LA ROTHIERE, 1814 with SOLDIERS OF NAPOLEON, GAME 5

Well, this is a bit of an problem. In a 'senior moment' of clearing pictures off my phone, thinking I'd already transferred them, I mass deleted all the pics of the game from it. Gone!  I have 2 left... oops! So, La Rothiere ends with little record of it, but it did happen. 

The final scenario is for the last action of the day. The Russians had almost captured the village, of La Rothiere, so in the evening the battalions of the Young Guard were called up to counter-attack and take it back, throwing the Russians (Prussians standing-in in our games), back and allowing time for the French to withdraw from the field. As the snows fell and gathered, and darkness approached, the French counter-attack encountered, coming the other way, the full force of a Russian grenadier division (2 brigades)... so good infantry against good infantry here, and almost no cavalry (French have 1 weak unit of Guard lancers that were guarding the road and did advance into the village). All set for guns and ground-pounders then... 'Forward the Guard! '

It opened with some sparring around the village buildings, the Russian guns being dragged up and deployed and French skirmishers starting their work. One French battalion occupied the first buildings and that would later prove useful in fulfilling the 'tale a stronghold' objective. There would be skirmishing around the buildings for the rest of the game.

In the open fields, the Young Guard brigades started to advance and came under galling cannon fire from the big Russian batteries. The round-shot pummeling was short lived after ammunition ran low, saving the guard and allowing the really attack to begin unmolested. This attack would come on the far left, as Guard columns moved 'at the quick' against a weakened line. Skirmisher fire did not deter them and on they came, before charging in and driving the Russian line columns back in melee. One broke... the other two were hanging on, but the pressure was buildings. The French had had a good start and build up a healthy VP leads.

This continued as the Young Guard pressed home on the left and broke another battalion, then overran their supporting battery. The entire Russian brigade was wiped out next turn and the French VP raced to a big lead, 22 to 7. The Russians were looking at rapid and hefty defeat. They needed some help, and, thanks to the arrival of their Corps commander, and then the swift arrival behind him of two grenadier brigades of 8 strong battalions, in the centre and on their (now destroyed ) right. The grenadier columns marched up to face-off the Young Guard, who had already been in combat and were rallying for the next push, but here would be the climax of the fight.

And it was an epic clash of infantry. The French pressed the attack again, holding a 'grand assault' objective card and keen to win it with those VPs, they moved up, exchanged volleys and tried to press home. It didn't work, only 3 columns charged (not the 4 required) and the others came up short... allowing the grenadiers to unleash heavy firepower back and close range. The grenadiers also held their own in most of the melees and threw the Young Guard back... a hefty reverse and one Guard battalion broke and fled. The Russians were back in it on VPs. Next turn, they went for it, declaring their own charges and countering the Guard. Every battalion ordered charged (5 in all) and in the mass bayonet fight and brawling, the Young Guard could not hold out, losing four of the five melees. The Russians broke another battalion too, and suddenly, from a dominant French position the Russians had pulled it back to even-stevens. But, they had also completed their own 'grand assault' and rolling for the VPs scored the max, added to this, the punitive VPs from the French for failing their own... oh dear!

The Russians had, somehow, won it! From looking like a huge defeat, the last-ditch arrival of the grenadier battalions had turned it around and won the game. The French still needing 3 more VPs to break them, but completing the objective (after the French had failed the turn before, which would have won it) was the difference. A narrow Russian win, pulled out of the fire...

Great game, so close at the end, and an epic final turn of close melees. The marginal Russian win in game 5 means the campaign ended with a French narrow win at La Rothiere after 5 games. The French took 3 games, the Allies 2... so we are done. I shall now add this of the pile of work to turn into a SoN 'Great Battles' supplement, available as a pdf from Gripping Beast in the next few months (hopefully). 

The only surviving pics of the action... lesson learn, double check you have the pictures before deleting them!

 

La Rothiere sits between the (P)russian and French lines, lots of skirmish fighting. Young Guard deployed are to the left, to attack around the buildings. Here, faced by some line regiments, awaiting aid from grenadiers, en route

(P)russian lines, a big battery hammering the Young Guard, but ran low on ammo. Huge infantry brawl building to a climax. Prussians up against it, but grenadiers deploying at the quick.