NBCs GaW6 The Battle for Belgium 1815

[[NBC]Friant]

The rules and explaination:
http://www.webjam.com/nbc_gaw
Current campaign map situation:
http://napbc.freeforums.org/current-gaw6-situation-t4543.html

Battle 1
Map Hex 64
Mortier v Graf Bulow.
175ceh v 175ceh
Result Draw/Draw
France lose 30ceh Allies lose 26ceh
Both armies retired.

The French launched a surprise attack on the campaign map, catching the Prussian supported by the British in the North East.
The opening gambit by the French under Mortier went as well as could be expected.
I abandoned the opportunity to capture strategic objectives in this battle in the hope that an attack coming from where least expected would pay dividends later on.
After watching the replay and seeing what the allies had left towards the end of the battle has convinced me this was the right strategy for this battle.
If i had had one more corp, to free up the guard it may have been a good result on the left flank?
The bulk of Mortiers battle group struck east and then north, through a densely forested area of the battlefield. The rain was a god send and the bulk of the troops were able to get into position without being spotted by scouts. A fairly substantial corp under Soult was sent through the centre to take up positions just before some hills that a small Prussian corp held.
This was one of the first battles that i have had for a long while where the French artillery made a good impact on the battlefield, Victors artillery corp especially making a good show, taking up positions repeatedly between two corps in perfect order. Friant with the guard was called upon far to early to cover the right flank of Soult in the centre. The Prussians were quite successful in north on the flank of this corp and with the guard heading there so early, were taken out of the equation for the main attack, but as usual that is the uncertainty of war!
A corp that i had left covering the lops, was also unable to get into the action, but again i was fortunate in that i left it guarding the lops as a free ranging scout caused me a head ache later in the battle by capturing one and trying for the second. The infantry of the this corp were able to drive off the said 'reconnaissance' unit fairly easily.
Macdonald on the extreme left wing had been making steady headway for most of the battle, but was withdrawn in the nick of time once the allied guard cavalry decided to throw in their hand. Suchets attack supported by Davout failed to materialize, which was quite unfortunate as i am convinced after seeing the replay that his fairly fresh corp supported by the weakened Davout may have had a fairly substantial impact on the battle on the left flank.
With the allies now pressing their advantage against my weakened corps, it was decided at about 5 o'clock to go over to the defensive, gone are my days of going for broke, its all about saving troops for next battle.
Generals DJ and Gunners defence was text book, only moving troops when they were needed, but by the looks of the replay i was quite successful in drawing the bulk of their army into the fray, like i have said if i could have had the guard on the left, i may just have been able to break through there and move onto some of the objectives? But then again the allies would have probably moved reinforcements differently to counter their deployment? What i needed was two guard corps   
For this battle i only had two regiments of guard cavalry, and the allies had four, from a personal point of view less guard cavalry make for a better battle dont you think?
I will be checking some historical oobs to see how many thousands different nations had when it came to guard cavalry as i am wondering if we have too much with about 4,000 to 6,000 per battle?
http://youtu.be/vV8TZ-wZQdY

[Gunner24]

Battle two is tonight, UXBRIDGE 225ceh has attacked GROUCHY 150ceh.

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 2
Map Hex 172
Uxbridge v Grouchy
225ceh v 150ceh
RGM Battle.
Result French Draw/Decisive
Allies lose 20ceh France lose 21ceh
French retreat.

