The Olmutz Convoy: A Wagon Train scenario

A page from the Southern Sortie magazine
of the Christchurch Wargames Society, 1993.

Having just seen this wagon train scenario on the blog spot Blunders on the Danube, I bethought myself to writing up this one - The Olmutz Convoy - played and published in Southern Sortie, the local war games magazine, over 25 years ago.

The following is from the  published article:

"The Background:
After his spectacular campaigns on 1757, culminating in the victories of Rossbach and Leuthen, Frederick the Great of Brandenburg-Prussia was disappointed to find his French and Austrian enemies remained determined to fight.  With Tsarina Elizaveta of Russia now also an active enemy, his army would face double its numbers.

To free his hands to deal with this new adversary, already overrunning East Prussia, Frederick decided to take the field early in the campaigning season of 1758 with a diversionary strike against Austria with the view to neutralizing them at least for the time being.  To besiege the Moravian fortress town of Olmutz would place a direct threat against Vienna, and induce a large scale diversion of Austrian troops to a location from which they could offer no help to the Russians.  Could they be beaten in battle as well, so much the better."
...

Hildberghausen Infantry.

"The Situation:
The Prussian army marched in April, and by early May invested Olmutz without interference.  Once the train arrived, the siege could begin in earnest, but the garrison proved lively, the investment somewhat casual, and the siege went badly.  Though in the offing, the main Austrian army, led by Count Leopold Daun, declined to be drawn into battle.  By late June, maintenance of the siege depended upon the safe arrival of a vast convoy - some 3,700-odd carts and wagons laden with provisions, ammunition and one million thaler in cash.  Escorting the train were strong forces of all arms, though a third of the infantry were recruits for the army, organised into provisional battalions."
...

Arenberg and Alt-Colloredo Infantry.

 "The Scenario:
The Austrian attacks on the Olmutz Convoy struck me , as described in Peter wilson's article in Military Modelling (April 1985), and in Christopher Duffy's Frederick the Great: A Military Life (London, 1985), as a most interesting and challenging scenario for the tabletop.  In part this is due to its unusual flavou, but, to add spice, the action along the Autliebe-Domstadtl road proved decisive for the whole campaign.

This road passed through a region of 'little rounded hills and valleys, and isolated blocks of conifers... not particularly wild, but... well suited for ambush.' [Duffy, p159].  The original escort had comprised 12 battalions (4 of recruits) totalling 7,261 officers and men; about 220 jager and freikorps, nearly 1800 cavalry from various units, together with 16 light cannon.   According to Duffy, Zieten's arrival brought in addition 2 grenadier battalions, 2 cuirassier regiments and 600 hussars.  Here he diverges from Wilson, who mentions a third grenadier battalion, 200 dragoons and a further 300 hussars [Wilson, op. cit.].  However, as Zieten is said to have sent on ahead a detachment to Domstadtl, there might lie the source of the discrepancy between the two accounts."

The Austrians were, of course, very interested indeed in intercepting this convoy, and sent considerable forces to intercept it.

"The Austrians were in separate commands. Southeast of the road lay Major-General Ziskowics with 1200 fusiliers, 500 grenadiers, 1000 grenze, 2000 'home grenadiers', 400 each of dragoons, hussars and Saxon chevauxlegeres and 100 Saxon hussars - some 6000 troops in total.  At Baern, to the northwest, Baron Loudon had with him 2000 fusiliers, 1000 grenadiers, 1000 grenze, 400 hussars and 200 dragoons: 4,600 in all.  All these forces are from Wilson's article.   Unusually for this type of action, the forces were quite large: some 13,800 Prussians against 10,600 Austrians."

Early moves of the Olmutz Convoy action.

For the purposes of the war game, played on an 8ft by 4ft table, these forces were scaled down:

Prussian:

Generalleutnant Hans Joachim von Zieten

2 Line Infantry Regiments @ 36 figures = 72
1 Grenadier Battalion @ 19 figures
1 Jager Company @ 7 figures
1 Cuirassier Squadron @ 10 figures
1 Dragoon Squadron @ 10 figures
2 Hussar Squadrons @ 10 figures = 20
1 Battery @ 2 guns and 9 figures.
Total, 147 figures.

30 wagons (actually there ought to have been 37, but I ran out of matchboxes with which to scratch more together!)

