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Game Weekend of Dec 20th & 21st

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Post  Uncle Billy Tue Dec 16, 2014 8:53 pm

I have modified a co-op Nappy scenario so it can played by both sides.  Players that fought this battle last time are sworn to silence, of course. It features everyone's favorite Russian general, Mikhail Borozdin.  We will need a minimum of at least 8 players or ideally 10 or more.  It would be best if two players step forward and volunteer for CinC.   affraid   That way I can email them their briefings and starting positions of their units.  The battle will run for 3 hours, although that much time may not be needed.  It will be on a different part of the same map as last week's game, so everyone who played in the last campaign game should be good to go.
I have set up a signup doodle: Doodle Signup

Game Weekend of Dec 20th & 21st Genera10

The Russian 8th corps, under the leadership of General Lieutenant Mikhail Borozdin, has doggedly followed the French rearguard, commanded by Count Dessaix.  Try as he might, Borozdin has been unable to slow the French withdrawal and allow the Russian army to bring on a larger engagement.  An expected fight for the highlands in the SE corner of the map never materialized.  Rather, the French kept withdrawing to the NW.  Around mid-afternoon, a Russian officer rode towards the town of Alcantarilla.  There he sighted a batallion of voltigeurs.  Likewise, his presence was noted by the French.  It appears Dessaix's men will make a stand here, on the road to Murcia.
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Post  Mr. Digby Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:07 pm

I could be tempted to play Boromir or whatever his name is. I would really like to be C-in-C without having to command troops, so my offer is on that basis only! How many divisions does he have?
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Post  Uncle Billy Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:22 am

Each side will have 4 divisions, so we need 10 players to allow the CinCs to be true commanders. This is a battle where it would be best if the CinCs do not command troops. It has the potential to be a difficult fight for both sides if the there is no overall commander.
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Post  Guest Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:57 pm

How do you join these games please Have teamspeak and your password Do you just turn up?

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Post  Guest Thu Dec 18, 2014 1:00 pm

Sorry just spotted the doodle link

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Post  Uncle Billy Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:41 pm

Just sign up on doodle. Try to get on TS about 30 min early so someone can put up a test room and make sure you've got all the mods installed and in the right order.
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Post  Guest Fri Dec 19, 2014 3:53 pm

Saw that the map is Lynchburg Can not get that to run Have the mods in the right order but only have basic Gettysburg
Help please G

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Post  Guest Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:43 pm

MJP is in China and is wondering what time the game is schedule going to be so he can plan ahead, please post as soon as you so we can let him know!

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Post  Uncle Billy Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:05 pm

Let's play at 19:30GMT, a half hour earlier than we usually do. Everyone try to show up 30 minutes early so anyone who has not played in the last week or two can test their mod setup.

taffthomas wrote:Saw that the map is Lynchburg Can not get that to run Have the mods in the right order but only have basic Gettysburg
You do not need the Lynchburg mod. Everything you will need is in the three standard mods we use, KS Napoleon 1.710, KS SOW Supplemental Maps and Road To Wagram. If you have those and they are in the right order, you should be able to create a sandbox game using the "Spain Lynchburg" map and one of the nappy OOBs.
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Post  Guest Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:57 pm

Was missing the map mod thanks for your time
Now works

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Post  Robert M Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:22 am

The doodle link in your earlier post is NOT functional... can you list the correct address please
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Post  Robert M Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:24 am

just had to be signed in.... no issues with Doodle link

Sorry
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Post  ej1 Sun Dec 21, 2014 6:11 pm

just curious what time the game might be for today?

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Post  Uncle Billy Sun Dec 21, 2014 6:25 pm

I'll be available at 20:00GMT for an impromptu game. I'm fine with either ACW or Nappy.
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Post  ej1 Sun Dec 21, 2014 6:37 pm

trying to figure out what time that will be eastern time.? lol

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Post  Uncle Billy Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:54 pm

15:00EST, 14:00CST, 13:00MST, 12:00PST.
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Post  Mr. Digby Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:36 pm

The Plan:
Game Weekend of Dec 20th & 21st RussianPosition

As Borodzhin, the Russian C-in-C I was not looking forward very much to this fight. Having "walked the ground" earlier in the day I found the region the corps was advancing through was choked with dense woodland and deep fast flowing streams with muddy banks that would take any formation of troops a long time to cross and would even seriously delay couriers. I resolved to get my corps out of this dreadful terrain as soon as possible and fight the French in the open where I could rely on our splendid artillery to give us an edge.

