The Battle of Sezanne 8th Sept 1914 - A WWI Batrep

Six Rejects got together at Reject HQ last Sunday for a game using Posties excellent 6mm Baccus collection, using his own rules, which I think are his best homebrew set!

The side were picked out randomly, Surj and Colin would play the defending Germans with Surj as CiC

While the French were play by me as CiC, Dan and Steve.

This was a semi fictional game set in late 1914 in and around the town of Sezanne, the German army has advanced into the region and set up camp and settled in for the night. The French army are charged with pushing the Germans back off the table edge, by taking 12 of the 22 terrain objectives, the choice was ours. These points were, buildings, crossroads, German camps and a single bridge.

The plan was for me on the right, to try and flank the Germans, Dan in the centre to attack Sezanne and Steve on our left to try for the left flank.

OOB

French

18th Corps - General de Maud'houy

35th Div - Gen Marjoulet

69th Brigade - 6th 3 Battalion & 123rd 3 Battalions

70th Brigade - 57th 3 Battalions & 144th 3 Battalions

Reserve Brigade -  218th 3 Battalions & 249th 3 Battalions

Support - 1st Chasseurs a Peid 1 Battalion

Support - 17th Chasseurs a Cheval 1 regt + Horse Artillery Battery

Support - 1 Company of Pioneers

Artillery - 9 Batteries

Germans

VII Corps - Gen der Kar von Einem

13th Infantry Division - Gen LT von Dem Borne

25th Brigade - 13th 3 Battalions & 158th 3 Battalions

26th Brigade - 15th 3 Battalions & (in Reserve) 55th 3 Battalions

Artillery - 6 Batteries + 3 in Reserve

Steve's troops in the left of the pic

Dan's in the centre, facing Sezanne on the crossroads.

Me on the right

This was an early morning attack, so undercover of a mist we stared moving forward.

All moving up on top of the three hills.

The German's were quite sparce on my side of the table, the points I had to capture are marked in red. First shot of the day, I fired my artillery at the village top right. It would take 12 hits to destroy the village, on that last point, any troops left in the building would be destroyed. BUT, it was hard to hit. O a D10 only a 9 or 10 would count, a 10 being 2 hits.

Poor Surj was very upset with my throw!!

6 hits of the buildings and 7 casualties caused. The company holding the villages were slaughtered to the man. So a great start for the French!!!

Surj did get his own back the following turn destroying one of my batteries.

They're quite hidden, but my Chasseurs a Cheval are sneaking through the woods on the right while their Horse Battery unlimbers by the woods, out of range of the German rifle fire.

Dan, in the centre is moving full speed ahead

And so is Steve

Back to the right flank, my Chasseurs a Cheval are lurking in the woods, waiting for their opportunity to try for the flank. My machine gun can be seen hiding behind the infantry. 

Dan heads towards the hedge for some much need cover.

I take my chance, Surj can only shoot one way, infantry to the front of Cavalry on the flank???

The Germans are putting up a very stout defence of their lines. As they're in cover we need to kill on 7's or above, out in the open its 5 and above. Dan has lost a lot of troops crossing the open ground.

Steve's dice are on fire, he is battering poor Colin out on our left, there are 10 points for Steve to collect here.

Disaster for the Germans but delight for the French. I push the defenders out of the village once again, they failed their morale test after I threw a 10 in artillery firing. They retreat 4 inches, right out into charge reach of my Cavalry. This couldn't have worked out any better???

Steve continues to batter the German's on our left. the retreating Germans can be seen behind the building. But as you can see, Steve's force have also been hit hard. The blue dice are casulty counters

The Chasseurs bugles blow for a charge!

Posties luvvly painted french cav

Surj, realising he's going to lose the melee, withdraws an infantry unit that was dug in on the road, so we didn't follow up our future victory and hit them in the flank.

Its not looking good for Surj?

The German's continue so soak up the fire in the centre, the only way we'll get them out of Sezanne is through those 10'd in artillery fire. But, you can only change who your artillery is firing at if after you've thrown d 10 on a D10 forcing them to take a morale check AND them failing that check. Dan was having a little trouble finding that 10.