Austrian:

Major-General Ziskowics:
1 Infantry Regiment @ 36 figures
1 Hussar Regiment (under strength) @ 15 figures
1 Grenze Company @ 10 figures
1 Cannon @ 5 crew figures.
Total, 66 figures

Baron Gideon von Loudon:
1 Infantry Regiment (less 1 fusilier company) @ 28 figures
1 Hussar Squadron @ 10 figures
1 Grenze Company @ 10 figures
1 Cannon @ 5 crew figures.
Total, 53 figures.
Overall Austrian total: 119 figures.

I added some notes here of 'Special Features' of this game.

1. The troops came out of my Imagi-Nations armies which, as it happens, are modelled upon the adversaries in this action.

2. The action was held to open at 8am, and end at 8pm with nightfall.  Twenty-four game turns represented this 12 hour period.

3. The whole section of road between Autliebe to Domstadtl was compressed into an 8-foot by 4-foot table.

Two infantry regiments, formerly in the service of
Altmark-Uberheim.

4.  The Prussians: 
- Begin on table, with the wagenburg just west of Autliebe, and the troops (apart from a detachment in Domstadtl) in or within 15cm (6 inches) of the village itself. 
- A detachment of at least 1 company (9-10 figures) strength must be located in Domstadtl at the start of the action (though they may move away from there). 
- Until the Austrians appear, the troops must remain within musket shot of the road (30cm/ 1 foot in my rule set).
- The wagons each occupy 10cm (4 inch) of road (so you can see that when the head of the column passes through Domstadtl, there will still be wagons waiting to exit the wagenburg).  The wagons' first moves must be to exit the wagenburg onto the road.  They may not travel cross country.
- Each wagon is being driven by a more-or-less civilian driver who will abandon the vehicle as soon as any enemy get to within medium (20cm/ 8 inch) musket range. Abandoned vehicles may not move, but can be taken over by a soldier figure, who will continue on at 2/3 normal rate (I think 20cm), they being less skilful drivers.  Alternatively, soldiers may clear the road by pushing wagons off.

5. The Austrians:- Begin off table.  Ziskowics may enter the table at any time he chooses, from move 1 or later, with at least half his force southeast of the Autliebe-Domstadtl road.  To simulate ambush, he may wait until the Prussians have completed their move before bringing his own troops onto the table in the same turn, and completing their moves.
[Note: my rule set used 'simultaneous movement', rather than IGoUGo].
- Apart from the stipulation supra, Ziskowics's troops may enter the table on any edge but the Autliebe end, and not within 30cm (1 foot) of enemy troops.
- Baron Loudon must wait until the end of Turn 6, and from then will enter the table on an even score on a roll of a D6 die.  The Prussians having completed their 6th Turn, the Austrians may determine the arrival of Loudon's column, then, if successful, bring the troops onto the table and complete their moves.  As Loudon arrives along the Baern road, all initial moves must be measured from the point at which the Baern road enters the table.

6. Terrain:
- Close order troops are disordered in wooded areas.
- The stream before Domstadtl is fordable.

7. Objectives and Victory Conditions:
Prussians:
Before nightfall to carry all (or as many as possible) wagons from Autliebe through Domstadtl and off the table where the road there exits.
Prussians score 2 points for each wagon successfully brought off.
Prussians also score 1 point for each wagon not exited, but still under Prussian protection (even if for the moment abandoned), up to the number exited.  Any excess count zero. Wagons count as under protection if they are NOT closer to enemy than are friendly units.
Austrians:
Before nightfall, capture destroy the whole train before it passes through Domstadtl.
Austrians score 2 points for each wagon destroyed or captured.  Wagons abandoned, and not under Prussian protection, count as captured.  So is any wagon that exits the table by any route other than at Domstadtl or Autliebe.
Austrians score 1 point for each wagon exited from table at Autliebe, even if under Prussian protection.
Both sides score 1 point for any gun they capture.

Von Ruesch Husaren.

8.  Rule Set.
These were my own Imagi-Nations rule set, which owe their provenance to ideas from Young and Lawford's Charge!, from Charles Grant's The War Game, and from the board games Terrible Swift Sword and Wizard's Quest.

'Prussian' Infantry, with their beloved chieftain.

Portable Napoleonic Wargames: Wavre

The general view of the battlefield, seen from the north,
looking south-east.

