Weissenfels 1813

Weissenfels was a minor battle fought the day before the battle at Lutzen. This was a delaying action by the Russians and presented both sides with some difficulties. The Russians were badly outnumbered but had picked their ground behind a small river that could only be crossed at the three bridges. The French were using their untested 'Marie Louise' brigades, who historically acquitted themselves well.

After a roll of the dice Steven is French, once more, and John the Russian. The French successfully scouted twice, despite the presence of the Cossacks, which allowed one brigade to add 12 inches to their first move onto the map. This revealed crossing and village on the French left was manned. However, the crossing on their right was empty, and taking advantage of the +12” set-up move, the 21^st Regiment, “Marie-Louise” recruits crossed unopposed.

The 10th Legre approaching the central bridge.

Lanskoi's Hussars, backed by three Cossack regiments, await the 21st 'Marie's'.

The Russian's won the initiative, hoping to get in some early blows. Faced by the legendary 10^th Legere, Kapustin hesitated, despite encouragement from an ADC (re-roll). The other two ADC were waiting to lead the open order troops (2 x Skirmisher Taskings) to give the French a rousing welcome. Whoops! The orders were not sent.

Despite the French battery commander ordering the guns be unlimbered, the officers of the 10th ordered bayonets fixed. No hesitation here. The open order troops had to give way to the charging close order battalion after firing an ineffective volley. The bridge is taken! Vive la France!

Meanwhile the 21st fearlessly march toward the opposing cavalry.

Having lost the crossing on their right, the Austrian cavalry moves up.

On their left, niceties are put aside and Lanskoi’s hussars charge. However, it was just a probing thrust, and the cavalry pulled back.

The 2^nd battalion 10^th Legre has their blood up. The officers screaming, “Prendre la village”, the battalion rushed onward, surprising the Russians with their ferocity and l’ame de jeu. John’s 5 dice were no match for a well thrown 4 dice. Vive la France!

Turn 2 reinforcements arrive. The pressure is building on the Russian right.

The “Marie’s” are not going to take a backward step either. The Russians are going to need infantry to deal with this threat.

The second troop of Lanskoi’s Hussars charge. Another probe finds the Marie’s are unshaken.

John was hoping to launch a counterattack on the village with his Jagers, but the Russians lost the initiative. The 1st battalion, 10^th Legere charged, albeit unsuccessfully, distracting the Jagers and wasting their Glory! tasking. 

Meanwhile, Brayer’s brigade march on to secure their left flank.

The smelly Cossacks menace the Marie’s right flank

Yet another probe by the Hussars is turned aside. So close to a Destiny roll.

Brayer’s brigade clear the crossing. In the distance (top right) the 22^nd (Marie-Louise) Regiment marches into view.

The Cossacks thought to sneak around the flank of the 21^st (Marie’s), but the 10^th Hussars and Baden Dragoons have something say in that.

At the appearance of the French cavalry barrelling toward his charges, Ilowaisky hesitates. Labossiere urges his troops on, “For Glory, Pour la Gloire!”. With 7 dice to John’s 3 dice you, dear reader, will not be surprised to learn that the 1^st round of combat was a draw. Having proved a point, the Cossacks then slipped away granting Labossiere a hollow victory.

The 1st Battalion, 10^th Legere charge again, but despite receiving (or perhaps because of) heavy fire they press on to close with cold steel. Having been savaged so badly on the way in, however, they thrown back. 

Knorring’s Uhlan’s react to Brayer’s brigade charging the 2^nd battalion, 14^th Regiment. Lancers are made for this opportunity and charge on with elan. John rolled a double-six, destiny roll, which allowed him to remove a casualty from his unit and add one to the infantry unit. It was all downhill from there for the infantry who received a Dispersed result in combat. This instantly forced Brayer to Falter, capping off a terrible round for the French and one of great hope for the Russians. 

In the next turn John was cock-a-hoop and charged with his cavalry again. However, normal service had been resumed, and the Russians had been put back in their proper place.

That’s alright. Steve had a charge of his own. The Hussars would have another go at the Cossacks. Closing in with Elan against an unformed enemy, Steve groaned. This has not failed to end in disappointment across various games for Steve. Anything below 4 is a miss. On this occasion, another draw. That was lucky! Again, the Cossacks slipped away in the 2^nd round.

