airjudden wrote:

There is an error in the setup. You call out 1 French Guard Foot Artillery, but there should be 2.

fixed

There is an error in the setup. You call out 1 French Guard Foot Artillery, but there should be 2.

Hey man, I didn't know that you're on this site too! Great writeup. My thoughts on this scenario:
- Unique among most C&C scenarios, there was a real time pressure against the Russians. As the Russians, I felt I had to make a lightning attack against Davout's column or else I would lose a ton of cards and VBs.
- Starting with 8 cards, the Russians are bound to draw something excellent right at the start (Elan, Bombard, Assault section), etc. so I think it's harder for France than the stats make it seem.

This one went pretty roughly for the French Player. After Russia played 2 bombard cards in the first two turns, 3 of Davouts units lay dead on the battle field while the rest barely escaped with their lives. The young guard on the right was fed into the town, and while they managed to eject the Russian light, they were cut down in the river by the advancing Russian Horse artillery and cuirassiers. Seeing the death of the young guard, the central old guard moved to the right to show them how it was done. Launching an attack on the Russian cuirassiers that had cut down the second young guard with the support of the Guard Foot Artillery, they rolled a mighty 10 dice... and hit none of them. The French's fate sealed, the Russians advanced to the bridge and sealed the seventh flag.

Definitely a painful one with the French, and I am currently down 2 games to my friend. Hopefully the god of war smiles on me in the next round.

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!).

Here’s the latest encounter for Evert and me. As usual, I took the Russians first and was dismayed to see that the statistics for this scenario show the French win 75% of the time. At least I get to move first. So I attacked those weakened units of Davout's. Evert started retreating them, but I hit them hard with my Grenadiers (a "Force March" card), eliminating two to gain a banner. With two for holding Uvarovo, that's 3:0 to me.
As Napoleon did, Evert threw in some of the Old Guard as the first Davout unit exited (and my hand went down to 7 cards). My Grenadiers destroyed another one (Marshal Davout retiring to the safety of another Old Guard unit) and, with the help of rolling three hits on three dice, gave the Old Guard a bloody nose. The Grenadiers continued to push forward and removed that Old Guard unit - 4:0 - while my Light infantry in Uvarovo (on the right) started sniping at the Young Guard across the river.
More Old Guard and Young Guard, plus the Guard cavalry, countered against the Russian Grenadiers in the centre, gradually eliminating all three, but at the cost of a Young Guard unit (General Roguet beating a hasty retreat and joining the cavalry): 5:3. The battlefield doesn't look that different from the start - though there's not much left of the Russian centre.
By now, I had a Line infantry on the bridge (centre-left) which gave me another banner: 6:3. The Young Guard on the right retreated from the continuing fire from Uvarovo while the Guard cavalry hit the bridge. My infantry formed square in defence.
Before the Old Guard could get past the cavalry to finish off my square, my Light infantry and artillery on the left completed their demolition of the French Light infantry on the hills. That's 7:3 and game over. Ouch!
That was one of our shortest games - only just an hour's play and 15 turns (7 French, 8 Russian). I was lucky that Evert had no cards for the left flank, so couldn't exit any more of Davout's Corps. He also gambled by ignoring Uvarovo when the town is worth two banners to either side - taking that would have been a big swing in the scores. My gamble was the aggressive use of the Grenadiers in the centre - expecting them to perish - in an effort to take out the Davout infantry. This paid off when they also got two Guards units. Definitely worth the exchange.

Yes, one medail for 2 reduced Davout's Infantry units.

So "The Russian player gains one Victory Banner for every two of Davout’s line units eliminated." means you score medals normally for other units, but only score 1/2 medal for Davout's line infantry? That is indeed not very clear.

yeah, LGM has a way of breaking scenarios with Exit VP.

Just played this today. I had the Russians. Played LGM on second turn. French played counter attack. By the end of the third turn the French had 4 VPs and Russians only had 3 command cards. Final was French 7-3, but would have been 8-2 if we had finished the final turn.

Achtung Panzer wrote:

Bayernkini wrote: All other units, except the Special rules of the weak 2block French LN, counts as normal VP, if they are destroyed.

So does the Russian player not get the normal 1 VB if he destroys a 2 block French LI?

To clarify: Each 2 block French LI units are only worth half a banner each total - not in addition to the usual banners.

Sorted

The scenario notes are clear:

The russian player get 1VP for every 2 destroyed French 2block LN:

Destroyed 1. AND 2. French LN = 1VP for russian
Destroyed 3. French LN = nothing (similar COS)
Destroyed 3. AND 4. French LN = 1VP for russian
Destroyed 5. French LN = nothing (similar COS)
Destroyed 5. AND 6. French LN = 1VP for russian

hope, this is clear now

But as i said, the important key is also, that the russian Player loose command cards.
This scenario note is also underrated as the COS general in russian games, because player play the COS simple wrong

Bayernkini wrote: All other units, except the Special rules of the weak 2block French LN, counts as normal VP, if they are destroyed.

So does the Russian player not get the normal 1 VB if he destroys a 2 block French LI?

Mark McG wrote: so if the French get no Left cards, and no means to move that unit sitting on the exit hex, this scenario can go sour very quick.
In the reverse, an initial Bayonet Charge or a LGM card can really work well.

But the Russians could have 5 Victory Banners after their first move.

This is my point. Look at the two French LI on / near the bridge. 1 VB for destroying two LI (special rule) and 2 VB for each LI destroyed (normal rule) gives almost 50% of the total required and is easily done.

so if the French get no Left cards, and no means to move that unit sitting on the exit hex, this scenario can go sour very quick.
In the reverse, an initial Bayonet Charge or a LGM card can really work well.

But the Russians could have 5 Victory Banners after their first move.

What do you mean exact (a example helps always a lot)?

All other units, except the Special rules of the weak 2block French LN, counts as normal VP, if they are destroyed.

And i noticed, that many players don´t see the key for a French victory

Are Victory Banners awarded for destroying units as normal in addition to the Special Rules? If so, this can be a very quick scenario!