Operational Studies Group Report December 8, 2007 Page Two Mark Herman: Campaign Scenario 1: Pultusk (Reprinted from Consimworld.com) My chosen Russian strategy for this scenario is to slow the French advance, hold onto Pultusk as long as possible without losing a Critical battle and then keeping a large Russian army within striking distance of Pultusk to garner the monthly interphase Paris Morale point and winning an operational victory. A more Fabian strategy is to retreat north and avoid losing a big battle trying to hold onto a tactical victory (Paris Morale of zero), but that is not how I like to play. What players will not be used to is the Russians are very tough when entrenched, especially in bad weather as they have more artillery than the French and better bad weather tactics. The Russians suffer from a divided command structure, but Bennigsen is quite good. In essence why make the French job easy when it is not in your benefit to do so. The French need to try and win at least one big battle, while driving the Russians back from Pultuski. Opening: French forces press forward. Ney attacks Bulow; L'Estoq comes to his support, Prussians fall back east on Allenstein via Osterode On the Warsaw front Murat-Davout move west toward Dwor and emplace a pontoon bridge and cross the Bug River. Davout skirmishes with Barclay who falls back on the Sierock redoubt. Bennigsen attacks Davout who is reinforced by Lannes at Nascelski; French victory with Davout pursuing Bennigsen toward Putuski (Bennigsen falls back toward Magnuszewo where he builds a redoubt). Buxhowden advances toward Pultuski. Barclay is in Pultuski. Middle Game: In a major battle Napoleon (with very small Guard; commanding Davout, Lannes, , and Murat) throws Barclay back toward Magnuszewo. Murat pursues and discovers Bennigsen entrenched in redoubt. Meanwhile Osterode falls to Ney who then countermarches back toward Marienburg, which falls after a small battle with MG Auer's division being eliminated. Bernadotte advances on Osterode. Battle of Magnuszewo: This is a three round bloodbath where the French lose 11 SPs (33k forces) versus the Russian 13 SP (39k). The French do not win a critical victory, so the Paris morale remains at zero, Russian tactical victory is maintained. Bennigsen falls back on Rozen with a replacement March division moving forward to assist in rebuilding the force. Buxhowden builds a redoubt at Makow Mazowieki (hereafter MM) within 5 hexes of Pultuski. End Game: Here is how you can set up a Napoleonic battle of annihilation with the new card system. With two turns before the interphase, Napoleon maneuvers NW toward Golymin with Davout, Lannes, and Augereau plus guard which is the maximum allowed by a 9 command span. Murat holds a bridehead over the Bug across from Magnuszewo, while Soult moves through Pultuski toward Magnuszewo. The Russians now have to make a decision. Buxhowden can abandon the redoubt and fall back north or can hold his ground one more turn and garner the +1 Paris Morale point for an Operational Victory. The Russians stick as much so I can see the next cool maneuver work out, but another path would be to fall back and hope to hold onto a tactical victory. It is not a bad decision to hold. Buxhowden is in a redoubt and the French army is beat up. Buxhowden is at least as strong as Napoleon's force plus the defensive benefit of the redoubt makes a 1-2 ratio attack likely, so the Russians can put the question to the French player. I know, but an opponent would not know, the French are holding an Envelopment card, which if it works allows Napoleon to control two forces for one battle. The Russians play New Wagons, and increase their hand size plus avoid attrition. 30 December: The weather turns really bad with Frost/Snow, ensuring that the French will take at least two SPs of attrition during the march, but there is no choice. The plan is to more or less surround Buxhowden and annihilate him against the Bug due to Murat's anticipated envelopment. For descriptive purposes MM has the bug river on its North, NE, and SE hexsides with a road crossing the Bug on the NE hexside. Roads enter MM on its NW, SW, and S hexsides. The French play an Advance card as their Operational Intent card, which gives extra movement commands if the initial force enters an enemy ZOC. Napoleon takes the order and goes up the center (SW) with Davout and the Guard. Lannes has the left flank (NW) with Augereau on the right (S). The extra movement command is given to Soult who crosses the Bug and closes the NE road out of MM. The French have one more movement command due to Soult's