After a brief hiatus we managed to get the Napoleonics back on the table this week pitching Martin’s Russians against my French for a second battle. The Russian commander had been busily painting fresh troops and Uhlan lancers, whilst the French had slightly more heavy cavalry, which meant I left out the Hussars from the previous encounter (did anybody notice they were actually British ?) anyway this means the Russians now outnumber the French so our scenario (not historical) made the Russians the attackers. We would be using V&F again but unfortunately we had both forgotten most of it so there was quite a bit of rulebook referral (by the end and after some searching the internet for FaQ’s I think we have it sorted out, mainly).
Friday 5 April 2024
Napoleonic battle : Russians vs French
The battlefield, split by a couple of smaller streams, these are crossable but will hinder movement and as difficult terrain when fighting takes place in them ? In our scenario the French have stolen a march and already pushed two brigades forward towards the two crossings. The Russians have the option of bringing everything on along their baseline, anything in reserve May or may not enter along the road in the distance. In the end they didn’t arrive but the Russians had pretty much put everything on the table for a frontal assault. The French have predetermined their arrival points but these will remain unknown to the Russians.
The Russians sweep onto the battlefield and promptly play a delaying ‘fate’ card on the french Ouch ! No reserves for the french this turn the battle could be over very quickly
Quaking in thier boots the French shake into line to cover the bridge and open up with their sole cannon
On the opposite high ground the Russian cavalry makes the mistake of arriving in March column and they pay a price from the enemy artillery, this stalls their advance as they try to reform and rally one regiment.
By the other bridge the French unlimber their horse artillery but it fails to hit any of the vast numbers of Russian infantry advancing towards them !
The Russians are advancing all along the front
And soon start to push across the stream
Phew………French the French reserves all arrive next turn, Dragoons in the foreground
Two more infantry brigades in the centre supported by Heavy Cavalry and artillery, looks like we will be having a fight after all !
The Russian cavalry advances down to the stream but halts before making any charge across
Russian grenadiers are already pushing across the stream into the light woods, the Horse artillery is able to pull away in time opening up the Grenadiers for a devastating charge from the french heavy cavalry. What ! The order fails to get through and I roll a 1 the heavy cavalry brigade stands still NOOOOOOOOO
Russian Uhlans get across the river but they also fail to get any orders and stand still !
We agreed the stone bridge being narrow would only allow movement in March column, the caused the Russians some headaches as they are a bit inflexible unable to move and reform in the same turn.
The French dragoons decide to get on with it and charge across the stream, they force some of the enemy back but are then thrown back them selves
Russian attack columns moving across the wooden bridge
The french second line is rushing to deploy but the Russians must no face the french artillery set up in the centre
Whilst the cavalry tussle the Russian columns have charged into the french in front of the village, they break the first Regiment of infantry but then are forced to form square when the french Chasseurs threaten their flank
At the far right of the battlefield the french are formed into square against the Uhlans
Rather than wait to be assault the french surge forward towards the stream, at last the french heavies are moving but now they don’t have a target to charge
The Dragoons finally force away across the stream and outnumbering the Russians now they are able to break the French cavalry brigade
Around the Stone bridge the Russians have thrown everything in to the assault the french defence holds just with some lucky Valour rolls especially the light infantry agains the grenadiers in the woods. Nice to see the new wound markers working ๐
The Russian flank is turned !
As a ruleset V&F is designed to be brutal and after several very close combats rounds and loads of hand to hand fighting especially in the centre the French suddenly got the better of it the Russian ‘valour’ failing with two brigades effectively wiped out. This came as a bit of a shock to both commanders ! I should say the French Curassiers did manage to get a charge against the enemy to ‘blood’ them wiping out a Russian infantry regiment
A final shot of the combat around the stone bridge, the Russians are definitely getting the better of it here and the french wouldn’t be able to hold much longer. But the rest of the Russian army is broken and pulling back, so they will have to disengage when the orders come through.