In the late afternoon of 18 June 1815. Marshal Grouchy ordered the attack upon the town of Wavre.  For some hours, the distant cannonade to the west indicated a major battle in progress out Waterloo way - no doubt the Emperor sweeping aside the English army of Milord Duc de Wellington.  Needs must Grouchy's own wing should push through the Prussians in front of him, push on to Brussels and there reunite with the main body of L'Armee du Nord.

Vandamme's III Corps storming Wavre and Nieder-Wavre
assisted by the Corps artillery. Exelmans's Cavalry have been
ordered down the river road, across IV Corps' front.

In the following action, I set up the table as the situation stood at about 4pm, 18 June.  This placed Exelman's II Cavalry Corps immediately behind General Vandamme's III Army Corps facing Wavre.  General Gerard's IV Army Corps was on the road marching up from the south.  The detached cavalry Division from Pajol's Cavalry Corps - actually commanded by General Soult - and Teste's Division from VI Corps were swinging towards the river crossing at Lival.

Seeing a threat developing to the south, the Prussian Cavalry
is directed thereto via the road through the Bois de Rixenart.

Historically , the action began late in the 18th and continued into the next day, drawing to a close as news filtered in from the west that Napoleon had suffered a complete disaster at Waterloo.  Here, I played the thing out as a continuous engagement, although an incident a few moves into the game could perhaps have been due to the onset of evening.

The battle for Wavre.

For quite some time, Vandamme's Corps sustained the burden of battle, as the rest of Grouchy's army regrouped.  That plan was for Soult's cavalry and Teste's infantry, accompanied by several cannon, was to cross the Dile River at Limal, and advance up the far riverbank into the flank of the Prussian position at Bierges.  Exelmans's Cavalry Corps would take the road southwest to Limal and follow them over.  After II Cavalry Corps had crossed their front, the lead Division (12th) of IV Corps would attempt to force the crossing at Bierges.

IV Corps awaits the passage of Exelkmans's
Cavalry.  Teste's Division is far from the action.

This plan ran into its first snag when orders failed to get through to Soult and Teste.  After a bit, Soult lurched briefly into motion, then stalled again.  Exelmans at least was carrying out his instructions, and it seemed belike he would reach Limal first.  At one point, none of the French commands - apart from the elements of III Corps already in close combat - followed orders. Two conclusions were drawn from this: (1) that darkness was drawing in, and (2) let us go back to the original game system in which Divisions were tested according to proximity or distance from Corps command, instead, as I had been doing so far, from Army Command.  This did not, however, solve the problem of Soult's and Teste's orphaned Divisions.  The latter never did cross the Dile...

Prussian Cavalry Reserve on the march.

Seeing how things were developing, when the battle reopened, Thielmann ordered the Cavalry Reserve to take the road through the Bois de Rixenart to the more open spaces to the south and contest the onset of the French cavalry from that direction.

Nearly all of Wavre has fallen, and 11th Division has forced
the bridge.

By this time the battle for Wavre and Nieder-Wavre was well advanced.  Tenth Division had evicted the defenders - the Leib Regiment - from the eastern suburb of Nieder-Wavre, and was now pushing across the bridge. Drawn into the battle, 30th Infantry had also taken heavy losses, though the French assailants were not themselves coming off lightly.  Eleventh Division had made even better progress, storming the bridge at Wavre itself.  3rd Kurmark Landwehr, still under assault by 8th Division, was left depleted and cut off on the east bank, and part of 10th Brigade retained a toehold in the western corner of the town.

Looking from the north: a general view.

It was clear that the battles around Wavre were to be no quick and light ordeal, Prussian counter-attacks disputing the advance of Vandamme's Corps every inch of the way.

In the foreground, it looks as though the Prussian cavalry will
reach their destination betimes.  Soult's slow moving light
horse has yet to cross the river.

The depleted 15th Light Infantry,
withdrawn from the battle.

To the south, Soult's Cavalry Division was by now clattering across the La Motte bridge into Limal.  The earlier hesitations had taken their toll, however, in time.  Already the lead Brigade - von der Marwitz's - of the Prussian Reserve cavalry were drawn up just north of Carmelues, with General von Lottum's Brigade swinging around to the west and southwest of the place. General Soult began by trying to clear a sufficiently sized bridgehead to allow Exelmans's command to cross, whereat it was expected that weight of numbers would force back the Prussian horse.

Cavalry action imminent west of Limal.