entering a ZOC also, which allows Bernadotte to advance and reinforce Osterode in the north. The French then play the envelopment card on Murat. Murat moves to the NE road (stacking with Soult, who he can command) and makes the Order Acceptance die roll to see if the Envelopment works. The French need to beat a 7, which is accomplished by rolling a die and adding Murat's initiative rating of 5 (66% chance of success). The Envelopment works and Napoleon can now command his force, plus one additional force (Murat's). The starting forces are: French 1a (gd), 17i, 4c vs. Russian 2a, 11i (redoubt), 2c. The battle is a Two round affair with both sides bidding Pitched in the first two rounds (allowed by the Advance and Envelopment card for the French). The French win the first round, causing extensive damage during the counterattack. The guard was the deciding factor in round 2, which changes a pitched battle into a pursuit battle. Buxhowden takes double pursuit losses due to retreating across a minor river. French losses are 7 SP versus 11 Sp for the Russians. The Critical Victory die roll is low giving the French a +1 Paris morale. At this point the Russian forces have been severely mauled and they play a General Retreat card to pull their forces back, followed by a Cantonment card ending the scenario (gives the French an additional +1 Paris Morale, but it doesn't change the outcome). French Operational Victory with a Paris Morale of +2. A great way to open up my 4 day vacation. One interesting difference between HoV and NaC is the Imperial Guard has only 1 SP of infantry, so when you stake the guard it is a serious decision as you do not get to do it twice, unless you wait until later in the Grand Scenario when the OG can grow to 2 SP. Definately not the Guard of 1813 when it has grown to a Corps sized formation. _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ Operational Studies Group Report December 8, 2007 Page Three Mark Herman: Campaign Scenario 3: Friedland (Reprinted from Consimworld.com) The Friedland campaign scenario was the last one checked before the rules went final, since it was already set up I decided to crank it up and play with the final components. 4th June Rain...the scenario starts with Ney in an exposed position, probably to lure the Coalition into a fight. I played a March card as the OPINT (Operational Intent) card. I gave the command to Ney who pulled back a bit. This left Bisson's division exposed and since it is in an enemy ZOC it needed to pass an initiative roll, however, I was holding a Fall Back card, which allows this force to automatically pass its initiative and he also fell back. The French army, using initiative movement (based off the OPINT card) concentrated toward the Alle river intent on launching the summer offensive. The Coalition is outnumbered in infantry, so they were conservative and did not make any force march attempts. The Coalition opened up with a General Retreat card as their OPINT, which allowed the entire Coalition army to break contact and fall back on Konigsberg. 7th June Heat...the French played an Approach March card as their OPINT, which allowed me to have a Cavalry force receive an administrative march order, while the remainder of the French army began a pursuit of the Coalition. Having broken contact the Coalition cancelled the General Retreat and is beginning to form a series of defensive positions in the vicinity of Eylau and Konigsberg. 10th June: Fair French advance: At the operational level it is important to maneuver your various Corps (or Grand Divisions in the case of the Russians) so that they remain within supporting distance of each other. One of the challenges in Poland is the road network is not as robust as it is in central Germany (see NaC for a comparison). The road network in the NE corner of the map as the road network converges on Konigsberg is much better than in center of the map, so the French are advancing with most of their corps within supporting distance of each other (2 mps over primary roads). However, Bernadotte (6 SPs) and Mortier (3 SPs) on the French left were not within range of most other French corps due to the road network. The Coalition has a large number of cards (APs) due to increased efficiency as the Russians fall back on their supply source. This makes the Coalition very agile in this scenario as they have cards to burn. The Coalition launched a counterattack on their right flank with Bagration and L'Estocq against the exposed French Ist (Bernadotte) and VIIIth Corps (Mortier). Thre French were routed with the VIIIth corps losing 3 SPs and the