Bridge Demolition AAR

Setup

Overall initial setup with French guarding town at bottom of picture, and Russian cossacks approaching in skirmish formation from north and east.

Initial French setup defending town. Light infantry are in forest at top right, heavy cavalry guarding the main road, and artillery batteries each side of the town behind river. The French need to hold the bridge for 15 turns to ensure it is demolished.

French infantry regiment in column on south side of river preparing to cross bridge through town.

Turn 1

Russian arrivals are randomly determined using a spreadsheet tool which takes a random seed and the current turn, and produces an order and point of arrival for each unit.
On turn 1, the 2nd Line regiment from Brigade A arrives at point B, and the Grenadier regiment from Brigade B arrives at point D.

The Russian grenadier regiment arrives on road to the north and using a special command dice roll, moves 5 hexes (2 + 1 column on road + 2 double infantry order). The two skirmish units of the cossacks have rejoined at the cross-roads as the French dragoons advance up the road from the town to meet them.

The Russian Divisional General (middle), the 1st Infantry Brigade General (bottom) and Cavalry Brigade General (top left) are all on the board.
The French infantry regiment crosses the bridge in town.

Russian infantry regiment arrives on north-east road and advances to village.

With all the Russian leaders on the table and so few units, there are plenty of command dice to get the units moving fast. A couple of double infantry rolls allows infantry in column to move up to 5 hexes on roads.

Turn 2

The Russian Dragoon regiment arrives on the north road and advances quickly to join the cossacks. The French Dragoon regiment has advanced from the town with its’ Brigade leader to try and check the Russian advance.

The French Dragoons charge and the Russian Cossacks counter-charge. This enables the cossacks to inflict casualties at the same time as the dragoons rather than after it receives hits.
The cavalry melee results in 2 hits to the cossacks and 1 hit to dragoons.

The Russian Grenadiers advance to the hill to gain some protection in case the French dragoons win

the melee.

The Russian Jager regiment arrives on the north-east road as the infantry regiment continues into village.

The French infantry brigade deploys in front of the town with the Cuirassier regiment in reserve awaiting the outcome of the cavalry melee further up the road. The French light infantry are deployed in skirmish in the forest. 

Turn 3

No Russian units arrive on turn 3!
The French have deployed in front of the town and a half-regiment of cuirassiers have advanced to support the dragoons.

The cavalry melee continues with the French dragoons taking heavy losses as the Russian dragoons join in.
The Russian grenadiers take the opportunity to attack the French dragoons but are forced back onto the hill with 1 hit!

The main French force waits with anticipation for the outcome of the cavalry melee.

The cavalry melee still in full flight at the end of the turn. The Russians continue to get the better dice rolls in the melee.

Turn 4

Lots more Russians arrive but they are a long way from the action. With only 3 command dice per brigade leader, the Russians can't advance all their units. Maintaining regimental formations helps the advance but the divisional leaders command dice are being directed to the centre where the action is happening. 

The Russian cavalry route the French dragoons with maximum hits on both half-regiments. 

The French cuirassiers charge the Russian dragoons and force them to retire 1 hex. The routing French dragoons are temporarily protected.

The end of turn 4 sees the Russians getting the upper hand in the cavalry melee in the centre. Russian infantry are advancing up behind the cavalry.
The melee rules seemed to work really well, simulating the ebb and flow of the encounter as each side took the initiative. The limited command dice also ensures a degree of uncertainty and makes it harder to order all units. This makes it sensible to keep a reserve.

On the Russian left, the Russian infantry brigade is making steady progress but its units are spread out and yet to engage the enemy. The Cossacks have remained on-post since the start due to the Russian Cavalry leader focussing all command dice to the units in the melee in the centre.

Turn 5

In the centre the Russian dragoons attack the lone cuirassiers.

The French cuirassiers suffer heavy losses but manage to push back some of the Russian dragoons.

At the end of turn 5 the French dragoons continue their route while the cuirassiers disengage and retreat back to the main French forces.
The way is now clear for the Russian infantry to assault the town.

Turn 6

On the Russian left, the first Russian infantry regiment deploys into line as the Jager regiment advances to join it.
The Russian Cuirassiers have also arrived although they are a long way from the action and their leader!

The French dragoons route through the town as the Russian infantry advance. The cossacks have retired to attempt to rally their losses.

Turn 7

The French dragoons are over the bridge now and all but lost!
The French cuirassiers have formed up the whole regiment on the French left.

The situation seen from the Russian side. The French light infantry in the forest are still a thorn in the Russian advance.

The Russian infantry now advance on the forest. The Cossacks have rallied and are now at full strength again. The limited command dice has meant that the whole regiment hasn't been able to focus. The inability to do everything each turn is playing out nicely. The use of command dice is like a game within a game.

Turn 8

The Russian Dragoons and Cossacks advance to close with the weakened French Cuirassiers. The Russian infantry have deployed into line to advance on the town. One of the French Dragoon squadrons has rallied south of the town but the other squadron has routed off table.

On the Russian left flank, infantry deploy to advance on the French light infantry in the forest. Two battalions have taken heavy losses from skirmish fire and have been forced back. The French light infantry are prov ing difficult to dislodge from the forest and the Russian artillery has arrived too late to be able to support the assault.

Turn 9

The Russian cavalry attack the French Cuirassiers, who counter-charge to ensure losses are taken simultaneously. However, the dice rolls result in heavy losses for the French and they are forced to retreat.

The Russian Dragoons breakthrough and advance after their initial melee. The French infantry on the left of the main line form square to protect themselves from the cavalry threat.

Conclusion

This is where we leave the game as I had to pack it up before leaving for 4 weeks in Europe. However, it has been a really good test of the rules. A number of tweaks were made to the rules as the game unfolded, particularly the command dice rolls.
All-in-all, the rules played out remarkably well. The command rules, limiting the ability of all units to move every turn certainly gave a more napoleonic feel to the battle. These rules also meant that regimental formations were necessary to ensure that attacks could occur with enough forces.
The alternating movement of each sides commanders gave a nice ebb and flow to the battle that made it feel a lot more like simultaneous movement. I loved this aspect of the rules as it also meant that each side had to decide which part of the battle they wanted to take the initiative in.
The Russian left flank continues to struggle and cannot make any inroads on the forest.