Exelmans's cavalry having cleared the front of General Gerard's IV Corps, the latter were able to mount their own attack in the centre of the French extended line.  The village of Bierges and its river bridge were defended by an infantry regiment (the 19th) under Major von Stengel's command - detached from 4th Brigade of I Corps.  The rest of Stengel's column, 6th Hussars was covering the Prussian flank immediately to the south of there; eyeing with some apprehension the enemy troop movements across the river, and observing sinister activity in Limal, about a kilometer distant.

French Cavalry build-up around Lival.

The cavalry battle between Limal and Carmelues was slow to develop, prolonged, and wasn't going all the French way.  The latter were having to fight their way out of the town and into the open.  Nor did it help that a Prussian horse battery had materialised south of Carmelues, where it could enfilade the French mounted lines.

The french horse might be in a spot of trouble, here.

At this point I thought I would suspend the battle narrative, and discuss some thoughts that this game brought to mind.  The AAR continues in the captions.

Teste's Division waiting idly to cross the river; IV Corps
storming the bridge at Bierges (top).

1.  Close combat - amendment.  The amendment I suggested last time seemed to me to play out very well.  There was never any prospect of combatant invulnerability.  Rather, added protections would halve the chances of a hit at best, but might also increase the possibility of hits being incurred upon an opponent.  I thought the system of rolling for the effects of combat upon your own troops hard to get used to, but perhaps playing the game solo helped there.

The proposed amendments:
Current rule: Increase the D6 die roll score of the figure base initiating the Combat by 1 for each friendly supporting figure base in the same grid area as the figure base initiating the Combat.
Amended Rule: For each friendly supporting figure base in the same grid area as the figure base initiating the Combat, cancel 1 point of reduction to D6 die roll score due to each enemy supporting figure base in the same grid area as the figure base being attacked.
Current Rule: Increase the d6 die roll of the figure base being attacked by 1 for each supporting friendly figure base in the same grid area as the figure base being attacked.
Amended rule: For each friendly supporting figure base in the same grid area as the figure base being attacked, cancel 1 point of reduction to D6 die roll score due to each enemy supporting figure in the same grid area as the enemy figure base initiating the Combat.

In effect, add +1 to the D6 score of each combatant figure base for each friendly supporting element to match a -1 to the score by an enemy supporting element.  This AFTER reducing by -1 the D6 die score for each enemy supporting element.

Note that for these to make proper sense, the list of D6 die score modifications should probably be rearranged.  The reduction of D6 die roll scores due to enemy supporting elements should now head the list, if these amendments were accepted.

Tyhe attack on the towns.

2.  Close combat - During this battle, parts of the French cavalry found itself fighting to exit from a town in the face of enemy horse.  I reckon there ought to be a minus for cavalry fighting in unsuitable terrain - at least a 'minus-1'; and perhaps even a 'minus-2', for the side initiating the combat.

The fall of Wavre.

3.  Initiating combat.  I am assuming that in an ongoing Combat, the 'figure base initiating the Combat' belongs to whichever side happens to be moving at the time.  For instance, the French charge into a town, to initiate a fight with the Prussian garrison.  At the end of the turn, the two remained locked in combat.  The Prussians 'go' next (say), the fight continues (no order necessary) and the Prussian figure base this time is 'initiating' the Combat.  What is happening internally to the action is perhaps a local counter-attack, or some other counter-action, subsumed in the face-to-face attitude of the contending figure bases.

Consider a cavalry fight on the edge of a town, such as occurred between Soult's Division and elements of von der Marwitz's Brigade at Limal.  Let us say that, seeking to prevent the French from breaking out into the open, the Prussians attacked - initiated the Combat.   As their opponents are 'in cover', the Prussians take a minus (-1) on their die roll.  I am proposing that, as the French horse are in unsuitable terrain, they should also take a minus (-1).  In the actual game, I adjusted the score of neither side for reasons of terrain - just for accompanying generals and supporting figure-bases.

Most of 10th and 11th French Brigades push west of
Wavre.  A Landwehr infantry counter-attack
stops 8th Division from crossing at Nieder-Wavre.

4.   Cavalry vs Infantry.  The current rule increases the D6 die roll of the figure base initiating the combat if it is cavalry attacking infantry or artillery.  I have some comments to make on this.

4.1 I assume, once again, that the side 'initiating the Combat' is that whose move it is.  So the cavalry add the 1 in its own turn, not in the enemy's turn.

