Shadow of the Eagles game - Turns 4 and 5

TURN 4

Going into turn 4, the Prussians won the initiative for the fourth time in a row. On their left flank, the newly arrived landwehr infantry moved up and deployed into line. Beside them, the 'Inferior' rated cavalry failed their command test and were not able to move nearer the enemy, instead reforming into column.

The Prussian left flank

In the centre, the Prussian hussars prepared to fight another combat with the French hussars whom they'd defeated and pursued in the previous turn. In the town, Kraus's infantry took up position on the northern edge and got ready to defend themselves against the French facing them.

The Prussian centre

Outnumbered in the field, the French really needed a successful roll for the arrival of their reinforcements, and they got it! Leroy's three battalions finally arrive on the road and make haste towards the action.

Reinforcements arrive for the French

On their right, the French advanced one of their infantry units towards the Prussian landwehr, while in the centre the foremost infantry battalion of Boche's brigade decided to charge the Prussians in the town. The French rolled a pair of lucky sixes and managed to inflict enough closing fire on the Prussian unit to cause it to fall back, weakened. They pursued and made contact again, meaning the fight would continue in the upcoming close combat phase.

Charge resolution in SotE involves both sides firing before the units close. Either both sides will close and fight in the ensuing close combat phase or – as happened here – one side will be forced to fall back due to an accumulation hits.

Inside the town, the Prussians are pushed back by a determined French assault

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the firing phase saw various units taking hits from artillery and musketry.

Onto the combat phase and the first fight was the clash of hussars. Here, the Prussians were victorious yet again, forcing the French to fall back beyond their lines with the Prussians in hot pursuit. This pursuit by the Prussians brought them into contact with the chasseurs a cheval, which meant another charge resolution had to be resolved. The battery of French horse artillery beside the chasseurs provided supporting fire as the Prussians closed, and caused enough damage to force the Prussians back.

The Prussian hussars are fired upon by the French guns...

...causing them to take casualties and fall back, weakened.

As the cavalry battle swirled outside Nebenstrom, inside the town the fight between the French and Prussian infantry units reached a bloody conclusion as each one caused enough hits to rout the other.

Now you see them, now you don't!

Nebenstrom is suddenly empty of troops

The battlefield at the end of turn 4

The battle was well and truly underway now, and both sides had lost one unit of infantry. Neither army had control of the town, but troops on both sides were still nearby. Over on the left, the French cavalry had been beaten off, but the Prussian hussars were looking a bit spent. Fournier's infantry brigade had abandoned any hope of attacking the town and would spend the rest of the battle defending the French right flank against the Prussian landwehr infantry and cavalry.  

On the Prussian right flank, Goode's brigade was getting nearer to emerging from the woods. The French reinforcements had arrived, but would they be in time to protect the French left flank and also support the attack on the town?

TURN 5

Incredibly, the Prussian won initiative in the 5th turn - five wins in a row! Unfortunately for them, the landwehr cavalry failed its command roll and still hesitated on the flank. The landwehr infantry were made of sterner stuff, however, and the unit on the right charged against the approaching French column.

Landwehr charge the French column

Further over to the right, the Prussian uhlans (with brigade commander Schrode having attached himself in the previous turn) decide to charge against the French chasseurs. The French cavalry successfully rolled for a counter-charge and the two units clashed in the middle.

Elsewhere, infantry from Kraus's brigade moved forward to gain a foothold in the town.

Another of Kraus's infantry units move forward into the town

Prussian uhlans clash with French chasseur a cheval

On the French side, their line infantry moved closer to the town but couldn't charge across the stream in a single turn, so had to be content with waiting until next turn.

View from behind the French lines, with Prussians emerging from the woods top-left

The combat phase in turn 5 saw two engagements. One was the Prussian uhlans against the French chasseurs a cheval; the other was the Prussian landwehr in line against the French infantry in column. Closing fire had not stopped either charge, so it was on to the all-important close combat dice rolls.

The infantry combat ended with both units on 3 hits. In SotE, close combat resolution is quite interesting in that the winner is determined not by who causes the most hits, but rather by which side has the least amount of hits at the end. In this case, the French actually caused more casualties (2-1) but because both sides finished on 3 hits,  neither side was the winner. Draws like this (where neither side has a better rating than the other), mean that another round of combat is fought.

