206 Eylau - 8AM to Noon (8 February 1807)

I think, this is probably the most unbalanced scenario, I have played so far. Russian having good luck on rolls and great cards, gives French no chance to win. Could have been 7-5, but Russian even got a Rally
Final score, pretty devastating 7-3, which could easily be 9-3.

The scenario was played in MT6, with 3 Russian and 2 French wins.
On the whole, it was one of the better balanced Expansion 2 scenarios, which does not really say much. Seems to be moving towards more pro-Russian here.

Just won again with the French (3rd time in last 3 game, can´t believe it).

After a excellent start of the Russian, with 2 Cavalry Charges and some other good cards and dice, which destroyed my 2 ART in first turns, weaked other units and forced 2 into square, an incredible coming back was following.

With a Bayonett Charge in my hand, i prepared my center INF (with the OG), to charge the center hills. The Russians moved 2 turns ago, 2 of their center ART
to the russian right flank, so i saw a Little last chance

Attacking then with the Bayonett Charge, the OG fight indeed as an Old Guard and killed one russian GR in 1 roll. The second GR was increased to 1 block.
The russian couldn´t counter this charge effective, so i occupied in my next turn 3 center hills, which gave me the last VP to win.

Vive le Emperor

Logfile attached:

7-2 for the French against an inexperienced and unlucky opponent.

Funny, I played that yestarday too.

7-5 to the Russians. Or 7-6 ..... but close either way.

7-6 French victory. With the remaining 2 blocks of a French infantry unit in square on their hill with Russian Cuirassier and Light cav swirling around them, another French infantry unit stormed the hill and destroyed a Russian infantry unit for the win.

Strange match. The French won 7-3 thank to a great combination of cards: force march in their left, plus Grande manoeuvre plus two infantry combats first and one artillery canister. The French just advanced all troops in that side close to the Russians. The Russians had a bayonet charge even, but the French tactician cards destroyed the Russian lines and the artillery canister made the rest. The French had almost free way to occupy the hills winning the battle.
If the French had a different hand I don't see how they could win.
It was fun, though.

Easy French win 7-2, Benningsen was very unfortunate. After ordering a bayonet charge which destroyed Legrand on the hill the Russian infantry had bungled into a French Fire and Hold order... boom, 4 banners.

One win each for French and Russians. Both games 7-6 so a balanced scenario . In the first game the Russians were very powerful in the centre with massed batteries, the French required a grand manoeuvre to send everything to the right, including the Old Guard who were brought forward on a tactical card from the baseline. The resulting right flank attack did enough to secure the victory. On the second game the Russian cavalry removed the French cavalry threat and thereafter kept a few units in square, reduced the French cards and slowed them down.With virtually no action on the right flank (French left flank) Russian grenadiers attacking though the centre finally sealed it.

Just played this scenario using tactician cards and lost 7-2 as the Russians. Not sure what I did wrong that would produce such a lopsided outcome. The two sides slugged it out at distance for a long time, scoring hits on each other but not eliminating any units. The French finally drew first blood on turn 7, eliminating a Russian light infantry unit. I tied it up soon after 1-1, but the French slowly pulled away. As mentioned earlier, I can't identify any really obvious mistakes on my part. But two events in the game seemed especially damaging to the Russians- on turn 5, I played an elan card with a good result, activating two artillery, one infantry and a cavalry. I attacked a french light cavalry unit on my left flank with the heavy curassier unit, using combined arms, resulting in a 9-dice strength attack. The French foiled the attack by playing a charge-if charged card, and destroyed 2 units, while I scored just 1 hit on my 9 dice. Although I forced him to retreat and followed up with a second attack with my cavalry, I scored just one hit, while an infantry attack on the same unit resulted again in just one hit. The upshot was that the unit survived an overwhelming attack and survived for the rest of the game, while inflicting almost as much damage as it had received. The game seemed to kind of unravel for me from that point onward, especially after the French rolled very well on a rally card and restored 4 infantry steps, shifting power in his favor.

I'm not sure exactly how I would play this game differently. One thing that is difficult for the Russians is that although they have three guards grenadier units, all of them are poorly positioned at the back, with units of lesser quality blocking their access to the front. I kept hoping for a force march or grand maneuver card so I could better position my units, but none ever arrived. As a result, I ended up using a bayonet charge more as a repositioning move than an attack card. The russian right flank can also be difficult if the french light infantry gets into position in the windmill hex. and is flanked by a line infantry on the hill. One mistake I think I did make was using the cossacks cavalry there purely as a screen, with the light infantry set up behind. I might have been better off simply holding my units out of range and daring them to move forward.

It was a frustrating game, especially as it appeared fairly well balanced on the surface. Ah well.
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