French Ist Corps losing 2 SPs. 13th June: Heat Napoleon (Lannes, Gd, Groucy) move to support the French left wing while Bernadotte falls back to within support range. The French center (IVth Corps: Soult) and right wing (IIIrd Corps: Davout), with Ney (Vth Corps) in reserve advance on Eylau. The Russians playing the very powerful Breakthrough card (allows a rapid concentration of forces, pursuit battle only) to enable Bennigsen (with Constantine, Russian Gd) to launch another counterattack. In this situation, Soult is well supported and Davout force marches (-1 SP due to Heat attrition) into the fight. The battle of Eylau sees the Russians (2a, 13i, 4c) vs the French (0a, 24i, 2c) in a major engagement. The Russians lose in the first round on a 3-2 result, with the French making a 2 hex pursuit toward Friedland. 16th June: Fair The French open with a Breakthrough card as their OPINT sending Napoleon (Gd, Soult, Lannes, Davout) to attack Bennigsen-Constantine near Friedland. Ney moves up on left to guard Napoleon's flank. Bennigsen fails to withdraw, so the battle is on. The best Russian tactic is to fight pursuit battles to try and deny the French a critical victory. The Coalition goal is to trade space for time. The French stake the guard which in combination with the Breakthrough card and the Emperor gives the French a -3 drm. The resulting 1-3 sees the Russians retreat toward Allenberg, but the French pursuit falls a bit short in achieving the conditions for a critical victory die roll (Russians lose 3 not 4 SP). The Russians begin to move their supply source, but the advantage of the Coalition player is he can still roll for Prussian resources, which can be shared. The Coalition plays a Mobile Defense OPINT which allows Bennigsen to withdraw across the Prege River (Primary river) at Wehlau and they destroy its bridge. With an abundance of cards in this scenario, the Russians are able to issue MCs to all their forces allowing them to pull their entire force through Konigsberg across the Prege river. There are only two open bridges upstream on the Prege that are still open. One near Wehlau and the other at Insterburg. What now occurs is one of those magic moments that allows you to, if but for a brief moment, feel like the Emperor at his best. For the Forced March phase, the French taking advantage of the fair weather play an Approach March card (no events allowed during Forced March) for its 6 MP value. Napoleon in a maneuver reminiscent of Lodi Bridge moves past Bennigsen's position and reaches the open bridge near Wehlau. A Cavalry corps (1 SP) under LaSalle reaches Insterburg. The French have grabbed both open bridges. The French Center of Op moves forward to keep Napoleon within Dispatch Distance (only possible due to an earlier play of New Wagons which increases the Dispatch Distance to 14 MPs). 19th June: Rain Taking advantage of their rapid force march move the French play a Frontal Assault OPINT and Napoleon crosses the Prege and attacks Bennigsen at Wehlau. La Salle moves via initiative through Tilsit cutting off the Russian LOC to that location. Bennigsen fails to disengage while Bagration moves up from Konigsberg. L'Estocq moves toward Tilsit and reopens the LOC by repulsing LaSalle. In another large battle the French win a first round battle, but again only inflict 3 losses on the Russians who fall back toward Tilsit. During the Russian FM phase the entire Coalition army continues toward Tilsit. The Russian strategy at this point is to stay on the map while trying to deny the French a critical battle victory. This would result in a Coalition tactical victory because the scenario starts with a +1 Paris Morale, which would be reduced to zero due to the Coalition holding onto Konigsberg. At this point there is insufficient time for the French to invest and take Konigsberg. 22 June: Mud Napoleon advances toward Mehlauken (four hexes from Tilsit exit hex), which is the last town on the map on the road to Tilsit and tries to bring Bennigsen to battle again. Murat-Ney clear the Konigsberg bridgehead with Murat moving to Napoleon's aid. Bennigsen is successful in withdrawing during the FM phase as the remainder of the Coalition army falls back to form a defensive line. Recent Russian reinforcements (Labanov's 14th Division) bring some extra strength at this culminating moment in the campaign. L'Estocq builds a redoubt NE of Mehlauken. 