This time, the French won again, causing the landwehr to fall back. However, the French were themselves left weakened and are unable to pursue.

Prussian landwehr fall back from the fight, with both sides exhausted

In the other combat, the Prussian uhlans were victorious. The chasseurs fell back and collided with their own hussars. Since the hussars were still quite battered, I decided to push these back rather than have the chasseurs pass through them (you have the choice). The uhlans pursued but due to the difficult terrain on this side of the town, they failed to catch the chasseurs.

Another cavalry clash ends with the French falling back

Above – this is how things were looking on the Prussian left at the end of Turn 5. You can see the Prussian hussars and one landwehr infantry unit are both quite injured (5 hits each). The French lines are now better organised, with the infantry unit on the outside now moving round in column beside the artillery. The leading French column, however, is 'weakened' and won't be able to advance closer to the enemy unless it can rally hits. I wanted to attach the brigade leader, Fournier, to it during the rally phase, but he wasn't close enough. To the left (out of shot) are the Prussian landwehr cavalry. Will they finally succeed with their command roll next turn and be able to do something?

Leroy brings his columns up towards the town

Above – another view of the town from behind the French centre. Leroy's line and light infantry are coming up in column, while the remaining two infantry battalions from Boche's brigade are poised to rush into the town in the next turn. The unit pictured on the right still has the army general, Dubois, attached, whilst his opposite number, CinC Wolff, is attached to the Prussian infantry unit that is now partly inside the town.

The battle really did feel finely balanced at this point, and the turn limit of 8 was looking like it would work out well. The Prussians had regained the town but were looking less strong in the centre than the French. Leroy's brigade was still some way away, however, and might not be able to do anything as far as attacking the town went, especially with Major General Goode bearing down from the Prussian right.

The cavalry battles had been fascinating, with the Prussians giving a good account of themselves. What was going to happen next in that part of the battlefield was anyone's guess...

Turns 6, 7 and 8 to come tomorrow!

Shadow of the Eagles game - Turns 1 to 3

When it came to the initial deployments for this Shadow of the Eagles game, I decided to draw up six possible battle plans and have each side roll of a d6 to randomly select one. None of these was an elaborately detailed plan, but with quite a few possible combinations it was enough to improve this part of the solo gaming experience.

The battle plans.

Prussian cavalry prepares to sweep round on the left

Fournier leads French infantry in from the west

The battle plan dice roll for the Prussians saw them with Kraus' infantry brigade south of Nebenstrom and nearest to it. They would be leading the charge for the town. General Major Goode, meanwhile, would be bringing the 2nd infantry brigade on a longer approach from the right, intent on crossing through the woods and stream and hopefully falling upon a surprised French left flank. Their artillery would follow as close as possible on the south side of the stream, giving supporting fire across the water. Finally, the Prussian cavalry had orders to sweep around the left and keep the French right busy whilst protecting Kraus' left flank.

The French battle plan was a bit different. Their two infantry brigades would both attack the town - Boche from the north and Fournier from the west. The French cavalry, positioned in between these two brigades, had orders to hold initially and then support whichever flank the Prussians looked more threatening on.

So those were the plans. CinCs Wolff and Dubois were both happy. It all looked good on paper at least...

Turns 1 and 2

Shadow of the Eagles has rules for pre-game bombardments, but since no artillery units were deployed, I could skip this and go straight on to Turn 1.

As expected, the first two turns were fairly uneventful, with both sides making their push towards the town. The Prussians won both initiatives, although it didn't really matter that much at this point.

Neither side rolled successfully for the arrival of its 4th brigade.

Both sides move up on Turn 1

The situation on the French left started to get somewhat messy. Seeing the approach of the Prussian cavalry, the French cavalry decided to advance forward on a mission to intercept them. However, the fields around the town slowed down their movement and Fournier's infantry brigade, approaching from the west, suddenly found its path towards the town blocked by their own cavalry.

Turn 3

Turn 3 is where things really started to get interesting. The Prussians won the initiative for the 3rd time in a row, which meant Kraus' leading line battalion entered the town first before their French counterparts, who were attacking down the road to the north and also poised to enter.

