The Napoleonic Wars, General de Brigade, 28mm

Good old Charles S. Grant. Whenever I’m in need of an interesting scenario for a game I dip into one of his scenario books, or stockpile of “Tabletop Teasers”. This one – dubbed “Holding Action (1)” was culled from Scenarios for Wargames, published back in 1981. Its one of the Brigadier’s classics – the defence of a pass by a small blocking force, with orders to hold their ground behind Line A-B until nightfall, to allow the main army to retreat to safety. While the attacker (Red force) has more units, he also has to work against the clock. Blue force also has the advantage of holding the high ground, and being able to hide some of the defenders behind the two ridges. The result is a game that hangs on a knife edge. What more could you ask for in an evening’s wargaming? I’ll have to buy the old boy a nip of Highland Park next time I see him, by way of saying thanks.Now, on with the game. Blue force (played by Mark Colston) consisted of a mixed brigade of Prussians and Russians, with 4 battalions of infantry, a detachment of skirmishers, one gun battery and a supporting regiment of Russian hussars. I took charge of Red force, a small mixed French division consisting of two three-battalion brigades/regiments of infantry supported by a voltigeur detachment, a brigade of two dragoon regiments and a regiment of Polish lancers, and a battery of guns. We decided to set a random time limit to the game based on the roll of three dice. The score was 13, which meant I had that many turns to break the enemy. In retrospect this probably wasn’t enough – we’d have had an even better and more see-saw game if we’d added a couple of turns to the total.Naturally the Allies held their ground as the French marched onto the table. Entry was random, with both infantry appearing on the road south of the village, while the cavalry came on first, from the eastern table edge. This approach march took up five precious turns – halfway through I was longing for Black Powder’s rapid movement! The cavalry suffered from the Prussian guns during the approach march – the artillery being split into two half-batteries, sited on the high ground on either side of the pass. I needed to buy time for my infantry, so I launched my lancers at the half-battery on the eastern ridge. The charge was stopped in its tracks, and the lancers retired, licking their wounds. By this time the dragoons were in place in front of the western ridge, and launched a charge at the western guns.This too was repulsed, with heavy casualties, as was a lateral charge across the mouth of the valley as my pink-faced 15th Dragoons charged the eastern battery from the flank. The doomed charge of the 20th Dragoons had temporarily screened the western battery, but the 15th still had to run the gauntlet of fire from a Prussian fusilier battalion drawn up in line across the pass, and from the detachment of jaegers, who lined the inner crest of the eastern ridge. This third charge was repulsed, but only just. The withdrawal of the bloodied dragoons ended the first phase of the battle.It was now Turn 8. The French infantry had deployed in assault columns, facing the pass, while the French 6-pounder battery was already in action against the French eastern battery. As the French advance began their supporting guns won their counter-battery fuel, forcing the Prussian guns to limber up and withdraw behind the eastern ridge. That paved the way for the main French assault. it took another two turns to lumber forward, and for the right-hand brigade to get into charge range of the Prussians holding the eastern ridge. Another turn of artillery firing had inflicted a few casualties on the Prussians, which meant that when the charge came, the French outnumbered the leading French battalion by almost four to one. That the charge failed was entirely down to me forgetting about the flanking fire from those pesky Prussian fusiliers. They caused enough casualties to force a morale check on the left-hand French battalion, which was forced to retire. As a result the other two battalions refused to charge home. The ignominy of it – my troops were in a perfect position to sweep the Prussians from the hill, and they flunked it at the crucial moment!Still, we still had three turns before nightfall. As the right-hand French brigade/regiment pulled back to reform, the other one swept in against the Prussian fusiliers holding the pass through the valley. The Prussian guns could well have shredded the attackers, were it not for a seemingly suicidal supporting charge by the 15th Dragoons. Amazingly the Prussian canister fire proved singular ineffective, but the cavalrymen still refused to charge home, thanks to their heavy casualties earlier in the game. The 85th Line weren’t so timid, and they crashed into the Prussians, driving them back. Technically this gave the French control of the pass, but with the Prussians still on both ridges, and a Russian infantry battalion and a hussar regiment lining up for a counter-charge it wasn’t a winning move.Rather it would have started a fresh new phase of the battle, as the Allies would have tried to drive the 85th back. It was at that stage that darkness fell, and the game came to an end. The Allies had to hold the pass until night, which they did. The French had to break through the enemy position, which they failed to do. So, this holding action was an Allied victory – actually a Prussian one, as the Russians never became engaged in the fight. The rules – General de Brigade- worked a treat. It was a pleasure to revisit them after using the faster, simpler but less tactically demanding Black Powder for so long. No doubt we’ll be digging the rules out again, along with Charles’ old scenario books!

Tags: General de Brigade