French managed to stay on the battlefield for the full duration of the battle, retreat, retreat and more retreat were the orders of the day. Only one objective was held at the end though, and the allies superiority in numbers was beginning to tell towards the end. The French guard cavalry were not present in this battle, and only three regiments of Imperial Guard took to the field, who coincidentally were fortunately not needed. The allied artillery was key to this battle yet again, efficiently softening up the French defenders throughout the 10 hour battle. Allied cavalry was also a constant threat continuously infiltrating the French line causing mayhem wherever they managed to breakthrough. Grouchy it can be said fought the perfect defensive battle, leaving enough room for each individual corp to retire through the front line defense corps thus constantly rotating the defenders in the firing line.
French cavalry mostly were yet again uncontrollable, tempting fate by roving deep into the enemies defenses.
The allied attack, was very well executed, as the front line was quite narrow and not once did any enemy corp become entangled with another, keeping the French defenders under a continuous rolling bombardment. Casualties were very similar both sides and although the French gained a decisive tactical victory the Victory Points ended up the same, with the allies taking 5 of the 6 objectives on the battlefield.
One Prussian cavalry regiment managed to get very close to taking one of the French LOPs, although it itself was technically 'cut off' behind the French line. A very good outcome for the French side who were decisively outnumbered. As this battle was an RGM the defender has to automatically retreat one hex, this could have ended a lot worse than it did, so for now the French are happy with their 'defeat'.
http://youtu.be/xGALuBDyo98

[Gunner24]

A little note : This battle was fought (by agreement) with NO individual orders allowed, EXCEPT to garrison built up area's, scouting and directing artillery fire.  Most interesting.

As normal, the attackers (Brit Guard and Elite Inf) were an hour too late........

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 3
Map Hex 172 French attacking from North
Gourvion St Cyr v Uxbridge
200 + 50 ceh reinforcements v 205ceh
Result Draw/Draw
French lose 50ceh Allies lose 41ceh
French retreat.

This battle started so well for the French, the foggy weather keeping the allies guessing, the French advanced centre left, immediately coming into connect with the forward defensive outposts of the allied front line.
The Dutch held the allied centre and one regiment was stubborn to the point of making me annoyed, a whole corp had bypassed the said unit, and set up a defensive line with this one particular regiment still holding out in a small village. The Dutch artillery was soon disposed of and it became increasingly obvious when the corp on the French left lost one of its 2 batteries that it was not going to advance much further into a strong defensive position and so began a strategic withdrawal. Once the allies realised this they immediately counterattacked on this flank and the strategic withdrawal almost became a rout. The French advance beyond the central strong points taking one but not the other.
The reinforcements under Lannes took an eternity to get to the front line, and when they did, they under performed badly. With the allies moving reserves over to shore up their left flank the Guard looked like being increasingly in a dangerous situation, and after being in action for such a long time did well to not be taken as prisoners.
Having said that taking nothing away from Dougies and Gunners brilliant defence (again), a bold counter attack in the east paid dividends for them with most of the French prisoners being taken towards the end of the battle. The French Imperial Guard were awesome yet again, but because my reinforcements took so long getting to the front i was forced to commit them too early. I probably could have fought this battle and still got the same result without my reinforcements, but i took a gamble and will probably pay dearly for it with the next allied turn. Things started out so well and ended badly. I will be lambasting some French corps commanders, they failed me dismally....
http://youtu.be/4lVfHEVXwWg

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 4
Map Hex 173 French attacking from West
Gourvion St Cyr v Blucher
200ceh v 164ceh
Result Draw/Marginal
French lose 18ceh Allies lose 32ceh
French captured all 6 objectives on map.
Allies retreat.