The Prussian luck continued when they rolled successfully for the arrival of their 4th brigade, and better still that 4th brigade arrived in what was probably the best possible sector of the table edge - the bottom left , on the left flank of the Prussian cavalry and directly opposite the disorganised French right (I rolled a d6 to see which one-foot section of the table edge the reinforcement would arrive on).

When it came to the French's movement, Laurent decided he needed to get his cavalry out of that field and out of Fournier's way. Luckily for them, I had misjudged the distance needed for a charge, and it turned out that the Prussian hussars, thinking themselves at a safe distance, were actually within charge range of the French hussars.

The other French cavalry unit - the chasseurs a cheval - also saw an opportunity. One of the Prussian musketeer battalions just outside the town was not in square, and so the French charged in, hoping to catch them still in column formation.

French cavalry charges go in.

This point in the game brought up my first experience of resolving charges, and it all went quite smoothly without any head-scratching or puzzling over what the rules were. The Prussian hussars rolled to see if they could counter-charge (needing a 3 or more) but failed, so had to receive the French at the halt. The nearby Prussian horse artillery tried to provide supporting fire against the French but failed their action. In the other charge, the Prussian line unit managed to form square before the Chasseurs hit home.

Over in the town, Boche's leading infantry battalion rushed in to confront the Prussians who were already inside. Both sides traded fire as they closed in, with the French coming off worse. The foot artillery on both sides to the east of the town both fired across the stream, causing hits against some of the infantry units opposite.

The French and Prussians fight in close combat inside the town.

With the firing phase done, it was on to the all-important close combat phase. With the Prussian hussars failing to counter-charge, the odds were in the French's favour, but the dice rolls didn't go their way and they lost the combat by one, forcing them to fall back. In SotE, units which win a combat and force their enemy to fall back, then roll for pursuit. In this case, the Prussians were found to be 'In hand', which meant they could choose to hold their ground or pursue. I chose to pursue.

Nearby, the French chasseurs a cheval beat their sabres futilely against the Prussian square were also forced to fall back. Square are not able to pursue, as you might expect.

Inside the town, things didn't go any better for the French. The Prussians won the combat by 1, leaving the French with a total of 3 hits at the end of the round against the Prussian's 1. The French were thrown out, falling back through the two other battalions in their brigades, causing hits on both of those units.

The French are thrown out of town.

Having to fall back from a combat causes the unit to take another hit (unless the combat was drawn), so this now meant the French battalion had a total of 4 hits, enough to take it up to a 'Weakened' status.

The situation around the town at the end of Turn 3

Prussian reinforcement arrive in a very handy position!

The Prussian 2nd infantry brigade makes gradual progress

In the 'Generalship and rallying' phase of Turn 3, the French CinC, Dubois, decided to attach himself to the weakened French battalion and managed to rally off one of the hits. The cavalry brigade commander, Laurent, attached himself to the French hussars but failed to rally any of the 3 hits which his unit had sustained.

And with that, Turn 3 had ended. The situation is looking promising for the Prussians, having seen off the French cavalry and taken possession of the town. Their 4th brigade has arrived at a good time and in a good place, and the French have the higher casualties at this point.

However, the battle is far from won. The French still have strong infantry numbers around the town, and there is a good chance of more arriving on the road next turn. The Prussian CinC, Wolff, also has a nagging doubt about the wisdom of sending one of his infantry brigades on a long approach through difficult terrain.

I'll close out this post with a graphic to show you where all the unit hits are stacked up at the moment. Turn 4 should be an exciting one!

Shadow of the Eagles - setting up a game

 

Two new sets of Napoleonic wargaming rules that were released earlier this year are Lasalle (2nd edition) by Sam Mustafa and this one - Shadow of the Eagles by Keith Flint (hereafter, SotE). Both appeared to offer a good way to play a 'divisional' sized battle which would suit the number of painted figures I have in my collection, so I bought both. I haven't yet tried Lasalle, and my one game so far with SotE, while enjoyable, was too full of rules fumbles to be worthy of any kind of battle report.

So, the plan is to give both sets a good run of games, alternating between them, and possibly using the same terrain layout (to save setup times as much as anything).

This first game will be with SotE, but I'll be using the free scenario released by Sam Mustafa in support of his new rules - The Battle of Eselbach - which I've renamed to The Battle of Nebenstrom on account of my using Prussians instead of Austrians. I also made some tweaks to the setup and army sizes, but the scenario is broadly the same, with both sides fighting for control over a town in the centre of the battlefield with a nearby stream/river and a single wooded area.

