last, Sergeant Bauduin opens the fence’s door exiting out to evaluate the situation, while Voltigeurs 2 and 3 are falling back towards the house. However Voltigeur 2 is killed by an aimed shhot ofJaeger 6, whereas Voltigeur 3 has been caught up and must to face the combined attack of Jaegers 4 and 7.

The fight is going bad for the French! (To be continued...)

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