4.2 I am inclined to drop this rule altogether, not so much 'in principle' as because of a convention I developed for my own games of linking Strength Points to battalions and squadrons.  That was simply a matter of convenience. I could equally well have assigned strength points for every two, or part thereof, of battalions or squadrons. if I had, the action might well have gone a lot more quickly!

4.3  If, however, the differential to be retained between horse and foot, I would again suggest that the foot and artillery take a minus, rather than the horse take a plus.  Suppose a single cavalry unit, accompanied by a general, attacks a single infantry unit in the open.  The cavalry adds +1 for the general and +1 for initiating combat with enemy foot, and is therefore invulnerable.  Presumably in the infantry's turn, that second +1 no longer applies, but it would still be a huge advantage for the cavalry to be invulnerable every other turn.  In my proposed amendment, the -1 for infantry or cannon under attack, applies (I infer) only in the cavalry's turn.

Yet another general view looking southeast.

5. Command.

Because this was in effect an 'army level' action - at least from the French point of view - the extra 'layer' of command  should probably be ignored, or maybe (as in the case of 'independent' formations such as Teste's infantry and Soult's cavalry) the Army commander will dice for units not part of the Army Corps structure.  Because they were so distant from their commander, those Divisions proved a real problem to get into motion.

As time went by, and this is somewhat apparent in the pictures, even successful commands began to break up and lose cohesion.  To begin with, it was scarcely worth rolling a die to see if orders reached their destined ears or were carried out, if but one command applied to the whole formation, it was in contiguous grid areas, and it was somewhere accompanied by its commander.  Once battle was joined, the problem was still not so very apparent, if the Corps' sub-formations were closely engaged (as was III Corps, along the line of Wavre and Nieder-Wavre).  It was once local successes began to be achieved, and the sub-formations becoming separated, that Corps and Army cohesion became problematic.  If anything that was even more the case for the defenders.

I think this very feature, frustrating as it can be, is probably what gives this Corps and Army-level Portable Games rule set its own special character.

6.  The fate of generals.  As it transpired, no generals were killed or injured in this battle (unlike the previous two, in which the cavalry commanders in particular seemed to live dangerously). But there were one or two occasions in which a general happened to be accompany a unit that was destroyed. The 2D6 die roll indicating no harm to the general, he rode off to join another unit of his command, if one were available. But it occurred to me that there might have been a fair likelihood of his being taken prisoner. In those particular circumstances, perhaps we could add that a score of 9 on 2D6, the general is taken prisoner, and loses all SPs.

Bierges has fallen.  12th Div heads towards Limal;
13th Division towards Bois de Rixenart.

7. Movement rates: 
As I mentioned last time, I think, I am very tempted to add one grid area to movement rates in good going or on roads. 
Infantry: 2
Cavalry: 3
Artillery (if limbered): 2, or 3 if exclusively of horse artillery.

This has yet to be play tested.


If Exelmans and Soult were having trouble breaking out at Limal, Gerard's IV Corps was having no such trouble at Bierges.  Stengel's 19th Infantry Regiment rapidly succumbed to the French 12th Division's assault.  Sixth Hussars had long since left the area to help in the cavalry fight south along the river.  Having carried the town, General Gerard led 12th Division down the Limal road in the wake of the Prussian hussars, with the view to levering open the cavalry bottleneck.  The following 13th Division was directed northwards, where they soon became engaged with the left flank of  Prussian 12th Brigade, along with the Prussian artillery reserve.

Prussian Divisional artillery almost surrounded.

By this time, the 9th, 11th and 10th Brigades had been driven well clear of Wavre and Nieder Wavre, the remnants struggling to maintain any kind of line.  First Kurfurst Landwehr were still trying to contest the river crossing at Nieder-Wavre, attempting several times to seize the west end of the bridge.  Once they even succeeded, cutting off parts of 10th Division, and forcing the following-up 8th Division back across the river.  Outnumbered as they were, they could not keep this up for long.  Repulsed again and again, the Prussians were forced to relinquish their tenuous hold of the riverbank.

All along the Dile River, Grouchy's command were pouring across the bridges, with by now little hope for the Prussians to contain them.  At about this point I counted up the Strength Point losses. The Prussians had lost 32 - just one short of their Exhaustion point.  What little was left of the 9th, 10th and 11th Brigades could scarcely even be called 'remnants'.  Of 9th Brigade, only a badly depleted Landwehr regiment remained in action.  I called the action at this point, with the Prussian Corps badly mauled, but the news from the west indicating to Marshal Grouchy that it was high time to pull his forces out.

