2mm Prussians and extra bits

 Along with the Swedes and Russians, I also got some 2mm Prussians and some extra bits to supplement what I already have. Partly with an eye to doing some more Dominion scenarios I currently haven't got the right kit for, and partly some longer term flexibility.

Quite a bit more stuff in this batch than the Russians and Swedes!

Prussian infantry, like the Swedes and Russians, in 7YW uniforms. These are 2 rank deep strips, and due to the vagaries of the pack size, I ended up with nine bases although I prefer even numbers. Two strips per base, and basic uniforms are dark blue jackets and white trousers, although the two Guards units have ochre trousers.

As with the others, I did the faces and hats, which make a surprising difference.

National colour strip for these is dark blue. As with the Russians, the flags are an utter nightmare, every unit is different. The two Guards regiments have the right flags, the others are just random base colours and contrasts. Using the Posca paint pens for the contrast worked OK, and as before, I did the Royal coats of arms with micron liner pens.

Just like the others, two bases of Heavy Cavalry and two of Lights. The heavies are all done as cuirassiers in buff uniforms with breastplates (a very useful addition along with the Russian cuirassiers) and the lights in jaunty Hussar style uniforms. They also have my standard range of horse colours denoting heaviness.

First lot of extras are four more of the excellent 'Tercio' bases, a single piece casting of a central pike block and sleeves of shot. I've got a couple of these already, but they are perfect for Spanish and Imperial seventeenth century infantry formations. Some of the Dominion scenarios require more Tercios than I currently have.

The figures were drybrushed a random variety of colours, tending towards the earthy. There are a couple of officers cast in the front rank so I did them in a contrast. The pikes were drybrushed wood and given and ink wash then I picked out the tips. there are also a pair of large standards on the front of the pikes. 

I didn't do contrasting trousers but I did paint the forward facing faces and all the hats. I love these castings, they are just great.

I have four bases of 'skirmishers' already, and I find generic skirmisher bases very, very useful to denote all kinds of things about units. These are eight extra bases of skirmishers, each with two of the 2mm skirmisher strips. I think my other ones must be 'dismounted dragoon' strips as these figures are clearly cast in a range of kneeling positions and it is very hard indeed to tell which way they are facing.

I did six of the bases in dark green (a popular colour for jagers in the eighteenth century) and two in dark blue (Chasseurs maybe?) and put faces on them to make it easier to tell their direction. All my generic strips have a plain white rear edge too.

I had a few spare cavalry strips lying around, so I made up four bases of skirmishing cavalry, or at least in extended order. These could be used for anything a bit out of the ordinary, Cossacks? Mounted arequebusiers? Anyway, they don't look like the more regular cavalry in two ranks so I'm sure they will be handy.

I did them in a range of uniform and horse colours. Don't look too closely but a couple of the horse strips don't have any riders, presumably from dragoons or something. In 2mm it really is very hard to tell.

Three bases of wagons. I already have bases of covered wagons and pontoon trains, but these are open backed so a bit of a contrast and you can never have too much transport!

And finally three command bases. Again I already have various command bases, but if you look really carefully you will see the officers are in Prussian, Swedish and Russian uniforms. Yes, I did these at the same time as the three armies but forgot to take pictures of them at the time. Well here they are now. 

And that is it for the new figures. Although they aren't painted as well as my old stuff, they will do and I'm pleased with them. 2mm is very much about impression rather than microscopic accuracy and I expect they will spend most of their time standing in for other stuff in any case. 

I got some more 2mm scenics as well, but I'll cover those in a sperate post.

Sheffield CALF 2025 - One Hour Eylau

 After solo testing my One Hour Napoleonic version of the Eylau scenario in Bloody Big Napoleonic Battles, I thought it deserved a public outing at CALF 2025. It was scheduled late in the afternoon, so I only had four players, but that was fine.  Jerry and Tom took the French, while Chris K and Phil S took the Russians.

View(?) from the east. Apologies for the appalling photos, the light in this room was very poor and even the super camera on my new phone struggled.

Eylau is the town in the depression on the left, with around half the Grande Armee drawn up around it. The Russians under Bennigsen are on the other side of the valley on the right. The rest of the French army is arriving from the east (Davout) and the west (Ney), the latter is pursuing Lestocqs Prussians who are marching to the sound of the guns.

The battle is complicated by frequent snow storms blowing across the battlefield, although all the streams are frozen over. To win, either side must hold the majority of the towns and villages, the Russians currently hold three and the French just Eylau itself, so the onus of attack is on the French.

The Russian left is the obvious spot to attack as it is isolated from the main army, and Davouts Corps comes trudging on to attack it. Just visible on the left is Murats reserve cavalry Corps, also heading for the hill.

