Some time ago when we played our latest game of White Death. Another playtest of our ruleset for 1812. This time we played an episode from the Battle of Berezina in late November 1812.
More precisely we recreated the 28th November 1812. Part of the French retreaters had already reached the western banks of Berezina River and were regrouping there. But meanwhile the Russians under General Chichagov were approaching and tried to empocket the bridge head. Finally General Fournier and General Doumerc saved the French by leading a daring cavalry charge with the reamins of their forces.
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| The battlefield... Berezina River is somewhere on this side of the board. |
We as players led three warbands of retreating soldiers. It was pur goal to stand firm long enought to buy time for the cuirassiers to gather and prepare to charge. Regarding the rules this worked by special event cards which we were able to collect during the game. After this we were free to launch the cavalry charge or wait a little longer to collect more cards. The more cards the more powerful the charge but the Russians became more numerous and more dangerous during the game as well. A difficult situation...
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| Our warbands taking their initial positions. |
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| One of our soldiers taking cover behind a tree. |
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| Allied troops ready to fire at the approaching Russians. |
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| Luckily we had some artillerymen who where able to man a gun we found. |
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| Chichgov's Russian in sight |
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| They're fielding a sledge gun. Dangerous ! |
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| A Russian Jaeger officer leading the troops. |
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| The Russians advance across the clearing in the middle of the board. |
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| Their pressure becomes more and more unstoppable... |
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| ...but our curassiers gather as well. Relief seemed near! |
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| More Russians... |
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| Then suddenly Russian hussars appearing at our flank... |
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| ... luckily they meet the Old Guard our best fighters there... |
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| ...and underlie. |
After we repulsed this charge our boys were at the end of their tether. Thus we decided to launch the French cavalry charge and luckily it was a success. Thus we defended the French bridge head and Napoleon and his troops are able to retreat further west...
Once again an absolutely entertaining and exciting game. Actually the core rules for our very own 1812 ruleset are working very well. Hopefully we'll manage to do some playtesting of the campaign rules this winter.
Man, that looks cold! The board and terrain looks very effective the figures really look like they stuck in some icy hell.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Mark.
DeleteThe boards were built by Robert one of the guys is our team who is really gifted with such things. But his masterpiece is a part of a frozen river:
http://montys-caravan.blogspot.de/2014/02/sledge-for-reatreat-from-moscow-1812.html
(last picture of the post gives you an idea)
Cheers
Stefan
Smashing post!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Paul.
DeleteIt just looks amazing Stefan!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Michael.
DeleteMost of the stuff is from a friend of mine's excellent collection but I managed to add some humble Frenchmen.
Excellent Stefan! Can't wait for you guys to release the rules. I'm building up my forces to be ready for the release and hopefully I will be able to go to Tactica in 2015.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not to much trouble could you write where you have gotten the non-cossack Russian minis from.
Thanks.
Many thanks, Kaspar.
DeleteWe'll definitely be on Tactica 2015 with White Death again. Bernhard is planning really huge table and I'm sure it'll be worth a visit in case that you're at the show.
And for the email I'm really sorry that I didn't answer earlier. I'll do it as soon as possible... So NOW. ;-)
Cheers
Stefan
Hi! We'll be in Tactica again (our Finnish team from www.nopat.fi -club) and looking forward to play WD again! Will the rules be available for purchasing?
DeleteHi there would you mind letting me know which webhost
ReplyDeleteyou're working with? I've loaded your blog in 3 completely
different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most.
Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a honest price?
Many thanks, I appreciate it!
Check out my web site Ricky Salvador
Actually it's only the usual Blogger account. I have no idea with which servers they work...
DeleteI had to put my hat and gloves to watch this winter atmosphere, but it was worth it ...Fantastic and so atmospheric!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Phil.
DeleteExcellent looking game and figures! Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Dean.
DeleteThose figures look magnificent on that table. Gorgeous work on the snow effects and your pictures turned out brilliantly.
ReplyDeleteJust humble snapshot during the game, but many thanks, Anne.
DeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteGreat very detailed coloring.
Nothing short of spectacular winter scenery
Looks almost like the real thing, such as a picture with a brown coat
Thanks, Maxi.
DeleteFabulous. Just like the others, I got frost bite just reading it!
ReplyDeleteEspecially for Bernhard the Retreat 1812 and the winter theme is a pet issue. But over the months I became addicted as well. ;-)
DeleteThough most of the stuff is from his collection I love my humble contributions.
Looks great! Table and figures are just ACE! I also like the game beeing a skirmish compared to the massed ranks you normaly associate with napoleonics. This way even me can find this period interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you like it. Will you be at Tactica?
DeleteLooks Fab, Well Done
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Geordie.
DeleteMany thanks, Monty.
ReplyDeleteSuch a promising ruleset. I can't wait for its release, the battle report is so inspiring! and with all of those lovely Perry miniatures... it will be difficult to resist the temptation of Withedeath!
ReplyDeleteSome much bravoury was displayed in those Russian steppes... so many lives lost. The most dramatic time of the Napoleonic Wars.
Many thanks for your feedback. It's great to hear that our humble hobby project has some people out there who are interested in it.
DeleteBeautiful white-out setup and very interesting to hear about your own 1812 rules. Something you plan to make available on PDf perhaps?
ReplyDeleteKR
Sören
Many thanks, Sören.
DeleteActually we're planning to release the rules as "real" book. Currently we're more or less done with the core rules but playtesting of the scenarios and the campaign system is really time consuming.
I don't know where you're from but if you make it to Tactica in Hamburg next February we'll be there with a large winter table and two White Death scenarios.
Cheers
Stefan
Cracking pictures and read Stefan!
ReplyDeleteThanks Fran !
DeleteWhat a fantastic board! I love the snow, the crystals of cold and the "feel" of winter. Really well done. Good Show!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot. After some trial and error we used Corundum Sand as snow.
DeleteWhat an excellent looking game Stefan, made me feel cold though!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks ray. At least here we have the right weather for that momentarily: 0 °C....
DeleteWonderful cold looking game!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
With this game you gave me some inspiration for the 1/72 retreat of Moscou figures I still have to paint. Great report and pictures! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreetings
Peter
Wow! How did I miss this post. Superb looking game and battle report. Never heard of Corundum sand before, where do you get it from?
ReplyDeleteHi Pat,
Deletethanks for your kind feedback.
I'm not sure whether it's the correct technical term in English but Corundum sand is a very fine and extremely white sand which is used for abrasive blasting in prosthetic dentistry. We got the first batch of it from a dental technician who recommended the stuff but ordered resupplies since then. Since a friend of mine ordered the sand I don't know the exact supplier but it's a kind of wholesaler for dental instruments. If you need