BBB – Battle of Brienne, January 1814

For games in the Napoleonic era, our group has been using two sets of rules — Et Sans Resultat (ESR) and Bloody Big Battles (BBB).  Several of our most recent games had been run using the new Third Edition of ESR (see previous reports).  To accommodate those in our group who prefer BBB, and to see how the two sets of rules compared, we decided to replay our most recent game — the Battle of Brienne — using BBB.

For the historical background to this battle and a description of the terrain, see our earlier report from when we played Brienne using ESR.  To briefly summarize the situation, Russian forces, led by Prussian Generalfeldmarschall von Blucher, are moving into position from the north and northwest to defend the town of Brienne and the road passing through the village of La Rothiere to the south.  Protecting that road until midnight is vital because the enormous Russian supply train is moving along it.  French forces, led by Napoleon, are converging on the town from the northeast and the east, intent on destroying Blucher’s isolated force and cutting off the Russian supply train.  Thus controlling Brienne and the supply road would be the two objectives in our game.

The scenario was drawn from the ESR V.2 Campaign Guide “The most awful situation” which covers the 1814 campaign in France.  Converting the scenario for use with BBB was easily accomplished by breaking up the larger divisions into brigades which conformed to the unit sizes in BBB.  For our game, we used a ground scale of 1″ = 100 yards.  Our infantry bases had a frontage of 1.5″ and represented about 600 men; artillery bases had a frontage of 1.5″ and represented 8-12 guns; and cavalry bases had a frontage of 1″ and represented 200-300 mounted men.  These base sizes were dictated by how our figures are based, but they worked well in the game, giving cavalry units a boost in effectiveness that we felt was appropriate for the period.

Regrettably, we forgot to take photos of the set up and the opening moves, so our pictures begin about 2-3 turns into the game.  We are also way behind on our battle reports — this game took place in September — so this report is going to a little short of details.  Here is what happened.

The game began with Olsufiev’s and Sacken’s Russian infantry corps marching into Brienne from the north, while the Russian cavalry corps entered from the northwest.  Screening this movement to the east was the Russian advanced guard, which was composed of two light cavalry brigades and a Jager brigade, as well as some Cossacks to the south.

The first French units to arrive were a light cavalry division and the leading elements of Victor’s infantry corps.  The French light cavalry made contact with the Russian advanced guard while Victor’s corps moved behind them toward the southern end of the battlefield.  The cavalry fight was indecisive, which enabled the Russian infantry to move into Brienne without being molested.  Olsufiev’s corps deployed to defend Brienne, while Sacken’s corps moved through Brienne and deployed in the open fields to the south.

Two divisions of French dragoons arrived from the northeast and pushed back the Russian advanced guard with losses.  Meanwhile, Ney’s Young Guard corps began to arrive from the east.  The leading division of Young Guards moved directly toward Brienne, and the other two divisions were echeloned to the left as they arrived, where they became a bit intermingled with Victor’s brigades.  Once the Young Guard reached the front, the fighting became general, and night began to fall.

(During the turns played in darkness, all firing ranges were reduced to 3″ but no additional penalties were imposed on fire effectiveness,  unit activation rolls or movement.  Rather than burden the players with these frustrations and slow the game down, we simply made each night turn represent a longer period of time.  This worked very smoothly, and it enabled us to finish the game in the time that we had available.)

In the south, the Russians formed a “thin green line” to hold back superior numbers of French attackers.  The stubborn Russians held the line for a couple of turns, but as losses mounted, the gaps between the Russian brigades widened.  These gaps were exploited by the French cavalry, which had been joined by the Guard Cavalry corps.  The Russian units were overwhelmed and reduced to isolated pockets that were sent reeling back toward La Rothiere.

In Brienne, there was house-to-house combat between the Young Guard and the Russian defenders.  Supported by canister fire from French horse artillery, the Young Guard methodically began to clear the town.  Due to an oversight, the Chateau of Brienne was left undefended, and an enterprising brigade of French cavalry swooped in to capture this strongpoint.  The Russians were hard pressed, but one brigade was able to hold on to the southern end of the town until the end of the game, leaving this objective contested by both sides.  The outcome of the game would depend on what happened in the south.

The final Russian defensive line in the south had one infantry brigade in La Rothiere, with another brigade on its right, to the east.  Covering the gap between the village and the river to the west were three artillery batteries and the last effective Russian cavalry brigade.  The Russian supply train was passing just to the rear of these units.

The French took a couple of turns to mop up the remnants of the Russian forces north of the village and move to within charge range of the town.  With time running out, the French attacked all along the line.  The Russian infantry and one battery stood firm, but the other two batteries were silenced and the Russian cavalry was defeated.  This enabled the Guard Chasseurs-a-Cheval and the Empress Dragoons to cut the vital road on the final turn, giving Napoleon a victory by the slimmest of margins!

(To make matters worse for the Coalition, at the end of the game, Blucher managed to get himself captured!  Considering how roughly his army had been handled, his Russian subordinates were probably glad to see him go…)

The game was very dynamic and was great fun to play.  BBB’s mechanics are simpler and faster than ESR, which enabled us to play the entire scenario in one session, vice the two sessions that we needed to play it with ESR.

• TJ