Along with attacking on his right, Napoleon, perhaps unwisely also pushes Soult into the valley on the left. The Russians outnumber the French 2:1 in this sector, and it will be quite some time before Ney arrives. Sensing an opportunity, Bennigsen (Phil) begins shuffling units around.

Back in the east, the weather clears, allowing Davout and the French reserve artillery to shoot Murat in, who overruns the Russian redoubts on the hill! This does leave them under a crossfire from the main Russian position, but it is very heroic.  

The Russian reserve cavalry swings around the French left flank, shot in by the Russian divisions on the heights. One Cavalry Corps falls back rather shot up (you can just see the heap of hit markers on it), but the other is neatly across the stream and ready to roll up the French flank.

The French have to fall back towards Eylau, and form a new line facing northwest.

Murats cavalry withdraw to deal with the new threat, leaving Davout to take the village on the hill. It is on the reverse slope so the French infantry can advance under full cover. 

The Russians keep up the pressure on the French left. They engage the French centre and start pushing infantry across the valley. The French line is looking more concentrated now, but their left flank is still hanging in the air. Murat is now in close support of the French infantry.

Davout is now trying to take the village, but villages are tough.

With Eylau firmly held, Soult extends his line back along the ridge line again. There is a major firefight in the centre.

Soults westernmmost units are very exposed and take a hammering from the Russian infantry divisions in the valley. Lestocq has now arrived and marches to join the main Russian army and garrison the right end of their line on the ridge.

The Russians keep pushing hard and gaps appear in the French line. Ney has now appeared, but it is too little, too late. Lestocq is in the village up on the ridge. 

The Russians overrun Soults battered infantry, despite the best efforts of the French cavalry.

View from the west. Ney is trying to take on the Prussians, but the main Russian army is now hard up against Eylau and things aren't looking too good for Napoleon. Davout still hasn't cleared the Russians out of the eastern village, and with the ratio of objectives still very firmly 3:1, we call it a well earned Russian victory.

That was a great game and very different to my solo replay. The Russians were very aggressive and took full advantage of their initial numerical superiority. The weather was also much better than in my solo playtest, and although there was considerable light snow which restricted visibility, there was only one blizzard and even a few clear weather turns, so unlike my solo game, there was plenty of scope for sweeping manouvre. I was probably a bit over cautious as the Russians in my solo game, but I think if I was playing this again, I'd use cards for the weather instead of dice to give an average result as it has such a big  impact on the flow of the game.

I used a very minimal set of the rules for this, stripping out the morale rules completely as they added extra complexity but had very little impact on the game. Units in fact retreated when it was sensible to do so of their own (or player) accord. One thing I did keep was rallying, and the players seemed quite happy to do that. As only half the hits are regained and the rest become permanent, it isn't game breaking, and it gives something for leaders to do if units are in a tight spot.

One Hour Eylau

 I finally developed an Eylau scenario I was happy with - it is largely based on the one in the 'Bloody Big Napoleonic Battles' scenario book and only covers the second day of the battle. I'd originally hoped to do the battle for the town the previous day but I can understand why they just went with the main event. At least the scenario had something approaching a reasonable OOB and a map, although they had chosen not to include any of the streams as they were covered in snow!

Battlefield from the south. Eylau is the town near the main road junction in the centre, Konigsberg is up the road off to the north west. I included the streams just for the look of it, I had to refer to the maps in David Chandler for those. The NBBB scenario has seven objective villages, I consolidated them down to four - Eylau and L-R, Schloditten, Anklappen and Serpallen on the ridge to the northeast. Whoever controlled most by the end of the game would win. The Russians start controlling three, so the onus of attack is on the French. 

The larger areas of high ground I modelled using extra hex tiles, but 'Napoleons Ridge' above Eylau I added as an extra hill on top. The streams have no effect (frozen), but the roads are in effect and I added in the wooded areas from Chandler as they are also missing from NBBB.

The Russians start with almost their entire Army deployed, having fallen back to the high ground across the valley after fighting Napoleon for the road junction at Eylau the previous day.

In the centre are the reserve cavalry, six infantry divisions and one grand battery. I didn't bother with Bennigsen, but I included Dokhturov and Kamenskie as Leaders. The NBBB scenario rates all the French infantry as better than the Russian, but instead I used a slightly more generous force multiplier for the French units .

On the right is Osterman-Tolstoy with two divisions, one of which is configured as a Grand Battery. The Russians had twice as many guns as the French, so get two  artillery units. About half the total guns are assumed to be allocated to the other infantry units, and the 'grand batteries' also contain about half as many infantry as the normal ones.

