An outnumbered French Corps took on the main Prussian Army in the latest of my historical battles using Steve Parker's Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte rules.
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| Stormy skies (image from Wiki) |
The French, under Marshal Davout, though outnumbered, formed squares which helped them enormously tackling repeated Prussian cavalry attacks. White dice indicate defensive stance, black indicate elite formations.
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| Start of the game |
Blucher's early charge leading the Prussian Hussars did not end well. The Duke of Brunswick (Prussian C-in-C) next brought up some infantry that were also dispatched, and then threw more cavalry (Cuirassiers) into the fray.
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The French squares stood firm, while repeated attacks by the Prussians saw their numbers dwindle.
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Eventually the Prussian Army ran out of fresh units to throw at the French, and the battle was over. Against the odds, the Emperor's men had won. A celebratory supper in Berlin is on the agenda...
Them Prussians had a hard time of it! If Blucher gets too dispirited he may throw in the towel before W*terloo….😶
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what happens at W/loo. So far Napoleon is knocking down every coalition thrown at him (apart from the hiccup in Egypt)!
DeleteInteresting to see that DoNB was able to recreate - albeit in a very abstract form - Davout's victory. The dice must have fallen in favour of the French. Often, wargames have difficulty portraying victories gained against the odds and giving the same or similar outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThere is, perhaps, a tendency to regard what actually happened as the most likely outcome for that reason, to construct wargame rules accordingly, and to judge games that do not produce the same result as inherently unrealistic. But careful analysis of a battle may suggest that the historical outcome was not the most likely result and that the scenario and rules should allow other results to occur. So, I have no problem with the DoNB system generating ahistorical outcomes, but I do feel that the straitjacket of no more than six units and the limited number of grid areas is a level of abstraction that makes producing a recognisable recreation of a particular battle problematic.
Arthur, thanks for your comment. The French had very favourable dice for this game for sure and the Prussian collapse was quite spectacular. It would be interesting to see what would happen with the introduction of more units and a slightly wider grid (I guess that Steve Parker has already tried this). I have produced one ahistorical result so far (Battle of the Pyramids) and I do anticipate (and hope for) others!
DeleteGood to see the Iron Marshall live up to his reputation. In my experience using these rules I end up with A more or less historical result about 2/3 of the time.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting stat Mark - I'll keep an eye on my scores and compare.
DeleteMaudlin Jack Tar -
ReplyDeleteI do believe I have been paying insufficient attention to the 'Dominion of' concept. Reading these latest articles have thrust upon my mind the idea of combining the concept with a version of my 'Map Games'. The notion is still only half formed, but something for me to chew over!
Cheers,
Ion
Ion, I'd guess that these rules might be perfect for resolving battles in one of your mini campaigns.
DeleteTime to get some new dice I reckon - the ones you’ve been using are clearly flawed in favour of the Frenchies. Surely, when time comes, the Duke of Wellington will be able to see off that little Corsican chap ⚔️⚔️
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Geoff
Cursed dice? Not from Napoleon's perspective 😜
DeleteStill a long road to Waterloo Geoff.
You are having a lot of fun with this play through of the scenarios. I really enjoy seeing you use the tokens from Risk!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
James, thanks, yes I'm enjoying Steve Parker's scenarios very much! Using the RISK pieces on 1 inch bases makes a very compact game which seems to suit the rules.
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