Arrival and Departure

Yesterday I took my figures down to Asheville to run a game of Napoleon's Battle's. We tried the Battle of Plancenoit; on June 18th, just as Napoleon's assault on Wellington at Waterloo was reaching its peak, columns of Prussians emerged from the woods on his right flank. The Emperor dispatched Lobeau's VI Corps and a division of the Young Guard to delay the Prussians, centering their defence on the small town of Plancenoit and its fortified church. Historically, Bulow's IV Corps crashed through Lobeau's men, fighting a see-saw battle through the streets with the Young Guard. Napoleon eventually sent two Battalions of the Old Guard to stabilize the situation--fatally weakening his attack on Wellington's line. Finally, overwhelming Prussian numbers spilled around the town, forcing the Old Guard to retreat or be surrounded. This let the whole Prussian army slam into Napoleon's flank, bringing a quick end to the Battle of Waterloo.

For this game, I made two changes: 1) reducing the silly amount of artillery Bulow brought to just two stands because I only have two stand painted, 2) increasing the two drastically understrength French brigades in Simmer's division to full strength to make the forces a little more balanced. Mark and Jesse, the French commanders, set their men in a line well east of Plancenoit, with the infantry on one flank and the cavalry on the other. Steve, Kent, and Alex brought their Prussians in a a wide series of columns--artillery in the middle, infantry on either flank, and the cavalry in march column until the very end (which came back to haunt them later).



Long-range artillery fire caused a few losses, but not much, and before too long, the French army prepared to meet the Prussian charge. The French cavalry manuvered on the French left, freezing a whole battalion of landwehr into an immobile square, taking it out the game without taking losses.











Superior Prussian firepower eventually weakened the French line, throwing the center into disorder. Seizing the opportunity, Kent sent Ryssel's infantry forward, charging into melee. Enduring cannon fire as they approached, a full Prussian brigade (the equivalent of a French Division) routed one of Jeanin's brigades, just as cannon fire dispersed the other. Things looked grim for the French. Mark's remaining infantry was locked in indecisive combat with Alex's Brigade on the Prussian left, and only the French cavalry remained fresh.












The Prussian triumph proved to be short-lived. Ryssel's men had routed the French, but at cost--one of their regiments was dispersed, and the other was in disorder. Alex's men had formed columns and advanced within 100 hards of the French, only to be thrown into disorder by french muskets and a unit of heavy artillery.

The French struck on both flanks. While Jesse's lancers rode down Ryssel's disordered infantry, his dragoons pinned Steve's unblooded infantry on the Prussian right. On the Prussian left, Mark's infantry--in line instead of the Prussian column--fired a massive volley and counter-charged into the disordered Prussians, sending twice their number back in rout. On the Prussian far left, French light infantry emerged from the woods to clear out the landwehr that was trying to flank the French line.

For a turn the game hung in the balance, until Jesse's dragoons made a sweeping attack into the Prussian right flank. Meeting Alex's Landwehr cavalry head-on, the dragoons drove them back. General Subersvie tried to recall them, but the troops bloodlust was up and there was no stopping them. Charging forwards, they caught one of the routed infantry units on the other flank, dispersing it completely. The other unit made a luckily roll to form an emergency square, staving off utter destruction.

At the end of turn, both corps lay in disarray, with units dispersed, routed, and scattered across the battlefield. Only the Young Guard remained fresh, waiting for the Prussian in Plancenoit. We agreed that the game ended in a major French victory (albeit with balanced forces instead of the overwhelming firepower the real Prussians had), since the Prussians never approached their objective.

This was the first time playing NB (or the first time in a decade) for most everyone. The verdict seemed to be that rules worked reasonably well, but there were some questions about the designers' decision to streamline the game by eliminating combat bonuses for flank/rear attacks. In any case, I had a great time.