The French, in contrast, have major bits of their army missing! The only units actually on table are Soults 4th Corps, Augerau's 7th Corps, Murats Reserve Cavalry and the Imperial Guard. Although the French are quite concentrated, the Russians outnumber them. Not great as they have to attack. Murat and Soult are included as Leaders, while Napoleon is hanging around to direct things.

Hurrying to the rescue from the east is Davouts 3rd Corps. 2 x infantry and another leader.

And from the west is Neys 6th Corps. Also 2 x infantry and a leader. However marching in front of them is Lestocqs Prussian Corps.

All the reinforcements have an arrival schedule, Davout is due on turn 1, Lestocq on turn 6 followed by Ney on turn 7. However the battle was characterised by appalling weather, so the reinforcements may be delayed...

I didn't want to overdo the weather, but it was very variable on the day and had a major impact on operations. Essentially each turn there was a weather roll 1 - blizzard, 2 - heavy snow, 3/4 - light snow, 5/6 - clear. Blizzards and heavy snow seriously restricted movement and visibility and delayed reinforcements, light snow just restricted visibility and clear was clear.

Naturally on turn 1 I rolled 'heavy snow' - so reinforcements were delayed, movement restricted to a maximum of 2 hexes and visibility was 1 hex. Bad news for Davout.

Napoleon used the cover of the snow to shuffle some units around. Soult rather bravely marched into the valley to set up for some shooting next turn. Very brave indeed as he was outnumbered 2:1 by the Russians on the other side! Augerau moved down from Napoleons Ridge to support Davouts eventual attack on Serpallen on the French right.

The Russians also did some shuffling in the snowstorm, moving the artillery into a better location and closing up the reserve cavalry slightly to discourage too much French light infantry action. For now, though, they could just defend.

The snow eventually lifted sufficiently for visibility and mobiity to improve a bit. Soult engaged the Russian left wing with artillery and skirmishers, while Davout turned up on the right, linked up with Augereau and engaged Tolstoy on the isolated ridge. The snow was still too heavy for the Grand Batteries to engage at long range.

On the right, the French concentrated their fire on the Russian guns on the forward slope. Eventually they were weakened enough that Davout sent a unit forward in open order.

Soult also advanced on the left. I'm trying out Gary Sheffields tweaks to the morale rules - essentially you roll against hits suffered to advance against the enemy, and Gary has added a provisio that units also have to test to stand. Dokhturovs division was fairly battered but faced with Soults advance they stood.

Soult suffered heavy losses from Russian fire (three hits!), but Murat led his cuirassier corps against Dokhturov and routed the Russians. Dokhturov survived and retired to the adjacent division, while Murat crested the ridge.

Back on the right, Davout and Augerau settled down to more pounding in light snow.

Murat judged the Russians sufficiently weakened and the other cavalry corps charged the Russian guns and took them!

Murat slightly regretted charging into the middle of the Russian position. The entire Russian line opened fire, chipping another hit off Soult. The Russian cavalry charged Murat behind infantry volleys, and the cuirassiers was lucky to survive with five hits. I've only rated the Russian cavalry as medium as they had so many Cossacks in this battle.

I'd intended to deploy some light cavalry stands to act as ZOC, but I completely forgot and also completely forgot about ZOCs too, which  proved to be an issue later on.

Rather than lose the cuirassiers, Murat withdrew to reorganise. Soult pulled back behind the stream and out of range of the Russian infantry divisions. On the right, Davout pressed up hard against Serpallen, the Russians having retired there after losing their guns.

I'd set up the other French cavalry to cover Soult (they are in front of the grand battery on Napoleons Ridge), but seeing the cuirassiers withdraw and being in range of Soult carrying four hits, the Russians just had to keep on and their cavalry charged the French infantry across the frozen stream.

The Russians were hiedously unlucky and just scored 1 hit, although in fairness they would have needed three hits to rout the French. They are now left hanging out to dry in front of three French infantry units (those are the Imperial Guard across the bridge on the right).

Davout sends in two divisions in open order to attack Serpallen. His close order division reorganises and is left with two permanent hits. I'll keep that in reserve to storm the village.

Soult reorganises his battered division which acquires three permanent hits. Rallying so close to the enemy involves considerable risk, which is why five hits rounded up to three casualty markers, but Soult doesn't roll a 1 and survives. The other French infantry shoot up the Russian cavalry, and Murats heavy cavalry corps charges.

The Russians cavalry survives with heavy losses and retreats to Schloditten to reorg accompanied by Gen Kamenskie. The Russian infantry shoot up the French where they can, but Dokhturov shuffles another division across to line the ridge and prevent a french cavalry pursuit. Of course they didn't need to do this as there are ZOCs to stop this sort of silliness, but I forgot.

