GdA: Battle at San Millán and Osma

At the conclusion of our 1813 campaign, there was clearly a degree of dissatisfaction with how things had unfolded. The campaign had been decidedly one-sided, with the French winning all six games. It was understandable that, from the perspective of the losing side, this had not been a particularly enjoyable experience. The obvious question therefore became: what had gone wrong?

Several possible explanations were suggested. Was there something fundamentally flawed in the GdA rules themselves? Were the scenarios poorly designed? Or was the issue more a matter of imbalance in player experience and familiarity with the rules?

Graham and I gave this a great deal of thought. As the two players most invested in the system — both of us having large armies based specifically for GdA — we were naturally motivated to find a solution. We also felt that, between us, we probably had the greatest depth of experience in Napoleonic wargaming within the group. Graham has been involved in historical wargaming for more than fifty years, while I have around twenty years of experience and have worked through at least five different tactical Napoleonic rulesets during that time. I myself have been playing General d’Armée since its original publication in 2018.

At most, our club has around ten members interested in divisional-level Napoleonic gaming. Roughly half participate only occasionally, while the other half are far more dedicated to the period and the rules. During the 1813 campaign we had five active players, although only three of us played in all six games. There is no question that GdA2 has a learning curve, and the fact that some players were much less familiar with the rules occasionally slowed play considerably. I also noticed throughout the campaign that certain players possess an innate ability to absorb and master a new ruleset quickly — and I would not place myself in that category.

So the question became: what should we do next?

After considerable discussion, Graham and I came to the conclusion that the scenarios contained within the three campaign books are actually very well written. However, they also tend to be somewhat “vanilla” in design, having likely been balanced primarily to ensure even gameplay. In doing so, we felt they may have unintentionally drifted away from a truly accurate representation of the historical situations they were attempting to portray.

With that in mind, we began searching for a battle that offered a very different challenge. Eventually we settled on the Battle of San Millán/Osma. This engagement featured markedly asymmetric forces, particularly in terms of troop quality, and was fought across exceptionally complex terrain.

A Description of the Battle

The Battle of San Millán-Osma  8 June 1813 was a sharp Allied advance-guard action fought during the campaign leading directly to the decisive Battle of Battle of Vitoria. It took place in northern Spain around the villages of San Millán and Osma as the army of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington pushed eastward against the retreating French under Honoré Charles Reille and Bertrand Clausel.

Wellington’s army was advancing in several columns through difficult mountainous terrain in an attempt to outflank the French and cut their communications. On 18 June, Allied forces struck two separated French positions:

• At San Millán, the Light Division under Charles Alten attacked elements of Clausel’s corps. The British light infantry and riflemen aggressively pushed the French out of the village after hard fighting in narrow streets and broken ground. The French withdrew after suffering significant casualties and confusion.
• At Osma, to the northeast, part of Thomas Graham’s column engaged French troops covering the road network. Fighting here was less intense but added pressure on the French flank and rear.

The Order of Battle

Allied Forces

San Millán Column

Commanded by Charles Alten

Light Division

• 1st Brigade – Col. Kempt
  • 43rd Foot
  • 52nd Foot
  • 95th Rifles (elements)
• 2nd Brigade – Col. Vandeleur
  • 1st Cacadores
  • 3rd Cacadores
  • British light infantry battalions
• Light Division artillery attachment

Approximate strength: 5,000–6,000 men.

Osma Column

Commanded by Thomas Graham

Part of 1st Division

• Guards Brigade battalions
• German Legion battalions (elements)

Cavalry screen

• Allied light cavalry detachments

Approximate engaged strength: 3,000–4,000 men.

---

French Forces

Overall local command under Bertrand Clausel and subordinate divisional commanders.

At San Millán

Elements of Clausel’s Left Wing / Army of Portugal

• Maucune’s Division (elements)
• French line infantry battalions
• Light infantry detachments
• Supporting artillery

Approximate strength engaged: 4,000–5,000 men.

At Osma

Rearguard elements under Reille’s wing

• French line infantry battalions
• Light cavalry detachments
• Horse artillery

Approximate strength engaged: 2,000–3,000 men.

Scenario Design

First up was the terrain, as the play test was on a 6x4' table we came up with this basic map.

The 2 Allied Columns enter from the north while the French forces enter from the south.