The French had lost 21 SPs, the bulk of them from Vandamme's Corps.  Around Limal, however, the outnumbered Prussian cavalry had given a good account of itself, 6 SPs lost on both sides.  Everywhere else, the French tide was on the make, and it was hard to see the lone 12th Brigade holding for long.

On the whole, I felt that the action played out quite well, though I rather think I would opt for a less cluttered battlefield another time.  That the thing was set up for a French victory, I admit, and it was intended to test the Portable Napoleonic set for army level action.  On the whole, I found an enjoyable action, though not one for the impatient.

Portable Napoleonic Wargames - Army action

Wavre battlefield as translated into my table.

Having played out Bob Cordery's Brigade, Division and Corps level actions in a species of 'mini-campaign' (see previous three postings ), it was no great leap to see how the Portable Wargames concept would go with an 'Army Level' action.  This brought me to another, actual, Hundred Days engagement, that between Marshal Grouchy's 'Right Wing' of the Armee du Nord on one side, and the Prussian III Corps plus Cavalry Reserve on the other.

The map, taken from the Hofschroer volume (Vol 2, The Waterloo Campaign), very conveniently fitted onto the grid map as shown here.  Now, I keep in my files a copy of a blank grid array of the dimensions of my grid table.  Printing a transparency of this, I laid it over the double page map spread.  From there I drew onto a grid array on paper the locations of roads, forests, towns and rivers.  Possibly photocopying would have been quicker, but the join between the pages might have presented a problem.   As will become apparent, I would probably have been better also to have left off the small settlements represented by a single 'block', and maybe the woods north of Carmelues as well.

The Map - see text for method of generation.

The forces were organised as follows: 

Prussian Forces at Wavre 18-19 June 1815
III Army Corps, Generalleutnant von Thielmann						6SP
9th Brigade: Generalmajor von Borcke						2SP
8th (Leib) Infantry					3 Bns	3SP
30th Infantry					3 Bns	3SP
1st Kurmark Landwehr					3 Bns	3SP
1,2/ 3rd Kurmark Landwehr Cavalry					2 Sqns	2SP
18th/35th Foot Batteries					16 cannon	2SP
10th Brigade: Oberst von Kemphen						2SP
27th Infantry					3 Bns	3SP
2nd Kurmark Landwehr					3 bns	3SP
3,4/ 3rd Kurmark Landwehr Cavalry					2 Sqns	2SP
11th Brigade: Oberst von Luck						2SP
3rd Kurmark Landwehr					3 Bns	3SP
4th Kurmark Landwehr					3 Bns	3SP
1,2/ 6th Kurmark Landwehr Cavalry					2 Sqns	2SP
12th Brigade: Oberst von Stulpnagel						2SP
31st Infantry					3 Bns	3SP
5th Kurmark Landwehr					3 Bns	3SP
6th Kurmark Landwehr					3 Bns	3SP
3,4/ 6th Kurmark Landwehr Cavalry					2 Sqns	2SP
Reserve Cavalry: General von Hobe						4SP
1st Cavalry Brigade: Oberst von der Marwitz						2SP
7th Uhlan (Light horse lancers)					4 Sqns	4SP
8th Uhlan (")					4 Sqns	4SP
12th Hussar (Light horse)					4 Sqns	4SP
2nd Cavalry Brigade: Oberst Graf von Lottum						2SP
5th Uhlan (Light horse lancers)					4 Sqns	4SP
7th Dragoon (Medium horse)					4 Sqns	4SP
9th Hussar (Light horse)					4 Sqns	4SP
20th Horse Battery					8 cannon	1SP
Detachment from I Corps: Major von Stengel						2SP
19th Infantry					3 Bns	3SP
6th Uhlan					3 Sqns	3SP
Reserve Artillery:
Reserve Foot and Horse Artillery					27 cannon	3SP
Total units (incl command)	34
Total Strength Points	98

Prussian III Corps, Cavalry Reserve and Stengel's detachment.

