Christmas Game - fictional 1813 Napoleonic's battle

The overall game

The battle of Bielefeld is a fictional battle fought during 1813 between the French and a Grand Collation of its enemies. In the first round three battles take place which are the approach battles for the main action at Bielefeld. The outcome of each battle has an impact on the later game.

Each of the 6 armies contains; 10 infantry in 3 brigades, 6 cavalry in 2 brigades and supporting artillery / light troops. Three of the units may be designated as Veterans.

Units that are damaged, but survive the battle, are restored at full strength for the main battle. Units who are routed / destroyed must dice;

•       Line Infantry : 1 - 3 they begin with 2 damage and 4 - 6 they begin with 1 damage.

•       Other units: 1- 4 they begin with 1 damage and 5 - 6 they begin with no damage. 

•       Remember you can try to recover some of these loses during the game.

Devil’s Bridges winner = half that army may begin as a flank attack that arrives after D3 turns.

Schilda / Germelshausen = if the Defender wins then the Attackers army is delayed by D3 turns for the main battle and must march onto the table.  

Devil's Bridge - French vs Russian encounter to determine the flank attack  

Both sides deployed with infatry and cavalry interspersed with their primary target the three bridges. Crucially the French won initiative and moved first.    

French left

Russian right

They flooded units across the bridges, which took fire but managed to establish a bridgehead. The Russians focused on maximising the shooting damage but were unable to retake the crossings. So a French Win and they got to have a flanks march in the large game.    

The French bridgeheads

Germelshausen - French attack vs Prussian defence to delay the attackers

The French deployed with their infatry mostly attacking the village and nearby woods and their cavalry in the more open ground to the east. 

Prussian defenders await the attack

After a short struggle they were able to overrun the village and threaten the second objective nearby.    

The village falls to the French

Prussian reserves arrived in time to stabilise the line, but in the final turn the French could still win if they were able to rout the defenders of the second objective. They cane close but could nt quite make it so the game was a close draw.   

Prussians hold in the last round

Schilda - Austrian attackers vs French defenders to delay the attackers 

The French stretched out across the field so the Austrians attacked solely down the flanks with combined arms attacks on both sides. The French sought to disrupt this with spoiling attacks from their cavalry.    

Austrian right

Austrian left

The French horse made limited impact on the Austrian foot but did delay them enough for force a Draw.    

French spoiling attack

Bielefeld - encounter game aiming to hold 3 of the 4 objectives.

As the French were victorious in the Devil's bridge game they began with a flank attack. To avoid too much over crowding we also removed one division from each side to give more space.

The French plan was the focus about half their infatry against Funsig and then intersperse infatry and cavlary brigades across the line, with only lighter units contesting the heights. The Coalition opted to place most of their mounted opposite the heights with a small force hoping to delay at Funsig while they attacked in the centre.   

Austrians take the heights

The Coalition won the initiative, which enable them to grab most of the objectives in the first turn and especially the village and town. For most of the game a Russian brigade around the village was able to hold off three French brigades and so tie-up half the French army.      

Russians grab the village 

Centrally it was a grinding match with town being taken and retaken through the game and neither side able to hold all of it for very long. Around the heights the small French force make a nuisance of itself and was able to at least contest the objective as the Austrians placed their lacked the infantry support to clear the woods at the bottom of the hills.   

The village finally falls to the French

The game ended with each side holding an objective and two contested so a Draw. The French probably had the stronger forces left but has been unable to rapidly take Funsig and exploit the flank attack.      

So we managed 4 battles over 8 hours play and some lunch in the middle. People were pretty tired by the end to we did nt mange the planned board games session before adjourning to a local curry house for some dinner.