Review of Wismar Campaign

 

Battles fought during the Wismar campaign phase

The campaign covered the period 11 to 18 July 1813, and took eight weeks to complete.   It was a fairly uneventful campaign, which provided seven battles to wargame.   Most campaigns have six battles, but this one had a two day battle.

Most campaigns raise some issues, which often result in amendments to either the campaign rules or the wargame rules.    This one had three such issues.

The campaign is designed to provide interesting battles to wargame, there are no strategic objectives and consequently the main focus is on the battles, and their effect on future battles in the campaign.  

Wargame casualties play an important part in subsequent battles.   As in most wargame rules there tends to be a high percentage of casualties.   I have tried to control this by the morale rules.   All tabletop casualties are 10% of a brigade.   They result in an immediate morale test and usually cause the brigade to retreat.   If both sides make their morale a second round of combat is fought, resulting in a further 10% casualties.  It is unusual for a brigade to make their morale with 20% casualties or more.  At the end of the battle the casualties are recorded on the campaign data.   To reorganise a corps has to be out of contact with the enemy, in supply and stationary.   During reorganisation casualties can be concentrated in one brigade, but 10% always remains with the brigade which suffered them.   This can result in corps starting a wargame with a high proportion of brigades having 10% casualties.   This reduces their combat ability, and also their morale.   It makes for a game in which one rout can quickly spread to all adjacent brigades.   In this campaign I allowed all infantry casualties to be concentrated in one brigade per corps.   Cavalry and artillery were concentrated in one brigade per army.   This has worked really well, and I will continue to game test it in the next campaign.

Supplies have also caused some problems.   It takes a lot of administrative work to keep track of supply columns and the amount held at each depot.   This has become more of a problem since I increased the size of battles from one corps per side to three corps.   I have reluctantly decided to remove supplies from the campaign, except in Spain – where they played an important role.   In Germany each corps starts the campaign with four days supplies.   To resupply they must be within one day’s march of a depot, out of contact with the enemy and stationary for the whole day.   This restriction still applies, but it is assumed that the nearest town has sufficient stores to resupply the corps.

The final problem was completing each wargame within 12 moves, to correspond with the 12 hours per day in the campaign.   It works quite well, providing that the defender stands to fight.   In general there are four moves for the attacker to deploy within long range artillery of the defender.    Then four moves of artillery fire, and often cavalry melee.   Finally four moves for the attacker to reach the defender and engage in close combat.    If the defender retreats after four or six moves there is insufficient time for the attacker to pursue and have the close combat to decide the winner.   The game objective is always a town or city.   A good garrison is difficult to overcome, especially if there is not enough time for close range artillery fire.   As a result games often end with the defending army being beaten, but still holding the town or city and thus winning the game.   To overcome this problem I have made each of the three centre squares of the table a game objective.   The winner is the side which holds at least two at the end of move 12.

Future campaigns will prove whether I have the balance right or not.

Wismar Campaign – Day 8

Campaign Map

Prussian army abandon Wismar
French win campaign

1st Prussian Army – retreat
2nd Prussian Army – retreat
3rd Prussian Army – retreat

3rd French Army – occupy Wismar
1st French Army – occupy Schwerin
2nd French Army – occupy Ludwigslust

Comments

For those of you who read the post on Day 7, this might seem an unexpected and abrupt end to the Wismar campaign. Looking at the photograph at the end of the battle of Wismar it might seem that the Prussians held a strong position. They had lost the battle because they failed to hold two of the three game objectives, namely the inn in the centre and the hill on the right. However they did hold the third objective, the woods on the left. They also held the city of Wismar.

However not quite so obvious from the photograph is that the Prussians had lost all three of their corps artillery, either captured or abandoned. And although they had won two cavalry melee, they were still outnumbered three to two in cavalry brigades.

By far the most serious problem was their lack of artillery.

Without artillery, or cavalry superiority, it is almost impossible to win a game. If Blucher had decided to fight a second day at Wismar there was nothing he could do to stop the French deploying all three of their corps artillery at short range of the city. Firing three guns each move they would only need 4 or more for a hit on the garrison. Their cavalry could easily keep the weaker Prussian away from the guns. Their infantry could wait out of range for the garrison to be whittled down.

So it is not surprising that Blucher ordered Third Army to abandon the city and retreat with the loss of the capitol there was no point in First Army holding Schwerin. Second Army had already abandoned Ludwigslust.

The French won the campaign.

