Marching to Battle, Part 1

 

Galician Reserve Infantry Brigade crossing the river at Albingen (Airfix figures)

An earlier post introduced the 'Approach to Battle through the Fog of War Machine'. I still have not come up with a shorter name for this, but, as circumstances require me to spend longer in England and leave me some time to tinker around, I thought I would try it out to set up a battle I hope to fight with my old Napoleonic era figures before I head back to Hong Kong.  

I developed a scenario for a small Galician army to encounter a Ruritanian force of roughly similar size but more dispersed deployment.  The Galicians would need to bring their force across a river to put themselves between the dispersed corps of the Ruritanian army while the latter would have to manoeuvre quickly if it were to unite and prevent the Galicians securing a decisive advantage against the individual corps.

The 3 by 3 map grid was set to have the river running across the top edge with two crossing points.  The overall terrain setting was for a transition from plain beside the river to hills in the south with plenty of villages, farms and pockets of woodland but no towns except at the two river crossings.  The terrain for each square on the grid was then diced for, producing the following map -

In this test of the machine I am playing solo - to fit the odd hours I have available - and am not using the Fortune cards used last time as I did not bring a file for them on my laptop and they are in any case more suited for ancient warfare.  I fixed the entry points for both sides - Galicians into A1 and A3 from the top edge, Ruritanians into B1 from the left and C2 from the bottom.  Each side would have one cavalry brigade in position in one of their entry squares.  Entry of further forces would be decided by dice rolls.

Each side has two Corps and a small reserve.  The Galicians, under the overall command of General Monton, have the II Corps under Lt-General Cabinet-Sulpice and IV Corps under Lt-General Guerrand.  Each has two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade.  The reserve, under direct command of General Monton, has an infantry brigade, a light and a heavy cavalry brigade and an artillery reserve.

General Monton at the head of the Galician Reserve (Airfix & Revell figures)

The Ruritanian force has no overall commander until and unless it is able to unite.  I Corps (Ruritanian Royal Army) consists of three infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade and is under the command of Lt-General Kertež.  He is the senior corps commander, so will take overall command if he can link up with the III Corps (Karatanian Army).  All will not be plain sailing when he does so because the relationship between the different parts of the Ruritanian forces is difficult, reflecting the uneasy relationship within the Triple Monarchy of Ruritania, Karelia and Karatania.  At least Kertež does not have to try to command Karelians as well!  He will have to contend with the fact that the Karatanian Corps is larger than his own and that the only reserve is a Karatanian Cavalry division that is more likely to want to operate in support of the Karatanian troops.  Lt-General Miradič, commanding III Corps, has three infantry divisions, a light infantry brigade and a light cavalry brigade.  The reserve cavalry division has a light brigade and a heavy brigade but only one of the two regiments in the latter is heavy, the other being a small lancer regiment.  There is no artillery reserve.

Ruritanianian I Corps, Chevaux-Legers brigade to right, 1st and 2nd divisions in the centre, 3rd division on left. (A few Airfix Grenadiers, HäT cavalry, Newline infantry and gun)

Cavalry Reserve - Karatanian Hussars and Light Dragoons in front line, Lancers and Cuirassiers to rear. (Revell? Hussars, others Newline figures)

It would appear that the Ruritanian force is much larger than the Galician, with 6 divisions and a light brigade of infantry to 4 divisions and a reserve brigade.  This is not so as the two powers organise their Regiments differently.  The Galicians have three active service battalions in each Regiment while the Ruritanians have only two.  Both have two Regiments to a Brigade, two Brigades to a Division.  So, with respect to infantry, the Galicians have a slight advantage, 54 battalions to 52.  They also have 6 squadrons of heavy cavalry to only 4 on the Ruritanian side.  Only in light cavalry do the Ruritanians have an advantage of 24 squadrons to 19.

When it comes to battle I will be using the Volley & Bayonet Rules of Frank Chadwick and Greg Novak, but modified to make the battalion rather than the brigade the basic unit of action.  During the march to battle, any formation that makes a forced march will have to roll for each Regiment to see if the battalions within it suffer a reduction in strength due to tiredness and straggling.  Making more than one forced march increases the probability of a strength reduction.

To get the opposing forces under starters orders I rolled to see which formations would enter which square.  For the Galicians, this gave II Corps and the Reserve coming in to square A1 across the bridge at Albingen while IV Corps would come on across the bridge at Teglendorf into square A3.  The Ruritanian Corps found itself having to enter at B1 while the Karatanian Corps and Reserve cavalry division entered at C2.

I then rolled to see which Corps for each side could place its Corps cavalry brigade in position on the map, which resulted in the Galician II Corps cavalry (1) being in the plain beyond Albingen and the Karatanian Corps cavalry (B) being in the plain in C2.  The map below shows this initial deployment together with where the other forces are waiting to enter.  Circles = cavalry, Squares = Infantry.  Infantry move by divisions (except the Galician reserve brigade which can move independently), Cavalry by brigades.

