Snappy Nappy Campaign-in-a-Day 2022: Pregame Turn 3

Results for the Snappy Nappy 2022 Pre-Game Reconnaissance Turns, Part 3 of 4.

This post includes the mechanical results for each Turn 3 movement  point and the corresponding story piece results with the latter being titled in blue for what the French received, in green for what the Russians received, and in red for what both sides received.

Also, their are associated maps, and these have been coded with colored arrows, 2 Blues and Purple for the French with Red for their spy, 2 Greens and Yellow for the Russians with Orange for their spy.  The following is a list of the units with their corresponding colors on the maps.

For the French ... 

Castex's Chasseurs ... Dark Blue

Corbineaux's Chasseurs ... Medium Blue

Doumerc's/Oudinot's Light Cavalry ... Purple

The French Spy ... Red

For the Russians ...

Kulnieff's Hussars ... Medium Green

Balk's Dragoons ... Light Green

Wittgenstein's Light Cavalry ... Yellow

The Russian Spy ... Orange

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PRE-GAME RECON, TURN THREE

Movement Point 1 ...

French ...

1.  Castex's Chasseur Scouts in Danowiczy go to Siabki, encounter cavalry scouts of the Grodno Hussars, and succeed in taking the village.

2.  Corbineau's Chasseur Scouts in Disna go to Danowiczy, and they encounter Balk's Dragoon cavalry scouts, and are bumped back.

3.  Doumerc's/Oudinot's Light Cav Scouts in Danowiczy go to Siabki, encounter same cavalry as Castex, and succeed in taking the village.

4.  Spy in Philippovo go to Wolinizi without incident.

Russian ...

1.  Kulnieff's Hussar Scouts in Antonova to Siabk, encounter both of the French scouting units from Turn 2, and are bumped back.

2.  Balk's Dragoon Scouts in Balin to Pokajewsky.

3.  Wittgenstein's Light Cavalry Scouts in Lozovka to Gamzelov, but encounter scouts from the 20th Chasseurs again, and are bumped back.

4.  Spy in Bononia to Ekimania ...  with Ekimania and Polotsk separated by only the river and two bridges, one blocked by cavalry from Doumerc's Cavalry Reserve units, and the other under construction is not currently usable, then the spy could use his second movement point to attempt to find a way around Polotsk if desiring travel beyond for Turn 4.

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Story Piece Results ...

View From A Farmer At Siabki ...

The old farmer had been outside this morning tending to his crops, after a good rain had fallen the previous afternoon, and into the evening,  Now the breaking clouds were bringing back some sunshine, but that wasn't the only thing coming to the sleepy village of Siabki.

He had heard the French Emperor was coming to Russia this summer, and he had been joined by some extra hot temperatures in July.  Yesterday's rain had been a welcome relief for the plants in farmer's fields, but the old man wasn't convinced the French riders showing up today would be bringing as much happiness as the rain had brought.

The horsemen in their green uniforms had arrived from the southeast, which confused the aging farmer because he always understood that France was west of here.  And there weren't just one group, but two of them that stopped to rest their horses, while their two commanders met each other in between, and atop their mounts.

He couldn't hear the conversation, the cavalrymen were a good bit and too far away, but fingers were pointed, pickets posted while the rest had lunch, and a pair of riders sent back in the direction of where they'd all come from.  Except that was nothing compared to the commotion that occurred when some Russian Hussars in blue were spotted wearing their fancy blue coats on a slight rise to the west of the village.

It didn't take long for the French captains to start shouting for the men of their commands to mount, and then get both units into an orderly formation as quickly as they could.  The old farmer's eyes went back to the western horizon, and saw what must have been a Russian officer raise his hand in a swirling motion, and then disappear with his troopers back out of sight from the village below.

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A Third Outing Between Lozovka and Drissa ...

The captain of scouts from Wittgenstein's Light Cavalry decided he would see if an early enough start out of camp might get a jump on the crossroads to the south west today, and allow for them to proceed on their way, or perhaps find a good place to ambush a French scouting unit if they encountered one again.  But neither was meant to be, and for the third attempt in a row to search beyond the intersection, they again ran into a bunch of French green coats on horseback.

This time the Russian captain had succeeded in getting his men a little further along to reach where the roads joined each, but still found elements of the 20th Chasseurs coming up from the direction of Disna again.  Being that screening was their first priority when it came to encountering the enemy, so he turned the traveling column into another skirmish line immediately.

Meanwhile, the French Chasseurs had arrived up the southwest road again, although not in time to see which way the Russian cavalry might be going.  However, their captain responded quickly in seeing the Russian cavalry spreading out for covering the road way, as well as the fields on either side, and ordered his own men to mirror what the enemy had done.

And so as the sun appeared out from in between the breaking cloud cover, it seemed the stalemate was continuing.  Neither side was going to risk direct confrontation, and neither side was able to continue beyond where they had met each other at the crossroads previously.

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Movement Point 2 ...

French ...

1.  Castex's Chasseur Scouts in Siabki, and arrive in Kochanowichi without incident.

2.  Corbineau's Chasseur Scouts in Disna go to Danowiczy, again encounter Wittgenstein's Light Cavalry, and are bumped back to Disna (a six sided die was thrown for each side to determine the casualties for a quick skirmish, and the Russians won 5 to 3 in casualties).

3.  Doumerc's/Oudinot's Light Cav Scouts in Siabki, and arrive in Kochanowichi without incident.

4.  Spy goes from Wolinizi to Drissa., and arrives to locate a whole bunch of Russian infantry, quite the artillery park, and a little bit of cavalry.

Russian ...

