Saturday morning at enfilade we played Enfilade. Doug has been organizing these games for quite a few years now, and he sends a group of us an email and demands to know which command we are planning to take and when we will have our troops painted up for it. It's worked very well for my collection and productivity to be honest.
This year I elected to take the Imperial guard in it's rather abbreviated state. Finishing my figs roughly a week before go time. The French were facing an impressive amount of Russian troops....most concerning to use was the disparity in strength points AND artillery. Later in the game I realized that the Russians also had an artillery reserve that was replenishing their depleted batteries. Zut Alors!
My small command to the left, just behind Eylau. To the right is the impressively large Cavalry Reserve.
Soult was the French left flank, just to my left. He faced multiple waves of Russians and did a very credible job of blunting their attack.
In the Centre I held back as I was meant to be a reserve. Being a small force it's pretty easy to force morale checks so I tried to stay out of cannon range. As is typical the moment my guard entered gun range, everything that could fire at them did.
The right wing was far away from me so I didn't collect a lot of info. It was the main event of the battle.
Once again on the left flank we see Soult has consolidated further left to try and cut down on the cannon fire and troops able to hit him at the same time. It's opening a gap that the guard shuffled up to fill. Another Russian corp is moving straight at Eylau.
The French cavalry reserve is now forced forward and rapidly comes under punishing cannon fire. The guard meanwhile continue to do their best to hold back.
Top right of the photo you can see a fresh french corp arrives. This was handled by Doug himself, who admits to having terrible dice rolls and questionable tactical ability. It's nice to have a fall guy to blame for defeats.
On the left we see the guard finally enter combat. They successfully manage to break the Russian morale of one corp. Soult is wavering and very solid rolls keep him in the line.
The centre Russian corp is also close to some critical morale checks.
The french cavalry has force a number of units into square, which the limited french artillery punish. They are setting up to hit the centre Russian corp and could easily knock it down in conjunction with the guard. Things are looking tough, but manageable.
A fresh Prussian corp arrives to bolster the Russians. Soult has done great service and stands little chance of even slowing down the german threat.
A critical die roll is flubbed. The French cavalry reserve throws a 1 on a morale check and begins to break. They have one more chance to avoid complete disintegration, needing a 6 on their check the next turn. Alas, they vaporize as a force leaving a gaping hole in the centre. Soult is a spent force and even the guard strength is running out fast. Both Russian and French corp on the (french) right have been failing to advance or recoiling due to morale effects. Mid top of the picture shows the untouched Russian reserve moving towards the 'rupture point'.....it's clear that the Russians have score a victory, most likely major at that.
Debriefing: Doug takes pride that his scenarios often yield very close to historical results. He was a bit put off by this. Historically the French crashed through the Russians when they engaged with their cavalry. It was noted that the Russians did a lot of standing around and were unwilling to engage due to terrible visibility (snowing) and uncertainty re: french strength.
A number of us felt that the Russians probably had too much strength (each base was on par with the french, but the Russians had far more bases).
Everyone seemed to have a good time. I think the French probably stayed together longer than was expected (Soult in particular had some solid morale rolls), so a bit 'tuning' of the scenario is probably called for. We may see Eylau featured in this blog again.
These guys are colorful and actually a treat to paint. As much as napoleonics are generally considered bright and finicky, sometimes you hit paydirt and get a unit like this. What a color explosion!