In turn 1, each side can bring on one formation at each entry point without testing.  A second formation has to be rolled for and on a score of 1 or 2 it fails to enter.  This process repeats for each turn until all formations are on the map.  Formations that are on the map may always move.  Cavalry can move 2 segments - the triangles into which each square is divided - and infantry 1.  After moving, an infantry formation can be ordered to make a forced march.  If the order is received, the formation moves another segment but is then marked as having made a forced march, with the risk of strength reduction on the battlefield as noted above.  Cavalry do not normally force march but can do so to march to the guns if an engagement breaks out.  They are then subject to the same test as infantry for loss of strength.  Artillery moves with the formation it is attached to and is not penalised for forced marches.

Cavalry scout each of the segments of the square that they are in and the segment of the square that abuts the segment they occupy.  If enemy cavalry are present in a square, they may screen their infantry formations, reducing the chance of them being discovered by enemy scouting.  Hills and heavy woodland also reduce the probability of successful scouting.  There is no heavy woodland on this map, but the hill areas - darker green - are more likely to conceal troops.

How did play go?

On turn 1 - set as midday to early afternoon - the Galicians moved II Corps cavalry from A1 to B1.  The marker is placed in the top segment to indicate which square it entered its new location from - and by implication the square it must retreat to if forced back by the enemy.  They then brought on II Corps division 1 [1] to A1 and rolled for division 2 [2].  They rolled a 2 so failed to bring that division on.  In A3 they brought on IV Corps cavalry (2) and rolled for division 1 [3].  Again they rolled a 2!  The Ruritanian Corps brought its cavalry brigade (A) into B1, placed in the western segment.  They rolled for division 1 [R1] and also rolled a 2!!  The Karatanians moved their III Corps cavalry into B2 and brought on their division 1 [K1].  Would they roll another 2 for division 2 [K2]?  No, they rolled a 4, so had two divisions happily on.

Being in the same square, the Galician II Corps and Ruritanian I Corps cavalry are aware of each other.  This allowed the commanders of each Corps to order a forced march if they so wished.  For the Galicians I weighted this as a 1:2 chance for Division 2 to be ordered to get a move on across the river and 1:3 for Division 1 to move up.  Neither were so ordered.  I gave General Monton a chance to send a messenger to IV Corps to tell them to hurry up.  He did so but the message failed to reach the Corps commander in time to act on it before the next turn.

I gave the Ruritanians a 1:3 chance to order division 1 to move on.  They didn't.  The Karatanians, blissfully unaware of enemy activity, could not be expected to press on.  So, the position after the first turn was this -

In turn 2 the Ruritanians bring on R1 but roll a 1 for R2 so fail to bring that division on.  The Corps cavalry pushes forward into the northern segment of B1 to try to force the Galician cavalry screen back, as well as try to scout into A1.  The Karatanian Corps cavalry rolls to see if it moves towards the Ruritanian Corps or scouts towards Teglendorf, with even chances either way.  It moves towards Teglendorf, ending in B3.  K1 and K2 move up to the northern segment of C2 while K3 comes on behind them.  Reserve Cavalry brigade C rolls to come on and passes.

For the Galicians, II Corps cavalry tries to remain in position to scout in B1 but does so at -2 as the enemy cavalry screen is stronger.  Division 1 moves to the southern segment of A1, Division 2 crosses the bridge and the reserve light cavalry (3) successfully rolls to come on as well.  IV Corps cavalry (2) rolled to see if it would move towards B3 or into A2 towards II Corps and moved into B3.  The first division [3] crossed the bridge.  The second division [4] rolled and failed!

In the scouting tests in B1, the Ruritanians fail to drive off the Galician screen but do get a chance to scout the southern segment of A1.  They detect the presence of some enemy infantry, but not how much.  The Galicians not only hold position but successfully scout out the Ruritanian 1st Division.

With the Karatanian Corps and Galician IV Corps cavalry meeting in B3 both Corps commanders can order forced marches - the Galicians with the added urging from General Monton in the previous turn, so at +1 on their test.  They pass and bring on [4] by forced march but do not move [3] further.  For the Karatanians, Miradič decides to move his infantry up but neglects to send orders to the cavalry reserve.  K1 and K3 both make forced marches but K2 claims that K1 was blocking its way and settles round its camp fires.

General Monton is aware from the superb scouting of II Corps cavalry that only one enemy division is in B1 and decides to try to press his advantage, ordering all of II Corps and his Reserve to move up.  1 division moves into B1, 2 division to the southern segment of A1 together with Reserve cavalry (3).  Monton moves the Reserve infantry brigade first, guaranteeing that it enters, then rolls for his heavy cavalry reserve.  They pass, so he now has all his troops across the river.

With the Ruritanian Corps, Kertež is aware that there is an enemy force across the river near to him and is concerned that he does not yet have any contact with the Karatanian Corps to the east of his position.  He, too, decides to order a forced march by all his divisions.  R1 moves to the southern segment of B1.  R2 enters the western segment.  R3 has to roll to enter, gets a 6 and does so.  

The map below shows the dispositions of the two armies as dusk falls.

Will the next day bring battle in its train?  Will Monton attack Kertež before the Karatanians can join him.  Will the IV Corps start showing more leg and get itself into action?  Can the Ruritanians get their act together? To find out you will need to wait for the next part.