The link at the bottom of this post will take you to Sam Mustafa's website should you want to see the scenario for yourself, and of course check out the new Lasalle rules. As I say, my next game will be with those.

The battlefield

Here are two rather foreshortened pictures of the battlefield. The table is 6 x 4 feet, which I couldn't easily photograph in one shot. The French have an L-shaped deployment area in the top-left corner; the Prussians have an L-shaped area in the bottom-right.

The stream is large but passable, which in SotE rules means any troops crossing it have to halt their movement at the half-way point and then continue as normal the next turn. The town, fields and woods are classed as difficult ground. The road is my own addition to the scenario. It's there for aesthetic reasons as much as anything, and I'm not sure if it'll have any tactical bearing on the proceedings, but any cavalry or artillery wishing to pass through the town must do so on the road (in march column or limbered). The stream dwindles to nothing just west of the the town, and can't be crossed by artillery at any point along its length, except on the road.

The forces

FRENCH

CinC: Dubois

1st Brigade - Boche

3 x line infantry battalions (regular)

1 x medium foot artillery (regular)

2nd Brigade - Fournier

3 x line infantry battalions (regular)

1 x medium foot artillery (regular)

3rd Brigade - Leroy

2 x light infantry battalions

1 x line infantry battalion

4th Brigade - Laurent

2 x light cavalry regiments (regular)

1 x light horse artillery (regular)

PRUSSIANS

CinC: Wolff

1st Brigade - Kraus

3 x line infantry battalions (regular)

1 x medium foot artillery (regular)

2nd Brigade - Goode

3 x line infantry battalions (regular)

1 x medium foot artillery (regular)

3rd Brigade - Hauptmann

2 x line infantry battalions (regular) 

4th Brigade - Schrode

2 x light cavalry regiments (regular)

1 x light horse artillery (regular)

Independent unit: 1 x light cavalry regiment (inferior)

The figures

My usual collection of course - all 20mm miniatures from Newline Designs. I was short of one command figure for the Prussians, so Major General Goode, who happened to be in the area on a diplomatic mission for the British, has been offered the job! I also don't have any models yet for artillery limbers, but plan to add some very soon.

The French

The Prussians

So, both armies are of a similar size and composition. The French have an advantage in skirmishing, having two units of light infantry against none for the Prussians. To offset this slightly, I gave the Prussians an extra light cavalry unit in the form of landwehr. For the sake of keeping things simple while I get to grips with the rules, I decided to rate all troops on both sides as 'Regular', except the Prussian landwehr cavalry which are 'Inferior' for training and 'Regular' for motivation. Likewise, the CinCs and the brigade commanders are all 'Capable'. SotE has an optional method for randomly generating commander ability ratings, but I'll leave that for next time. In addition, I'm going to ignore the skirmish screen rules for now – perfectly good though they are – purely because I don't have any easy way to represent them. Hopefully that won't skew the game in any way. However, the two French light infantry units will still be able to use skirmish formation.

The deployment

To add a bit more randomness to the encounter, I decided that each side will have part of its force starting off table - Leroy's brigade for the French, and Hauptmann's for the Prussians, along with the independent landwehr cavalry unit. Each side will dice for arrival at the start of its turn, with the forces in question arriving on a d6 roll equal to or less than the game turn. In addition, a successful 'even' result means that the troop arrives on the road. An 'odd' die roll means it'll arrive somewhere along that side's table edge (randomly determined).

I'll be playing the game solo, so in terms of where each side will deploy within their respective areas, I'll do my best to formulate a 'hidden' plan for each side. This will probably involve coming up with a few different possibilities for each side and then randomly choosing one.

Game length and victory conditions

I'd like to specify a turn limit for the game, but without much knowledge of how quickly SotE plays out, I'm not sure what would be a good length. Sam Mustafa's scenario specifies 8 turns, but that of course is for Lasalle. Will that translate well to SotE? I've no idea, but I'm going to go with it and see. If it doesn't fit, I'll just play until the game reaches a satisfactory conclusion.

