Time for Evert and I to line up for the Battle of Krasnoi again. It was my turn to play the French, so Evert started. We'd clearly both learned from our first game, as Evert went straight after Davout's units while I tried to get them off the board. First blood went to Evert immediately as Russian Light infantry and Cossacks eliminated the half-strength French Line on the bridge. As he only scores for every two of these, it's still 0:2 to the Russians (for holding Uvarovo).
I played a "Force March" card to get two of Davout's units off the board (I get a banner for the second one - 1:2) and bring the others closer to the exit. More importantly, Ever's hand is now down to six cards, matching mine.
Evert's response was a "La Grande Manoeuvre", allowing him to make big moves with four units, but not attack. (It's now something like 8 games in a row that one of us has had this card at the start.) He used this to bring his Grenadiers in the centre and the Horse artillery on the right onto the river.
I was able to get another of Davout's men off the board, making the score 2:2 and reducing Evert's hand to 5. In retrospect, I should have detached Davout himself from this unit as I now only have two Leaders in play.
Skirmishing in the centre followed, Russian Light infantry taking the bridge (2:3). Evert's Grenadiers moved onto the hills and removed an Old Guard unit (2:4) while I concentrated on getting a fourth Davout unit off the board (3:4 and only 4 cards in Evert's hand - that's a significant handicap).
That Light infantry moved off the bridge to join the Russian Grenadiers in pursuing the last of Davout's Corps. I used the Old Guard to intercept the Grenadiers, but the Light infantry's muskets did the job for Evert. He finally gains a banner for two of Davout's units, but loses the one for the bridge, so it's still 3:4 in his favour.
However, those Russian units deep in the French centre were in a precarious position and I finished off the Grenadiers with the Young Guard, while moving others into the woods in front of Uvarovo (on the right) to put some pressure on the town's occupants. (4:4)
Evert tried to extricate his Light infantry from the centre, while I battered the Lights in Uvarovo with the Young Guard and Horse artillery. He retreated what was left of the Light infantry from the town, moving Cossacks in to hold it. And then I had a "Cavalry Charge". On the right, my Light cavalry forced the battered Lights into square (shown by the red flash on its corner in the picture below), while the Guard cavalry did the same to the Russian Light infantry in the centre (with the yellow flash). Evert is temporarily down to 2 cards in hand!
Evert brought up his artillery (a "Bombard" card) to support his forward troops, but my Light cavalry overran the square on the right (5:4) and the Young Guard and Horse artillery obliterated the Cossacks in Uvarovo. I get no banners for Cossacks, but Evert loses two as he loses the town: 5:2.
The Russians regained those two banners by re-occupying Uvarovo with more Light infantry (5:4). The Young Guard and Horse artillery continued to hammer the town while Old Guard and Light infantry started gunning down the other Russian square (centre left). When the troops in Uvarovo were eliminated (6:2), Evert made a last ditch attack on both flanks, but to no avail. The banners for holding the town gave victory to the French 7:2. (And that's 14:5 to me across both plays.)
This game took nearly twice as long as our first play - 105 minutes and 26 turns (13 each). The other differences from our first game were that, as French player, I made a point of reducing the Russian player's hand of cards (I kept 7 as the Russian) and then attacking Uvarovo where those two banners make for a big swing if it changes hands. I'm sure we'll both play this differently if we do so again.
We are now three-quarters through the Russian scenarios and thoroughly enjoying them (though Evert wasn't so keen on this particular one). The Russians are proving to be decent opponents for the French (a big contrast with the hapless Spanish!).
Pevans