Battle Report: Mockern, 1813

    We ran this game Thursday evening at Historicon., and had a fun time with it. The players were:

FRENCH
GABRIEL as Marmont
ROGER as Ney
CHRISTOPHER as Souham

ALLIES
TIM as York
JEROME as Langeron
DAN as St. Priest
BARRY as Sacken

The far right flank, with one unit of Marmont's Corps deployed beyond the Elbe.

The Prussian far right flank at deployment - the Advanced Guard in the lead, supported by 2 Prussian "Brigades".

The Bulk of Marmont's Corps - attacking all that artillery will be bloody!

The rest of York's Prussians.

Marmont does have some Cavalry in support as well.

Dombrowski's Polish Division (I used my 4 units pf Vistula Legion troops, painted for Borodino last year). 

Fournier's Light cavalry on the French far right flank (part of Souham's Corps).

Langeron's lead troops started on the table, with many more to come later...

Another view of the initial Prussian deployment.

A close up view of the Vistula Legion troops....

and of the Dragoons supporting Marmont.

long view of the table from the French right, with "Czar" Barry reviewing the latest briefings.

Long view of the table from the opposite side (French left).

Whoah!  Where did all those Ruskis come from?

The large Front Rank figures are Barry's.

The French reserves and reinforcements move up in support.

The initial Prussian cavalry charge takes out a French battery, but at considerable cost!

Close up of the action as NJ Tim C's (not to be confused with London Tim C!) Prussians close with the French defenders.

French light cavalry charge, trying to slow up the advance of St. Priest's supporting Russian corps.

View of the center, where Langeron's powerful Reserve Artillery has formed a  Grand Battery!

Souham's French Corps has arrived in force.

Overview of the Battlefield during the middle game...with some liquid courage on the table!

More cavalry melee on the far French right..

Yorks' Prussians rupture Marmont's center.

Russian Grand Battery, about to pound Dombrowski's Poles.

Souham's defensive position, prompting St. Priest (Dan) to declare "There's no way I'm attacking into THAT!"

The rocks indicate French Morale points to be lost if the terrain is seized by the Allies. 

View of the center of the battlefield, in the vicinity of Breitenfield and Lindenthal.

Another view of the battle in the later stages.

The French units in greatcoats are representing the Marine Artillery battalions of Marmont's Corps.

York continues to press on with his attack, despite having had the leading Landwehr infantry units very roughly handled.

Marmont prepares a last counter attack.

French Dragoons catch the Prussian Grenadiers in the flank... or do they?

A great hand descends from the autumn skies, and sweeps the Dragoons from the field!

Russian cavalry and cossacks cover the advance of the Grand Battery. 

Charge of the French Hussars in the center.

Prussian artillery limbers to close the range, as most of Marmont's Corps is out of action. 

Russian Cavalry try to eliminate a pesky French Horse Artillery battery...

and succeed, finally opening the way for the rest of Langeron's Corps to advance in the center

Not much infantry of any value left in Morand's Corps by this point!

The French still hold Wahren... barely!

"Tactical Advantage - try to remember to *use* it!"

Measuring a parting shot by the Russian Corps Artillery Reserve.

  If my recollection serves me correctly,. near the end of the game, there was a point where the Allies were running very low on Morale points. If the French could have inflicted sufficient losses upon them, and the Allies then turned the Army morale card, there was a chance for a French victory. That didn't happen, and it was clear that the Prussians would sweep their half of the battlefield clear, and thus the French began withdrawing. 

    Having played it out at the convention with three players, I would modify my scenario for Mockern for Field of Battle by making the following adjustments:

1) completely omitting Sacken's Russian Corps from the game
Reasoning: too many troops for the table size for optimal game, arriving too late for a three players game, and Sacken took little part historically anyway.

2) allowing 8th and 15th Divisions of Langeron's command to enter on the first Allied MOVE card, with the rest (22nd Division plus Corps Artillery Reserve) entering on the second allied MOVE card
Reasoning: need to reduce overcrowding and speed up the pace of the game in FoB terms

3) allowing St Priest's Corps Cavalry to arrive on the first Allied MOVE card, his 17th Infantry Division on the second allied MOVE card, and the rest of the corps on the third Allied MOVE card.
Reasoning: same as #2 above.

4) only allowing Souham's 8th Infantry Division as French reinforcements, entering on the second French MOVE card. Thus, the French 11th Infantry Division, Beurmann's Light Cavalry Brigade, and Souham's Reserve Artillery will play no part in the battle.

These changes would also reduce the French to 39 units, and their  Morale points to 67; on the allied side their units would drop to 59, and their Morale points to 67.  Finally, the game would play better (faster) with TWO players each for Marmont and York.

Peter

Calling out the (Prussian) Reserves for Historicon

Well, I had to keep up with tradition and have a few units finished at the last minute, so here they are, as of Wednesday AM. I aded the flags right after taking these pictures.

Prussian 8th Reserve Regiment - this regiment had several battalions in British supplied uniforms.

In this case, the dark blue Portuguese uniforms have rather unusual green facings!

The men of the regiment haven't yet had time to remove the hated (but very smart looking) lace decorations, it appears!

British style packs, too.

not to mention the out of place white over red short plumes on the shako!

9th Prussian Reserve Regiment - this unit has short green plumes and white metal hunting horns on their shakos!

Several battalions of this Regiment wore a British Rifle style uniform, in dark green faced black, with white metal buttons and black "wings".

Here they are, marching to Fredericksburg!

I left home at 8;30AM, on schedule, and arrived at the hotel at about 3:10 PM. Tim arrived perhaps a half our later. WE both had fairly uneventful trips, but were both tired, and thus went to bed early... after registering at the Convention and schmoozing with some friends there. 

Got full swing with the convention bright and early Thursday AM, but that is a story for another post!