From: Markus Stumptner Subject: [Consim-l] OSG Four Lost Battles - Grossbeeren variant replay It's been some time since I posted (and I still owe John Best a reply to his last posting - I haven't overlooked it. It's coming). This is a replay of the first scenario contained in OSG's newest product FOUR LOST BATTLES (or, as I like to call it, FOUR ALLIED VICTORIES), containing four battles of the 1813 campaign when the so-called "Trachtenberg plan" of going for Napoleon's marshals instead of the big guy himself gave the Coalition forces a major boost that more than compensated for the beating they took at the Battle of Dresden. The game was played with the variant rules that are available on my webpage since I, as people here probably know, solidly dislike the fossil combat and command control systems of the NLB family. Now, 4LB has been hailed as a resounding modernisation of the series, for three reasons. 1. It has a slightly modified CRT, it offers for the first time a separate bombardment table (an optional rule in Napoleon at Leipzig IIRC) and a rule for cavalry charges. Alas, these changes are pretty much cosmetic and the bombardment table initially suffered from that worst of diseases going back to Panzerblitz: More units in the hex meant they were less vulnerable. I believe that has now been somewhat amended but as far as I'm concerned all that happened was that a 1970s combat system has been brought forward into the early 80s - hardly something to be happy about. In the end, it's still about ZOC-off-3:1-retreat and not remotely about Napoleonic combat, so I still had to use the variant. 2. It has cards. Now these are nowadays an automatic guarantee of the fans proclaiming that such a game is one of the greatest games ever, but the use of cards is actually quite clever here. Since the battles are all meeting engagements of sorts, the main function of the cards is to regulate whether the intended reinforcements of both sides actually arrive. Those who've played Solomon Sea know that I'm a great fan of such systems (in fact my variants for Napoleon's Last Battles and Napoleon at Leipzig introduced exactly that, although necessarily dieroll-driven), and I like it here, too. Not totally sure what all the modifications do to balance but that's fine. In the cards there is also a lot of chrome effects and a number of effects that try to hide the fact that the game doesn't have a decent command system, so that effects that would happen to a particular corps in a battle are now proclaimed by fiat across the battlefield. So, some of those had to be ignored to avoid double-dipping with my variant rules that already have working command rules. And I have to admit I really dislike the notion of holding onto a thunderstorm until you decide that now is the turn when it will most interfere with your opponent's plans, or sending the opposing commander to sleep. On the whole though the cards worked really well. There's basically 4 types of cards: mode cards that vary your setup, status and game cards that affect your force, and arrival cards that determine the fate of reinforcements. You get a few cards at the start and then essentially one per turn and you have to play one per turn. So there's not actually that much latitude in card play; if you keep a "bad" card on the side it will restrict your options throughout the game. (I've since seen people clamoring for adapting the cards to use with Napoleon's Last Battles, which, since it's a campaign with entirely different characteristics [in particular that there is only a single major formation that comes onto the map after the first half day, and everyone has their main army on the map] makes IMO no sense at all.) 3. it has incorporated a number of rules from Kevin Zucker's more operational series, with a bigger emphasis on fog of war, and slightly more detail on supply. Quite commendable although the rules are now almost 30 pages long. Anyway, this is a test game to verify that my variant roughly works, so neither the 4LB scenarios nor my variant should necessarily be measured by them. Grossbeeren, the first game in the set, shows the battle when Oudinot's Army of Berlin, trying to capture the Prussian capital, ran into two Prussian corps (III-Buelow and IV-Tauentzien) near the town the battle was named after. The army consisted of Oudinot's XII corps, Reynier's VII Corps, Bertrand's IV Corps and Arrighi's III Cavalry Corps which all marched on widely separated roads. (You can find a map of the battle on www.napoleon-series.org) Mode cards: The Prussians get to set up IV Corps in Road column, Secure column, and then scatter it. Buelow's head must be spinning! For the French, Bertrand sets up in road column, which is fine since it permits him to move his troops into battle more quickly. The battle starts at 9am when Bertrand (marching on the eastern route towards the town of Blankenfelde defended by Tauentzien's corps) surprises Tauentzien's advance guard and overruns an artillery unit. Reynier marches in the center towards Grossbeeren (where Buelow has a detachment), and Oudinot will come in later, but towards the west where he's normally unable to do much. VPs: C 1/3, F 0/3 (Numbers are terrain/card play. Note that Blankenfelde does not accrue points for the Coalition because Tauentzien is out of supply.) 