Looking at the map there was only one sensible course by which to attack the French and that is illustrated in the attached Plan of Approach. I made no further plans beyond getting my corps into position to open the battle. 24-y Division (Kevin/Likhachev) would provide a screen behind which the other divisions would march and deploy. Likhachev was told to get his artillery into action at the earliest opportunity, to keep the French interest on him and to tease the French into looking towards their left by sending his cavalry brigade out to the right.

11-y division was entrusted to Matt/Bakhmetyev. I knew it was only Matt's second HITS/Couriers game and his first commanding a division but he rose to the challenge superbly. He had a cavalry brigade, three infantry brigades and three 12-gun batteries to command! I allocated Little Mac and Wittman to his division and they took the cavalry and one infantry brigade respectively. 11-y division had to march the furthest, change deployment frontage from north to north-east and keep contact with Kevin's left, all done in woods and with an enemy who wanted to be there as well. I'm amazed Matt handled his command so well.

17-y division was commanded by Morsey/Olsufiev and I gave him the simplest task which was to swing west then north while keeping his bearings on 11-y division's left. He was the reserve and would be given orders as circumstances demanded.

So, there we have it, simple plan, simple execution, right?

Haha.

I started the game well in front of my corps and had only 1 minute allowed in my initial location to scribble down what I could see of the French. To my consternation that was a big fat zero. I could see no French units at all from my start location! I rode forwards 50 yards and this revealed a couple of infantry battalions on the road in Alcantarilla with two batteries of guns, one to the right of the village and one to the left. I then rode SW a little distance to a wheatfield and saw more French infantry about where the white dot is. This dot was the location of a white wooden house I had spied earlier which, on top of a rise, was the perfect position for Bakhmetyev to occupy for his attack.

Seeing that Bakhmetyev would have to fight to get to his "start line" I mooched around in the north watching Kevin deploy his division and satisfied his guns were in action and he had the enemy's attention I galloped off south-west to co-ordinate Matt's approach...

...and found Morsey with his division moving briskly north towards Matt's jump-off point. Morsey was tight against Kevin's left and Matt was nowhere in sight. How had 11-y div got here so fast? Where was 17-y div? I sent off couriers to ask Matt where he was and got no reply. I could see Mark leading Matt's cavalry far, far off to the west where I thought Morsey should be and then sent a flurry of notes to Morsey to halt his northward move, ignore the French he was beginning to get entangled with to his front and disengage to move further west. I directed him to Lebrilla but it seemed to take an age for his troops to move there.

With the gap between Morsey and Kevin opened up, Matt finally arrived to occupy it. Mark had done a good job with his cavalry destroying a French brigade near Lebrilla and Morsey was moving to the same location where I expected him to swing 100 degrees right and move up the Murcia road.

Matt moved up into line between Kevin and Morsey and we easily pushed away a combined arms force of French that was holding the from Lebrilla to the Aledo road junction. The enemy didn't contest any of this ground but fell back to the NE en-masse. I was amazed at this move because it opened up exactly the terrain I wanted - the high ridge of the Murcia road where there was good artillery ground and gaps in the woods.

I hastily ordered Matt to bring his guns forward to "my position" and pound the enemy while his infantry came into line and rested.

I then got Morsey up the road from Lebrilla and converted his reserve duty to left flank position, telling him again to plant his batteries "on me" where they had a superb field of fire down into a hollow filled with Frenchmen and a ridge beyond covered in targets.

I am sorry and need to apologise to Morsey as I got pretty cross with him and his slow advance. I guess you're not yet used to commanding a division Mike! Your AI inf brigade commanders (especially that idiot Savrioni) kept wanting to attack the enemy and twice went forwards past my position only get get badly mauled by the French guns. Finally though we had Matt's 36 guns and Morsey's 24 in a semi-circle pounding the daylights out of the angle of the French line where it had bent back. Matt's guns demolished a French battery with counter-battery fire very quickly and battalion after battalion ran for the hills. I decided while watching this that I really love the Russian Napoleonic army!

At 3:30 in the afternoon I ordered Matt and Morsey to attack and leaving them to get stuck in I rode across to see what Kevin was up to... only I couldn't find his division! A battery was in action with a couple of battalions protecting it but of the rest of his division and Kevin himself there was no sign!