At last a good result for the French, and all coming about by accident.
MacDonald and Victor had the northern flank, Davout and Soult had the centre, with Suchet supported by Friant in the south.
The weather conditions had their advantages and disadvantages with the the snow slowing movement but also concealing troops movements.
The first two objectives were captured almost without a fight the third one was held by a regiment of Dutch infantry. Bombarded by some artillery from Soult, Friant’s corps was ordered up with its artillery to add its weight to the bombardment, after several hours of continuous bombardment and with this objective now behind the front line things were looking a bit worrying, but an attempted infantry attacked literally swept the defenders aside, proving that the artillery softening up process did indeed work.
With three objectives now taken the French advanced North and South, the next one again was given up surprisingly quickly, this was a road over a river, the Prussian defence corps in this area was luckily quite weak with artillery so the French were able to close easily and with light losses.
The Northern flank now had Bessieres moving up in support on its extreme left, and with Victors artillery corps supporting, MacDonald made his push, unfortunately for him he marched directly into the path of the British artillery corps on the Allies right flank. Victor had great difficulty in pushing through to get his guns into action. With Bessieres now in the extreme North and on Mac’s right flank he was ordered to cut South which tragically lead him across several batteries of Prussian artillery who took an horrendous toll on their numbers, with two regiments surrendering very early in their dash South.
Not long after, the British guard counter attacked Davout and Soult in the centre, having not seen action until now, they proved their worth very quickly, luckily for the French, Friant was diverted North to hit this counter in the flank and restore order, British cavalry also had some great success here, especially the 13th light Dragoons, i remember them clearly driving about 3 or 4 battered regiments South before them. The French did not have any cavalry in the vicinity to counter them and so it was left to the infantry to hopefully stand and let the Dragoons run their course.
With all French attacks now held, several infantry regiments in the North were sent forward to secure the last two objectives from the allies. The Allied southern flank was now also under great strain, although the French centre and Northern flank were firmly held, it would have been very unlikely that the French could have taken anymore ground at this stage, and having learnt the hard way about throwing everything into the final assaults i decided to hold what i had and keep my casualties low.
Gunner and DJ were surprisingly defensive in this battle, probably because they were assuming i had reinforcements coming in, but i was lucky that i didn’t, with the snow making movement slow i doubt very much whether that would have actually reached the front!
VGG.
http://youtu.be/TKArOO9clrw

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 5
Map Hex 173 Allies attacking from West
Blucher v Gourvion St Cyr
250ceh v 182ceh and 50ceh reinforcements
Result Draw/Marginal
Allies lose 45ceh French lose 53ceh
Allies captured 3 objectives on map.
French retreat.

With a 50ceh reinforcement corps (28,000 men) arriving a 11am I decided to deploy more forward than what I would normally settle for. Everything got to their defensive areas without too much trouble and waited for the inevitable allied assault. Quite early on it was obvious that the allies were attacking North so I retreated accordingly, before my forces became to embroiled in the allies advance and moved my large artillery corps to defend on the flank hoping to hit the allies as they passed, but unfortunately I think this ended up being too obvious.
The allies started to breakthrough on the extreme northern flank so the guard cavalry were ordered north to block any attempt at getting in behind my lines. This proved fruitful at first, holding back the Prussian cavalry, then a ‘scout’ managed to breakthrough, this upset my whole game, I ended up chasing that one unit with most of the guard cavalry corps for a long time. If the map is 15km wide, I must have give chase for 10km? The ‘scout’ kept disappearing from view, I was hoping to keep my reinforcements as secret as possible but it wasn’t to be. I don't pay as much attention as I should to the make up of my oobs, but I sure would have appreciated some light cavalry in the guard cavalry corps.
With the allied attack becoming stalemate in the north and centre I decided to mount a small attack in the south, this was a mistake, it was only a small corps and they marched into the path of very big artillery heavy corps.
The battle just south of the centre around a town drew the fire of most of my artillery there, while the allied artillery were unfortunately targeting my infantry to the east. Now that my southern flank was in retreat I tried to advance in the north but as sure as eggs are eggs i came up against another fresh corps of allied troops, and now that the allies were using guard in the centre this attack failed dismally.
The allied guard attacking in the centre through my artillery is probably where I inflicted most casualties. Lannes who was in command of my reinforcements set out for the north and was soon recalled to shore up the centre. Towards the end the poor Imperial guard under the command of Friant, took an horrendous thrashing from allied artillery but luckily for the French they did not break.
At about 3.50pm I was given the option to withdraw, and very nervously rejected it. It was at this point that it could have gone one of two ways, either my lines would hold or they would collapse leading to a horrendous defeat, but luckily enough for me they held, and considering how badly my forces dispositions seemed on the map came away with a result that could have been a lot worse. The winning of victory points, and gaining a small village in the west made it a big win for the Allies.
GG.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtYku6XqT1E&feature=player_detailpage