10:00 (Turn 2) [F Bonus cards: In Bivouac, Cavalry Impetus, Last Push. C Bonus cards: Thunderstorm, Tired Horses, Sick and Tired. F plays Cavalry Impetus (-1 VP), C plays Thunderstorm (will last until turn 3). Buelow tries to change his orders to move to Grossbeeren, but fails. A bad move compels him to withdraw to the map edge] A major thunderstorm is passing through the area, drenching everyone. With cannon fire opening up near Blankenfelde some of the thunder is taken for signs of an outflanking French force by Prussian patrols, causing Buelow to start pulling his force back to Heinersdorf. Bertrand's men still get into Blankenfelde, but Reynier's march is slowed down significantly in the rain. VPs: C 2/3, F 0/2. Turn 3 (11:00) [F gets "Reinf take alternate route", C gets "Delayed Reinf". F plays "In Bivouac" (no effect with the variant), C plays "Tired Horses"] Buelow again returns to the consideration of defending Grossbeeren and decides that his early decision to fall back was wrong. The Prussian columns hastily turn around and march through the driving rain back towards the town. However, Reynier's troops move first, and reach the shelter of Grossbeeren, weary from their hard slog from Wiedstock. [The French gain their first Grossbeeren VP this turn.] Bertrand's men assault Blankenfelde and at first gain no ground. However, a Prussian counterattack fails disastrously and most of the Prussians are driven out of Blankenfelde. The Dobschuetz Landwehr brigade is disrupted. Currently only the end of the town is still held by the Prussians, and that is by Tauentzien's cavalry camped around the house where he has set up his HQ. [However, the French have not taken hex 1704 and are still denied that VP.] VPs: F 1/2, C 3/1 More to follow... Last 3 games played: Eckmuehl, Four Lost Battles, Bonaparte at Marengo --------------- http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/user/mst/games/ --------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942 _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Re: [Consim-l] OSG Four Lost Battles - Grossbeeren variant replay In-Reply-To: Second installment... 12:00 (Turn 4). The thunderstorm is over. [F gets "Cancel one enemy formation", C gets "2nd day of battle". F play "Cancel one enemy formation" (-3VP), C play "Sick and tired" - inapplicable so no effect or VP cost.] More bad news for the Prussians... Bernadotte discovered Buelow's insubordination and ordered Borstell's brigade which Buelow had counted on to arrive from Teltow back towards the Spree. III Corps finds itself deprived of almost a third of its infantry strength as it goes in for the counterattack. However, in a brighter moment for the allied cause, Tauentzien has rallied his men and sends them into Blankenfelde yet again. This time, the assault by Lindenau's men is murderous and Toussaint's brigade is routed. [Tauentzien's chit was the first one pulled; a relief for the Prussians.] However, with the 15th Division now ready to enter the fray, it is not clear how long Tauentzien's luck will last. Bertrand deploys both the 12th and the 15th division in a renewed assault. The 12th goes into action on the western side of the town. Lindenau's brigade is manhandled into the rear of the town and loses a significant part of its strength. The 15th division's Italians fare less well; the Landwehr, even though still disrupted, fights well for the moment and the 15th falls back to regroup. In the meantime, Reynier's men get a few guns in position at Grossbeeren, but the VII Corps main body has not reached the town. Buelow, hearing the gunfire from the east, decides he has nothing to lose - if he falls back he will be uncovering Tauentzien's back, and if Tauentzien falls back, Buelow will be facing superior forces alone. So the best way to handle it is by attacking now. His artillery is not close enough to attack, but his infantry goes in against the town at full strength. Both Krafft and Thuemann's brigades barge in on Menu's brigade that holds the western end of town. This is an experienced unit but is totally overwhelmed strength-wise and is essentially