Once again a splendid run out for the Napoleonics. Really fun, the French were on the ropes from the start and looked very wobbly early on. The thin blue line held remarkably well and proved tougher than expected. The Russian valour crumbled very quickly with a couple of unfortunate rolls, but fun all the same. The rules work well although I don’t think they are written in the rule sheets terribly well, they certainly gave us a decisive battle. We now can’t really fit any more troops onto my indoor table, although I have a frightening number of unpainted french. We are looking forward to a game on a slightly larger table in the summer.
Perhaps I need to get the British vs French on the table for the next Napoleonic battle ?
Thanks as always for checking in….battles stacking up as today we dropped back to the dark ages for a nail biting encounter in the welsh borders !
Matt
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Superb battle report and two great looking armies.
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil ๐
DeleteGreat game. New period, new rules, new armies, always a steep learning curve. Loving our Naps
ReplyDeleteCertainly great to get the armies into combat again looking forward to the next one ๐
DeleteExcellent looking game as always Matt and seems like the French pulled off a lucky win! Yet to try V&F but I do understand it is deliberately written to give a decisive game in 2 to 3 hours...the only potential draw back is unexpected sudden morale collapses are part of the design to make that happen...can be a bit annoying if you are on the receiving end!
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith the Russians had the numbers but it was a tough ask to fight across the stream. In hindsight it is possible the Russians fled to soon ? But they lived to fight another day ๐
DeleteReally great looking large game. How big is that indoor table again?
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew…the table is extended to about 9x5 feet, I can extend it further but moving around becomes a problem with lots of troops.
DeleteLooking good Matt, getting ready with some invites.
ReplyDeleteThanks George looking forward to it ๐
DeleteGreat stuff!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks ๐
DeleteLovely looking game, great looking table and some lovely miniatures on show. I enjoyed reading the report and it sounded like a good one!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Donnie, of course it was fun to play as well
DeleteThat's a lot of troops creating quite a spectacle. A narrow finish is always exciting to play and read.
ReplyDeleteStephen
Many thanks I think we had six brigades of french and seven Russian. The Cossacks never got on the table though
DeleteSplendid game there! V&F seem overly violent to me so I'll stick with what I (almost) know, Black Powder.
ReplyDeleteThanks David, as it was our second run out with the rules i read them again after the battle and think some of the Russian fled slightly too soon. Although this may not have alter the overall outcome ? They are elegant rules and not fussy which I like
DeleteFantastic looking game!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal ๐
DeleteAnother fine game there Matt. V&F do seem to suddenly lead to one side losing, rather than a steady decline where one side might quit to keep open the lines of communication and supply. BPII works for me so I'll stick with that for now...
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve rules designed for big battles and they work for that. In essence they are cut down BP really and quite flexible
DeleteGreat looking V&F gaming, Matt. Haven't played any Napoleonics in a long time, this makes me feel I need to get a game in sometime.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean …you need to scratch that itch then ๐
DeleteA very grand game Matt, V&F have some nice features and certainly get the job done quickly but not a set I will endeavour to learn when BP delivers similar.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil one set of grand Napoleonic rules is enough for anybody ! I have about five sets
DeleteHi Matt, a lovely sweep of battle on your table, lovely troops. Are you using V&F version 1 or 2, I found that brigades hang around a little longer in V2.
ReplyDeleteDoes Martin and your good self have a view on the card play side of things?
Thanks Norm this was version 2. I think we got the rules slightly muddle in the excitement at the end and the Russians fled pulled two brigades off too soon thinking they had been wiped out when in fact a regiment remained, having said that it may not have made a difference as the final round of combat was decisive throwing the Russian back everywhere apart form the stone bridge. I quite like the cards although they can be a bit ‘Gamie’ if you are not careful, they do add a little bit of extra interest. Obviously we have only played twice and we forgot a number of special rules, I would like to try them with the British to see how they play ?
DeleteA cracking looking and sounding game Matt…
ReplyDeleteAll the best. Aly
Thanks Aly. Pleasure to play ๐
DeleteA nervous start for the French, but they managed to quickly overcome that. A great looking game Matt.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence, the French were worried when their cavalry were thrown back but they settled down ๐
DeleteExcellent looking game and sounds like fun,like you I am enjoying V&F and I think it's possible I have too many figures to fit on the table!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain …too many figures there’s a problem !
Delete