The default victory condition in Shadow of the Eagles is when one side has lost half its units. In addition, any scenario objectives (which for this battle will be the town of Nebenstrom) are assigned a value in terms of units. For this game I'm going to say that controlling the town is worth 3 units. To control the town, a unit must be within 2" of it, without any opposing unit within that distance. I'll be fairly loose with the whole victory thing - I'm more interested in playing the game and learning the rules.

A note on measurements

The measurements in SotE assumes 28mm figures, but the game can be played with any size of miniatures, and Keith Flint has created playsheets with suggested measurements for those different sizes. See the link below for where to find the free downloads.

I'll be using the suggested measurements for 15-20mm figures, which basically means all measurements in the book are read at two-thirds. My battalions in line are roughly 6 inches wide; a little less than this for cavalry. The 6 x 4 table shouldn't be too cramped for this game, so I could probably get away with just using the measurements as written, but I'll go with the reduced ones this time and see how it works out.

So, that's the setup done. Deployment next and then on to the battle. I am fortunate in being able to leave this table set up, so I'll be playing the battle in stages as time permits, and trying my best not to forget too many rules. Look out for the first part soon!

Links

Lasalle downloads
Shadow of the Eagles website

Altenzaun 1806 with Commands & Colors

With all of my French and Prussian troops now rebased (except for some artillery units) I've been enjoying a few games of Commands & Colors using my Hexon terrain from Kallistra. I do still plan to share an AAR of a game using Shadow of the Eagles as mentioned previously, but the easy set up and play of C&C is too much to resist whenever I'm stretched for time - which seems to be most of the time!

Altenzaun is a scenario that I had never tried before. The Prussians are trying to effect a retreat over the Elbe with the French in hot pursuit. Yorck is conducting the rearguard action to keep the French at bay. The French are more numerous but the Prussians are fighting from a well defended position with both flanks fairly well secured and lots of light infantry to play with. With just five victory banners required, the battle could be won quite quickly, so I anticipated some cautious play on both sides to begin with. In addition to the usual casualty victory banners, the French would gain 1 banner for each unit exiting the Prussian edge of the board, while the Prussians would gain 1 bonus banner for each 'Scout' card played.

Above: the view from the French left/centre. Their line infantry are supported by two light cavalry and one artillery unit. Marshy ground, hills and forest areas will make any assault on this side quite difficult.

Above: the French view from their right. The Elbe is impassable terrain. The Prussians are weaker on this side but might be able to redeploy troops from the centre if need be. A quick assault from the French here could be their best chance of victory.

The Prussians have 5 command cards and four Iron Will tokens in this scenario, and move first. The French have 4 command cards. I didn't play with any Tactician cards this time.

Early moves were cautious by both sides. The French slowly moved up their forces on both flanks, while the Prussians shuffled a few units around on their left flank to present an even stronger defensive line along the trees. Their jägers edged forward and began sniping at the French light cavalry, causing some hits and forcing them to retreat.

A 'Short Supply' card played by the French saw the Prussian foot artillery unit in front of Osterholz being sent back to their baseline, but the Prussians were able to move units forward again and re-establish a presence on the hills on this side.

Which was just as well, since this is where the first big move of the game came from the French with a 'Cavalry charge' card. The jägers quickly formed square whilst the adjacent artillery was able to hold its ground with the help of an Iron Will token. At the end of the combat, all four engaged units had one casualty each (I'm using small blank mdf bases to mark hits here). With a unit of light infantry in square, the Prussian are down to four command cards, same as the French.

The Prussians responded with a Scout card which gave them their first victory banner of the game. The light infantry unit in square was able to cause another casualty on the French light cavalry, who were unable to do any damage in return (effectively rolling zero dice due to fighting uphill against infantry in square).

A 'Co-ordinated advance' card from the French saw them moving artillery and line infantry up on the left and centre, while one of their leaders on the right flank led a unit of line infantry forward to follow-up the cavalry assault on that side. The light cavalry unit that had forced the jägers into square was ordered to move forward out of harms way, and was now well positioned to exit the Prussian side of the board if the opportunity arose.

Both sides settled into a few rounds of blasting away at each other before the French made the next significant move: Flank Attack. On the right, one of their light cavalry units charged off into the Prussian rear for 1 victory banner, while their light infantry unleashed a volley against the jägers and...

