THE BATTLE OF BORODINO: THE FLECHES

 Wanting to play some "low maintenance" Napoleonics I thought I'd throw down a game of what I'm now calling "Hexes & Eagles" to get my 10mm Russians some time and action on the table.  The resulting battle did not disappoint.  Reading about the meatgrinder fight for "the Fleches" at Borodino, one and only one simple wargame scenario came to mind to model this epic clash in a simple way - Scenario #15 "Fortified Defense" from One Hour Wargames.  From what I remembered about the scenario, it fit the bill almost perfectly for this (in)famous engagement from the overall Battle of Borodino.  Punch, counterpunch and second wave.

Excellent image from the "Napoleonistyka" site. that shows what I mean.  There are even woods to the south.  Used without permission.  The map gives an excellent impression of what we are dealing with.  How would you have liked leading a regiment in this attack in real life?

I put some custom redoubts together to represent the Fleches - tough nuts to crack!

My original plan was to do a series of posts on how I would model the scenario but figured I could wing it and throw everything into one big, fun post.  It's not often I get a day off to myself!  

French arrayed along the bottom of the table in a glorious line ready to begin the attack.  The white dice are orders.  These are my homemade 4" hexes also.  Not too shabby!

Anyways the scenario (#15) from OHW has pretty much what you need - multiple strongpoints (with weapons!  In this case perfect for extra artillery firepower or position batteries) and even a second wave to represent Ney's attack.  Using an old homebrewed set of rules I used to play from time to time, but modified heavily for hex-actions and with a dash of morale added in courtesy of my "3D6 Ancients", I set about seeing how my very own slice of Borodino would go.  (I'm working on putting a QRS together for Hexes & Eagles but it's definitely not ready for prime-time.  Hopefully from this write up you get an idea of what's going on from the description of the battle).  

We start off with Davout's I Corps attacking on Turn 1.  French automatically have initiative.  French rolled 4 x orders, Russians rolled 3.

French have 4 x orders along with Davout's order, so 5 units advance.  Note the left - the redoubt is crowded by the French light infantry and a brigade of line (with Davout himself attached).  The guns and light cavalry are still on the starting line.

On the right, 2 infantry brigades and a heavy cavalry brigade advance into the teeth of the Russian guns towards the second redoubt.

Meanwhile the Russians move down their Grenadier Guards (never fellows to back down from a challenge)

The Russians also bring down their Cuirassiers who are cleverly disguised as the Korland Dragoons...

End of both French and Russian operations for turn 1 - getting ready for shooting phase now...  Note the Russian Guards creeping down from the top left of the pic.  Russian artillery is also going to be a tempting target for Davout's Cuirassiers on turn 2.

OUCH - the Brigade Davout is with takes 3 hits from the infantry in the redoubt.  Automatic retreat 1 hex and a retreat will put 1 hit on the French "morale clock" (7 units x 2 = 14 breakpoint for both sides).  I actually played it incorrectly because Davout's presence is supposed to cancel the retreat.  Oh well.

Turn 2 - Russians get 5 x orders to the French 2.

and they also steal the initiative!  Russians now go first until the French can beat them by 2 in the initiative roll...

The key to this scenario (in my humble opinion) is actually focusing on 1 position with the first wave, then passing off the attack to the second wave to focus on the 2nd redoubt (Scenario 15 allows a "refit" once in the game where you remove all blue units and replace them with fresh, carbon copies of themselves.)  The rub is when to do this.  The second wave should ideally focus on the second position.  It should not have to waste time with the first position.

Instead of massing on one position, Davout's I Corps attacks along a wide front, dedicating the light infantry and an infantry brigade to storming position 1, while 2 more infantry brigades attempt to storm position 2.  Truthfully I've never played it this way and wanted to give it a try.  This plan is risky and you really need everything to come together for it to work.  I mean everything.  shooting needs to be hitting hard, orders need to be plentiful and assaults need to be successful to get your units into the redoubt.  Most of you probably see where I'm going with this...  Murphy was a wargamer, afterall.

Lots of excitement but the French are not getting the orders they need and I'm consistently rolling "1"s or "2s" for them each turn.  The attack isn't going well.  Davout's units are barely making a scratch in the units in the Fleches.

Russian Cuirassiers charge the French Cuirassiers.  The French heavy horse have an order, so they may countercharge - which is really just melee'ing with an extra D6.

Note the yellow d6 which is simply a marker to remember the French horse need to take a morale check from shooting casualties during the morale phase.

the Russians and French tie the combat.  Which technically means the French win (ties to the defender) but the French cavalry are no longer an effective fighting unit and so they leave the field.  The Russians have "lost" the combat even though a French unit is toast.  The Russians lose 1 off their morale clock.  The French do not lose 2 points because they won the combat (even though they were eliminated).

After the battle - the Russian horse lick their wounds, with almost 5 hits they are in rough shape.  I love how cavalry are great in this game for one or to charges and then they're used up - unless you manage them by sending them off to rally! 

The Russian Jagers who own the woods slide over and skirmish with the French infantry brigade's flank.  

Russian position batteries and infantry forced a French brigade to retreat.  This is no picnic for the French!

