This month we finally played the long-planned Friedland game, using the latest version of the T&A rules. I received Greg Wagman's kind permission to distribute complete rules to the players beforehand, and I know that at least some generals read them in the day or two available, but only two of the players had actually played them before. More on that below under "Game Notes". My thanks to the many people who signed up for the game - on the Russian side John, Angus and Geoff, and on the French Robert, Dennis, Steve, Anthony and Gordon. Special thanks to Steve and Gordon, who remained good-humoured and engaged, even though their troops never actually made it onto the table! Special mention also of Angus and Anthony, both playing their first Napoleonic battles (at least in this form), who handled their respective commands with skill and aplomb despite their inexperience.
With that said, what happened?
The Battle
An excellent account of the historical battle by Jeff Berry can be found at his "Obscure Battles" blog, here. I relied on Jeff's work for the OOB (he, in turn, relied chiefly on George Nafziger), and for the map.
The battle occurred in the summer of 1807. Bennigsen's Russians saw an opportunity to destroy an apparently isolated French corps and escape back across the Alle river without hurt. That is not how things turned out. Lannes (the man on the spot), had taken the precaution of alerting the Emperor as soon as he became aware that the Russians were moving on him, so that by early afternoon the French had eight times the troops available to them at dawn, and the tables turned with a vengeance. The primary Russian victory condition is to break the French army. In theory this is not hard to do in the first few turns, as long as they move quickly. As the day wears on, with more and more troops arriving, it becomes harder, so they can, at any point, fall back on inflicting more casualties than they suffer and then making good their escape.
John, as Bennigsen, started by spreading the pontoon bridges out further south than their historical locations clustered around Friedland. One remained at the southern end of town, but the others were placed instead one opposite the village of Sortlack, and the other corresponding to the line of the Posthenen road running east to west through Sortlack Wood. At the outset it was clear that the bulk of the Russian army was lined up to cross the river, but the situation west of the river was more obscure. The French had not been properly scouted, so were deployed as a series of divisional blanks, half of which would turn out to be illusory. The sun had not yet risen over the river mist, so they could likewise not see clearly the Russians of Gortshakov's Right Wing. Two divisions were already across, but three divisional makers. Which was the dummy?
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| The battlefield seen from the south. The Russians are mostly on the east bank of the river Alle, which winds north through the town of Friedland (close to the centre) and off to the north-east before turning back to Königsberg and the Baltic Sea. French reinforcements for the weak force already on table will come from the west. |
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| The View from the East, through the town of Friedland. The divisional blanks in the foreground are the Russian Right Wing, with Gortschakov's HQ set up in the town square. To their left are the men and guns of the Left Wing, filing past Bennigsen's Army HQ sheltered behind the low hills. The cuirassiers to the north have been sent to scout for fords, forgetting that only light cavalry can do that... |
The game opened with a swift advance by the French in the south toward Sortlack, using the villages buildings for concealment from the Russians. This was matched by Jägers of the Avant Garde led by Nikolai Raevsky. As they debouched from the pontoon bridge and into the town it became clear that the French were ahead of them. The opposite side of the street was lined with grenadiers of Lannes' Division d'Élites, supported by more grenadiers and chasseurs. This was perhaps the best division of the Grande Armée, outside the Guard, and led by the formidable Nicolas Oudinot. He would receive his Marshal's baton a couple of years later.
Meanwhile, in the north, the cavalry of Uvorov's division revealed themselves at the extreme northern edge of the battlefield, pushing west along the Plaustendorf-Heinrichsdorf road to scout the French presence there. It soon became clear that the town itself was held by Darsonvalles' dragoons, dismounted to occupy the buildings themselves. Behind them, poised (in accordance with French doctrine for defending villages) for a countercharge against any attack, was Tilly's brigade of hussars and Chasseurs à Cheval, including the 4th Hussars depicted in Detaille's painting, displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW.
There was no such gallant change on this day, however, the French lights retreating steadily before the advance of the Russian hussars, supported as they were by uhlans and the Military Order cuirassiers.
As all this was happening, the first infantry division (Titov's) crossed the Friedland bridge and began to deploy in the fields north-west of the town, toward Heinrichsdorf.