John was on a roll as the Russian artillery scored heavily.

The Hussars are enjoying themselves. Labossiere calls for another charge. I guess it was inevitable that John’s small number of dice would overcome the Steve’s overwhelming advantage. You all saw that coming, didn’t you?

Instead of being charged at, the 21^st thought they’d do some of their own charging. That was until John pulled out another box-cars effort. This result caused the brigade to Falter.

That was all in the Charge phase. There was some other tactical movement and the battlefield looked like this at the end of the turn. The Cossacks have opened up an opportunity to rear-end the 21^st, unless the French win initiative. Labossiere’s Hussars are still good to go. The Baden Dragoons have moved into a threatening position, and the French troops are closing in, but this battle is not done yet.

A view from the church tower.

A series of unfortunate events for the French took place on the back of a terrible previous turn. Two of the French ADC’s (out of 3 for this turn) were allocated to the 21^st (Marie’s), who had faltered in the last turn, returned a poor dice result, despite a re-roll. Labossiere’s cavalry brigade and Brayer’s brigade hesitated. The upshot of these setbacks was 5 dice were rolled for initiative (usually 2 dice), and the lowest 2 are used. The French consequently lost initiative.

This meant that Labossiere’s 10^th Hussars, who had inexplicably lost their previous combat and had withdrawn, were no longer covering their stable mate’s flank. The opportunistic Cossack’s, seeing the opening for a stab in the back, charged into the flank of the Baden Dragoons. A quick-thinking officer brought the Dragoons around to face the charge. In doing so the Badeners lost cohesion in their ranks, and the sly horse-thieves believed they had their quarry bested. A roiling, twisting combat began with the Cossacks enjoying a modest advantage, however the Dragoons did not retreat and began to get their second wind. Eventually both sides withdrew having both taken some licks. For the ill-disciplined Cossacks, that was enough effort for one day and they dispersed, fled the field, leaving their comrades to face the French alone and Falter.

On the other flank, Knorring had hesitated as he adjusted the position of his cavalry. The French threw out their screens in front of the large Russian artillery battery, and the 22^nd (Marie’s) began to slide over to the flank of the 21^st. 

The stage was set.

The 22^nd were urged forward (forward-tasking), and 2^nd battalion surged into an ill-considered charge. Actually, it wasn’t ill-considered, it’s just that John is still rolling out his arse and Steve…well.

The battlefield, end of turn 9.

The Cossacks steadied (from a Falter), so Labossiere ordered his worn Hussars forward again. If the Cossacks can be broken the Russian left flank is exposed. They say it is a sign of madness to continue doing the same thing expecting a different result. How could Labossiere (or Steve) expect anything but resounding success. Alas, it was not to be. In fact, the small reversal would end with catastrophic results, as will be seen.

Lankskoi’s hussars, that had moved in front of the Schachafskoi’s infantry last move, charged. Steve, at this point, complained that he had never had a Destiny roll (double sixes) in a charge. The resulting combat shattered the Baden Dragoons, as they were unable to retreat into the marsh at their rear. This result forced an immediate Falter, which in turn causes any retreating units (the 10^th Hussars) to break. Labossiere’s brigade fled the field of battle.

Surely Steve can manage to land one blow on John. Break the centre and march right to the objective. No destiny roll, but the 1^st battalion, 22^nd, managed to charge in with e’lan. This caused a moment of concern for Steve, and he would still like to get a destiny roll one day, but all smiles at this result. The way to Weissenfels is clear.

John toyed with the idea of going for another turn, reckoning that if he could get 5 ADC’s to Steve’s none, he could recover the situation. A fair bet we thought but he conceded the win so we can pack up and start a new game.

Clearly Steve had all the luck up front, in the first three moves. We didn’t know it then, but the impassable river was supposed to delay the larger French force for a number of turns. Instead, they were across the river in the first turn and secured the village defending the crossing in the next turn. John had some tricks up his sleeve and some great dice to help, but the die had been cast, as they say. 

It was a challenging 'what-if' scenario and the GDA2 rules worked smoothly. Looking forward to the next one.