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 6
Map Hex 173
St Cyr v Bulcher.
196ceh v 185ceh
Result Overwhelming/Overwhelming
France lose 63ceh Allies lose 41ceh
France withdraw

Soult, Davout and Bessieres attack south, MacDonald, Suchet and Friant move to centre with Bernadotte holding the northern flank, Grouchy defending lops.
Although a defeat this is probably one of my best battles. Removing Grouchy who defended the lops with about 20,000 troops from the number of troops attacking i probably ended up attacking with a ceh deficit and having an advantage at 2pm.
Soult, Davout and Bessieres pushed forward in the south with the allies coming out to meet them head on, the allies committed to this attack early on with troops moving down to intercept this attack giving my three corps in the centre enough time to move up and put pressure on their centre. The French artillery corps reached its deployment area with impeccable timing and probably single handily broke most of the allied counter attack on my left flank. As the artillery corps was in such a good position and its fire power being so devastating against the allies i moved Grouchy's only artillery battery up to support, increasing three batteries to four. Bessieres pushed through on the extreme right flank of the allies and did to some extent restore my faith in heavy cavalry, but i think i may have squandered them in a futile attack that was aimed at just getting a large cavalry presence behind the allied line. My flanking attack on the left went disastrously wrong when Soult moved in front of Davout in stead of onto his left flank meaning that they ended up attacking directly into the Prussian assault columns as they marched forward. The Allies continued applying pressure on the French centre and when the British guard attacked just north of the centre they managed to overwhelm the over stretched Imperial Guard who like my heavy cavalry were wasted in a pointless effort to break the allied line, the order had them marching through a very densely packed defensive line held by MacDonald, they just couldn’t get through in sufficient numbers to make a difference. The high point of the French attack at 2pm had Generals Gunner and DJ contemplating a withdrawal but decided to fight on, as it turned out this was the best decision of the day, the French cavalry were exhausted and finished and the 10,000 man allied cavalry advantage took its toll on the French line, with allied cavalry roaming behind the infantry formations at their leisure there was no hope for the French and i made the decision to retire at 4pm, the risk of losing a lot of prisoners at the end of the battle cemented my decision. At 3.30pm my prisoner count was 12,000, at 4pm it had increased to over 22,000, the risk far out weighed the reward. Well played Gunner and DJ, excellent battle.
http://youtu.be/7bSH96257Xo

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 7
Map Hex 174
St Cyr v Bulcher.
183ceh v 144ceh
Result Draw/Marginal
France lose 26ceh Allies lose 42ceh
Allies retreat

http://youtu.be/bKKA7ug3V8w
A good result for the French, although, could have been so much better.
The fog gave the French good cover and were able to close fairly quickly, fow helped no end when the front lines engaged. A flanking attack in the north made good headway, easily turning the allied flank, whilst 3 other corps pinned their centre. This was a battle that the French had to win, no other result other than an allied retreat would have been acceptable and this probably led me to be over cautious. The flanking attack in the north literally ran out of time. The allies refused to take the retreat option at 2pm and I was convinced that they would use it at 4pm, but it wasn't to be, late in the afternoon the allies made a small counter attack around the central villages and on the French left flank, which at one point was retreated and dangerously close to collapse. The British guard cavalry seriously threatened to breakthrough towards the end but the timely arrival of the French guard cavalry stalled and eventually drove back their attack, taking most of them prisoner.
Luckily in this battle I had taken extra cavalry as many battles before I had seriously lacked cavalry support, they were well worth it causing the allies many problems when getting behind their lines and chasing down routers.
Excellent nerve from Gunner for staying the course, perhaps a little bit more speed from my attack in the north could have caused a disaster for the allies.

