Disaster near Borodino

As the Grand Armee's advance continues deep into the heart of the motherland, Bagration dispatched two brigades of infantry to halt the French advance and they soon ran into advance elements of the invading army. How did the Russians fare? Read on and find out.

We used John's rules for Borodino, including his suggested stats for units so my Russians lost their steady rule but got an extra point in stamina, I'd rather have the steady rule- but that might jsut be grumbling aobut the outcome!

Turn 1: Kent reads the battle notes transcribed by Napoleon himself apparently.

 We each had 8 battalions of infantry in two brigades- Kent's incldued 2 units of Guard (one per regiment) and 2 units of Veterans. I had 6x line battalions and 2x veterans.

 End of turn 1. My right command refused to advance towards the enemy.

 End of turn 2- Kent advanced a battalion to flank my troops- my artillery would take care of them- or would have if it hadn't blundered and moved in the wrong direction.

 The thin blue line advances.

 While the stalwart defenders of the  motherland march forward to meet them. Atr this point everything was still looking okay...

 Uh, oh. I smell trouble. The Cavary brigade has arrived.

 Still my right flank refuses to do anything useful.

 My Cavalry arrives, my lancers advance then the rest of the Cav join the mass milling round trying to sort out where they are supposed to go. This does not bode well.

 Meanwhile the guard cavalry charge my artillery, ignore the casualties and run down my guns (again!)

 The French Cavalry have charged my infantry, foring them into square so the Gurd go in with the bayonet and rout my battalion- oh, if only wer were steady...

 Ta da! Where did the Russians go?

  minor hiccup comrade, continued the advance! Alas I again manage to fail most command rolls and my attack becomes even more disjointed. It also means Kent is able to continue to concentrate his fire on my exposed brigade and the casualties soon mount...

 In fact two more battalions are shot to pieces and the brigade routs! Ah, crap, now we are in trouble...

 Retreat! The remaining battalions retreat off the table.

 My Dragoons move to cover the crumbling left flank.

 At least the right brigade has finally decided to move...

 The Guard Cav and French infantry dare the dragoons to advance into the valley of death- but disorder them with musket fire. .

 Now the French attack pivots to the French right.

 My infantry fail to inflict any meaningful casualties (again)

 The French Dragoons slaughter the Lancers and drive the survivors from the field.

 Guard Cavalry attacks the dragoons destroying them too.

 And the Russians break. A total white wash, the French did not lose a single battalion! Talk about a white wash. I did miss the steady rule but Kent played his army well and again my lack of coordination of my brigades cost me dearly. Very well played Kent.

Next time we will add a couple more infantry battalions.

The Bomber 
I watched this the other night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The premise is a bit silly but an enjoyable war movie and (the wargamer geek coming out in me) the terrain was great inspiration for war gaming in Russia and the Ukraine. Interesting to get a Russian view and the story is definitely not from a western film making perspective which is good. I thought they did a pretty good job of showing the issues facing Russian soldiers (eg. NKVD) and also of atrocities commmitted in Russia. Well worth a look.

Craig