Battle of Arcis, 1814

[RMD]

No worries. Ignore the 'Position Battery Batteries'... a bit of cut'n'paste fuckwittery there...

[RMD]

It's worth noting that some of the Allied 'Corps' actually have other corps under command and that some of the 'divisions' listed in other orbats were actually corps or a halfway-house level of command, such as Franquemont, who was subordinate to Crown Prince William of Wurttemberg commanding IV Corps, but who then controlled two divisions, like a corps commander...

Raevsky's VI Corps is another; he controls the Russian I Corps & II Corps, as well as Pahlen's Cavalry Corps (which is actually a very large division...).

[ochoin]

Ultimately, it'll come down to what we can fit on the table (& leave room for manoeuvre), what we've got (quite a lot, actually) and the aim of the game.

I do a "Charles Grant" style force reduction on big battles. The most important thing is getting a rough similarity in sizes - Austrians 40%, Russians 20% & French 40% of the totals (NB this is very rough - I haven't done the maths yet). A rough similarity in force composition (infantry, cavalry, artillery) is also important. BTW in real Napoleonic battles there's always way too much artillery to transfer to the table top. Work out the % & then cut by another 50% or more, at least.

This was a SYW Show game & we can make the table a bit larger but it'll give you an idea what we're working on:


So, if it ends up as a powerful, yet outnumbered French army trying to disengage from a bigger but sluggish enemy, it will look something like Arcis.

donald

[RMD]

Ultimately, it'll come down to what we can fit on the table (& leave room for manoeuvre), what we've got (quite a lot, actually) and the aim of the game.

I do a "Charles Grant" style force reduction on big battles. The most important thing is getting a rough similarity in sizes - Austrians 40%, Russians 20% & French 40% of the totals (NB this is very rough - I haven't done the maths yet). A rough similarity in force composition (infantry, cavalry, artillery) is also important. BTW in real Napoleonic battles there's always way too much artillery to transfer to the table top. Work out the % & then cut by another 50% or more, at least.

This was a SYW Show game & we can make the table a bit larger but it'll give you an idea what we're working on:


So, if it ends up as a powerful, yet outnumbered French army trying to disengage from a bigger but sluggish enemy, it will look something like Arcis.

donald

I know what you mean re artillery. Nobody will ever maintain an artillery reserve when they could have every gun banging away at maximum range... I think that pointless long-range artillery fire is the single factor that slows down most big games. I've recently felt the need to limit battalion guns for my SYW games, as players will always find a way to sneak the guns from the second line into the first line, or onto the flanks...

For Napoleonics I play Napoleon's Battles, so each unit on table is a brigade and the brigade-level foot artillery isn't therefore represented on table.

I forgot to mention earlier that the apparent duplication of the French Guard cavalry regiments is due to them splitting off the Young Guard squadrons as separate units. Unfortunately, I don't know which are the Old Guard and which are the Young Guard. Up until the end of February there were two Old Guard Cavalry Divisions (which included the Eclaireurs) and two Young Guard Cavalry Divisions, with the Young Guard Squadrons 'proper' being massed in the 1st Division and the Gardes d'Honneur being massed in the 2nd. However, the 1st Old Guard Cavalry Division had ALL the lancers, including the Young Guard squadrons. I suspect that the 3rd Guard Cavalry Division listed above is the massed Young Guard squadrons.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

No worries. Ignore the 'Position Battery Batteries'... a bit of cut'n'paste fuckwittery there...

I just assumed it was a Prince William reference.

[RMD]

Further note: The Wurttemberg reinforcements mentioned in the notes had still not reached IV Corps by April, so were not present at Arcis-sur-Aube.