Then I got a message from him which went:

"Attack on Alcantarila has failed. All is lost! Run and save yourself!"

Cursing this lilly-livered weasel and folding the letter up carefully in my pocket for evidence at his forthcoming court martial, I rode back towards "the angle" a patch of high ground where the woods ended and the open areas at the Murcia Road began. It was close to the White Barn I'd identified to Matt earlier as a good place from which to launch his attack. We had never even reached it! My men seemed to be fighting still in the same locations and had not advanced much at all. I saw French reserves of Polish infantry and a brigade of dragoons and thought the day was lost. I doubted my men could ever shift them from the high ground.

Then the fickle gods of war dealt us an ace. I had been getting intercepted enemy messages for a long time. I'd glanced at a few but they were boring redeploy orders to AI units and I didn't read them. Then I saw one actually written from a player to another player and opened it. My jaw dropped:

"(Martin) to (Rich)

Your brigade has done magnificently and performed all I can ask, but the day is lost. Retire towards the Segura stream."

Very Happy <== the Borodzhin grin of victory!

Playing HITS & couriers is a little like playing poker. You know what your hand is but you often have little idea what cards the opponent holds, or what else is going to come out of the deck. Having that message come into my hands I felt like I was in Rain Man as Tom Cruise and in a casino with Dustin Hoffman by my side.

I sent a message to Morsey and to Matt urging them to keep pushing harder even though I knew their divisions were probably spent. Sure enough the Polish brigades to our front and the dragoons melted away and withdrew north. It was a great moment, one of my most enjoyable playing HITS. To think that about 15 minutes earlier I was on the point of calling the game and congratulating the French on a great defence that we could not crack.

Its what I love about HITS SoW. You think you've won when later you discover you lost, only today I thought I'd led my corps to defeat only to find out that in this particular game of poker the opponent blinked first.

C'est la guerre as they say in France.

The Reality:
Game Weekend of Dec 20th & 21st RussianPosition0

Thanks to Kevin for the scenario (but by heck do I hate this side of the Lynchburg map!) and to everyone for playing. Man of the Match award goes to Matt who in his second HITS game and his first division command racked up a kills score anybody can be proud of - over 4,700 points and more than 3,000 from his three batteries alone.

Replay file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y7pmfxg0pd4s8wl/Run-to-Ground.rar?dl=0


Last edited by Mr. Digby on Mon Dec 22, 2014 8:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Mark87 Sun Dec 21, 2014 10:45 pm

I will say that my Division lost heavy casualties but blunted all attacks made against it. I tried to deploy on the reverse slope, especially when I saw a marauding Russian Officer galloping across my line of battle. I enjoyed divisional command; however, I did personally lead a cavalry charge by one squadron which captured an enemy regiment and that routed another. Impressive stuff: but I neglected to manage the entire affair and there was hand to hand fighting in and amongst my center battery!

Sacre Bleu!


An my brigade commander, Robert Mcloud, the extreme left of the French Army, performed quality work all game-sorted out that mess by the artillery Laughing
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Post  henridecat Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:35 pm

Rich's Report (Gen Damas, a brigade of Vistula Legion)

My introduction to the game started with me being very confused, I had a lot of trouble working out how to use the map & compass and was hampered by the fact that the large resolution map & courier was being displayed on a smaller res. screen, so I couldn't see the map or courier display properly. I think I've got it now & got the correct courier/map mod installed.

My initial position was slightly NE of Molina with the rest of my Division.

As the rest of my Division marched off to the SW down the main road to Alcantarilla I kept getting (auto generated) orders to move to 'the position marked on my map', but I couldn't see any position, how does that work? Anyway the end result was I didn't know what to do, though from the pre-game briefing I expected to be moving with the  rest of the Division to a position in reserve roughly NW of Alcantarilla.

Finally after a request to Prince Poniatovski I received orders to form up on the NE flank near Molina & look for Russians in the area.

Next was an interlude of high comedy when I mistook the terrain artifacts for Russians, well they looked like Green Coated turnip munching serfs from my galloping horse and I sent a message to Prince Poniatovski to say so.. which I quickly retracted.. when I realised my error.

Soon enough my Prince understood that the Russian attack was coming from the SW and he need not be overly concerned about his left flank. So I was ordered up towards Alcantarilla.