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 8
Map Hex 174
Massena v Wellington.
157 + 50 reinforcement ceh v 203ceh
Result Draw/Marginal
France lose 60ceh Allies lose 69ceh
French retreat.

A good battle for the French, order complications for the allies aided the French cause dramatically, and the artillery playing a pivotal roll in slowing the allied advance. An out lying objective on the French left flank was given up early on and as the battle drew on a strong determined attack slowly pushed this flank back, the young guard was used to shore up the defences on numerous occasions and regiments of old guard were used to occupy the villages in the centre which is roughly where the frontline was established by the end of the battle. The arrival of the reinforcements was a two sided coin although they arrived on the field in the nick of time they were unfortunately required to set up a defensive line just short of the lops. A combined infantry and cavalry attack in the centre/right flank did make some headway late on but most of my frontline regiments had seen action for most of the day and were now to all intents and purposes exhausted. The reinforcements would have had some good success if they could have been used offensively but as the allies were very close to the lops they had to be used in defence. The allied attacks were probably not as co-ordinated as they could have been but unfortunately for them they did also have the misfortune of attacking into the strongest part of the French line and this is where the French artillery exacted its terrible revenge.

http://youtu.be/jch1jl5TqEc

[Gunner24]

Thanks for the battle reports Friant, these have been the best GaW battles so far........win or lose.

[[NBC]Friant]

Battle 9
Map Hex 177
Massena v Wellington.
132 ceh v 134 ceh + 50 reinforcement
Result Draw/Marginal
France lose 18ceh Allies lose 15ceh
French retreat.

The French plan here was to hold the hex at all costs. A courier had been intercepted earlier so the French ‘knew’ there would be reinforcements. One of the forward objectives was held as a token gesture to slow the allied advance, buying time was the most important aspect of this battle for Massena. Once the allies had established firing positions for their artillery the forward corps commanded by Suchet was ordered to withdraw, again buying time for the French. The French forces were concentrated centrally around the lines of communication, with no Guard infantry present it was down to the line infantry to hold to the best of their ability. Although the French artillery was well sited, they did not have the effect they had had in previous battles, it was not until 2pm that Soult’s artillery on the left opened fire on advancing allied units, with MacDonald’s corps taking the brunt of the action on the right. Massena was always close to the frontline commanding from the front, Wellington was spotted everywhere ushering his troops forward. 12pm saw the first allied attacks going in on the French right, which is when Suchet was ordered to withdraw, with a combined allied attack coming in on both flanks at around 2pm with the allied centre following shortly after.
The allied reinforcements were spotted moving laterally early on and this was probably the allies biggest mistake, Leith marched about 5km directly west BEFORE moving to the battle in the north... Although the French were still holding confidently at about 4pm their regiments were vastly reduced in numbers compared to the allies, most only containing about 3 battalions. The French had spilt their 132 guns into very small batteries of only about six guns apiece, and literally did not have anything to fire at until about 12pm, this probably explains the very low casualty figures in this battle. Perhaps the allies were a little over cautious again, but on the whole considering they attacked with a 2 ceh advantage, did extremely well. The late arrival of Leith’s corps must be blamed on the allied high command, a 31,000 man corps did not even get to fight in the battle, and the time of their arrival on the battlefield should have meant that they could have smashed the French at any point on their thinly stretched defences and given the allies a very big victory. A very static defence by the French unfortunately, but they knew this battle was always going to be close and the importance of trying to retain that very important supply hex, but against an army with a 50ceh deficit their result was as good as a win.
But, having said all that to get a win such as this using the original 134ceh to 132ceh armies is an excellent result in its self!! If Leith had been 2 hours and maybe more earlier, and he surely could have done, the result would have been a massacre for the French.

http://youtu.be/PALGi2-nitQ

[[NBC]Friant]