vaporised by the assault. However, in the attempt to limit casualties, Krafft and Thuemann operate very methodically and pull out to regroup, thus missing the chance of holding the town at the cost of more casualties. Hesse-Hombg vs Jarry. This is an interesting situation. Reynier's corps has 12 steps worth of infantry (originally there were 14 but we just saw two lost). Buelow has 9. So, in theory each lost step would hurt Buelow more. On the other hand, there's a fair chance that the 8th artillery, stacked with Jarry, might be lost through involuntary retreat (or, if it stands but Jarry retreats, it would be a great prey for Buelow's units on the next turn). So Jarry falls back and Buelow's counterattack gains a hex of Grossbeeren. Tauentzien manages to rally Lindenau's men in Blankenfelde, while most of the Italians and French in Bertrand's corps ready themselves for a new round of fighting. F 2/-1, C 3/1 13:00 (Turn 5) [F gets "Reinforcement arrives early", C gets "No Discipline in the ranks". F will play "Reinforcement takes other route" to get Oudinot onto the main road (-1VP). However, the C player plays "Delay - March confusion" to get Oudinot to hang around a bit longer (-1VP). On a DR of 4, Oudinot is delayed by 2 hours. (There is a contradiction between the "Reinforcement takes other route" card and the corresponding rule in the rulebook - the card says you can switch to any road/trail on the same side and the rule says you can switch to the nearest. Now, on most of the 4LB maps there are not that many entry roads or trails so in fact it doesn't make a big difference. On the Grossbeeren map, especially on the south side, it means that the card would be essentially negligible if the rule interpretation were used. So I went with the card interpretation.] Reynier, knowing Oudinot must be reasonably close by now, has sent Oudinot a despatch informing him that VII Corps has met considerable resistance and asking him to shift his axis of march. That means that by 14:00, Oudinot's troops would help him lever those irritating Prussians out of position. A despatch rider now arrives indicating that Oudinot has already done this and is marching along the main road. Unfortunately he also informs him that XII Corps has been delayed in the morning and will not even reach Gernshagen for another two hours. Rain sets in again, obscuring both sides' attack columns from each other. In the Command phase, neither Reynier nor Bertrand are in danger of failing confidence, since they both hold parts of their objective. The side to move first is Buelow. Thuemann's brigade joins Hesse-Homburg in a renewed assault on Jarry's retreating troops, while Krafft bypasses the town to the west and falls on the spearhead of VII Corps' approaching Saxon divisions. The main assault again sees fortune favouring the Prussians. Jarry's men are routed, while covering the retreat of at least a few of the divisional gun's to Reynier's position at the southern end of town. Likewise, Krafft pushes Mellenthin's brigade back towards the woods from which it has just debouched. The Saxons retire in good order, but part of their guns have to be left behind. Reynier's hold of the town is suddenly reduced to the southern end, where he waits behind his gunline for infantry reinforcements, and VII Corps demoralisation level is now at 11. To the east, the fighting continues unabated as Tauentzien launches another counterattack on Bertrand's men. Lindenau's brigade and the Landwehr now attack Hulot's brigade, currently the only unit in the town but supported by the 12th division's guns. A company of horse artillery outside the town would be available as well but cannot make out the fighting behind the curtain of raindrops. The Prussians are thrown into confusion by the short range artillery fire, but press the assault home. Given that IV Corps is already halfway towards its demoralisation rating, Bertrand prefers to fall back for the moment rather than taking too much losses holding onto the town, but launches another coordinated attack of his own almost immediately. The 12th divisions hurls itself against Lindenau's position yet again, but their enthusiasm seems to be slackening. In the meantime the 15th division's Italians take on the Landwehr and compel it to retire. [14^1->10(6;1):5(6;0)] Tauentzien's position is starting to look serious as the Prussian IV Corps is slowly being encircled by the French IV Corps. Just as Bertrand, Reynier is betting everything on another all-out assault as he deploys his two Saxon divisions for battle. The 24th will try to throw Krafft's brigade back north while the 25th will attempt to recapture the center of town. The 24th's artillery support disrupts Krafft's