...sent them packing.

French: 2 banners
Prussians: 1 banner
With their light infantry square gone, the Prussians are back up to 5 command cards.

Following the action on the French right, the Prussians decide it's time to seize the initiative and launch a surprise attack against the French left with a 'Bayonet Charge'.

Here's how the Prussian left looked before the card was played.

The two light and two line infantry units in and around the woods are ordered forward to attack the French.

They give a good showing. The foot artillery and infantry unit nearest Altenzaun are both routed, and the other line infantry unit is forced to retreat two hexes.

French: 2 banners

Prussians: 3 banners

The Prussians are only two banners away from victory, and things are starting to look a bit desperate for the French. They respond with a 'Force March' card and to try and fight back on their left.

The combat is vicious and ends honours even. The jägers are driven out beyond the marshland whilst Ware and his unit destroy the Prussian line infantry in front of them. To Ware's right, the other French line infantry unit fairs badly against the Prussian infantry led by Bila (looking a bit like Blücher!) They take another hit and are forced to retreat. In Commands & Colors, Prussian line infantry receive an extra dice in melee combat when they don't move, and in this case the French (already slightly weakened) weren't able to inflict any damage before the Prussian fought back.

French: 3 banners
Prussians: 3 banners

The battle hangs in the balance with troops engaged on both flanks. In the centre of the battlefield things are fairly quiet but, crucially, the two injured units of French light cavalry sheltering behind Altenzaun are left exposed by the holes appearing in the French left.

Unable to press the attack on their right flank, the French look once again to Ware to win glory for France, but his battle with Bila's Prussians goes badly and his unit is mauled and left with one hit remaining.

Sensing victory is within reach, Yorck delivers the coup de grâce with a card that has been in hand since the start of the game: 'Fire and Hold'.

Ware's unit is a prime target for the Prussian jägers...

...and is the first to fall.

Prussians: 4 banners
French: 3 banners

The winning banner then comes with the fall of the French light cavalry which already had two hits. One hit and three flags was enough to remove the remaining two hits and give the Prussians their fifth and final victory banner.

A view of the battlefield at game end:

The French had tried to get another light cavalry unit off the board on the right flank but had run out of command cards for that side. Everything hinged on the battle to their left but the Prussians proved too strong.

Yorck and his men carried the day and the Prussian main army was able to safely cross the Elbe, just as it did in history.

Another great game of Commands & Colors. For solo play, I find it hard to beat. My main interest is quite simply a desire to line up the soldiers and watch how it all plays out. C&C lets me do that every time, without ever feeling repetitive or predictable. I could play this scenario many times and the narrative would likely be different every time.

Shadow of the Eagles next. I promise!

A short update...

It's been quite a while since I posted anything, but in case you are wondering I haven't abandoned the blog. Other commitments and a bit of hobby burnout has meant I've either not had the time or the inclination to do much with my various projects - particularly my 20mm Napoleonic collections, which are the main focus here.

I will get going with things again soon, and plan to do more than just post photos of what I've been painting (although there will be plenty of that too, I'm sure). What I really want to do is write up some battle reports, try out some of the many rulesets I've amassed over the past few years, and generally share some of my hobby adventures in Napoleonic wargaming, especially from a solo-gaming viewpoint.

Despite the lack of posts, I did manage to make progress with my rebasing project earlier this year. I lost count of how many times I changed my mind about base sizes, but eventually settled on two-figure bases for cavalry and six-figure bases for infantry. (For those that are interested the cavalry bases have a 35mm frontage and 37.5mm depth. The infantry are 37.5mm wide and either 30mm or 35mm deep.) Artillery bases are either 45 or 50mm wide, of varying depths.

The rebasing is only partly done. I'm maybe about a third of the way there, but there's enough to give me some French and Prussian units to play with. As well as giving all the bases a more consistent look, I took the chance to touch up and repaint certain units, and correct some of my uniform mistakes (of which I'm sure there are still quite a few!) The biggest change was to give the French infantry uniforms a darker blue colour and to repaint a lot of the shako covers as greys or browns rather than having them all black.

I have a new gaming cloth on order, which should give me a prettier surface to demo a short game for my next post. I'll either be using Lasalle 2nd edition or Shadow of the Eagles, both of which were released this year. More on that next time!