Wismar Campaign – Day 7

Campaign Map

Third Prussian army left campaign
Battle of Wismar

1st Prussian Army – defend Wismar
2nd Prussian Army – redeploy at Schwerin
3rd Prussian Army – left campaign

3rd French Army – attack Wismar
1st French Army – retreat to Gadebusch
2nd French Army – regroup and reorganise at Ludwigslust

Battle of Wismar – Move 12

The city was the district capitol and the main Russian supply base
It was also the campaign objective

The Prussians deployed just west of the city in a strong defensive position
This consisted of woods on the left, an inn in the centre and a hill on the right

Each of these was a game objective and the winner would be the one who held at least two of the three at the end of 12 moves.

Both sides started the battle with only minimum casualties.
The French had three cavalry brigades to the Prussian two
However the French also had 10% casualties on one of their three corps artillery

The main French attack was in the centre, where Murat formed a cavalry reserve of the brigades from 7th and 8th corps. He would use this reserve to support 8th corps attack on the inn in the centre.

The French artillery was very effective, and caused casualties to the Prussians in the inn and the woods in the early moves of the game. This allowed the French infantry to take the inn and the top left section of the woods.

1st Prussian corps deployed in the middle of the hill on the right. They were out of sight of 7th French corps artillery, who engaged the infantry between the inn and the hill. The French infantry attacked the hill and a prolonged skirmish, musket and finally hand to hand fight took place. The Prussians fought hard, but eventually abandoned the hill and retreated to the road on the right of the city.

In the centre the reserve cavalry under Murat played an important role. The leading brigade routed the gunners, but was in turn routed b y the Prussian cuirassiers. However the second French brigade routed the Prussian cavalry. This allowed 8th corps to deploy between the inn and the city

9th corps occupied the top left quarter of the woods, and sent two brigades to attack the top right quarter. This was held by a Prussian grenadier brigade, who fought off both French brigades. The Prussians then counter attacked and occupied the whole of the woods.

At night fall the French held two of the three game objectives, namely the inn and the hill on the right. The Prussians held the woods, which was the third objective. They also held the city, but this was not a game objective. The French thus won the game.

The French have lost 6 infantry and 1 cavalry casualties (2500 men)
The Prussians have lost 9 infantry, 1 cavalry and 5 artillery casualties (4600 men)

Comments

This is the first time that we have allocated game objectives, rather than the campaign objective – which was the city of Wismar. This forced the Prussians to hold the three objectives in the centre of the table, rather than retreat half way through the game to hold the city or town.

For some time I have been frustrated that the attacking army would take casualties approaching the initial defence positions, only to have the defenders retreat before they could be attacked. In a game of 12 moves there would then be insufficient moves left to allow the attacker to regroup and pursue the retreating defenders.

By the simple method of naming three objectives in the centre of the table, and making the winner of the game the one who held at least two of the three at the end of the game, I seem to have solved this problem.

Strange how the answer to a long standing problem is so often very obvious once identified.

Wismar Campaign – Day 6

Campaign Map

Third Prussian army retreat off map
Battle of Schwerin

1st Prussian Army – regroup and resupply at Wismar
2nd Prussian Army – battle of Schwerin
3rd Prussian Army – retreat off map

3rd French Army – regroup and resupply at Boltenhagen
1st French Army – attack Schwerin
2nd French Army – occupy Ludwigslust

Battle of Schwerin

Napoleon commanded the First French Army, which included the Imperial Garde. They had fought Blucher at the battle of Gadebusch three days earlier. That battle had been a technical victory for the Prussians, but they had suffered heavy casualties of 3100, compared to only 400 French. Napoleon was determined to crush the Prussians this time.

But it was not to be. The French lost a large cavalry battle, leaving two of their three brigades in rout. This left Napoleon at a serious disadvantage, and he would have to expose his infantry to win the day.

2nd and 3rd French corps attacked the hills on the flanks, and 1st (Imperial Garde) was given the take of taking the town in the centre. They took the hill on the right, but not the one on the left.

The cavalry moved forward to cover the Garde infantry, but when they lost the melee and routed the infantry had to form square and call off their attack.

Blucher continued to hold the hill on his left, but withdrew 5th corps to Schwerin and 4th corps to the fortified inn on his right. At nightfall he held a very strong position, and Napoleon called off the attack.

The French lost 3500 men (mostly in the Imperial Garde) to 1500 Prussians.

A convincing Prussian victory

Comments

Although the Prussians held a strong defensive position, they looked like they were facing defeat. They had lost heavy casualties at Gadebusch, and had only two cavalry brigades to the French three brigades. The French had only lost 400 men at Gadebusch.

Napoleon had been robbed of a victory at Gadebusch when Blucher withdrew before the French could close and complete their attack. This was partly because Napoleon had hesitated to risk casualties to his Garde. He would not make this mistake twice.

1st Garde corps was placed in the centre, and would attack Schwerin. It would be supported by a cavalry division (two brigades) led by Napoleon himself. The high ground to the left and right would be left to 2nd and 3rd French corps. They were not expected to take the high ground, but would pin two of the three Prussian corps.