brigade, but Krafft falls back skillfully and avoids taking major losses. Meanwhile, Reynier takes charge of the 25th as it attacks the Hesse-Homburg brigade. As happened to Bertrand, Buelow had sited the III Corps guns to support it but the rain takes their view away and the infantry is on its own. It is mauled by enemy artillery fire and has to fall back. The centre of town is again in Reynier's hands, and finally one of Buelow's brigades is appearing seriously hurt. The trick will be to exploit this before Buelow strikes back. The Hesse-Homburg brigade ends the hour still disrupted; the Landwehr in Blankenfelde however manages to rally. F 4/-2, C 3/0 More to follow... Markus Last 3 games played: Bonaparte at Marengo, Eckmuehl, Four Lost Battles --------------- http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/user/mst/games/ --------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942 _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l From: Markus Stumptner Subject: [Consim-l] Grossbeeren (4LB) replay - Part 3 14:00 (Turn 6) [The French get "Commander enters the map". The Coalition gets "Reinforcement takes other route". This is a very interesting puzzle. At the moment, the French have progressed well, but the Prussians have been favoured by fortune in combat and both French corps could suffer severely from a major brigade loss. Using the card means several turns until it produces a benefit, but it imposes an immediate cost of 3VP that may not be worth it. Bringing on Napoleon would be really useful if the battle continued for another day, but at the moment the French do not have the power to do this, rather the Coalition has it. This card will therefore serve as an effective inhibitor against the Prussians continuing the battle for another day. Take it as representing Bernadotte's fears. Instead, the obvious card to play is "Reinforcement arrives early" to get Oudinot back into the game and alleviate the pressure on VII Corps. This results in a supply check but everyone (except of course Tauentzien) passes.] Plotting his next move against Buelow, Reynier is very pleased to find another despatch rider arriving at his command post, informing him that Oudinot's forced march has brought him much closer than expected; in fact Oudinot hopes to almost reach the Genshagener Heide, a mere 3km from Grossbeeren, this hour. Buelow also has good news; Oppen's cavalry regiment and accompanying horse artillery are reported to be passing through Heinersdorf when he had expected them on the Teltow-Ruhlsdorf road. At the very least he'll have a more effective flank guard from now on. [In the command phase, the question arises whether Reynier should simply try Initiative to change his orders to defending the Grossbeeren victory point hex - basically the southern half of town. The disadvantage is that he could not counterattack Buelow to the north of it, since Buelow currently holds the two hexes at the north end of Grossbeeren. The advantage is that his attack orders and the deployment of both sides will require him to essentially assault all of Buelow's line this hour. Since III Corps has a total line combat strength of 33 (with 12SP in the strongest unit) and VII Corps of 23 (with 9SP in the strongest stack), that seems to be a bit suicidal. It will also be risky since Krafft could cut his Grossbeeren position off from the supply train, but Oudinot will be here next hour to take care of that problem. So, Reynier rolls for Initiative and manages to convert to a Defend order on a roll of 9. Oudinot sends himself an attack order for Grossbeeren, and on the 5 column, with a roll of 12, accepts it immediately. A few more hot hours ahead for Buelow...] The initiative remains with Tauentzien, who aims to eject St.Andrea's brigade from the centre of Blankenfelde, both to regain the victory hex and to reopen a clear path of retreat. (Ironically Bertrand had accompanied the 15th division to allow an effective advance but then decided to let the other stack advance, so only one unit entered that hex.) With both brigades, the counterattack goes in and pushes the Italians back into the open. Bertrand immediately counterattacks again. As before the 12th assaults Lindenau's brigade in the west, disrupting the Prussians with massive artillery preparation and then pushing them back. The Italians attack the Landwehr yet another time, and this time achieve a fairly secure lodgment while the Landwehr is driven out of town, mauled by artillery and the bayonet assault. Meanwhile, XII corps appears on the mapedge and marches towards Grossbeeren, and Reynier ponders what to do. Normally he would keep his troops himself busy with a 4SP bombardment of Krafft's brigade but in the rain