French Right Wing: Wavre 18-19 June 1815
Command: Marshal Count Grouchy						6SP
III Corps: General of Division Count Vandamme						4SP
8th Division: General Lefol						2SP
15th Light					3 Bns	3SP
23rd Line					3 Bns	3SP
37th Line					3 Bns	3SP
64th Line					2 Bns	2SP
10th Division: General Habert						2SP
11th Line					3 Bns	3SP
34th Line					3 Bns	3SP
70th Line					3 Bns	3SP
22nd Line					2 Bns	2SP
2nd Swiss					1 Bn	1SP
11th Division: General Berthezene						2SP
12th Line					2 Bns	2SP
56th Line					2 Bns	2SP
33rd Line					2 Bns	2SP
86th Line					2 Bns	2SP
III Corps Artillery					16 cannon	2SP
					16 cannon	2SP
IV Corps: General of Division Gerard						4SP
12th Division: General Pecheux						2SP
30th Line					2 Bns	2SP
63rd Line					2 Bns	2SP
96th Line					2 Bns	2SP
13th Division: General Vichery						2SP
48th Line					2 Bns	2SP
69th Line					2 Bns	2SP
59th Line					2 Bns	2SP
76th Line					2 Bns	2SP
14th Division: General Hulot						2SP
9th Light					2 Bns	2SP
11th Line					2 Bns	2SP
44th Line					2 Bns	2SP
50th Line					2 Bns	2SP
IV Corps Artillery					19 cannon	2SP
					19 cannon	2SP
7th Cavalry Division: General Vallin						2SP
6th Hussar	Light horse				3 Sqns	3SP
8th Chasseurs	Light horse				3 Sqns	3SP
Attached from VI Corps:
21st Division: General Teste						2SP
8th Light					2 Bns (?)	2SP
40th Line					1 Bn	1SP
65th Line					1 Bn	1SP
75th Line					1 Bn	1SP
Division Artillery					8 cannon	1SP
Attached from I Cavalry Corps
4th Cavalry Division: General Pajol Soult						2SP
1st Hussar	Light horse				3 Sqns	3SP
4th Hussar	Light horse				3 sqns	3SP
5th Hussar	Light horse				3 sqns	3SP
Division Artillery					6 cannon	n/a
II Cavalry Corps: General of Division Exelmans						4SP
9th Cavalry Division: General Strolz						2SP
5th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
13th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
15th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
20th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
10th Cavalry Division: General Chastel						2SP
4th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
12th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
14th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
17th Dragoon	Medium horse				4 Sqns	4SP
II Cavalry Corps Artillery					12 cannon	2SP
Total Units (incl command)		62
Total Strength Points		154

Armee du Nord Right Wing, commanded by Marshal Grouchy

If you have read The Portable Napoleonic Wargame, you will quickly have noticed a departure from the author's scheme of Strength Point (SP) allocation.  In these list, I made no SP adjustment for troop quality, and assigned 1 SP per battalion of infantry, 1 SP per squadron of cavalry, and 1 SP (very roughly) per 8-10 cannon.   I have to admit to a certain unease with these allocations, particularly in respect to the cavalry.  For the sake of 'play balance' - not that this action was so very 'balanced' anyhow - every unit was classed as 'average'.  I could have made the landwehr units 'poor' (according to the Bob Cordery nomenclature), but felt that as things were their prospects were problematical at best.

Mid afternoon, 18 June 1815.  III Corps about to assault
Wavre, II Cavalry Corps close by;  IV Corps marching up the
road.  Pajol and Teste Divisions moving west towards Limal.

There were a few other issues that cropped up that I would like to address here.

1. Map and Time Scale.  

This ground scale for this battle indicates that 10cm - the width of the hex-area across the flats - represents about 250m - 1:2500.  According to my own scheme of determining time scale, that suggests 1:50 - near enough to fudge it to 1 turn (each player) representing 1 hour.  The game rules indicate infantry movement rate at 1 grid area per turn, cavalry at 2.  During this battle, I stayed with this, but I believe that adding 1 grid area to both would be reasonably in keeping with the time scale - an infantry pace of about 2.4km/h.

Positioning of respective troops at the outset of the action.

2. Orders System:  

This became something of a problem with the army level game, especially when, in one early turn, not one French formation obeyed orders.  Not one.  Even before then, the distant Divisions of Teste and Soult had been proving 'sticky'.  In the end I decided to determine how orders went by proximity to Corps, rather than Army, command.  That didn't much solve the Teste/Soult problem, but at least the other formations began to move with a bit more freedom.  If a whole Corps was under the same orders (III Corps attacking Wavre; IV Corps marching up the road towards that town; Exelmans's Cavalry Corps down the river road to La Motte and Limal), then if the Corps commander were accompanying any part of the formation, it would automatically obey orders.

