Dipping my toes into Napoleonics

With the assembly of the armies and terrain done I thought I’d give the wargaming rules laid out in Napoleonic Wargaming a go. I’ve set up a small gaming table next to my home desk (not dangerous at all…) and the idea is to do a game against myself during any breaks from work or parenting. This may take some time, but that is fine by me. As the battle progresses I strive to give you updates in the form a battle report. Luckily I had an afternoon to myself yesterday, which meant I could really take my time setting up and slowly getting used to the rules.

Because of the constraints of the project system I will strive to do a round in each update.

In a previous post I gave you my intended army lists. Here they are again, so you won’t have to scroll to and fro. Note that I haven’t given them any fancy names as the regiments normally have. I might do that for future battles though 🙂

French Army

• 2 Line infantry (1st and 2nd regiment)
• 1 Satellite infantry (Duchy of Warsaw)
• 1 Voltigeurs (= skirmish unit)
• 1 Imperial guard
• 1 Cuirassiers (heavy cavalry)
• 1 Chasseurs à cheval (medium cavalry)
• 1 Artillery

Russian army

• 3 Line infantry (1st, 2nd and 3rd regiment)
• 1 Guard infantry
• 1 Cuirassiers (heavy cavalry)
• 2 Cossacks (tribal/irregular cavalry)
• 1 Artillery

In the early days of the French invasion of Russia a small battle took place that has been all but forgotton: the Battle of Derevushka. As Napoleon’s forces rapidly marched across the vast plains of Russia, they met only sparing resistance. It is not known whether the Russians were to slow in their retreat or whether an eager officer decided that he would single-handedly show that the French troops could only break against the wall of Russian stubborness. The forces met outside the hamlet of Derevushka, however, and both sides were led by inexperienced officers (me and me).

[I’ll give you a brief description of the battlefield as it is outlined above. On the Northern side you have the hamlet Derevushka, which found itself the site of this battle unfortunately. Slightly to its North-West and to the South there are small wooded areas. These (and the hamlet) can only be entered by infantry. The roads can only be used effectively by infantry in column of route, which allows them to move at a higher pace. Other than that there is a farm in the South-Western corner, which can also be occupied by infantry alone. The redan on the Russian side is purely cosmetic in this battle. I put it there because I had it and I liked it.]

The French advance, the Russians answer

︎As was expected, the French side took the initiative and advanced quickly with its line infantry. Only the Polish satellite infantry was instructed to hold their ground, so they deployed into line across the border of the woods. The French voltigeurs rushed towards Derevushka itself and entrenched themselves there. On the flanks, the French cavalry shot forward to leave the nimble Russian cossacks no room to maneuvre. The chasseurs à cheval on the North peppered their opponents with ineffective carbine fire, which only slightly wounded the tribesmen. The French artillery that had conquered Europe, roared across the battlefied and fired round shot into the Russian 2nd line infantry regiment, wounding several, but unable to stop their lumbering advance.

The Russians responded by deploying the 2nd Line infantry regiment, that had just been hit by artillery fire, to line formation. This way they hoped to create an effective way to whittle down the advance of the French infantry in the centre. On the South flank, two units of line infantry, including the Guard, advanced towards the Polish line in attack columns. The Russian 1st Line infantry regiment opened fire, but was only able to wound some of the French Imperial Guard advancing along the road. The grapeshot fired by the Russian artillery at the French attack column in front of it was slightly more effective, but failed to stem their approach.

The cossacks, having been caught off guard by the enemy cavalry, hastily fired a volley of their own, but didn’t managed to hit anything. On the South flank the Russian cuirassiers now had to maneuver around the cossack rabble, very much to the chagrin of their officer.