Victory Results:
 52 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  48 %
Total plays 94 - Last reported by Pevans on 2023-05-01 17:54:32

Borodino - 7 September 1812
(Village of Borodino)

Historical Background
On the morning of the 7th, Prince Eugene’s corps advanced against the village of Borodino. After a hard fight, the village was captured from the Russian Guard Jager defenders. However, the disorganized French attackers failed to advance any furtheragainst the Russians that occupied the heights above Borodino. General Delzons took up the defense of Borodino to prevent the Russians retaking it, while the remainder of Eugene’s forces crossed the Kolocha to the south, placing them on the same side of the stream as the Russians and the Raevski redoubt.
On the morning of the battle on the northern flank, Cossack patrols saw that the ground in front of them was clear of the enemy and a plan to flank the French and attack the French rear was put into action. As the cavalry force, which included General Uvarov’s 1st Cavalry Corps, moved south it eventually arrived in the rear of Eugene’s Corps. The sudden appearance of enemy cavalry so close to the army’s supply train prompted Eugene to immediately cancel his attack on the Raevski redoubt and pull back his entire Corps to deal with this alarming situation.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?

 

Set-Up Order

Forest 3
Hill 9
River 8
RiverBend 4
RiverBendFord 1
RiverBridge 1
RiverFord 1
Town 1

 

Battle Notes

Russian Army
• Commander: Dokhturov
• 5 Command Cards
• 3 Tactician Cards

Line Infantry Light Infantry Grenadier Infantry Guard Light Infantry Light Cavalry Heavy Cavalry Militia Cossack Cavalry Foot Artillery Leader
6 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 2

French Army
• Commander: Eugene
• 5 Command Cards
• 3 Tactician Cards
• Move first

Line Infantry Light Infantry Young Guard Light Cavalry Heavy Cavalry Foot Artillery Leader
6 3 1 1 2 2 2

 

Victory
7 Banners

Special Rules
• The two hexes of Borodino form a Temporary Majority Victory Banner worth one banner for the side that occupies the absolute majority of these hexes at the start of its turn (Temporary Majority Victory Banner Turn Start)

• The French gains one Victory Banner at the start of the turn, for each French unit occupying a hill hex on Russian side river (Temporary Victory Banner Turn Start)

• The Russians gain a Victory Banner for each Russian cavalry unit that exits the battlefield from a French baseline hex.

• The Kalatsha River is a fordable river. The shallow fords do not stop movement.

• Pre-Battle Mother Russia Roll rule is in effect. Saber and cavalry rolls have no effect.

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Mark-McG replied the topic:
4 months 3 weeks ago
I find the illustrated version of these accounts far more entertaining, so a link the the BGG version
boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/147185/attacking-borodino

 
Pevans replied the topic:
4 months 3 weeks ago
Evert's return from holiday (and subsequent recovery from jet lag!) meant it was time for our return match. It was Evert's turn to play the Russians and thus start with the Mother Russia roll. This allowed him to add an extra block to the Artillery and Line infantry on the hills centre-right and the Line Infantry on the hills left of centre. (I'm using left and right as shown in the picture, rather than from either army's viewpoint.)

The opening French bombardment eliminated one of the Guards holding Borodino village, so the other retreated to shelter behind the buildings. Russian Light infantry occupied Zakartis village on the left and moved into the woods on the right. {A "Bombard" card takes the score to 1:0 as the Russians lose the banner for holding Borodino.}

General Eugene seized the chance to rush forward and occupy Borodino with Line infantry backed by the Young Guard. {"La Grande Manoeuvre" is such an entertaining card.}

The Russians pushed forward on the right, shrugging off the loss of a full strength Line infantry to the muskets of the Young Guard only to lose a second as the French right advanced to counter this move. {4:0}

Fighting in the woods on the right continued to no great effect while the Russian cavalry trotted across the river on the left and eliminated the French Light infantry in the woods. {Lucky dice for Evert's Cossacks and it's 4:1.}

French Heavy cavalry swung right from the centre to remove the Russian Light horsemen backing up the infantry and the French infantry in Borodino finished off the second Russian Guards unit only for the Young Guard to fall to the Russian guns and muskets. {6:2 - one more for a French win.}