Meanwhile at the first redoubt, the French are outgunned and fighting for their lives.  Davout's infantry have masked his guns.  "What general blocks his own artillery!?" Napoleon raged from atop his horse.  Red dice are hits.  The D10s on the left are marking hits to the morale clock for each side.  The guns in the redoubt are basically a free, extra volley.  Once the unit is eliminated in the redoubt, the guns go away.

To relieve some of the pressure, Davout assaults the supporting Russian infantry next to redoubt 1.  In heavy fighting the Russians are eliminated!  Their commander survives and joins the Guards who have arrived to reinforce redoubt 1.  The Russians, as usual, are all-in.

French steal the initiative back.  Both sides are tied on their morale clocks but things are about to get really ugly!

Trying to run out the Russians' morale clock, the French light cavalry assaults the Russian battery and eliminates it but takes a brutal 3 hits from double-cannister!

Then, disaster strikes as the Russians fire a devastating volley from redoubt 1 eliminating the brigade that Davout is with.  The subsequent check is, of course, a 1.  Davout is gone.  We dont know if he's dead, wounded, or captured - I didn't ahve the heart to find out!  But I rolled a D3 and wouldn't you know it - the French remove 3 more from their morale clock.  This was an expensive turn, taking 5 off the French clock now.  Napoleon panics and sends in Ney's wave on turn 5. 

"Sire isn't it a bit early?  You fool - you want to spend the winter here?   Move your Corps in, NOW!"

Davout had whittled down the redoubt significantly and they were ripe for Ney's infantry to take the position by storm.

Turn 6 sees all of the French disappear on the battlefield - with Ney's fresh Corps at the startline.  They'll do it a bit smarter than the "Iron Marshall" this time but Davout did do them 2 critical favors - he destroyed the Russian guns and put hits on redoubt 2.  Ney launches an all-out assault against redoubt 1 and captures it quickly.  But the Russians were prepared - no - actually they were welcoming this development!  Because Ney's infantry storm the redoubt only to come face to face with the Russian guards grenadiers!

Ney's victory would be short lived in the redoubt - for the Russian guards are waiting for them just over the rampart!  A massive 9 dice, minus 1 for fortified position means 8 dice rolled in anger.  The line infantry commanded by Ney himself didn't stand a chance and they evaporate.  The Russians are back in control of redoubt 1!  Ney passes his casualty roll and moves to another unit.

Redoubt 1 changes hands again.

Ney switches his strategy a bit.  He realizes he cant storm the guards without whittling them down a bit and brings up the bulk of his infantry.  Knowing he has to keep killing units to run the morale clock down, the Russian heavy horse are attacked by the French lights.  Even though they're penalized for attacking heavier cavalry, the Russians are weakened and have failed to rally to the extent they would need to.  The resulting charge runs down the tired Russian troopers and puts another 2 on the Russian morale clock.

The same turn (8), Ney's careful approach pays off and the Guards are eliminated after a lengthy firefight with almost an entire division of french.  While the Russian commander escapes the deathtrap of redoubt 1, that's 3 points off of the Russian morale clock (loss of guards or veteran troops is -3), putting the Russians really close to the end).

French Lights assault the Russian Cuirassiers

French victory on turn 9 as the morale clock turns 14 for the Russians (red dice).

So technically the game ends a French victory at the end of Turn 9 as the Russian Army's morale has broken, 14 to 12.  It was a very close-run thing.  Had the Russians won initiative on turn 9 or won the heavy cavalry battle in the game's beginning, it very well could have been the French who lost.

Final Thoughts

The "Eagles & Hexes"  rules worked great, delivering a fun, tense game that I think would have been even better against a live person.  The additions to my old favorite "Eagles" rules were outstanding. 

Again - I will post a QRS for everyone to review but suffice to say the addition of morale rules and a morale clock, better capabilities and a role for light troops and more static commanders worked as fun additions.

The addition of a morale clock makes you really think twice about assaulting or charging a position - as retreats cost morale points.  Also making a "morale check" on a unit that has taken casualties from fire or losing a melee is a nice touch - representing those units breaking off the line to reorganize.

Taking a page from Martin Rapier's grand tactical Napoleonic OHW rules, lights now ignore enemy cover, always shooting 3D6 (but still hitting on a 5+) which gives them a nice use in attacking units in cover.

This game was great fun.  It had a wonderful feel to it much like reading the Borodino battle accounts from the link above.  Units would storm a position, only to find themselves kicked out and redoubt 1 changed hands quite a few times before the French finally subdued it. 

These rules are very much "grand tactical" rules which still take firepower into consideration, but deal with the movement of Brigades making you their Corps or Division commander.  In that regard I think they work very well and deliver a great result with much less rules overhead than lots of commercially available rules.  Brigades have unique capabilities that can be wielded (assault, firepower, skirmish) and light infantry will make their presence known in terrain or in front of enemy positions.  Setting an enemy up for a grand cavalry charge is also possible, after you've whittled him down with shot and shell.

My next endeavor is to try these rules out with a bigger "Commands and Colors" scenario to see how that goes.  In the meantime thanks for reading!