When I got there I found a gap between (Mark/Rob) 10th Div (on left) and Stefan/Dessaix 's 4th Div (on right), and I could see 4 or 5 Russian battalions that looked like they could exploit the gap. Ordered to support Dessaix on I deployed to face them and engaged in a long firefight, trying my best to keep a half decent reserve.

My men were fighting between the angle of the French line and Alcantarilla and things were looking good, the Russians had stopped advancing, I even intercepted the message saying "Attack on Alcantarila has failed. All is lost! Run and save yourself!", shortly after I captured a reply which asked "Has your attack failed?".

But all was not well I saw a couple of French battalions fleeing on my right and 30 mins later the Russians came on again. Then all was chaos in the French line, the Bavarian Chevauleger who were on the left of 4th Division did nothing useful much to my chagrin, they simply got in the way of my firing line when I reformed it further back.

My casualties were getting quite high and it was clear by this point that the men would not stand a determined assault.

An enjoyable battle despite the whupping.. next time I'll try & dole it out.Laughing


Last edited by henridecat on Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:43 am; edited 3 times in total
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Game Weekend of Dec 20th & 21st Empty On the left of the French line

Post  Robert M Mon Dec 22, 2014 3:34 am

I was commander of a battalion of French troops of the 10 th Division and was assigned to the left flank....mine and mine alone to defend....much of the early part of the battle was spent in anticipation, as I could see the Ruskie battle flags moving to the right....but only artillery and stationary infantry to my front....

I reconned to my front and found the flank of the Russian line far to the south, with their front to the NW .... We considered a strong flanking move to attack the right flank but, as there was obvious pressure to the center of our line I never received orders to proceed....

When a main thrust came on Anterilla, I was in a position to swing from my anchoring position at Molina, and flank from the north.... One of my regiments was caught unawares by cavalry and was forced into ignominious surrender.... I feel their comrades avenged their fate however, and participated in a glorious repluse of the Barbaric Russian hordes. At least one Russian regiment was captured, and others routed, or forced to retire.

Seeing the enemy in full retreat in my front, I requested orders to pursue, or move elsewhere.....I received orders from my commander, Mark, that our right had been pierced and to make to the NW to affect a full retreat....

My men had done well....although we were the far left flank or our position, and therefore not the brunt or the enemy attack, my men contibuted to the repulse and panicked message as quoted above...

It was a sobering sight to move off the battlefield and see streaming routed troops of both the French and Russian armies moving in all directions, when my men were spoiling for more.....

Another frustratingly slow start to the day....but well worth the time invested.

Thanks all
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Post  MJP Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:47 am

This was my second HITS game and for me it was another very fun affair.   I had command of Bakhmetyev's 11th Division and Digby/Borozdin was good enough to assign Mark and Wittman to my division to help me, so I was in direct command of 2 Infantry Brigades and 3 very large batteries.    Under my initial orders during the planning session to advance to the "white barn" selected as the jump off point of the attack, I ordered Mark to take his cavalry on a nw direction of march to find this place for us and hold it until we could get the infantry up.   I had wanted Wittman to take the lead on the advance and had ordered him to form up on the left side of the road when we reached our destination.  Both were under strict orders not to engage the enemy without further instruction from me.   It sounded quite simple really until i got in the saddle and literally couldn't see a thing!

As my second game, i was giving orders initially to the entire division to get it moving.   But i discovered after my couriers reached the sub units that my artillery was moving away from the battle up a hill and soon to be totally lost from my sight, most probably in search of roads.   I quickly gave up on that and TC'ed each Brigade/Battery commander, selected a point i could see in the general direction i wanted to go, and gave each element independent orders to march there.   In the 10 or so minutes it took me to perform those tasks, draft courier messages, and get my march underway, i completely lost where Mark and Wittman had gone to.   Mark reported back that he had spotted infantry east Lebrilla and i soon got a message from Digby that i would have to fight my way to our attack jump off point.   Because of this, i directed my march in a much more westerly direction and received further orders to attack the Y fork cross roads.  About this time, Morsey's 17th Division and my 11th Division were becoming hopelessly intermingled.   At one point Digby/Borozdin issued further orders that 17th Division would be on my left and we would attack in conjunction with one another to which i replied that 17th Division was in fact on my right and was already starting to close with the enemy.   Shortly after, obviously at further and implicit instruction from our C-in-C, i saw 17th division change it's line of march to take a hard left to go west and we finally started sorting ourselves  out.   I left my two brigades further back and deployed my 3 batteries to start shelling the french while elements of 17th division were skirmishing with them in order to attack the Y intersection so that we could form up for our main attack when the French promptly quit the position and drew off to the NE.   They presented marvelous targets as they marched across our face towards their new positions.  