the gunners cannot see the target. So he reshuffles some units and does nothing. Buelow, on the other hand, has his hands full. The town centre is in French hands, so not much can be done except try and regain it, and do as much damage to Reynier before help for VII Corps arrives. So, meanwhile, Krafft will be sent against v.Brause's brigade of the 25th. Thuemann and Hesse-Homburg's attack causes some losses, but v.Bosch's Saxons cling to the town centre. However, the artillery they are stacked with fails its morale roll and the unit is destroyed as the crews leave their guns. VII Corps now stands at 13 demoralisation. In Krafft's attack, his luck stays with him with another furious dieroll while the Saxons fizzle. A Saxon retreat saves their artillery but the infantry is completely routed. This demoralizes VII Corps. The hour ends with Buelow almost ready to crush Reynier, but Tauentzien in dire straits in Blankenfelde. F 6/-3, C 3/-1 15:00 (Turn 7) Just as Oudinot's column is passing by Reynier's supply train, major confusion ensues in the ranks. A number of supply wagons have broken down, leading some troops to break ranks to grab the food lying around. Within minutes, pandemonium reigns and a major traffic jam has developed. It will be almost the end of the hour before most of Oudinot's column can resume its march. Meanwhile, the rain continues. (Another roll of 1.) [F get "Hesitant Advance". C gets "Delay - March Confusion". The C choice is obvious, it is "No Discipline in the Ranks" - absolutely evil at this point to play it on XII Corps. The French have a problem - bringing Napoleon on now won't help much and costs 3 VP. Playing The Last Push when your chief attack has just failed is a waste. So it has to be Hesitant Advance. ] At the moment when he finally has Tauentzien on the ropes, Bertrand fails his Confidence check (on a DR of 6). Reynier passes his, but has Bertrand's repulse just meant the loss of the game for the French? We'll see. For now, Bertrand immediately converts his Fall Back to Reserve orders. For now, it's Buelow's turn. Reynier hasn't had time to reinforce the town centre, and now with Hesse-Homburg's second step loss, Buelow can actually move the artillery in with him. So he moves Hesse-Homburg out to the flank and lets Thuemann and Krafft go in against v.Brause. The Saxons give a serious performance but it is not sufficient against the onslaught and they succumb. To make it worse, Reynier is wounded in the attack and carried off the battlefield. The rest of the hour is rather uneventful. Tauentzien reoccupies Blankenfelde and restores order in his battered command. Oudinot moves forward with the one unit he can clear from the traffic jam, Gruyere's brigade. In the absence of Reynier, VII Corps limits itself to redeploying units. F 6/-4, C 4/-2 16:00 (Turn 8) [F get "Sick and Tired", Coalition gets "Another Chance". The French now are really between a rock and a hard place. Waste "The Last Push"? Bring Ney on? They decide to go with "Sick and tired". At least Oudinot is already in position.] The weather clears up, but the climate remains perilous for French marshals. As Oudinot comes up to the battle area around Grossbeeren at the head of Gruyere's brigade, his horse is hit by an almost spent cannonball from the Prussian batteries a mile away. He is thrown off but recovers within the hour. Even if Oudinot were able to send orders, they would not reach Bertrand before 2000. As a result, IV Corps will have to rely on Initiative to get going again, and in fact Bertrand manages to do just that, rolling a 10 immediately. Unaware of the confusion reigning on the French side (really?) Buelow continues his methodical reconquest of Grossbeeren. His artillery opens fire on the Saxons southwest of town [bombarding with 6, DR9 - disrupt+1 loss], and routs the remainders of Mellenthin's brigade. However, as Krafft's infantry advances to capture the now undefended horse artillery batteries, they unleash such a murderous fire that Krafft decides to withdraw. Thuemen, meanwhile, attacks the remaining stronghold in the south and forces v.Ryssel's Saxons to retreat, but without Krafft on his flank does not actually occupy the rest of the town. Bertrand, as before, sends one division against each of Tauentzien's brigades, although the left wing is still weak as Hulot's brigade takes some time to pass through the woods. The Italians' attack on the Landwehr on the right, or eastern, flank goes through smoothly this time. The Landwehr is routed and after seven hours of fighting, Tauentzien's corps is finally demoralised. The Italians, despite taking losses, press the attack to the last and occupy the VP hex. On the left, Lindenau's line troops send