The Battle of Eylau

Merry Christmas to you all.  I hope the season brings you and your families joy, peace, and prosperity.  

I hosted my annual holiday wargame.  I always try to pick a winter/snow themed game to play just to set the proper mood for the season.  This year it was the Battle of Eylau, 1807.  The game was played using my collection of 28mm Napoleonic French and Russians.  It was a fair sized game played on an "L" shaped table that was 5 feet wide.  I recently replaced my fixed wargaming table with the tables from Frontline Gaming (link here).  Each table measures 60" x 44" and I used four of them to create this "L" shaped table.  It worked great.

The forces involved are below.

At this point in the battle, Augereau's Corps has been torn up by the Russians after getting lost in the snow storm and Murat's massive cavalry column is coming to the rescue.  On the far left of the Russians line two divisions from Davout's Corps are pushing the flank through the town of Serpallen.

As expected this game was a bloodbath.  The Russians couldn't stop Murat's cavalry from breaking through despite determined resistance.  The dice decided that average was no good - so rolling was either stone cold and crazy hot.  I was in combat with 15 hits against me needing 4+ to save.  Saved 12 of the hits.  Right after I attacked back with 10 dice and hit ... once!

To the South (Russian left flank) the Russian's were plague with command issues and slow to react to an aggressive Davout!  By the end of turn 5 the Russian lines had collapsed.

Lots of pictures below.

Crappy phone pictures below.

There you have it.  I used a ton of Woodland Scenics snow on the table so I could take the staged pictures before the game.  It took a while to get all the cleanup done but done it is!

Preview: The Battle of Eylau, 1807

Tomorrow I will be hosting my annual holiday wargame at my place.  This year it is the Battle of Eylau.  This battle was fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1807 between the French and Russians (with some Prussians arriving on day 2). 

My scenario aims to reproduce the major events of the first day of the battle. The emphasis is the initial push of Davout's Corps into the Russian southern flank through the town of Serpallen.  Additionally I'm looking to capture the moment Murat led one of the largest and most spectacular cavalry charges of the Napoleonic Wars!

The most excellent Thomas Foss, a truly talented painter, great friend, and generally awesome person painted up a new backdrop for me to use for taking pictures.  Thomas based the background on this famous picture:

We didn't need all the foreground troops and such and targeted the upper part of the painting.  Thee result of Thomas's excellent work is below ... amazing!  I took the pictures with my phone - so they are a little "yellowish" in the result - you can see this better in the pictures of the troops further down.

The scenario uses an "L" shaped table (see below).  The battle was fought in the snow and during a snow storm on the first day.  It was a very bloody affair and the first time Napoleon was "checked" in a major battle.  While the Russians ended up withdrawing after the second day of the battle, it was truly a drawn battle.  This didn't stop Napoleon from declaring it a victory for the French army.

Visibility will be rolled for each turn (5D6") and units move at half rate in the snow.  Augereau's divisions will start with some casualties already on them.  His corps was order to attack the Russians but was lost in the storm and moved significantly off course.  He ended up in front of a large Russian artillery position and paid a dear price.  Napoleon, see the disaster unfolding before himself famously rode to Murat and said, "Are you going to let these fellows devour us?" (or some variation of this).  This lead to a charge of 10,000-12,000 Dragoons and Cuirassiers into the Russians!

The French and Russian orders of battle that I will be using for Black Powder 2 are below.  This is a good sized wargame and I expect it will be a close run thing.  There are a lot of tactical options on both sides that can significantly change the course of the battle from the historical result.

Lots of pictures will be taken and posted after tomorrows battle.  Here are a few pictures just to wet the appetite!

More to follow.  Stay tuned!