25 June: Fair Napoleon captures Mehlauken and attacks L'Estocq's redoubt. L'Estocq fails to withdraw and the French win another empty victory (2-1 result, only a one hex pursuit) as the Prussian corps retreats toward Tilsit. During the Coalition turn L'Estocq and Bennigsen find themselves in Napoleon's ZOC, so the Prussians play Mobile Defense allowing L'Estocq to withdraw from the French ZOC and the Russians play Feint which allows Bennigsen to remain in Napoleon's ZOC without having to attack. This critical set of maneuvers sets up the conditions for a Coalition victory. 28 June: Heat The French have nothing to lose and needing a big victory to win the scenario play 'Batteries Forward' as their OPINT to attack Bennigsen one more time, but with a more aggressive use of artillery. Murat who is now in for the final assault successfully accepts an Envelopment command and he closes in on Bennigsen. Bennigsen fails to withdraw, so the French have a chance for victory. The French have 1a, 21i, 9c versus Bennigsen (now reinforced with the 14th Division) 0a, 11i, 5c. The French artillery hits and the French stake the guard. The French die roll of 1 becomes a zero yielding a 1-3 result. Bennigsen retreats off the map toward Tilsit with Murat's cavalry corps achieving a full pursuit. The Russians lost 4 SPs and the French lost 1 SP. To win the scenario the French need a die roll of 1-3; in essence it all comes down to a coin tossŠ The drm for an Army Commander winning a critical battle gave Napoleon a minus 1 which changes the 4 die result into a 3, giving the French a critical battle and an Operational victory with a +1 Paris Morale. Mark _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ Operational Studies Group Report December 8, 2007 Page Four Craig Ambler: Grand Campaign (Reprinted from Consimworld.com) I have been lucky enough to have playtested three games of Habit of Victory, and have found it to be an excellent game. I will quickly describe (from memory only) my last game which was the most exciting of three very good ones. Please note that I am playing the campaign here as I don't really like small scenarios of larger campaigns. At the beginning of the game the Russians have a good chance of attacking and upsetting a few plans of the French. In this game they were not as successful as in the earlier ones, but not too outdone either. The French managed to save Warsaw and also push the Russians away over the River Bug, towards Pultusk. Here a hiatus occurred as the French needed to get some men summoned and the Russians wanted to gain at least one VP for staying in the area. Eventually the French attacked and pushed the Russians back northwards but not before after some large battles they found the Paris Morale two in the favour of the Russians. Some really bad luck in some battles made Napoleon almost impotent and then when they finally got the result in battle they fail their Critical battle roll. All good fun, and all the more galling as the Russians got a Critical Battle VP on a minor success. This left a problem for the French as Paris Morale affects their attrition. Luckily enough Ney and Bernadotte were dealing well against L'Estocq in the west and were marching towards Danzig and in fact were to start a successful siege very quickly. Again a lull occurred as French needed their APs (cards) and Danzig to fall whilst the Russians were not really in a position to counter attack and were happy building their defensive lines for the next French advance. Danzig fell in the middle of March which helped the French immensely as it halves the length of the supply train, and really helps their meagre AP total. With this the French were able to advance again in April to threaten Konigsberg. The upshot of this was some successful delaying battles by the Russians, but ultimately the French managed to gain a Critical Victory to level the score and at the same time begin the siege against Konigsberg which the Russians were unable to retrieve so at this point they marched off home. In effect this gave the French 3 Victory Points (2 for Konigsberg and 1 for the Russians leaving the map), but the game was far closer than that and the French were very hard pressed and it was a pyrrhic victory. In my other games the Russians won both as the French didn't mass near Warsaw quickly enough push to the Russians northwards before they gained too many VPs and allow them to march off as victors. Three aspects of the game make it very interesting and these are; the Length of Communication is only 12 hexes; the leaders span are such that only really Napoleon and perhaps Bennigsen can really mass; and finally the French supply system is awful and you often need to have Napoleon on the Centre of Ops just to gain one AP. A really excellent design and one I am glad I have played.