Steve takes points for the bridge, the bend on the road the brown building and the T junction.

After destroying the Infantry on the left , I take the points for the camp, having already taken the village and the T Junction. The German Commander narrowly escapes capture.

Dan goes in for a charge

And is heavily defeated and pushed back.

Meanwhile the German reserves have finally entered the battle, on turn 4. They could have come on sooner but they failed the test each time.

Surj also abandons the protection of the hedge and fails back 12 inches. He had to do it or he'd have been over run. But I then moved my Cavalry round again. I've my pick of what to charge next turn

Colin's Reserve 55th Infantry, enter the table, but instead of going to help their own 26th Brigade on their right, they head over to help the 25th.

Steve moves over the hedge, capturing the German camp.

I lose another of my artillery, but all the remaining fire go on the newly arrived German infantry of the 55th Battalion

I start to turn my infantry towards Sezanne. And fire my artillery at Surj's Infantry on the hill.

Again I threw a 10, the German's failed there moral and were pushed back another 4 inches, now with their flank and rear showing.

The German lines are thinning out as they try and cover the French forces.

Surj is starting to realise they're done for.

Its only a matter of time?

Finally both Colin and Surj throw in the towel, they just haven't enough troops left to counter our moves.

Conclusion
Its been a while since we last played Early WWI, looking back it was nearly 2 years ago, here. I must admit I really enjoyed this game, It was very difficult for both sides, The Germans were outnumbered, as they should be with the French doing all the attacking, But they just couldn't handle our dice rolls and not getting the reserve on in time. I was very pleased with how my Chasseurs a Cheval got around the flank and caused havoc. We had a choice where to put them and I'm pleased we picked the right flank, I'm not sure they would have been that effective being deployed anywhere else.
It was the right time to end the game, Surj usually carries on and stays when all hope is lost, but he saw the light and we finished around 3 o'clock which was an early one for us!

Well done to all involved

Ray

1812 The Reteat from Moscow 10mm, Abandoned Wagons

 

Not that you need any abandoned wagons to play, the scenarios in 1812 The Retreat from Moscow rules, I thought It'd be rude not to add some to my small collection of 10mm figures. I may yet go back and convert one wagon into a sledge, which you might need in the game......if you're lucky that is?

The wagons once again like the rest of my 10mm collection come from Pendraken Miniatures.

The Battle of Caldiero 1796 - A French Revolutionary Wars Batrep

 

Some of the  Rejects gathered at Reject HQ last Sunday for the Battle of Caldiero 12th November 1796. 

I'm the last Reject to do my report, you can check out Richard's here and Lee's here.

Background

By November 1796, Napoleon and the French Republic’s Army of Italy had defeated the Piedmontese and chased the Austrians across Northern Italy. They had trapped an Austrian army in the fortress city of Mantua and defeated one attempt by a relief army to lift the siege.
However, the Austrians were not going to give up just yet. At the beginning of November, Napoleon faced a difficult situation. Whilst trying to continue his blockade of Mantua, he found himself faced with two large columns approaching from the north. The Austrian plan was to unite in the vicinity of Verona (held by the French) and then march onto Mantua.
Napoleon saw Alvinczy’s approach from the east of Verona as the greater and more imminent threat. Napoleon sent Vaubois to hold the Austrian army marching from the north while he concentrated troops around Verona.
Alvinczy’s advance guard had halted east of Verona; deploying in a position between Caldiero and Colognola. The rest of the Austrian army was further to the west at Villanuova.
Napoleon’s aim in attacking at Caldiero was to defeat the Austrian advance guard before they could be reinforced. His preferred plan was for Augereau to pin the enemy at Caldiero whilst Massena found the Austrian right flank and rolled them up from Colognola.

Victory Conditions
The French must force at least half of the advance guard to retreat, rout or be destroyed. Alternatively, inflict more casualties on the Austrians than they take.
The Austrians must hold both Caldiero and Colognola by the time the game ends.

The Battlefield

Myself and Steve played the Austrians, Steve on the left, holding Caldiero, (the town on the left of the road) and me on the right and reserve, holding Colognola, next to the woods.

The French were played by a very happy Lee and Postie!!

