Ghosts of Russians Past

The Russian Border, 1812:

Josh has been putting together a new Russian army so I decided to invade his country and see what his toy soldiers were made of.

We used the Road to Glory scenario rules, 2500 points each.

"Are we there yet?"

The French army advances to Moscow. 

Terrain is as follows in V&B terms: The water line is a stream, crop fields are standing crops (block LOS), ploughed fields and vineyards are broken ground. The larger area of woods on the French side of board is forest, the smaller woods on the opposite side are orchard. There is 1 town and 3 villages on the board. The hill is just a hill, we ignored the rocky sides.

The Russian army in all its grey plastic glory!

The French army, conspicuously short of heavy cavalry...

The two armies meet in a valley with a very Mediterranean flavour. Can the French break through the Russian lines and continue the advance to Moscow?

End of the first turn. After some initial feints and distractions, both commanders got a clearer picture of the other side's dispositions. The Russian commander realised he was facing a small French vanguard, with the main force still some way off. 

Meanwhile, the Russians had devised a daring flank attack of cavalry and artillery. Unfortunately, the only French troops within striking distance were on the opposite flank.

The French right wing commander found himself very outnumbered, and attempted to form up a defensive line behind the stream, using the farmland on his left to guard against attack.

Russian Grenadiers lead the army's advance.

Things were looking mighty scary for the French, especially when every Russian brigade started to open fire with their battalion guns.

Russian troops held the opposite river bank and began a devastating artillery and musket duel against the French division. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Russian army crossed the stream in force and began to circle around, but the farmland was breaking up their advance, with the crop fields blocking the line of vision to the French troops on the bank of the stream.

Frustrating matters for the Russians is that they didn't know how far away the rest of the French army was. Reinforcements could arrive on the road at any minute.

The French troops concentrated their fire on the Russian Grenadier division, inflicting heavy casualties. In return, the Russians pounded a few thousand Frenchmen into pulp.

So many cannons...

With a sigh of relief, the main French force arrived with two fresh infantry divisions, including one division of the Young Guard. The Guards proceeded to charge the Russian infantry in the vineyards, while the infantry moved right to reinforce the troops holding the stream. 

And not a moment too soon, as the Russian artillery barrage had started to eliminate the French brigades desperately trying to stop them crossing the water.

The Guards had obviously been well fed on the march, as their combined infantry and artillery assault on the Russian infantry destroyed a brigade outright.

The fresh infantry and artillery did the trick, clearing out one brigade of Russian Grenadiers.

Seeing their advantage start to fade, the Russians stormed across the river to attack the French infantry. But crossing the river disordered their advance, and both brigades failed their morale rolls and routed before they could fire a shot.

With the Russian infantry in retreat, the French attacked across the stream, finishing off the Grenadiers.

Meanwhile, the Russians on the French left attempted to clear the Young Guard out of the vineyard with a combined infantry, cavalry and artillery assault. 

But the Guards' defensive position proved too secure, and the Russian attack was forced back.

As the Russians were pushed back and the French began to cross the river, the French cavalry reserve arrived with two divisions.

But the success of the French got the better of their commander (me, whoops) who decided to charge against the Russian artillery positions on the French left. The Russian guns proved too strong, wiping out one brigade of the Guards and forcing back several brigades of infantry.

The French cavalry advanced to circle around the right flank, while the infantry took up a defensive position to screen them.

But the French left is starting to weaken, and with no cavalry on that flank to clear out the Russian artillery the infantry is suffering under serious cannon bombardments. 

The annoying vineyards made this flank almost impassable to cavalry which protected the French from Russian cavalry charges, but meant I couldn't use my own cavalry to follow up any advances I made against the Russians.

The Russians advance with artillery and battalion guns to finish off the French Guard artillery.

Meanwhile the recovered Russian infantry formed up a defensive line across the plain. Would they be enough to hold off the French?

The short answer was no, as the French dragoon division charged the disordered Russians, destroying them outright but opening themselves up for a charge from the Russian cuirassiers.

The last French infantry division arrived as reinforcements to fill the gaps along the waterline and hold off the Russians troops threatening the vineyard.

Unfortunately for the Russians, the heavy cavalry wasn't quite enough to overcome the more numerous French cavalry, and they were forced to retreat, where they were harassed by French light cavalry attempting to outflank the Russian forces and cut their lines of communication.

The French dragoons gang up on the Russian cavalry and horse artillery, wiping out the division.

The Russians are rapidly running out of men as the last few divisions collapse into exhaustion. The artillery positions are still strong but with French cavalry holding the field and threatening their supply lines, the Russian commander was forced to retreat.

The remaining Russian light cavalry attempt a desperate rearguard against the French infantry as the Russian army withdraws from the battlefield.

See you in Moscow!

As a side note, at the start of the game, I drew two scenario cards. I got 'Advance Guard Left' and 'Advance Guard Right'. Both my left and right wings consisted of a single infantry division, so either way I was going to have a seriously outnumbered force with no reinforcements until turn 3. 

I picked the right wing as that side of the board looked more defensible, which proved to be a stroke of luck as Josh had 'Flanking Maneuver Right' so if I'd picked the other card I would have been wiped out to a man by a cavalry charge on the second turn  😓

As it turned out, the vineyard and the crop fields I was hiding behind might as well have been the Great Wall of China, such a defensible position they proved to be. 

Thanks to Josh for a great game.