Young Kinch and I met again on Google Hangouts this morning, it being Labour Day on my side of the Atlantic and a day traditionally set aside for studiously avoiding labour. We enjoyed our last outing so much that we decided to do it again, this time choosing the Krasnoi scenario from the CCN Russian expansion. Krasnoi was an unpleasant day on the Retreat from Moscow when Napoleon had to employ his Guard to block the Russians and allow the battered troops of Davout’s Corps to escape.
Once again we used parallel setups. Kinch had the battle set up with his splendid figures, and was able to christen a splendid looking snow mat, seeing as this was the Retreat from Moscow. Until he finds the time to post it on Joy and Forgetfulness, and I suspect his spare time will be somewhat crimped in the near future, you’ll have to settle with my ugly blocks.
Here’s the initial setup from the French side. The two block French Line unit on the bridge on the river, and then strung out along the Left/Centre boundary are the half strength units of Davout’s Corps. The French get a Victory Banner for the first two two-block Line units they withdraw off the French board edge, and get a banner for every two-block Line unit they withdraw thereafter. The Russian player starts the game with eight Command cards, and loses a card for each of Davout’s two block Line units that the French exit from the board. The Russians get a banner for every two two-block French Line units they eliminate. They also get a banner for every turn they hold the bridge, and get two banners if they hold the village of Uvarova, which is on the bed of the river on the French right flank. In the picture below, I made an error and put a French light infantry unit in Uvarovoa. Actually, the Russians begin holding the village.
Kinch opens the ball by grabbing the first of the low-hanging fruit.
While on my right, I get incredibly lucky and push the light infantry of the Young Guard into Uvarovoa, eliminating the Russian lights holding the village in one lucky roll.
Kinch introduces me to his cossacks. Cossacks in the CCN Russian expansion are incredibly annoying. They are like mosquitoes, they bite and draw blood, and it doesn’t matter if you swat them, because they don’t count for Victory Banners when you eliminate them.
Having managed the pesky cossacks, I decide to try and block the road with the Old Guard to give Davout’s command time to escape. I thought they would last longer than they did.
Kinch decides to put pressure on Uvarova, and shoots down half of the Young Guard when they are caught in the open during their smoke break.
The rest of the Guard died shortly thereafter, and while I did my best to bring up reinforcements to hold the village, Kinch sneakily sneaked these horse artillery into Uvarova and that was all she wrote.
Since the whole match lasted about an hour, we switched sides and tried it again. This time, we read the scenario notes more carefully and discovered that Davout’s half strength lines are only worth a half Victory Banner each, and not two as we thought in the first game, which of course explains why I lost… well, that and Kinch’s sneakiness.
I don’t have pictures of the second game, but it was a splendid and drawn out affair that ended in a narrow Russian victory. Kinch was able to extricate much of Davout’s troops, but I was able to grapple with the Guard and whittle them down. There was also a fairly large fur ball around Uvarova, where the Russian heavy cavalry stomped all over the Young Guard, that was fun.
Blessings to your die rolls!
MP+
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