The scene it set...
Wellington, Uxbridge, Beresford, Blucher and Bulow v Napoleon, St Cyr, Massena, Mortier and Grouchy.
9 battles have been fought, the French are on the eve of a great victory or a defeat.
They have one more opportunity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat if my calculations are correct. The allied high command could have made the biggest bungle of their careers with their lack lustre performance in the battle just east of Nivelles.
Napoleon is like a coiled snake ready to spring his trap, this is most definitely Friant’s Waterloo, battle 10 is a battle that must be won and won big, the French will not be holding their punches, the whole campaign now depends upon this battle.
The Campaign for Belgium began on the 29th of May in the year of our lord 2012. Two armies of approximately half a million men each have fought for just over 3 months in and around the villages and hamlets of Belgium to reach this point. One battle decides the fate of Belgium and the world. Each of the allied corps have been so weakened and divided that Napoleon can now march and destroy each of them in turn. Due to Wellington’s in ability to destroy Napoleon on the field England has decided to withdraw its funding, therefore making the continuation of the Belgium campaign impossible, if Generals Gunner and Dougie are to lose this battle they must withdraw to Antwerp and from there back to England.
General Friant has prospered accordingly from the indecision and indecisiveness that has been the allied high command for the last 3 months. General Friant has been out manoeuvred several times on the Campaign map but has still managed to keep victory within his grasp. With growing pressure from Paris to produce a victory worthy of a great commander all eyes are turned to a bleak, desolate field a few miles south of Mont St Jean, with cries of Vive L’Empereur Napoleon is on the move. The old grumblers are once again donning their bearskins with pride, each a veteran and ready to give his life for their Empereur, they know that everything depends upon victory in this forth coming battle. The French hold the trump card and it now all depends upon their battlefield prowess to bring the citizens of France the victory they have been craving since hostilities broke out in May.
French scouts have been secretly reconnoitring the surrounding area and have found a weakness, Napoleon has given his orders, and the French are marching.
The French as leaders of the civilised world are prepared to show leniency and offer terms.
The allies will be allowed to withdraw on the condition that France will stand as the victor. These conditions are offered as warrior to warrior and you have until 24/8/12 12pm midnight, if no reply is forthcoming the French will make their map move by Sunday night 6pm.
The lives of a whole army depend upon your decision, choose wisely my illustrious foe...
General Friant aide to Napoleon.
May your god be with you...

The reply received from the allied CiC Gunner24:
The Allied Army will take it's chances on the field of battle, I have a nasty feeling they are going to be badly out numbered, but so be it......Wellington is busy digging his dug out as we speak !.

[[NBC]Friant]

After a hard fought Campaign the French became the masters of their own demise...
Massena acting on his own initiative saw an opportunity to cut the supply lines to 3 enemy armies, taking the supply depot just north of Nivelles, Massena struck out towards Mont St Jean hoping to meet up with Napoleon marching from Genappe. Massena’s progress unfortunately was slow due to the fact that he himself was out of supply, with his troops spread out foraging for supplies a golden opportunity was missed and his troops failed to keep enough distance between him and Wellington.
Wellington spurred on by his need to reach Mont St Jean bestowed upon his troops forced marches reminiscent of Napoleon’s Grande Armee in its heyday. Massena himself was now trapped between Wellington moving north and Berrisford moving south from Mont St Jean, Napoleon unable to reach Massena in sufficient numbers had no option to decline battle and offer terms. Napoleon as always thinking of his men has decided there need not be any futile blood shed and is prepared to renounce his claim to Belgium.

General Friant will meet General Gunner and his aide DJ Junior at a small inn between Genappe and Mont St Jean to discuss surrender terms.

An excellent enjoyable campaign unfortunately ended without the last glorious battle so eagerly awaited in France.
France after being not so much out fought but out manoeuvred on the Campaign map were left with no option but to surrender.