the attackers packing with painful losses. XII Corps finally gets moving and catches up with Oudinot, the other units starting to debouch from the Genshagener Heide. A few cossacks are starting to trickle onto the battlefield, protecting Buelow's flank in the vicinity of Ruhlsdorf. F 7/-2, C 5/-3 One more to go... Markus Last 3 games played: Four Lost Battles, The Chaco War, Eckmuehl --------------- http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/user/mst/games/ --------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942 _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l From: Markus Stumptner Subject: [Consim-l] Grossbeeren (4LB) replay - Part 4 X-BeenThere: consim-l@mailman.halisp.net 16:00 (Turn 8) [F get "Sick and Tired", Coalition gets "Another Chance". The French now are really between a rock and a hard place. Waste "The Last Push"? Bring Ney on? They decide to go with "Sick and tired". At least Oudinot is already in position.] The weather clears up, but the climate remains perilous for French marshals. As Oudinot comes up to the battle area around Grossbeeren at the head of Gruyere's brigade, his horse is hit by an almost spent cannonball from the Prussian batteries a mile away. He is thrown off but recovers within the hour. Even if Oudinot were able to send orders, they would not reach Bertrand before 2000. As a result, IV Corps will have to rely on Initiative to get going again, and in fact Bertrand manages to do just that, rolling a 10 immediately. Unaware of the confusion reigning on the French side (really?) Buelow continues his methodical reconquest of Grossbeeren. His artillery opens fire on the Saxons southwest of town [bombarding with 6, DR9 - disrupt+1 loss], and routs the remainders of Mellenthin's brigade. However, as Krafft's infantry advances to capture the now undefended horse artillery batteries, they unleash such a murderous fire that Krafft decides to withdraw. Thuemen, meanwhile, attacks the remaining stronghold in the south and forces v.Ryssel's Saxons to retreat, but without Krafft on his flank does not actually occupy the rest of the town. Bertrand, as before, sends one division against each of Tauentzien's brigades, although the left wing is still weak as Hulot's brigade takes some time to pass through the woods. The Italians' attack on the Landwehr on the right, or eastern, flank goes through smoothly this time. The Landwehr is routed and after seven hours of fighting, Tauentzien's corps is finally demoralised. The Italians, despite taking losses, press the attack to the last and occupy the VP hex. On the left, Lindenau's line troops send the attackers packing with painful losses. XII Corps finally gets moving and catches up with Oudinot, the other units starting to debouch from the Genshagener Heide. A few cossacks are starting to trickle onto the battlefield, protecting Buelow's flank in the vicinity of Ruhlsdorf. F 7/-2, C 5/-3 17:00 (Turn 9) [F get "Second Day of Battle", C get "Reinforcement takes other route". The French play "The Last Push". The coalition plays "Reinforcement takes other route" to bring the Swedes in on the main road.] Buelow, who had expected Bernadotte's troops far off beyond his right flank, to his delight notes the advance guard of the Swedish corps coming in on the main road behind him, where it will be able to influence the battle more effectively. On initiative, he detaches Oppen's cavalry brigade to help Tauentzien. So far, Reynier's replacement holds but Oudinot is getting worried about them. Bertrand is starting to get doubts about his new attack but decides to keep going for now. And it is Bertrand who moves first. With the 12th Division still largely disrupted, it falls to the 15th to try and clear Blankenfelde of the enemy. Lindenau's brigade suffers more losses; the Italians now hold almost all the town. Buelow has no time for Tauentzien's troubles; he is busy clearing the ground before XII Corps is here. With the weather clearing up, his artillery bombards Gruyere's brigade at long range, disrupting it. Thuemann and Krafft assault the last Saxons in town, but v.Ryssel's men finally show the heroism that has been missing on the French side all game and clearly repulse the assault. Their artillery disrupts the attackers and a counterattack sends Krafft packing with losses. On VII Corps' subsequent activation, the Saxons pursue and retake the town centre. Finally, Oudinot's troops come out in the open, but unfortunately his strongest brigade has already suffered from Prussian artillery. Nonetheless he orders a major assault immediately against the Prussians, some of whom are milling around in confusion west of the town. De Villeret's brigade goes in against Hesse-Homburg