The Russian cavalry attacked on the left but their French counterparts destroyed the Russian Lights. {7:2 and Evert unluckily lost on a Battle Back from the French Light cavalry as he pressed the cavalry attack!}

This turned out to be quite one-sided as the French got lucky to grab the town early on and never let go. Which makes the aggregate score an embarrassing 14:4. Evert will want revenge.
rear admiral bolitho replied the topic:
5 months 2 days ago
playing as the russians the french opened by bomabarding the villlage of borodino and then atttacking with inf i then reinforced with grenadiers and then attcked the frnch righ with light inf
Pevans replied the topic:
5 months 5 days ago
As Evert and I work our way through the Russian expansion we have reached this scenario. For our first game, I play the Russians. This means that my first job is the Mother Russia roll. This allowed me to add an extra block to the Light and Line infantry centre-left, the artillery centre-right and one Light infantry on the right. (I'm using left and right as shown in the picture - and on Vassal, where we played - rather than from either army's viewpoint.)

As the Russian cavalry crossed the river and moved towards the woods on the left, French infantry charged Borodino in the centre. The Russian Guards (Light infantry) holding the town took casualties, but fought back. {A "Bayonet Charge" from Evert gets the battle off to a rousing start.}

The French continued to attack the town, but the Guards eliminated one French Line unit and repelled the others. {This takes the score to 2:0 as I already have a banner for holding the town.}

The French remained in range of the town, however, and fire from the Light infantry finished off one of the Russian Guard units. {2:1}

The Russian horse had been trying to outflank the French on the left and now pounced on the French infantry that had come off the hills. The Cossacks took a beating {but don't trouble the scorer}, but removed one Light infantry while a Line infantry formed square against the Light cavalry. {3:1}

A move by French Light infantry crossing the river into the woods on the right was countered by Russian Lights and the battered unit retired again while Line infantry advanced to engage the Russians.

On the left, the Russian Light cavalry retired from a French Line relieving the square, to the accompaniment of musket fire on the right. The Light cavalry returned to the fray with support from the Heavies under General Uvarov, putting the second French Line into square.

Gen Grouchy led the French Heavy cavalry into the fight on the left, eliminating the Russian Light horsemen and engaging the Heavies. {Evert got lucky with his dice - helped by the "Leadership" card he played and it's 3:2.}

Advancing Russian infantry opened fire on the Heavy cavalry, killing Grouchy, while Russian Grenadiers arrived in Borodino to bolster the remaining Guards. {4:2 and history is altered, much to Evert's dismay!}

The fighting continued on the left as the Russian infantry forced the demoralised French Heavies to retreat and eliminated one of the squares. In the centre, Russian Grenadiers advanced out of the town and removed the French Light infantry that had been shooting at them. {6:2}

The Russian Heavy cavalry pursued their counterparts over the hills on the centre-left and finished them off to complete the Russian victory. {A lucky die roll takes the score to 7:2.}

Well, that was my best result for a while and a resounding Russian victory - we don't have many of those. I did get lucky a couple of times, which always helps. The re-match will have to wait a few weeks, though, as Evert's off on holiday.
LARS replied the topic:
2 years 7 months ago
Grouchy eliminated the threat to the French left. Subsequently Eugene attacked the right. The town, garrisoned by elite troops was avoided until the end was in sight. French win 7-3.
Hexagoon replied the topic:
2 years 8 months ago
My French brought up the infantry in the centre and took both the village hexes of Borodino, but this cost them their Young Guard Unit and the Commander in that sector. The Russians brought up their Grenadier units and recaptured the village. After this the French were hardly able to activate in the leaderless centre, the cards just wouldn't come. I was obliged to attack on the flanks, mainly down the left which led to some success but Russian defence was stubborn. At 6-6 the Russian Grenadiers sallied out of Borodino to finish the game by eliminating the French artillery, which had been dormant for the latter part of the game. Very tight finish, a good scenario.
Mark-McG replied the topic:
9 years 4 months ago
French Commander: Eugene
Command Cards = 5
Mark-McG replied the topic:
10 years 4 months ago