This might have been a problem, then, for Generalleutnant von Thielmannm, whose four Division-sized Brigades was scattered about in and behind Wavre, not to mention the 'independent' Stengel detachment in and around Bierges.  But as their brief was defence, with only local counter-attacks being ordered, this was less of a problem than it might have been.

This whole idea can have some interesting effects.  Early in the battle, with an Army Corps more or less in a single body, under single orders, one need scarcely roll dice to determine whether orders are carried out.  As time goes by, however, that cohesion is apt to break up, whereat it becomes less certain that orders to specific units will get through. 

Early stages of the Wavre battle.  III Corps attacking the eastern
suburbs of the town, Exelmans's cavalry marching to Limal, IV Corps
waiting for the road to clear to assault Bierges. Soult's light horse (slowly)
 nearing La Motte; Teste's Division hasn't moved.

3. Combat system:

Having already run into some problem with the combat system, methought an amendment was indicated.  Let's begin by stating the problem, as I saw it.  I first observed this in connection with cavalry, but it applies I think to all 'close combat' in the Army Corps game.  I haven't checked with it applies to the other two game systems (though they are very similar).

In combat, the two sides roll a die each to determine their own combat unit's response.  Let's call the 'initiator' of the combat 'RED' and the 'respondent' 'BLUE'.  Let's take an example of a RED cavalry Division of 3 elements in column, accompanied by a General, moving into contact with a BLUE cavalry Brigade in line (two stands side by side in the same grid area, also commanded by a general).  RED attacks the right hand element. Both sides roll a die.

RED rolls '1', BLUE a '2'.  Dreadful rolls.

RED: Die roll = 1, +2 (1 each for supporting elements), +1 (General with), -1 (enemy's supporting element to a flank) = 3.  No effect.

BLUE: Die roll = 2, +1 (supporting element), +1 (general with), -2 (for each enemy supporting element = 2.  BLUE takes a hit (Die score modified to 1 or 2 results in a 'hit').

That BLUE takes a knock seems reasonable, but what this combat shows is that RED was completely invulnerable.  I'm fairly sure Bob didn't mean that to happen, but I think I can see why he added for own supports and subtracted for enemy supports. What I wanted to do was to ensure that all close combats however advantageous, involved at least some risk, but with as small an amendment as possible.  At this point, I've decided against the idea I put forward a few days ago.  I believe the following proposal is as close to Bob's intention that doesn't leave formation invulnerable.

What I propose is this.  Supporting elements impose a negative upon the enemy die score.  Instead of adding to their own die score, however, supporting elements also cancel the negatives due to enemy supporting elements.  Surplus supporting elements add nothing to own side's combat score, though still subtracts from the enemy. Taking the example above:

RED: Rolled '1' + 1 (General with) -1 (enemy support element) +1 (one of own support elements cancels the negative due to enemy support element): Modified score = 2.  RED takes a hit.  A roll of 2-6 would have had no effect.

BLUE: Rolled '2' + 1 (General with) -2 (enemy support elements) +1 (own support element cancels one negative due to enemy support elements: Modified score = 2.  BLUE takes a hit.  A roll of 3-6 would have had no effect.

Note that had BLUE no supporting element at all, a roll of '1' by RED would still have cost RED a hit.

Let us add one support element to both sides:

RED is a Division column of 4 regiments, moving into contact with an enemy (BLUE) line of 2 elements side by side, with a third element behind, all in the same grid area.  Generals accompany both formations.

RED: Rolls '1':  +1 (General with) -2 (enemy support elements) + 2 (2 of own support elements cancel enemy support elements): Modified score = 2.  RED takes a hit.  

BLUE: Rolls '2': +1 (General) - 3 (enemy support elements) + 2 (own 2 support elements cancel 2 negatives die to enemy support elements); Modified score = 2.  BLUE takes a hit.

I used this system throughout the Wavre battle, and it seemed to work quite well.  I must admit, though, that I would like a 1-point bonus for linear formations, such as BLUE's in the above examples - probably as a negative for opponents.  A three-element deep column vs two-element wide line would be an even match.  It's  a thought.

Next time: the Battle narrative - and anything else that comes to mind!

To be continued...