in the west but murderous artillery fire means that the attacking columns are shot to pieces. [This was where the "another chance" dieroll was used, with a roll of 7 (1+6) being converted to 12=6+6.] De Gruyere, together with the 13th division, attacks Krafft's brigade, streaming back from its attack west of town, and (with the "last push" modifier) disperse it completely, although the Prussians offer ferocious resistance against the hated occupiers. Again, Oudinot's men fall back, but Buelow's corps has now been seriously hurt in the space of a single hour. On the other hand, XII corps is likewise already halfway to its demoralisation limit. Tauentzien moves back into the last Blankenfelde hex. In what is probably the most important dieroll (the Prussians think they should have waited to maintain a chance at a reroll), Thuemann's brigade recovers on a roll of 1 (sigh of relief from Buelow). F 8/-3, C 6/-4 18:00 (Turn 10) [F get "Alternate Reinforcements", C get "Commander enters the map", which means that a 2nd day continuation is now pretty much pointless for the French since now the Coalition reinforcements won't need to rely on Initiative. (Frankly, the nition of making the army commander's appereance independent of the army's appearance is a bit strange - there is no way Bernadotte would have sent these corps into battle without being there himself. The French of course are only too happy to get Reynier's Bavarian division. Bad luck - it is delayed for 3 turns (DR5)- until the night. However, the Coalition is quite happy to play their "Delay- March Confusion" card as Arrighi is due to arrive this hour. DR4- Arrighi delayed until 20:00.] Bertrand is told that his Bavarians are on the way to the battlefield, but are not due to arrive before nightfall. Much more importantly, Oudinot is told that Arrighi's III Cavalry Corps, which he had now counted on, has run into the same troubles in switching over to the Wietstock-Berlin road as he did and now probably won't be around before nine in the evening! After three hours of rain, a duststorm comes up. [What?! I changed the variant rules to prevent that.] And Bertrand fails his Confidence check again!! [Another six rolled.] What is it with him?! Not only that, but Reynier's replacement, his new command being blown to pieces around him, also fails his confidence and pulls out; this was admittedly not a surprise. At this point the French are looking at the risk of a Major Coalition victory. The problem is that now extending the battle to a second day will not make much of a difference, as they will have to face the Swedish Corps (21 combat strength points) and the XIV Russian Corps (46 combat strength points - ow!) versus the Bavarians as the main reinforcement (8 strength points) plus the rest of Arrighi's corps (5 SP). That sounds as if continuing would be more likely to turn a marginal defeat into a decisive one, even with Napoleon on board. Buelow takes over Grossbeeren behind the retreating Saxons, who are furious, having been ordered back after defeating a Prussian assault. Bertrand this time remembers to not retreat stacked with his troops but to ride out so he can collect and reorganise Toussaint's brigade. Reynier's replacement can reorganise v.Bosch's brigade, but Mellenthin's is permanently dispersed. Saxon artillery fire manages to disrupt Thuemann's brigade. Oudinot... almost all of his corps is disrupted, but he has to attack anyway. He decides to send everything against Thuemann's moderately exposed brigade rather than having the chance of a weaker attack against Hesse-Homburg (which is ready to die but still would not suffice to demoralise III Corps and is supported by Buelow's artillery). Now, *all* of XII Corps is disrupted. Tauentzien takes up position in Blankenfelde again. And the Swedes come up to protect Buelow's flank. F 8/-6, C 7/-5 19:00 (Turn 11) [F get "Reinforcement arrives early" - Arrighi is accelerated! An obvious choice. C get "Alternate Reinforcements". This is actually quite funny since they now have only cards that cost 2 or 3 VPs and they have to play one. They will bring on the reinforcements, which means Tauentzien gets his extra Landwehr brigade and it would arrive on the second night turn, at Gueterfelde on the other side of the map.] As the sun moves towards the horizon, Oudinot gets some good news - a courier from Arrighi telling him that IIIC Corps is moving flat out to his aid and will be here within the hour rather than at 21:00 as previously feared. And a courier brings news that eventually, Tauentzien's second Landwehr brigade will stumble onto the field, but this will take some time. VII Corps continues to reorganise - if Reynier's replacement can return it to