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| Heinrichsdorf, looking south. Sorry about the lousy picture quality. French dragoons in the town. |
Galitzin's division pushed down on the south side of Heinrichsdorf to meet Lanne's artillery coming the other way. They managed to make it across the tricky ground of the Mühlenfluss to charge the guns. A blast of cannister sent them back (1), and for the next several turns a running cavalry/artillery duel would see the cavalry steadily driven back across the Mühlenfluss. Only its banks and the arrival of fresh support would enable the cavalry to turn the tide.
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| Looking south across the Mühlenfluss - Galitzin's cavalry fail to dislodge the isolated French guns |
As the first rays of the sun began to touch the battlefield, both armies' right flanks were moving forward strongly. A strong push by the French élites in Sortlack drove the Russians out of the town, and Raevsky's command started to look shaky. One brigade was badly mauled and with its back to the river, and the others scattered. If the French could just find some fresh reinforcements they might throw the Russians back across the river altogether. Nansouty's cuirassiers were due, but there was no sign of them (2).
The French artillery in the centre continued to push the Russian cavalry back to the Mühlenfluss, anticipating by some hours the "artillery charge" executed historically by Alexandre-Antoine de Sénarmont, Napoleon's veteran artillery commander (albeit in this case with less dramatic effect).
It did not end well, though. Despite the hammering they had taken from canister, the Russian lights fell back in good order, and were rescued by Korff's heavy dragoons' advancing across the stream to take the French guns in flank. Relieved of this pressure, the hussars were able to fall back behind the shield of their infantry comrades to recover themselves.
Rather than assaulting Heinrichsdorf directly in the north, the Russians tackled the job with artillery, bringing horse batteries around both flanks to drive the defending dragoons out with roundshot and shell. Tilly's supporting cavalry stayed carefully out of reach of the advancing Russians, which meant that the dragoons soon found themselves unsupported. Dennis recognised discretion as th better part of valour, and Grouchy's entire command was soon falling back into the sheltering woods. This left the northern end of the battlefield to the Russians, and Titov's infantry able to advance past the town to form a firing line.
To this point the French had controlled the pace of the battle, leaving the Russians (at least in the south) largely flat-footed. In the following hours this changed. Infantry of the Left Wing poured across the pontoon bridge at Friedland, and grenadiers of Dokturov's reserve across the one in the south, occupying Sortlack wood. Despite the belated arrival of Nansouty's heavy cavalry the occupation of Sortlack itself was now threatened on both flanks, and a timely application of artillery, combined with a renewed assault by the Avant Garde Jägers, succeeding in throwing Oudinot's men out of the village and leaving half of it in flames.
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| Looking west across the Alle to Sortlack and Posthenen, 9:00am |
The arrival of Edouard Mortier's VIII Corps helped to stabilise things for the French. Rather than marching down the road, Mortier (Anthony) chose to arrive through the forest on the western edge of the battlefield, lining the edge of the wood to drive off Uvarov's advancing cavalry. Mortier was pushing uphill, though, because by now Gortschkov had managed to force two more infantry divisions (Essen's and Englehardt's) through Friedland, barely avoiding a total traffic jam by diverging them onto separate roads north of town. Titov and the two cavalry divisions had formed a cohesive line facing the forest, and he had the makings of a grand battery - 120 guns straddling the Mühlenfluss and covering the centre.
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| Looking west from Friedland, 9:00am |
During the remainder of the morning the Russian advance stalled (3). The centre continue to thicken, and the remainder of the Reserve crossed the Alle to support the grenadiers in the wood. Opposition was becoming stiffer, though, as the French began to order their line to accomodate the reinforcements that were expected. Nansouty was pulled out of the centre and moved to the extreme right of the line, where he launched a division-sized charge against the grenadiers of the Russian Reserve. This drove them back deep into the wood, but rather than stay and tangle with them amongst the trees the cuirassiers then pulled back a full mile to re-order their ranks just in front of the hamlet of Bothkeim.
In the north, Grouchy continued to pull his battered dragoons and light cavalry, via the sheltering woods, back to the safety of the centre, and Mortier continued to strengthen his line along the edge of the forest, while being reluctant to venture beyond. Gortshakov and Bagration between them had arranged a solid defence, with a division either side of Heinrichsdorf, one (Engleman's) in reserve, and a grand battery, in two lines, of over 200 guns before Friedland, and more guns on their way.