Digby/Borozdin at this point was calling for guns to move to his location and my guns were already on the way when i received this command because the spot was just perfect as the ground was open, it was on a nice rise, and part of the French line facing to the SE was terribly enfiladed.   I setup my 3 batteries there and we began pounding away.  I brought up 1 brigade and put it into line and brought up my second Grenadier brigade and formed it up in assault column about 400 yards behind and out of harms way.   I discovered pretty quickly that the way i play, it's far easier to deploy in a shorter frontage in depth than it is to stretch the line out so i was trying to keep my force as compact as possible.    Wittman's 3rd Brigade was also (thanks to him!) conveniently well positioned off the right of my two brigades, so we had a divisional deployment of two brigades up front with a third in reserve behind the left brigade.  Mark's cavalry was still having adventures on the far left of the army and for all intents and purposes was operating (effectively!) as an independent command.    

Now that we were properly deployed the way our C-in-C wanted us to be and our guns seeming to fire with great effect, Digby/Borozdin ordered us to continue to shell the enemy for 15 more minutes and then launch the assault.   I passed these orders on to Wittman telling him our launch point would be at 3:18 and that is when he should order the attack.    To my surprise however, Morsey's 17th Division on my left was already pressing up on the French lines and getting heavily engaged.   The guns were doing good work and about 2 minutes before our attack time i received a courier from Digby ordering me not to attack yet, but to keep shelling the enemy such was the effect it was having.   I tried to pass this order on to Wittman, but by the time he received it, it was too late and his brigade advanced and make contact with the French.   So with friendly units on both my left and my right engaged against the french line pressing them into a pretty sharp angle, i saw this as an opportunity to both follow Digby's orders but to also support the troops to my left and particularly wittman on my right who was my responsibility.   So i advanced my lead brigade 200 yards bringing it about 400 yards from the enemy and advanced two of my 3 batteries to fill this gap at about 375 or so yards from the french and ordered them to cannister.  The effect was terrible, with a few guns individually ordered to cannister at artillery targets.   Borozdin clearly approved as his messengers were urging us to continue "pounding" them.   Wittman on the right was making decent headway and the pressure on the French from Morsey's 17th Division was creating an angle presenting the flanks of a few French regiments to my infantry so at 3:30 i ordered a few regiments up to start firing on the french line.   One by one i tc'ed the regiments of my advance brigade and got them engaged with the enemy, tying in with Morsey/17th Division on my left and Wittman's brigade on my right.   I ordered my powerful reserve grenadier brigade to move it's column's up about 400 yards behind the main line of battle.   It should be noted that at this point Mark crashed, so i recalled his cavalry to my position putting it in reserve for later use while they rested.     

The fight was growing more and more hot and with the French on the high ground, my lead units were taking losses.   The french had now turned their attention to me and even though i couldn't be sure if i was losing or winning the fight, i knew that even if my infantry on the lower part of the ridge was taking it from the French, my guns were more than compensating.   Still, we really had to get up on the plateau in order to secure a breakthrough.   So after about 20 minutes or so of fighting with my lead units i gave the order for my grenadiers to come up in assault column, pass through my lead units, and give the enemy regiments the cold steel.   I also selected my two freshest cavalry regiments to come up and fill gaps behind the lines looking for targets of opportunity and to give the French cav seconds thoughts before charging me (i.e. Napoleonic rock/paper/scissors!).   My Grenadiers pushed up the slope with wonderful esprit d'corps and promptly sent the worn out French packing.   We had secured a foothold on the top of the plateau and i ordered up more fresh troops to continue the push and expand the gap.    