being non-demoralised by 20:00, he will save 4 VP for the French, which is almost as good as holding Grossbeeren (which now won't happen). To that purpose he focuses on the French units, since they have a greater chance of coming back than the already unreliable and now, after the pullout from Grossbeeren, even more disgruntled Saxons. In the event, Menu's brigade cannot be reconstituted, but Jarry's is, dropping VII Corps' level to 16 - one more unit on the next turn will do the trick. Essentially there is now a last roll of the dice that offers a chance to improve the French outcome - it will be up to Bertrand to attack again. Unfortunately, Bertrand (who is only a 2) rolls a 5 - No Effect. The Prussians get an initiative chit and use it to place the cavalry assigned to Tauentzien in a screening position. That means, since Bertrand has no cavalry, that his chances of getting to grips with Tauentzien on the last turn will be very slim. XII Corps attacks the Swedes since hurling itself against the wall of Prussian artillery on the south end of Grossbeeren would be suicidal. However, both Gruyere's brigade is thrown back after initial gains, and Cascault decides to fall back as well rather than remain in the front as an obvious target. Finally, Arrighi arrives but probably will not be able to mount any sort of powerful assault on the next turn. Reynier has withdrawn his units from line of sight of the Prussian guns. (In fact I had made an error earlier as I had not remembered that Marsh doesn't block LOS so he would have had to fall back into the forest before starting to reorganise, but I let that stand this time.) Bertrand moves his troops back to the frontline, wondering whether to try again. F 8/-7, C 8/-8 20:00 (Turn 12) [The French get "Lost", a (now) harmless -1 VP card that they play to minimise VP loss. The idea of going on to a second day has been given up. The Coalition gets a "New Corps Adjutant" card, although unfortunately there are no enemy units around to bombard.] The Coalition forces are content to wait until night comes. Bertrand continues to sit around and do nothing in the end except bombard Tauentzien's cavalry to no great effect. <=-1>[Failed his last initiative attempt with a 7.] The VII Corps commander recovers another unit, reducing the demoralisation level by 2. Although v.Brause's brigade turns out to be permanently eliminated, that is enough to undemoralise VII Corps in the nick of time for the VP count. Oudinot attacks the Swedes again under essentially the same conditions, and this time (finally) Gruyere's brigade shows some effects as the Swedes are sent back into Grossbeeren with losses. Cascault is less successful. This fight gives Arrighi a chance of being at least marginally involved, as one of his regiments demonstrates against Reuterski's Swedish brigade while it is busy fending off the 13th Division, to no great effect. As night falls, the battle comes to an end. VPs: F 8/-8, C 9/-9 Final VP tally: French Coalition Mode cards 3 3 Card play -11 -12 Grossb./Blank. 8 9 Control at end 5 Demoralised 4 Loss diff.(19/18) 0 0 ______________________________________________ Total 4 5 Overall, the Coalition wins a Marginal victory, which seems fine given the high Prussian dierolling in their critical attacks and Bertrand's embarrassing double failure. This failure might just as well have hit Tauentzien (with his 3 rating he has the same chance of failing a confidence check for a defend order as 2-rated Bertrand has with an undemoralised corps on the attack) and then it would have been a clear French victory. On the other hand, the French did greatly benefit from Oudinot's and Arrighi's shift in axis of advance - if VII Corps had stayed alone, not much would have survived. Also, it was the French who got to cancel a reinforcement, and Borstell's brigade would have been enormously useful for Buelow. With hindsight it probably was an error to not let Tauentzien try for initiative to go to Reserve and try to recover one of his units; that would have turned the outcome into a strategic victory for the Prussians. I have to admit the total point sums are a bit strange insofar as the mostly negative points for the card play will tend to pull the weaker side down drastically, and then the point ratio (rather than a point differential) will lead to very high victory levels for fairly weak battle outcomes. But we'll have to take a closer look at this over more games. Markus Last 3 games played: Four Lost Battles, The Chaco War, Eckmuehl --------------- http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/user/mst/games/ --------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942 _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l