The Russians despatch their last reserves to Serpallen. An infantry division and the other cavalry corps, which charges the French infantry who are deployed in open order on the ridge. The ridge disadvantages the cavalry, but they are still good against open order infantry. The village garrison softens the French up with massed volleys.

And the Russian cavalry carry the ridge, the French infantry flee in disorder and are cut down. Oh dear, bad news for Davout.

However the French return the favour. Davouts close order division pours withering fire into the Russian horsemen, the Imperial Guard artillery opens fire into their flank and Murat follows up with another charge by his battered cuirassiers which sends the Russian horse from the field and leaves them adjacent to the Russian infantry in the open.

However back on the left, the reorganised Russian cavalry under Kamenskie make another charge in Soult, and this time the battered French infantry are routed although Soult survives. The French left is now looking in dire peril, if only Ney would arrive!

Instead Lestocq's Prussians finally arrive and set up to cover the extreme left flank (they are just north of the stream). I rated the Prussians as 'poor' for this as their Corps was quite weak and the Prussian army had been completely outclassed earlier in the campaign. 

Over at Serpallen, the entire French reserve cavalry under Murat charge the Russians in the valley and inflict enough hits to rout them. The French are going all-out to take the village and secure a draw. This also puts Murat on the flank of the Russian grand battery.

The Russians throw in their other cavalry corps and Murats cuirassiers have finally had enough. Murat is seriously wounded and carried from the field. The Russians are exposed to a counter charge but it was worth it to finish off the cuirassiers.

The rampaging Russian cavalry are now deep into the French left rear. Napoleon is forced to relocate the grand battery off the ridge to prevent them simply riding into Eylau. Ney has now arrived however, much to Soults relief and the French form a sort of hedgehog south of the stream. The French army is cut in half, however heavy snow shields them from the Russian guns on the heights.

The French along the stream start trading shots with Lestocq as Neys other division forms back into close order. The French gunners position their guns to fire into he flank of the Russian cavalry. Time for them to go home I think. Dokhturov lines the ridge with infantry again.

Supported by the Imperial Guard, the last French cavalry rout the Russian horsemen. Once again this exposes the Russian gun line, but Serpallen still holds out.

In light snow the Russian cavalry make their escape across the stream. Lestocq manages to rout one of Neys divisions in close quarter fighting! Soult is still hanging on but things are not going well for the French here, however without immediate infantry support, the Russian gunners limber up and head back into Anklappen. They can't fire from here but they can occupy the village and stop the French cavalry riding into it.

Heavy snow brings everything to a grinding halt. I rolled a disproportionate number of snow turns in this game. The Russian cavalry are crushed between the grand battery and the last French cavalry unit and Serpallen finally falls. The entire Russian line swings back and forms up along the line of Schottingden and Anklappen. The Imperial Guard marches up the Koenigsberg Road and Soult crosses the stream as Ney finally routs Lestocq but the whole battle is moving in slow motion as visbility and movement are so restricted.

In the last couple of turns the French manage to push some units up onto the plateau, but time is very short. In the end not even the Imperial Guard can dislodge the defenders, although there was a very exciting morale test as Davout moved up to Anklappen. The defenders had four hits, so a roll of three of less would see them withdraw under normal circumstances, however they were bolstered by General Osterman-Tolstoy who had survived the fall of Serpallen. +1 for a General +1 for being in hard cover, so anything but a 1. The Russians rolled a 3, and the game ended as a draw with both sides holding two towns.

Napoleon surveys the scene from Napoleons Ridge, although the three big smoke puffs indicate this is a heavy snow turn so he'll be lucky to see any further than the nice warm inn in Eylau.

That went very well and produced a historical result, which is always pleasing. With better weather (there was only a single clear turn in the entire game when on average there should have been five) they may have been able to batter their way to victory, or maybe not. If I was running it again I'd restrict the number of delays to reinforcements to a maximum of two, they are marching on roads after all. I might also drive the weather with cards instead of dice, as cards have memory which dice don't. 

Garys suggested morale changes certainly added to the tension and tactical decisions, I repeatedly tried to wear units down and then advance a fresh unit adjacent to force a 'stand' test but both sides passed every single one! Units need to be quite battered to fail morale and are generally fairly close to destruction in any casie, so it may be an unnecessary complication. One thing I may experiment with is having adjacent infantry units roll each turn to stand, which makes it slightly more likely battered or unlucky units will retire instead of fighting until they disintegrate. The rally/reorganise rules worked well though and I'll keep that as a mechanism, converting half the recovered losses into permanent hits stops the game grinding to a halt.