The lead French regiments that had been engaged at this point began to melt away and i felt that we were on the verge of securing victory but the fight wasn't done yet as some white coated gentlemen (poles maybe, or some Wurttemberg or perhaps both) came in as reinforcements.   I lengthened my line a bit and had my fresh units in the front line.   Some Cheveauleger (i think!) charged my regiments who were able to form square just in a nick of time and drive them off.  I was riding back and forth between the french allied and Russian lines, exposing myself to great personal risk, directing the fight.   I just can't help but TC every regiment, though i have discovered that the "Advance 25/50/75' yard command is definitely the best friend of the HITS and Courier general.  Give a few turns one direction or another to sort out facing, check range to closest enemy, and advance the appropriate distance to engage.   The fight with the French Allies was raging when i intercepted a courier stating that though i had fought well we were being defeated and it was time to withdraw.   Huh?   Maybe the rest of our army was losing perhaps, difficult to tell with a worm's eye view of the battle!  Luckily i intercepted the same courier a second time and only then realized that it was an intercepted courier meant for Poniatowski!   So i reported up the chain of command and promptly received orders to continue pushing hard.    Digby again issued orders to bring the batteries up to the barn area and again great minds think alike as several were already on the march.  It was at this point with the french bruised and battered but not totally routed, that their remaining elements withdrew in somewhat good order and the day was ours.   We spent the night drinking schnapps in Murcia toasting our victory!  

Unlike the battle in the village last week, in this game i had a much larger command and was a more integral part of the overall battle.  Plus, i wasn't stuck in an around buildings so i had a much greater degree of awareness of what was going on on my left and right to an extent.   I had no idea at all how 24th Division had fared until after the battle.  At the end of the game i was pretty surprised to see just how well my division had done.  I knew it was doing well from the points and from the fact that most of my regiments were still in excellent fighting shape (one did surrender however!) but to see that we had taken around 3200 casualties and inflicted well over 7000 was pretty shocking.   My guess is that 60% at least was probably from the guns which just had an orgy of targets and wonderful firing positions.   I really enjoying the role of division commander though definitely appreciated having two sub commanders.  I like being part of the decision making process as the GCM folks can attest to and i found that higher level of command with a few brigades to be just perfect for what i was capable of handling.   I also felt that digby did a great job as C-in-C directing the battle by giving very specific instructions when necessary but allowing flexibility of handling our commands as we saw fit under the general plan.   Communication was very good i felt and one of my favorite parts about the HITS experience is that you really don't know the overall big picture and you can't just tell someone to do something else like you can in GCM.   They are doing what they are doing and as far as you know, they have been told to do that.  It's just more more realistic.   I do however wish the maps were a bit more European.   TOO much woods.  But many times i didn't realize that i was even in woods because they don't look like normal woods (less tree graphics).  But overall it was a great experience and my division performed well, partly because i was aided by two very capable brigade commanders and partly i think because my position in the center of our line at an angle in the French line allowed me to stay very compact which facilitated command and control much better than had i been fighting over a longer frontage.  As such i was able to micro manage to a good extent and never really had more than 5 regiments at a time engaged, just sort of leap frogging and resting.    I'm sure as i continue to play and experience different situations I will long for the battle again when i am in the favorable situation i was in this game.  ;-)

Overall great fun and can't wait to do it again!  

Best,

MJP/Matt
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Post  henridecat Mon Dec 22, 2014 10:01 am

What is a HITS, it is all over the forum but can't see a definition?

PS I hate acromyns.
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Post  Iberalc Mon Dec 22, 2014 12:23 pm

Headquarters Is The Saddle. Cool
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Post  Martin Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:54 pm

A very enjoyable game, and thanks to Kevin for designing it.

The French objective was to hold the main road through Alcantarilla, and defeat the Russians.  We were not initially allowed to recce far, and were specifically prohibited from scouting or deploying any further S until the infantry battle was joined.  Given the ground it seemed likely that the main enemy thrust would be against Dessaix’s 4th Division in precisely that area.  In any event, I felt that our initial deployment was too extended, so the intention was to get the Vistula Legion moving from the low ground near Murcia in the NE into reserve, so it could support either of the other two divisions.

Game Weekend of Dec 20th & 21st Murcia10

My overall plan was to fight a defensive battle initially, using the high ground on which the 4th and 10th divisions were currently deployed.  Once we had exhausted the Russian attacks, we would go over to the offensive and destroy them.  

We had 3 new players, and were consequently short of players for divisional command, so I took direct command of the Legion, as that would initially be in reserve.  I initially rode over to the left, confirmed that the Legion did not appear to be facing any Russkies, and got it on the move SW.  I then moved SW myself, viewing the ground and deployments of Ledru’s 10th Division (Mark) on the way.  The ground was good, and the deployments appeared judicious, but there were some gaps in his line due to the length of his front.  I therefore ordered Damas’ Westphalian Brigade (Rich) of the Legion to remain on his left at Molina for the time being and recce NE.