Then to the OB

The battalions are all colour coded according to ranking, it is pretty obvious that the Allies had superior quality units. The Brigadiers are colour coded according to their starting position as well as arrival turn

The Playtest 

Unfortunately the photos are not in order and I did not take a overview shot of the starting positions.

The French left flank at San Millàn

The allied right flank mid game

Overview of battle near the end of 8 turns from the French right flank

The advancing French on their right flank early in the game

Comments

I will break this up into 3 parts; Terrain configuration, Order of Battle and Victory Conditions

Terrain

This game was played on a 6' x 4' table, although it felt a little cramped at times so an 7 or 8' x 4' table might prove more suitable. The mountain areas were treated as impassable terrain. The Allied left flank could perhaps be given slightly more room. That said, from the standpoint of historical simulation, the Allied forces were in fact advancing through narrow valleys, so the constricted deployment does reflect the historical situation reasonably well.

One issue that became apparent during the game was that the two Built-Up Areas were too large. These have since been reduced to more manageable 6" square sections. We are also considering spreading the mountain pieces out slightly in future games to allow skirmishers to move through them, while still keeping the terrain impassable to formed troops. This will probably require printing a few additional mountain sections, which means more dry brushing lies ahead.

Order of Battle

Overall, the Order of Battle seems satisfactory in terms of troop quality and numbers. However, we will probably remove Gauthier’s brigade, as our research could not conclusively determine whether it actually participated in the battle. Aside from this, a considerable amount of time was spent researching the Order of Battle from multiple sources, and I believe the resulting force composition is reasonably accurate numerically. This gives 5 ADC's per side.

Naturally, there is always room for debate regarding the troop quality ratings assigned to individual units, but the ratings we selected appear sensible and balanced. The scenario also seems well suited to a four-player game, with each participant commanding a separate column.

Victory Conditions

One of the criticisms raised at the conclusion of our 1813 campaign was that the games tended to run too long. There is no question that General d’Armee is not an “evening game,” although some members of the group seem unwilling to accept this reality. In my opinion, if players are looking for a quick Napoleonic experience, they would be better served with a skirmish-level ruleset such as Sharp Practice, Muskets and Bayonets, or something similar.

What truly slows games down, however, is unfamiliarity with the rules. Graham and I managed to complete eight turns of this scenario in approximately three hours, without playing the scouting pre-game, which did not seem necessary for what was intended to be a fairly accurate historical simulation. Very little time was spent consulting the rulebook. If I recall correctly, the opposing forces began roughly 24" apart, with skirmishers exchanging fire by Turn 2 and formed troops reaching musket range by Turn 3.

With this in mind, I believe a 12-turn game is appropriate for the scenario. Five to six hours should be enough to complete it comfortably, including a break for refreshments.

The question then becomes how to determine victory. Personally, I have never considered winning to be the most important aspect of gaming, as I generally prefer scenarios where the experience and historical narrative matter more than the final result. Nevertheless, it is entirely reasonable to establish some form of conclusion and measure of success.

Victory can be assessed in two ways: through attrition and through the achievement of objectives. Attritional victory points are already defined within the ruleset — 1 VP for each Falter caused and 1 VP for every two units forced to withdraw. This seems perfectly reasonable. The objectives, however, should ideally reflect the historical circumstances of the battle. After considerable discussion, we settled on the following as a good starting point:

French Objectives

• 1 VP if Montfort exits towards Espejo.
• 1 VP if Pinoteau is not demoralised after 12 turns.
• 2 VPs for occupying Osma.

Allied Objectives

• 1 VP for occupying San Millán.
• 1 VP for exiting Stopford to Espejo.
• 2 VPs for exiting Kempt to Espejo.

In the end, we will simply have to see how it plays out on the table!

Some Painting

 

A bit of a dramatic painting!

Anyway, over the last 6 weeks, I managed to grind out some figures. Here are some photos.

Mounted Crossbowmen from Bremen for Saga. Figures are from the Perry Light Cavalry Box.

Some French Carabinier Skirmishers for GdA from ABFigures.

Some Moorish Crossbowmen for Saga from V&V Miniatures (1st of 12)

I have some Russian houses to paint next for CoC.

Liebertwolkwitz-The Final Battle in our 1813 Campaign

Last Sunday five of us got together to play the final battle in our Battles for Germany campaign. We decided to go with the large version of the battle as laid out in the GdA source book. Iannick had put together an Austrian Divisions and we wanted to see them on the table.

