202 Golymin (26 December 1806)

The roles are reversed, with me taking the French for Evert's and my return match at Golymin. Evert's "Mother Russia" roll gave him three Cossack units (they're just a nuisance), which he scattered across the Russian front line, plus an extra block added to the artillery and Light infantry on the Russian right flank.

The French started with their left flank infantry, led by General Heudelet, closing on the Russians in front of them {moving right on the board}. Exchanges of fire caused some casualties on both sides, almost including Gen Heudelet, before the French pressed home their attack. Damaged by the musketry, the Russian artillery was taken out by French Line infantry, the Cossacks were destroyed {no banner for a Cossack unit, though} and Line infantry under General Sacken were badly mauled. {A useful "Force March" card let me get six units into the attack and the score is 1:0 to me.}

The Russians holding Kaleczin retaliated and eliminated a French Light infantry. {1:1}

However, the French continued to attack, finishing off two Russian Line units (Gen Sacken fled the battlefield) and inflicting heavy casualties on the troops in the town. {I had a second "Force March", but Sacken doesn't count as a banner, so it's 3:1.}

Despite their mauling, the Russian infantry in Kaleczin tried to chase off their attackers, only to fall instead. {4:1}

Wary of the Russian cavalry milling around in the centre of the battlefield, the left flank French infantry did not advance further, apart from finishing off Russian Light infantry hiding in the woods. Instead, French infantry under General Desjardin moved through the woods in the centre to engage their Russian counterparts there. {5:1}

With nothing in immediate danger, the Russians began retreating their left flank. The French right flank followed, the Light cavalry charging ahead to harry the slowest Russian unit.

The Russian infantry stoically continued their retreat. {Evert used a "Bayonet Charge", usually an attacking card, to move his units two spaces.}

The French Light cavalry continued its pursuit of the slowest retreating Russians. Stuck in a marshy area, the Russian infantry was unable to form square and fell to the cavalry sabres. While, in the centre, French muskets were taking lumps out of the Russian cavalry and their bayonets wiped out a Line infantry. {7:1}

The battered Russian cavalry retired out of range, so the French infantry engaged the enemy infantry across the centre of the battlefield and destroyed another Russian Line. {8:1}

Wow! That was horribly one-sided - though Evert did have five units poised to exit the board, which would have changed the score line radically. However, he just didn't have the cards to do this. The aggregate score is 13:9 to me, the difference being the units I did manage to get off the board as the Russians.

This result reinforces my view that the Russians are not as tough as they appeared to be in the first scenario. Looking at the forces involved, this may be because the Russians have plenty of - full-strength - Grenadier units in that scenario, while here they mainly have three-block Line infantry.

Interestingly, the statistics show it being a Russian win over 60% of the time. I suspect the way for the Russians to win is to concentrate on getting units off the board - something neither Evert nor I prioritised.

Two games today, bucking the trend above with two French victories. Both were close at 8-6. Although the Advanced French left flank looks like an advantage, in fact the cavalry units are boxed in by the wooded terrain, and in both games they were extricated using La Grande Manoeuvre. In both games the French won by crushing the Russian centre. In neither game were the Russians able to exit more than two units - this was down to not having sufficient cards playable on the left. However, two close results made this an interesting scenario and certainly one worth playing again.

Another game and this time a Russian win 7-5. If the Russians fall back towards the left baseline t's very difficult for the French to catch them if they don't get the right cards. In this game, the French did not get a single forced march or bayonet charge card (the Russians had two) and so had to rely mainly on musket fire after moving, with predictably disappointing results. The final play was the Russian bayonet charge which destroyed four French units for victory.

The French infantry outnumbers the Russian infantry by a wide margin, but the Russian cavalry was devastating in our game, eliminating all three French units for the loss of only as many blocks.