From there I rode further SW towards Dessaix’s 4th Division.  Here I had more concerns, as there was a gap between Ledru’s right and Dessaix’s left, and I could see another between two of the 4th Division brigades.  I sent a couple of messages to Dessaix suggesting that he pull back somewhat.  Regrettably, his extreme right was already under attack by this point, and it was some while before he was able to pull back to high ground about 1/2 ml SW of Alcantarilla, having suffered some losses.  While he was doing this, I had moved the Legion up to join him there.  We thought this was good ground to fight on, although it proved not to be!  

We had a report of large Russian forces moving further W, and thought the intention might be to outflank us by way of Aledo.  I therefore left Dessaix to hold the high ground, supported by most of the Legion’s guns.  Damas’ Brigade was also ordered down from Molina to support him, as an earlier report of Russians in Murcia had proved false.  I started the rest of the Legion towards Aledo and galloped ahead.  There proved to be no enemy there so I rode back to find Dessaix in a tough fight, and that other Russian infantry had crossed the road between him and Ledru!  I brought Doumonguet’s Cavalry Brigade forward to assist Ledru in clearing the road.  There was space and open ground here, and they had some success in breaking enemy battalions.  
4th Division was now under real pressure however.  The enemy had deployed 60 guns in an arc.  Dessaix still had the high ground, but it was constantly swept by murderous fire.  Our own less numerous artillery had been badly hit and we were finding it difficult to make an effective response.  Dessaix used his own cavalry in a series of charges on his left, and I sent the rest of Doumonguet’s in as well.  This seemed to stabilise the situation, but the impact was limited in the wooded country there.

Ledru was by now making impressive gains however, and at this point we appeared to be winning the battle on our left whilst losing it on the right.  Poor Dessaix was by now in a very bad way, and I made a final throw of the dice.  I ordered Ledru (supported by Damas) to swing around and attack SW in support of Dessaix’s left.  At the same time the 2 uncommitted infantry brigades of the Legion advanced on his right.  The original French plan was thus still (vaguely) in place at this point.  

The Legion drove some Russian battalions off the high ground, but were themselves now subject to fire from the massed enemy batteries, and casualties were rising quickly.  In a few minutes, the two Legion infantry brigades lost a couple of thousand men, mainly it appeared from artillery fire.

I concluded that even if we were victorious, the losses would be prohibitive, so ordered the Legion to pull back and sent word to the other divisions to do likewise.  The enemy continued to press forward strongly, and I brought up my last reserves – a brigade of dragoons – to cover the withdrawal.  These took took casualties from long range artillery fire, but did buy sufficient breathing space to allow Dessaix’s remnants and the Legion to withdraw in tolerable order.

Although the result was in some doubt until late in the battle, this was a clear victory for the the Russians, so well-played the Diggers and team.  From my standpoint, the thing that won it was the concentration of 60 Russian guns, to which were were unable to find an effective reply.  Firepower in the end proved more important than ground.

As with the Russians, our least experienced divisional commander (Mark) put in a bravura performance. Thanks also to our 3 new brigade commanders (Ernie, Rob and Rich), all of whom did a good job, and to my old chum Stefan who suffered stoically alongside me on that damn high ground as the cannon-balls flew.

In his report of the action to Napoleon, Prince Poniatowski has claimed credit for saving the French Empire. This is on the grounds that this reverse has scuppered the projected French advance on Moscow, thus avoiding the disastrous winter retreat and saving La Grande Armee from annihilation.   He demands a marshal’s baton.  It remains to be seen how the Emperor responds to this impeccable reasoning  Rolling Eyes.

Martin (J)


Last edited by Martin on Mon Dec 22, 2014 6:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Post  Martin Mon Dec 22, 2014 5:18 pm

Rich wrote:

As the rest of my Division marched off to the SW down the main road to Alcantarilla I kept getting (auto generated) orders to move to 'the position marked on my map', but I couldn't see any position, how does that work?

That was my fault.  As Poniatowski, I sent orders to Claparede (under the AI) to move the rest of his division SW.  I had forgotten that when you do that, a human controlled brigade in the division also receives that type of order, which of course is unintelligible as there is no accompanying map.  Even worse, I've a feeling that the human player's units also start marching to the designated place.  This will have contributed to your early confusion.

What I should have done was ordered each brigade and battery of the Vistula Legion individually.

Sorry.

Martin (J)

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