1.  Kulnieff's Hussar Scouts in Antonova go to Daniwiczy, and arrive a good bit before another Russian arrival.

2.  Balk's Dragoon Scouts in Pokajewsky go to Drissa, and arrive without incident.

3.  Wittgenstein's Light Cav Scouts in Lozovka again encounter scouts from the 20th Chasseurs, and after a small fight at the road leading to the north, the cavalry manage to slip off, and reach Danowiczy (a six sided die for each side to see what the resulting casualties might be for a quick skirmish, and the Russians won 5 to 3 in casualties).

4.  The Spy in Ekimania attempts to get around Polotsk, but with both bridges impossible for him to cross, and way too many cavalry trooping around, the spy proceeds north to Ropna, finds a decent enough spot to make the crossing, and will start there on Turn 4, which is sort of like being at Polotsk, except without the heck of a lot of Cuirassiers and Light Cavalry covering all the directions leading into Polotsk.

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More Story Piece Results for Turn 3

The 4th Attempt Between Lozovka and Drissa ...

Both the captain of Wittgenstein's Light Cavalry, and the captain for the French 20th Chasseurs decided to waste no more time riding away from the intersection of the two roads between Lozovka and Drissa.  Both leaders initially barely blinked, and only called back their troopers just slightly enough to stay within eye shot of the enemy, and then sent messengers back to give word of the continuing standoff.

As the afternoon began, the clouds continued to clear, and the heat started its return with the sun.  Water cans were brought out, and each side tightened their line in order to give a select few every half hour or so a break from sitting in the saddle, a brief relief for the men, and their horses.

When both side's messengers returned, the captains of both armies received their orders.  And the standoff continued.

As the last light of the long summer day approached, the Russians sought a way to get around on their left flank, but the French mirrored their motion on their own right flank.  The Russian lieutenant in charge of the attempt tried to make a run for it. but the French troopers responded, and a short skirmish  and turning action occurred.

The clash was very brief, a couple of handfuls of cavalrymen on each side.  The fighting wasn't fierce, and instead much more of a chasing, running, and some attempted slashing that saw only the rare sword finding it's target as the sun set into the western sky.

Five Frenchmen wouldn't be returning to France for their Emperor, and three Russians lay on their homeland for the Czar.  They weren't the first of Napoleon's invasion, wouldn't be the last, and both of the opposing forces retreated into the dark.

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The Sun Also Sets in Drissa ...

The anti-Czarist Russian guide in Oudinot's employment often had his horse out ahead of the ones being ridden by Doumerc's Aide De Camp, and the light cavalryman that accompanied both of them through enemy territory, just in case.  It had been a long ride from Polotsk, the heat making it tough on the morning of their first day out, and the rain didn't make it much easier that afternoon.

When the rain had cleared, the twisting westerly roads were swarming so much with various Russian cavalry running here and there, that quite a number of seek and hide locations were needed along the way making slower than preferred progress occur.  And then when the guide mentioned they were close to Drissa, he then also suggested that the best route to get close enough for a good view without getting caught from this direction was to head for the woods northeast of the town.

And now they'd found themselves moving through dense thickets and lots of under growth, which made it late in the day before they were in a position to see the enemy encampments to the west of Drissa.  Doumerc's Aide De Camp stayed low as he approached the forest's edge, along side of him the light cavalryman tagged along, and meanwhile the guide sat atop his horse further back holding the reigns of the other horses.

The Aide had a spy glass to his eye, and slowly scanned the horizon to his southwest.  There was a lot of what seemed to be regular infantry units sprawled out all over, and to the east side of the Drissa River, and it looked like far more then a ton of artillery parked behind the infantry, while being between them, the river, and the town.

He also could view north of the town, and there wasn't anything present in that area except a small group of cavalry that arrived from the north.  Whether or not that was important wasn't going to be possible to determine, because the sun also sets in Drissa.

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To Cross or Not To Cross At Polotsk ...

The journey for Filip, and his horse Apostol, had been quite the haul.  The rain had cleared upon arriving in Ekimania, but there were more problems regarding how he was going to proceed from there.

Knowing that Polotsk was just over the river, Filip at first decided to find a good and safe spot to tie his horse up accordingly, and then walk the rest of the way into reconnoiter the town.  As it turned out, he probably could have taken the horse with him, for the only French encountered were the cavalry guarding the route over the only bridge that was completed.  Engineers were  working on the second bridge further up river, and they were guarded by a small unit of light infantry, but there weren't any enemy units on the south side of the River Dwina currently.

Filip waited for a bit in a good hiding spot, and saw the various bridge guards change around noon.  However, he couldn't foresee things would be any easier for crossing the river here when there were various groups of cavalry also posted just to the west and east of town on the roads running alongside the river.

So seeing the the water near and under the bridges seemed swift and too freely running, and cavalry troopers were  swarming all over the place, Filip decided to chat with some locals about how he might find a way across.  Then he returned to his horse on the south side of town, and proceeded northwesterly, and along the general course of the river.

At one point he looked out across the water from a slight rise, and could see further beyond Polotsk to view what seemed like more units of cavalry protecting the roads flowing from the north, plus a small artillery park, and a redoubt as well.  He would remember to report that he hadn't seen any infantry except for that small unit of light troops protecting the engineers working on the upper bridge.

Then Filip looped his horse in a semi circle route of travel to get back to the river further down its flow, and eventually located the village of Ropna.  One of the locals had mentioned that the river got wider and slower there, and it might be possible for him to make it safely across.

It took awhile to search and find where it might make sense to give swimming a go.  When he found a spot, he didn't give his horse a moment to think, dismounted, led him into the water, and the swim across the wide Dwina River began.

The water's depth seemed way too deep for infantry, and certainly not artillery.  The swim was a bit of touch and go keeping one's head above the water, but after an effort, Filip managed to get himself and his horse to the other side.