The Austrian right flank, a unit of Grenzer's defending Colognola, another unit of Grenzer's on the hill, flanked by 2 artillery pieces. I think we could be in trouble?

Posties French started the game in the Vineyard, which hampered their movement. So some units were changed into skirmish formation to add movement.

There's a LOT of French!!!!

Including Cavalry!

I had 3 Cavalry units 1 Uhlan, the Wurmser Dragoons (in their unusual cough, uniforms and the Stabsdragoner.

Steve was also outnumbered in the centre he had troops defending the small village of Stra, which didn't give much protection and the bigger prize of Caldiero itself. We were going to have to move units around the table quickly, but where would the French attack???

This is going to be a slog!

First shots of the day, my 2 artillery give fire.

Lee advances the French

As does Postie.

I send each unit of Cavalry in a different direction, this could be dangerous, as I kept their leader with the Wurmser Dragoons in the centre, so the other 2 units would be out of command range, which means they would have to pass a morale test to use their second action. it was a gamble, hopefully it would pay off?

It looks like Postie is going to attack the hill, I didn't think he'd do that?

Postie starts to bring his cavalry around to our right flank, so I race our Uhlans around, to help plug the gap.

Think I'll leave the Dragoons here, not sure where they'll be needed???

A massive mob of French head for Stra!!!

Lee's French Combined Grenadiers start to move towards Stra.

And they're in!!

The Austrians lose the melee and are pushed out of Stra.

Here they come!

There's an awful lots of smoke in the air.

Cavalry or an Elite Line unit to plug the gap?
I chose the line.

It was 6-1, I've moved it up to 6-3 in the French favour.

We still hold both towns and the heights.... but for how long?

Oh dear?

Out on our left flank, we see Steve's Hussars charging French Dragoons, with more Dragoons in support

Gulp!!

Colognola is attacked by two French columns!!

While the Elite Austrians go into square.

Across the Battlefield

The melee on the heights..

Lose the melee and are pushed back

And then follow up their attack, unfortunately only one unit reaches the fight.

The Grenzer's lose again and are pushed back again.

Back out on our left the dice are thrown, he shouldn't have but....

Steve's dice win the melee and push the French back

Abwa-cadabawa!!!

Lee then tried to use magic on his dice...

And would you believe it... it worked!!

We made a mistake with the rules, Steve still won the melee, but wasn't allowed to follow up.
Booo!!!!

The whole picture....

Then a disaster, there were several brigades that due to loses had to take morale checks.

My Grenzers and Artillery failed there check and had to move back one move.

Which meant I moved OUT of Colognola, leaving it open to all elements!!

Postie also failed his check on the heights, all the units in his brigade had to move back 1 move.

So It was vital to win the first move the next turn......

The French threw higher and moved unopposed into Colognola!

One down, one to go!

But we moved our brigade next, I charged into the retreating French on the hill.

And destroyed the French unit.

Then followed up the charge to hit the other retreating French unit.

Which was also destroyed!!!
Go Wormsers Dragoons!

Lee moved out of Stra, and moved another unit in behind. 

But as he came out he formed into skirmish, which was too tempting for Steve, he charged off the hill, won the melee and pushed them back to the other side of Stra.

But the big charge came into Caldiero, there were several melees, but there could be only one winner???

The French pushed the Austrians out of the town, this was the last turn of the game. The French had completed part of their task, taking both Caldiero and Colognola, on the last turn of the battle.

I thought we'd lost, but Richard worked out the rest of the points and as it turned out the Austrians had won the day. Even though they'd lost both towns the French had lost 32% of their army, so couldn't the ground they had taken and would have to withdraw.

Woo Hoo!!!

I took this pic as Rich gave the French the bad news, it was like he'd hit them round the face with a bit of wet cod!!!!

Hehe!

Well that was a terrific game, well done Rich. I thought we'd lost, but was still happy because both me and Steve had played a valiant game, trying our best to survive the constant French onslaught, but to here we'd won a minor victory really was the icing on top of the cake.

I do love a game that really makes you think, trying to guess and second guess what your opponent is up to, really makes for a great game.

Well done has also gotta to go to Lee and Postie, they had defeat snatched outta the jaws of victory.