Just after midday the Emperor arrived, with the Imperial Guard right behind him. Overall command switched at this point in the game from Lannes (Robert) to Napoleon (Dennis), and policy changed (4). Ney was expected down the Königsberg road at any hour, and in anticipation of his arrival Mortier advanced into the open fields - the beginnings of a fresh assault on Heinrichsdorf. Historically, Napoleon waited until 5:00pm, carefully husbanding and ordering his resources, and securing his flanks, before launching his attack. In our game the assault began at once.
On the right, Oudinot's Division d'Élites took the cavalry's place to drive the Russian Reserve out of Sortlack Wood. Nansouty guarded their left flank, cavalry and artillery discouraging any advance beyond Sortlack by Raevsky (or Dokturov, for that matter).
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| The retaking of Sortlack Wood |
The hole in the centre left earlier by Nansouty's division was filled by the Guard. With Horse Grenadiers and Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde on the flanks, and the Fusilier-Grenadiers and Fusilier-Chasseurs of the Middle Guard to the fore, the Old Guard with accompanying artillery formed a column in the centre, and the entire mass advanced toward the Russian grand battery before the town of Friedland. Long-distance roundshot from the battery sent the Middle Guard back to shelter behind their fellows, but the advance continued...
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| Final situation |
... and that was the end. We were out of time, and alas would not get to see the outcome of the French counterattack but only to pack up.
Notes
1) Actually this should not have happened, because we forgot to give the cavalry their charge bonus. The guns ought to have been destroyed, but that is what happened in the end, anyway, so that's OK.
2) In fact, every French reinforcement in the game arrived an hour late. Unhelpful.
3) It was only in the late morning that I asked myself "If John isn't spending Bennigsen's PPs on the turn clock, where is he spending them?" The answer, it turned out, was that he was spending them on moving Bagration's men, under the misapprehension that Bagration had none of his own. Entirely my fault, due to a clerical cock-up that meant we did not have a printed OOB sheet for Bagration, and my failure to properly annotate the hastily hand-drawn one that I substituted.
4) I must say, in fairness, that this had less to do with the change of players and more with the change in the balance of forces. Also, the afternoon was wearing on in real time.
Remarks on the Conduct of the Battle
My thought is that Napoleon was wise to await the arrival of another 40,000 men (Victor's and Ney's corps), and that until Victor's arrival in mid-afternoon he did not have the strength to be sure of victory. The Russians did very well in our game, taking Heinrichsdorf, Sortlack and its flanking wood without much trouble in the end, and forming a solid line with room to manouever between them and the river. Spreading out the pontoon bridges no doubt helped. I wonder whether, had they been playing with a full set of PPs, they might even have been able to achieve an early victory. Maybe. We will have to play this scenario again sometime, I think, to find out. Technically this was a French minor victory, but I think it could have been anybody's game had we played it to the end.
Angus played his right flank with skill and aggression, especially considering that this was his first Napoleonic command. Anthony likewise faced him with care and self-control, stabilising the flank without taking silly risks. Robert and John played with their customary panache (although I wish I John had complained more loudly about his paucity of PPs), and Dennis did not have much to work with as Grouchy, but made up for it when he came back as Napoleon!
Game Notes
This is a long scenario, with action beginning at first light (3:00am). Historically, the final French attack did not go in until 5:00pm, and fighting continued well into the evening. The scenario therefore allows for up to nineteen turns, which is perhaps a little ambitious, as it turns out, for a club game with inexperienced generals. Despite all that we got through ten hours of game time in about 4 1/2 hours of play - a little over 2 turns/hour. Not quite as good as the 3/hour we managed for Bailén, but not too shabby.
There were three to six times as many troops on the table (depending how you count it) in this game, and we had no fewer than eight players ostensibly involved. Although "the more the merrier" was my deliberate policy, perhaps in future less players would be wiser, especially in a scenario with staggered arrivals. The other lesson we need to take from this, though, is that in a big game everyone involved needs to turn up and start promptly. I am not pointing any fingers, and the day was very enjoyable, but I fluffed about too much in the morning, and did not keep my eye sufficiently on the clock. We could have been moving an hour earlier. Had we done that, and kept up the 1:3 ratio of real time to game time, we could perhaps have finished the whole scenario even within the limited time available, or at least completed the French counterattack.