The Garde artillery was deployed to be able to continue to fire even as the infantry went forward. The cavalry division would engage the Prussian cavalry and then concentrate on the Prussian guns in the centre.

The French did not wait for their artillery to weaken the enemy, that delay had cost them victory at Gadebusch. The attack began on move 3, when the cavalry moved forward to engage the Prussian cavalry. At the same time the infantry marched towards Schwerin.

The French cavalry included the elite guard chasseurs, and should have at least held the Prussian cavalry. However luck allowed the Prussians to charge first, giving them an advantage. They then rolled 5 and 6 on their melee dice. The French brigades both suffered 10% casualties, the two Prussian brigades none. The second round of melee was 10% casualties to all four brigades. But the French now had 20% casualties, failed their morale and routed.

Both Prussian brigades had passed their morale, and now turned on the garde infantry. The French had to form square, and unlimber their artillery to drive off the Prussian horsemen. They managed to do so, but it allowed the Prussians to withdraw to a second position in and around Schwerin.

Not only had Napoleon run out of time again, but this time he had suffered much heavier casualties, particularly in the garde infantry. First French Army was broken, and he had to call off the attack. A moral, and physical, defeat of the first order.

A bad day for the French (me), a great day for the Prussians (Jan)

Wismar Campaign – Day 5

Campaign Map                                                 

1st Prussian Army – retreat to Wismar
2nd Prussian Army – regroup and resupply at Schwerin
3rd Prussian Army – second battle of Ludwigslust

3rd French Army – advance to Boltenhagen
1st French Army – regroup and resupply Gadesbusch
2nd French Army – second battle of Ludwigslust

Battle of Ludwigslust – Day Two

Each army started day two in the same positions they ended day one
However they were allowed to regroup and redeploy
This left the French stronger than the Prussians

French Army – 11 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery
Prussian Army – 9 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry brigade, 2 corps artillery

French artillery opened the game, and proved more effective than usual
They had more guns than the Prussians, and concentrated on the infantry
The Prussian gunners were less effective as they opened on the French artillery

On the left the French advanced to take the bridge
Their cavalry were routed, and the infantry unable to reach the bridge
The Prussians only retreated when the rest of their army did so

The Prussians fought hard to hold the town and both brigades received casualties
The French artillery fired at long range, and their infantry skirmished
Only when the garrison was weakened did the infantry storm and take the town

On the right the Prussians also fought well, though they had to abandon the woods
Their cavalry were routed and the infantry had to retreat when the town was lost

The French won, but it was a hard fought battle

Comments

Reorganisation means adjusting the casualties to allow the corps to fight again
Previously all casualties were removed, except for one per brigade
However this results in very weak brigades, which often fail morale tests
This in turn means that an army fighting a second battle will be very unpredictable
That in itself is not a bad thing, but it does often result in very annoying results
For example a brigade with one casualty will often rout when it received one more
This in turn will often spread any brigades within 4”, who must then test their morale
It is not unusual to have a knock on effect resulting in a whole corps running away
And all because the first brigade rolled a low dice for their morale test

So in this game I did it slightly different.

Infantry casualties could be concentrated in one brigade in each corps
This would always be the one which had received the most casualties
If there were more than two casualties, the brigade would be removed
However all other brigade would start the game full strength

Cavalry and artillery casualties would be concentrated in one brigade for the whole army. Again this would be the brigade which had received the most casualties.

It worked well in this game. The French lost one infantry brigade, the Prussians lost three. However it did not make a lot of difference in this particular game.

The Prussians also lost one cavalry brigade and one corps artillery. The French has just one casualty in one cavalry brigade and one corps artillery. The cavalry did not make much difference, as they were concentrated in 8th corps, which held the town. The artillery did make a difference. On the flanks the Prussians had artillery, which kept the French guns at bay. But they had none in the centre, and the French infantry and artillery were able to approach the town without fear of long range casualties from enemy artillery.

This is the first time that we had fought a second day of a battle. It proved more even than I had expected, though the stronger French did win in the end. But they suffered equal casualties, and it could easily have gone the other way.

Wismar Campaign – Day 4

                                    Campaign Map                                                 

Prussians retreat to Schwerin
Battle of Ludwigslust

1st Prussian Army – resupply at Boltenhagen
2nd Prussian Army – retreat to Schwerin
3rd Prussian Army – battle of Ludwigslust

3rd French Army – rally and regroup at Ratzeburg
1st French Army – occupy Gadebusch
2nd French Army – attack Ludwigslust

Battle of Ludwigslust

The French deploy their infantry and cavalry out of artillery range, but place their artillery within range of the Prussian infantry.   They protect their gunners by placing their cavalry just out of range of the Prussian guns, but within counter charge move of any attempt to charge their gunners.   This tactic worked extremely well, as can be seen by the high number of Prussian infantry casualties 

They then attacked on both flanks.   On the left bank of the river Elbe, 6^th corps advanced to take the bridge.   They won the cavalry melee, and forced the defending infantry to retreat in square.   The French cavalry then crossed the bridge to threaten the Prussian artillery on the right bank of the river.

