Battlereport: Battle of Naugart

After the great success of the Battle of Kolberg event in June (Read report here and here) we decided to play a small campaing. Set in front of a partly fictional 1813 background it was to continue the events of Kolberg.

The Campaign

To begin with our gamemaster Bernhard designed a simple campaign map and a set of rules. It all bases on a more or less identical set-up of a French and an Allied division. Those meet some time after the battle of Kolberg near Naugard. The Allies are on their way to Stettin to raise their pressure on the French. On the other hand the French try to secure their retreat from Kolberg and want to rally for another attack.
In addition to the starting line-up both armies have a divisional reserve which they are allowed to arrange ad libitum before the first battle. Later this reserve can be used to replace losses or enforce damage brigades.

The campaign map with the designated battlefields between Kolberg and Stettin starting at Naugard in the middle.



Deployment of Troops

The battlefield was set up in a rather simple manner. Just some fields of rye, two swampy areas and two hills. On the one side the Allied division under command of General Major von Gneisenau fielded a Prussian infantry brigade, a British Infantry brigade and a mixed British-Prussian cavalry brigade. All three supported by some foot and horse artillery. The French mobilised a similar force consisting of Saxon and Polish infantry accompanied by French cavalry.

While the Allied commanders tried to expand their troops over the whole frontline, their French opponents chose a very narrow corridor to place their forces in. With this kind of oblique order they wanted to refuse their right flank and set enormous pressure on the Prussian flank of the Allied army.



Initial point of the battle and the substantial process of the battle.

Forces deployed... (French on the left, Allies on the right)

Progress of Battle

Unfortunately the progress of battle rewarded the French strategy. Although the Polish troops left the battle after an initial blunder, the Allies weren't able to use this throwback to give the battle a decisive route. The British infantry on the left flank was too slow to attack the weakend French flank before the Polish returned and the Allied cavalry blundered themselves. Even during turn 2 those horsemen hesitated and therefore a great chance elapsed.
On the other flank the Prussians did their very best to withstand the French pressure. They held steadily but in the end the power of the French cavalry accompanied by nearly one and a half infantry brigades was too much.
In a final step the Allied cavalry tried to secure the center of the battlefield to open the British a way to the weakened Polish and French (actually Saxon) forces. But after a unit of Prussian mounted Jägers failed to beat some French Dragoons the whole cavalry brigade crumbled and the French took the field.

Here are some pictures taken from the game:

The advancing Saxon troops on the French left wing.

The unfolding struggle at the Allied right flank: Prussians holding the ground steadily.

The Prussian mounted Jägers have beaten a Saxon infantry bataillon, put down an artillery unit and now will afterwards advance towards the French Dragoons where they will meet their fate...

After the Jägers were slaughtered, the French cavalry attacks the flank of the British cavalry with Lancers and Dragoons.

The Scots Greys prepares to smash a bataillon of the returned Polish. They didn't sense that their Allies would go under and open their flank for the Lancers...

Finally the British reached the enemy but it was too late to enforece a turnabout.

The End

Altogether it was a great evening with nice players on either side.
Unfortunately the game itself was a disaster for the Allies. The wounds we received will handicap us severely and I'm not sure wether we'll be able to recover sufficiently until the battle of Plathe which will be fought soon.

However I want to end my report with a set of pictures which represents one of the better moments of Allied cavalry during this battle (actually both pictures belong to Bernhard's archive but fit very well):

The Saxon artillery before the charge of the mounted Jägers...

... and afterwards.