Napoleonic Battles! Poland 1812 Part 1!
June 26, 2014 by crew
DISCLAIMER: The action may seem a bit vague here and there, but due to having to play as well as try and see what is happening all over the table things are a bit tricky. Also, due to the size, this battle will be fought over a period of 3 to 4 weeks!
As Napoleon advances towards the largest and bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic era at Borodino, he first must pass through the countries of Eastern Europe, including Poland.
Prince Pyotr Bagration, a General of the Imperial Russian army knew of Napoleon advancing after his defeat at Austerlitz a few years before, so decided to meet him on the field of battle.
The two advancing scout parties catch sight of each other near a small walled town in Poland. The fight is on!
The Russian Cossacks advanced from the North East and East roads while French Lancers flanked through the wooded area to the south and advanced towards the town.
Forward units of the Russians advanced down both roads from the East and the French forward units advanced from the West.
The first Russian units advanced quickly down the central road to the walled town and managed to get two full units into the town and start boarding up windows and doors ready for the French assault. A few Russians run to high windows and start skirmishing towards the French.
The French advance from the central road steadily towards the walled town in the centre of the board, drums beating loudly, the Eagle in the front rank of all three units in a staggered formation.
Meanwhile, on the French left flank in the North, French units start to cross the bridge.
Unfortunately, they find they have been beaten to the area by Russian cavalry and horse-guns. The Horse-guns open fire, then the cavalry charge through the smoke towards the French who decide to "Retire to a more advantageous position" back over the bridge.
Due to this the French decide to put more troops into the fight at the bridge so more troops advance towards the area.
While this is happening by the bridge, the Russians manage to secure the walled church as well.
Back in the middle, the Russian skirmishers continue to fire out of the windows towards the French, but as the smoke clears, the French drums continue and they march forward, time and time again. At the pinnacle moment, the first French unit launches its charge in to the town. As the mass of blue descends on the town, the Russians fall back into the depths of the town before rallying around their commanders to defend. At that moment, the first assault from the French met the resistance of the two Russian units in the town, neither giving ground.
Outside the town, both French and Russians continue to advance men.
The Russians start pushing both cavalry and their huge artillery batteries around the south of the town. The French start moving some of their batteries from the central road to the south to counter the Russian flanking manoeuvre.
To the North, the Russian guns and cavalry threat mean the French are pinned on the West side of the river and unable to cross the bridge.
The Russians hold the walled church and grounds. The open ground in the centre is still fairly sparse of troops, but both French and Russian cavalry are starting to move into the area.
The walled town is currently contested with units of both armies engaged in hand-to-hand combat with reinforcements ready to pile in.
To the south, the Russians are starting to sweep around the town and threaten the French advance into the town.
Troops from both armies are pouring into the combat zone along both East-West roads.
The current situation for the French is starting to look bleak. All eyes look to Napoleon. From his horse on the central road, Napoleon looks around, surveys the battlefield. The Emperor narrows his eyes and says...
...to be continued!
This game has been played using a modified version of the In The Grand Manner rules set. It has been modified to be as historically accurate as possible!
If you would like to write an article or battle report for Beasts of War then please get in contact with us at [email protected]!
Sounds like you had an interesting, engaging game. Would like to know about the forces. What figures, what scale, who does the terrain, how are ITGM rules modded. Thanks for the report, look forward to reading more. Great pics also.
The figures are from a number of companies, some of which are no longer around as this is the clubs largest collection and has taken over 20 years to get it to the stage it is now. Some of the older units are starting to get replaced with newer figures. The scale is 28mm. The buildings are from various companies (again, collected over the years). The boards are all made by a member of the club. The rules have been modified over the years as well. Things like hand-to-hand combat have been removed between formed infantry as reports show that… Read more »
Fantastic. Simple premise, great looking units – pile on the fun! Love Napoleonics, fantastic thing to get immersed in, and when you’ve got some cracking terrain and some great minis you can the music and the sound of the guns in the back of your mind
Look forward to part 2!
I know what you mean. Sometimes we have music of the era playing in the background, so we will sometimes have the noise of the tin-whistles and kettle drums sounding. Sometimes the tracks have the explosions etc as well. And we have joked about getting a small dry-ice smoke generator to put a bit of smoke on the board after a few rounds of musket fire, but we all agree it might be a bit much.
Atmospheric though. Plus the colours of the uniforms and flags looks brilliant.
Epic table, and a great article. I especially like the look of that line of artillery, and the massed troops converging on that bridge.
So was this an actual battle? Or is the “walled town” scenario something of a “typical action of Poland 1812?” I’m curious because I’ve heard of Bagration, but know next to nothing about him.
The scenario is made up. It is because the actual rules in “In the Grand Manner” have building assaults worked out as individual buildings etc, so you can spend turn after turn after turn fighting for an outhouse and getting no-where, so we are trying a new rule where the town and church are classed as an entity on their own so combat can still be bloody, but sped up. In fairness, it could have been pretty much anywhere as a number of European towns had some sort of defense during this time period, but it was decided to be… Read more »
Yeah, I’m a World War 2 guy, so I’ve been reading about Operation Bagration for years. When I first encountered it, I was like: “Hmm, that doesn’t sound like a Russian name” (like Operation Suvorov, Kuznetzov, etc). Someone said, “It’s a Russian hero and marshal from the Napoleonic Wars.” But that was about all I knew about him.
Thanks!
gracking stuff thankyou
or should i say cracking stuff lol
Truly inspiring stuff! Thank you.
Thanks. This, in out club, is what we refer to as “Set-up Week”… The worst is about to come so stay tuned.
I would love to see more historical batreps like this with video. This is the root of wargamming and I would be very interested in learning more about rule sets and minis that are out there.
….here’s another thought Warren. Wouldn’t it be great to go to the Perry brothers “cave” and show off their stuff and also do a all nighter batrep? This would be huge and these guys are legendary. Mr. Priestly and Alesio could get you guys in there. Cheers!
That’s a fine looking table. Thanks for taking the trouble to post the photos and commentary.
Really cool loving the Naps..