Like the last battle in our campaign, the French were the defenders with a combined force of Austrians, Russians and Prussians attacking a centrally placed village. The final OB was as follows with Helge and myself playing the defending French with Graham, Iannick and David playing the attacking Allies. The pregame was played on Discord and Graham and myself set out the troops the day before the battle.

The game was 20 turns but we are getting pretty adept at this ruleset and although we planned 3 sessions through out the day, I suspected that we would be done by late afternoon. I hate writing reports but here are a few photos.

The initial disposition of the troops, with the French in the foreground. The Allies focused on their left flank with their initial Russian brigade quite forward as a reward for Good Scouting. They failed to protect their large artillery battery and this was taken out within a few turns by the French light cavalry.

The Austrians

The destruction of the Russian artillery

Turn 5 with the arrival of all the reserves on both sides, the French skirmishers had advanced to meet the Allied reserve advance. You can see in the farground the bloody encounters between the Austrians and the French Infantries. By now the centre Russians had suffered significant attrition but their infantry did advance and attack the BUA.

The French right flank

I think this was the final position in the game before the Allies had called it a day. The heavy cavalry on both sides had a face off just to the right of the BUA, but by now several Allied battalions had dispersed and they decided to call it a day. I believe the French only had one dispersed unit.

We did finish the game in 2 sessions over about 6 hours, I think 12-13 turns when it came clear that the Allies would fail to take Liebertwolfwitz, so a French victory.

I enjoyed playing the campaign but at times it was a little one sided. We did make a few errors in this last game, I forgot that Légére deploying in skirmish order could only do so if in rough terrain. I am not sure why I forgot this but our last game was 4-5 months before. I believe this had very little effect on the game outcome. The other problem we keep having is keeping cavalry brigades in their designated zone. We subsequently discussed dividing the table into 2 flanks for cavalry brigades rather than interposing them with the infantry brigades. We will probably give this a try in our next game.

Overall though, I continue to enjoy playing Napoleonics with this ruleset. I am not sure what we will do next but I suspect it will be again in Central Europe.

Mockern-The Battle for Germany 1813

 

Last Saturday, 5 of us got together for the penultimate battle in our 1813 campaign.  The scenario features the Battle of Mockern and was fought in October of 1813, as part of the Battle of Leipzig. As you can see from the map below this action was fought north of Leipzig and featured the French under Jarmin defending against attacking Prussians under Yorck on day one of the battle.

Overview of the Battle of Leipzig

Victory conditions for the Prussians were to capture Mockern in 20 turns that was made up of 2 BUA's back to back. Victory for the French was to inflict 3 Suave qui Peut's on the Prussians.

GdA has a scouting phase and myself and Iannick played it out a couple of days before our gathering. The French (myself and Helge) had to decided to just field 3 of our 5 brigades and the start of the game. 

Pelleport was deployed on the yellow marker, with Lorge's Cavalry on the pink and Jarmin on light blue, despite 4 scouting attempts the Prussians were only able to identify the position of the cavalry. 

We ended up having a pretty tight deployed frontage that I believe almost lost us the game but more about that later. 

The French kept Bouquet and Joubert as off table reserves. The Prussians had no off table reserves aside from Rummel who would arrive as a reinforcement on Turn 6.

The Game

Saturday came and the Prussians (Graham, Iannick, David)  rapidly deployed their troops across the whole width of the table, I dod not remember their exact order but Mecklenberg was deployed on their right flank with Sohr on their left flank with the other 3 deployed infantry brigades in between. We deployed Pelleport on our left with the 1e Marine holding the front Mockern BUA, with Lorge next and Jarmin on his right. I will let the photos tell the story.

The table, I think it is roughly 8x5', Mockern is in the distance with the French position to the right. There was large hill on the French side, otherwise open ground.

Here are the starting positions as seen from the Mockern side of the table. You can see to the left the Prussian wide deployment with their cavalry in the distance. The French had a very tight deployment with their 3 artillery batteries deployed together in defence of Mockern with their cavalry to the rear. Skirmishers were deployed to the left of and in front of Mockern (one legere unit deployed in skirmish). An infantry brigade was deployed to the right flank to defend against a flanking manoeuvre from the Prussians.

The Prussian players;  Graham, Iannick and David

Helge for the French and I am taking the photo!

Turn 4. The Prussian advance, as you can see they went into line pretty quickly, I believe this slowed their advance but did protect them against cannon as did the skirmishers. The French held their position aside from advancing the skirmish units on our left flank to harass the advancing Prussians. Our initial plan was to focus on our 3 batteries of artillery to weaken the enemy. The Prussian cavalry moved quickly to challenge our right flank.

