AAR: Mini Quartre Bras

A good friend has recently been painting a 15mm 1815 Anglo-Dutch (hasn't gotten to the Anglo part yet) army.  He was itching to take some Brunswickers and Nassau troops out for a test drive. So we created a pre-Quartre Bras scenario with his small division holding a road and farm from two divisions of French. The allied force consisted of three Brunswick units (light, line, and cavalry) a Nassau brigade and two batteries. The French were based on Foy and Jerome's divisions with a battery each and attached chassuer brigade. We use the excellent rule set Age of Eagle. Initial set up found allies in the woods on both sides of the road, some deployed in the farm and his cavalry in support. 

The French would enter cavalry first, then a division each turn. The allies held their ground and fire as the French troops fanned out on their approach. One brigade in Foy's Division failed to activate orders for two turns and lagged behind. The engagement opened with musketry between the Brunswickers and Jerome's division in the woods. The Black Band even repulsed two French charges, disordering the attackers. The French cavalry closed in behind Jerome waiting to exploit a breakthrough which never occurred. 

The attack on the French left was left to musketry at range with the Nassau brigade as the French waited for the rest of the division to catch up. 

Jerome, growing impatient, put himself at the head of his brigades and stormed the forrest once more. The Brunswickers proved their worth giving ground slowly, and the Emperor's brother was carried from the field wounded. 

Feeling that the French were reeling, the Brunswick Cavalry charged one of Jerome's disordered brigades and sent them running. The remaining French brigade mounted one last attack in coordination with a counter charge on the Brunswick cavalry by the chassuers. Limited gains were made. On the opposite flank Foy, with his division finally assembled made a half hearted assault on the Nassau contingent, but only managed to push them a little ways back. A strong storm ended the game with the French having gained little ground. 

We had set a turn limit and the French came nowhere near achieving the breakthrough goal. In retrospect with the limited time the French might have benefited by just storming straight down the road and forcing the allies out of their defensive positions. Either way it was a very fun small game. Not all games have to be a refight of Leipzig to be rewarding!

Questions to Answer Before You Pick a Set of Rules

I see new people often ask "what rule set should I get?" It's a common and perfectly normal question. What occurs next is a tsunami of responses. Well meaning gamers jump to give there two cents worth supporting their favorite rules as if supporting a candidate for elected office. We are a passionate lot after all. By the end of the thread, the newby will find themselves sorting through dozens of responses all as unique as snowflakes. Ultimately the question may be left unanswered or confused at best.

In my very humble opinion a newby needs to answer a few questions before it ever comes to which set of rules to purchase. Most purchases are most successfully made after little research. So let's look at those questions.

1. What kind of general do you want to be? Have you dreamed of leading armies marching across Europe? Or do you see yourself leading a brigade from the front to storm the redoubt? Maybe you just want to be a jumped up lieutenant leading your surly band of rifles. Answering this question will greatly help you narrow down your rule search. It seems simple but you'd be surprised how many people don't give this enough thought. This will determine the scale of the rules you will want. You will want to pick a set of rules that puts you at the decision making level that you wish to assume. You will not enjoy rules that have you making decisions above or below the level of command you want to play.

This led me to a mantra that I have lived by for a long time. A good rule set sticks with a scale. By scale I don't mean size of miniature or even size of units. I mean that the rules will stay true to the level of command. If you are looking for skirmish rules and want to play as a major, you should not be asked to make grand tactical decisions. Conversely, if you are assuming the role of wing commander, you should not be tinkering with battalion formations or companies of skirmishers. Rules designed for high level command by nature will abstract some of the small tactical details we may be familiar with. This helps make a large game playable and will immerses you with the appropriate level of decision making. For those that desire the more mechanical side of tactics, rules designed for division or brigade command would be better.

2. What scale miniatures do you want to use? Where many rules are suitable for all scales, I do believe rule sets have design bias or a "sweet scale". Ask people who play the scale you are interested in about choices. This will at least narrow the "what rule set" question a little bit.

3. How much time can you commit to a game session? The more complex the rules, typically the more time a game takes to complete. sometimes game groups will play games beyond the intended scope of the rules. Playing Borodino with your brigade level rules will not only take a while, but will likely have a less than smooth outcome.

So now when you ask what set of rules you should use, you can say " I'm looking for a set or rules that allows me to play as a division level commander. I'd like to use 15mm miniatures and I'd hope to comfortably complete a game in 3-4 hours." You'll still get different answers, but at least the field will be narrowed down.