On the opposite flank 4^th corps artillery opened fire on the garrison of the farm, who retreated with 30% casualties.   The French infantry could then occupy the farm out of range of the Prussian artillery.

Before the French could advance in the centre the Prussian army started to withdraw towards Ludwigslust.    This started at move 8, when it was too late for the French to pursue and still have time to attack before nightfall at move 12.

Once more the Prussians had won a technical victory.   They had delayed the French attack for most of the game, and then withdrew rather than try to defeat the main French attack.

The Prussians lost 6 infantry, 1 cavalry and 2 gunners.

The French lost 1 gunner

 

Comments

The Prussian tactic of holding their ground for 6 to 8 moves and then withdrawing before the French attack has proved very effective, and very difficult to counter.  

 

The French must soften up the Prussians before launching their main attack.   Otherwise they risk taking very heavy infantry casualties as they advance into artillery short range and face the skirmish and musket fire of the defending brigades.  

There are only two ways this can be done.   The artillery can try to inflict casualties on the defending artillery, cavalry or infantry (in that priority).   However time is very limited.   The attackers take about four moves to advance and deploy just out of artillery range.   They then manhandle their guns into range and hope to win the artillery battle.   But they have a maximum of four moves to do so, because it will take at least four moves to reach the game objective (usually the town).   

If the attackers fail to achieve this will artillery fire, they must send forward their cavalry to either charge the enemy gunners or cavalry.   If they then lose their cavalry without weakening the enemy more the attackers have lost the game.   Infantry alone cannot hope to win against stronger artillery, cavalry and infantry.

However the most notable aspect of this game has been the huge difference in casualties between the attacking French and the defending Prussians.   But despite this the French were unable to prevent the Prussians retreating before they could reach them.  

For once I am going to fight a second day.   This will pit the now stronger French against the Prussian held town.   It will be interesting to see how it works out, given the unpredictable effect of the dice on morale and combat effects.

Campaign Supply System

Spanish Campaign Map with depots and garrisons 

I have always considered lines of supply to be an important part of the campaign.   In a historical campaign is would be all important.   However my campaign is designed to provide interesting battles to wargame, so it has always been abstract.   I have used it to restrict movement and weaken field armies by detaching brigades to guard the lines of supply.

Each army has nine corps, and each town provides sufficient supplies for one corps each day.   At the start of the campaign each army controls six towns, and the balance of three days supplies is delivered to the main supply depot, which is also the regional capitol, in this case Toledo for the French.

Each corps starts the campaign with four days supplies.   To resupply it must be within one days march (three squares) of a friendly town, and of course that town must have sufficient supplies.

So far so good and pretty simple.   But it requires a lot of administration to ensure that there is sufficient supplies at the right town at the right time.    As the attacking army advances it becomes increasingly difficult.   This is fine in an historical campaign, where the supply system should be a major concern for each army commander.  But I want to keep administration to a minimum, and to concentrate on the actual battles

Current Campaign Map    

Most Napoleonic campaigns, apart from Russia and Spain, did not have significant supply problems.   The aim was to overpower and defeat the enemy field army and thus end the campaign.   This was normally achieved within a short period, and the winning army would then live off the conquered territory.   Lines of supply would have to be secured, but this was done by second line troops and did not usually cause problems for the main field army.

For many years I have struggled to create a simple, but effective, supply system for the campaign.  This has involved moving supplies on the campaign map.   It takes a lot of work, and has very little effect on the campaign itself.   I used to detach brigades from each corps, but this proved too much of a burden on the attacking army.   Eventually I allowed them an extra reserve corps with sufficient brigades to man all the depots.

I have now decided to abandon this cumbersome, and time consuming system.   In future providing that a corps meets the requirement to be stationary during the whole day, not in contact with the enemy and within one day’s march of a friendly town they will be able to resupply.

In Spain I will have a different system.   Depots and lines of supply will still be open to attack by the guerrilla bands.   As now I will roll a dice to determine the outcome of these attacks.   If supplies are lost the corps concerned will not be able to resupply until new supplies arrive.  This will result in attrition casualties if the corps runs out of supply as a result.  

This will greatly reduce the amount of administration, and I hope will not have too great an effect on the campaign itself.