Turn 6. The Prussians have advanced on all fronts and now their reserves have deployed. By now our artillery batteries are starting to suffer some attrition but we have weakened the front line Prussians.

Turn 12: Th ePrussians are now advancing on Mockern in column with their reserve. Their initial assault in line was repulsed. You can also see that Jarmin's infantry on our right flank is collapsing. The French have now brought on one of their reserve infantry brigades to buttress the right but also to be ready to support Mockern. You will notice that we have left the 2nd BUA unoccupied.  Our skirmishers have been pushed back but our cavalry is still intact.

Turn 12; a close up of the defence of Mockern.

Turn 18. A lot has happened. The Prussians were able to drive the French Marine Veterans out of one part of Mockern and only with great difficulty were one of our reserve units able to occupy the other half of the town. Our cavalry became trapped and was unable to challenge the advancing Prussians. By now, however, we had inflicted 2 Suave qui Peut on the Prussians. Before the Prussians could take all of Mockern we were able to inflict the 3rd Suave qui Peut...thus a very narrow French Victory.

Summing Up

I thought this was going to be an easy game for the French but the Prussians almost did win it. If their initial advance was a little more aggressive at the start, I think they might have got a victory before we met our Victory Conditions. Our defence was good but we had a lot of difficulty bringing in our reserves because of our narrow frontage. In retrospect, Jarmin should have been more to our right allowing our reserves to move more easily to support Mockern. I am not sure also if Pelleport should have started one of his battalions in the 2nd BUA. Certainly, his skirmishers did a good job to protect Mockern and were able to retreat in good order once their job was done. The French Cavalry, as usual, caused significant havoc to the Prussians. But a good game was played by all. I should note that around Turn 13-14, some of the Prussian players considered withdrawing their troops, Helge and myself urged them to continue the game as all was not lost. I believe we were quite correct in this and once they got "stuck in" they almost turned it around. 

There were also complaints about the actual scenario design with the one objective being stuck in a corner. I disagree totally. As gamers we are presented with what we are given, this was a historical simulation and the scenario was what it was. It ended up giving us a very good game, not an easy game but it was quite exciting.

Hopefully, we will get to the last game (Liebertwolkwitz) in this campaign fairly soon. I should note that there were 1500 18mm AB figures on the table and with the last scenario using the large OB option we hope to hit close to 2000 figures. And what will be very exciting is that we will see some Austrians.

Dresden 1813 The Battles for Germany

 

A couple of weeks ago we all went to Chez Helge for the 4th game in our Battles for Germany campaign. In this game the French were again the attackers in the 2nd day of the Battle of Dresden. The scenario focussed on the Allied right flank with Ney's attack against a combined Russian/Prussian force.

Set Up

Final OB with Brigadier Quality

GdB Starting Positions

French Plan

Helge and myself had a pretty clear plan for this game. We have understood that Artillery is not effective at long range and needs to start limbered so it can rapidly advance to Effective Range before deploying. With this in mine we deployed 3 Brigades with attached artillery. Our Veterans and our Légére were deployed in Skirmish order as they are also effective at a longer range. We focussed on our left flank with the plan to batter the Russian guns with both Artillery and Skirmish foree, thus weakening them before we did a rapid infantry attack. 

Allied Plan

The Allied plan was to hold the centre and left, and possibly flank the French left. What we did not comprehend was our abysmal ADC rolling!

Game Photos

The Allied right

The allied left

Graham's movement trays again worked brilliantly.

The French centre ready for action. The légére made one move and went into skirmish order.

The Game

The Allied Commanders

The Allied Troops deployed up to their maximum zone.

Russian Battery

All Batteries within effective range of each other, there was quite a bit of counter battery in the first few turns. It did go back and forth ....... 

........but a cavalry battle on the French left seemed to sort things..........

....................with the Russians losing their cannon on the centre high ground and their second battery between the high ground and Seidnitz collapsing with the 3 French Batteries larger intact. The Allies had now lost some of their Cavalry as well as Infantry.....the outcome was clear and on Turn 9 they decided to withdraw.

Summing Up

I felt our pre-game plan of attack really was quite effective and this was an easy victory and a very quick game. It will be interesting to see how we do as the defenders in the next battle, The Battle of Mockern.