After Action Report for Wavre Refight

I figured I'd post an AAR from our Waterloo weekend Wavre re-fight. We used our tried and true Age of Eagles rules and 15mm minis. The table hosted miniatures from old Minifigs, Old Glory, AB, Battle Honors, Blue Moon and a few assorted others. The terrain was Geo-Hex over a Games Workshop mat. The river and roads were made by War Gamer's Terrain. The scenario was from Age of Eagles Grognard.

The scenario itself is a little "what if" as it starts Grouchy's attack earlier in the day at 1:00 PM. The game is set for 7 turns ending at 4:30 PM assuming if Grouchy has not secured a crossing and exited a sufficient number of troops off the board to aid Napoleon he has failed his mission.

Initial set-up looking north over the Dyle River. The towns from left to right are Limale, Bierge Mill, Wavre, and Lower Wavre.

All Prussian units begin on the table and the French begin entering on the first turn. Initial Prussian deployment placed regulars in the towns with reservists and militia in reserve. The extreme western most crossing of Limelette was not covered at set up.

The first French to enter the table came straight toward Wavre. This was Vandamme. They divided their attack between Wavre and Bierge Mill. Vandamme was in no mood to storm the bridge at Wavre as it was well fortified. A brigade maintained pressure there as the main attack stormed the mill crossing. This attack was repulsed several times with little loss to the Prussians.

Prussian reserves behind Bierge Mill.

This wing of the attack quickly bogged down for the French. Assault after assault was repulsed.

Bierge Mill, mid-afternoon.

Gerard arrived but had trouble getting his corps moving. After some delay they fanned out and headed for the more lightly held crossings of Limale and Limalette. Prussian cavalry and artillery were rushed west to counter the new threat.

Gerard heads west.

As futile as the eastern sector was for Grouchy, the western valley erupted in a desperate struggle. Stengel's Prussian Brigade (detached from I Corps) held firm after repeated attacks at Limale. But alas the Prussians were stretched too thin and Gerard put infantry and cavalry across at Limalette.

Stengel's defense of Limale

The French cross the Dyle at Limalette!

The only immediate reserve to counter the French crossing was a small brigade of Prussian cavalry. In the best tradition of Blucher himself, they charged home slowing the French crossing and shattering one French brigade caught between their lances and the river. The Prussians began shifting eastern sector reserves west. At this late hour even a complete breakthrough at Wavre would not give the French enough time to reach their objectives. With more Prussians supporting the west, the game was put out of reach for Grouchy at 4:00 PM. The French player conceded defeat.

This was an excellent game. Dice rolls were pretty even with both sides failing their fair share of important roles. Losses for the Prussians were relatively light. The French suffered heavy casualties trying to cross the narrow river crossings. The outcome may have been entirely different had Gerard made more activation roles and gotten his corps moving west earlier.

And so it begins...Russians.

After All these years of painting game miniatures, and particularly Napoleonics, I have never painted Russians. Or British for that matter. I hadn't painted British because I was not that interested in Spain and the 100 Days as a game platform was always so limited. 

My reason for not painting Russians was entirely different. For decades, we had a member of our group who had several corp of Russians. We always tried to focus on what the group needed, so I stayed away from the Czar's Army. My primary focus was tons of Austrians, gobs of Prussians, a Bavarian Army (just because I liked the uniform), and some French to help out our French players who were not so quick with a paint brush.

But alas our group found itself without Russians when our very own Czar moved. So the thought had crossed my mind many times. I even downloaded the appropriate Osprey book about a year ago. 

Another push for Russians came indirectly from the rules we play. We are all very happy with Age of Eagles. I'll reserve my rules commentary and praise for another post, but we have decided at our advanced ages that this is likely our last rule set. Along with those rules, Col. Gray publishes an outstanding scenario booklet focused on 1813. As time periods go it's awesome. You get to use most of the Continental powers and you are no longer combating the Herculean French of Austerlitz every single game. It makes for great play balance. Add to that a fantastic website that has excellent, small, Age of Eagle scenarios Age of Eagles Grognard. It includes several 1814 re-fights.

So with all of this in mind I did something I rarely do anymore. I went to my local hobby shop. It's a shame that in a military city of over one million people we really don't have an historical miniature war game store anymore. But this shop still has few items and more importantly to this story had a shelf of consignment items. After digging around a bit, I found a few adhoc bags of Old Glory and AB Russians in the late period uniforms. For under $50 I left with most everything I needed.

So my goal is to add a small corp to compliment/create one of those mixed Russian/ Prussian commands you found throughout 1814. I'm sure it will lead, in time, to more purchases and an eventual stand alone Russian Army. Because that's just the way this hobby works...