Having said that, I thought the rules again worked pretty well. I thought (though I say it as shouldn't, perhaps) that the terrain looked splendid, and the coloured unit cards were clear and easily read. Identifying higher-order units (i.e. what division and corps a brigade belongs to) is a bit of a challenge, especially for those of us with presbyopic eyes. Perhaps a system of colour-coding on the labels might be a good idea. Also, especially since strength of the target is taken into account for shooting, as well as that of the defender for close combat, I wonder whether once revealed it should be written on the front (facing the enemy) of the unit label?
Your thoughts on this, and in everything that follows, in the comments below, please.
There were a few cock-ups and odd situations.
First, it is really important to have an OOB sheet printed for each general. This lack, and the consequent misunderstanding with regard to Bagration, had a seriously distorting effect on the battle. John did well under the circumstances, but shouldn't have had to.
Second, we need to remember to apply all modifiers. This is just a matter of experience and familiarity, nothing to do with the rules per se, but omitting numbers can lead of course to situations that should not have happened, which makes people grumpy, which makes for no fun...
Speaking of situations that should not have occurred, the long-running fight in the centre between the French artillery and the Russian light cavalry was anomalous in a couple of ways. It came about because the cavalry's initial charge was defeated with a difference of 1-2. The leading unit therefore recoiled two base depths, and the winner (the artillery) advanced one, finding itself in contact with the second cavalry brigade that had been supporting immediately behind. The way I played this was to say that these would be forced to have close combat again the following turn, whoever activated first. It worked OK, except that the same thing happened again... and again. With artillery, in particular, this seemed odd. There are a number of ways we might deal with this:
- An advance-after-combat that would result in immediate contact is not carried out
- As 1, but only for artillery
- The advance occurs, and the resulting combat is resolved immediately, with the winner of the previous combat as the attacker.
- The advance occurs, and the resulting combat is resolved in the following turn, with the attacker being whoever activates first (or at the end of the turn if neither does).
- Change the combat results so that the situation cannot arise (not sure if this is possible, short of eliminating advance after combat)
Third, we found that when units become fatigued, it is fairly easy to get them back to a safe place to remove the fatigue. It was suggested that in such circumstances, instead of all fatigue being removed, only one point per turn should be recovered. I am sympathetic to the idea, for we had only a single brigade broken (an artillery overrun) in the entire battle, but suspect that this apparent ease was an artifact of circumstances in this particular battle. Inflicting fatigue is all very well, but to turn that into a breakage requires followup, keeping on the pressure. During the morning, which is all we played, the French do not have the resources to press the Russians hard. The Russians, on the other hand, were working with only about 60% of the PPs they ought to have had, so although they had plenty of men, they also did not have the resources to keep the pressure on. In a more high-intensity battle it might be a very different matter, since taking a unit out of the line to recover makes it unavailable for at least a turn (for cavalry) or three (for infantry), and that may not be affordable. As for heavy artillery, don't even think about it.
Fourth, although Napoleon in particular was notoriously profligate with the lives of his men, he was not so with the lives of his Guard. In this game, as soon as the Guard was on table, Dennis hurled it straight at the enemy, and at a huge grand battery at that. Now this should of course be possible, but it ought to be discouraged. The army break point (and now the divisional and corps demoralisation points) militate against the wargamer's tendency to fight to the last man in standalone battles (campaigns are a different matter, of course, which is one reason I like them). There ought to be a similar disincentive to sending in the Guard just because you can. This game only confirms my attraction to a rule I was contemplating anyway, similar to one we had in days of yore in the System 7 rules. It is:
If an infantry brigade with a resilience of "6" breaks, the entire army takes an immediate, permanent, fatigue point. In practice, this will only apply to the French Old Guard, and maybe to the senior regiments of the Russian guard if they are brigaded together.
Thanks again to all players for your contribution to this test of the rules and the scenario. Your input and help is much valued, and I beg your public comment on the questions I have raised above. I will produce a revised version of the rules accordingly, which we will use at our next game. I suggest that this might be Aspern-Essling, in 1809. Again, the French are outnumbered and attacked by an army determined to destroy them. This time it is the Austrians, and the French have their backs to the river. Let's take a bit of a rest, but April or May should be doable.
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