Miko's mini campaign - Kevin vs Pat (Russians vs French)

The French were also kind enough to supply us with many fine horses. Thank you, we will put them to good use.

The 2nd day scenario is now ready.
The 1st day losses reports and updated OOBs have been sent to the CinCs.

So, the campaign is now over as regardless what Pat would do, he would run out of Prestige points.

I thought I'd publish full casualties over 2 days (that's with 1/3 wounded returning applied)

French:

1st Day

Dead/Wounded/Missing : 1506

Captured:
total men 920
total horses 579

Total Losses 2426


2nd Day

Dead/Wounded/Missing : 4884

Captured:
total men 1920
total horses 877

Total Losses 6804

Losses over 2 days 9230


Russian:

1st Day

Dead/Wounded/Missing : 2829

Captured:
total men 294
total horses 0

Total Losses: 3123



2nd Day

Dead/Wounded/Missing : 4076

Captured:
total men 1682
total horses 1401

Total Losses: 5758

Losses over 2 days 8881


that converts to 2 prestige points lost for Russians and 3 prestige points lost for French from casualties

after that comes points for getting/losing objectives... Kevin would gain 5 points for the objectives (+6 for towns and -1 from start of the scenario as an attacker)
Pat would lose 4 points from towns and another point for retreat during night (alternative is to fight the 3rd day which at best would mean an ordered retreat)
I will amend this system slightly in the new campaign but overall I'm happy how it worked.

Thanks for Kevin and Pat for CinCing and everyone participating  

I never had so much fun losing a battle. These are real challenging because you have to keep multiple potential battle days in mind when fighting.

On both days the Russians did exactly what we thought they would do. We stopped them on the first day using excellent defensive ground. On the second day we guessed right also. But it didn’t matter. We will toast Grog for his valiant defense, waiting for the reinforcements that did not arrive quite in time, which was due to my lapse in judgment.

“Do you think you can hold the town?” Queried I
“We lost it about an hour ago” Replied he

And so it went. I gave Kevin my sword and several family heirlooms. His guards are treating me quite nicely as I get to walk out of my cell twice a day. Its a little cold still here in Siberia bit they say the summers get almost warm sometimes.

Many thanks to Miko.

I look forward to focusing just on a division next campaign where Grog and Ehey take corps command

These linked battles were really fun, especially when we got the kinks worked out and picked the right map. I'm very impressed with the way the battles turned out. The weighing of objective versus caution and calculation of acceptable losses is a cool new angle. It really produced a pretty historical looking fight, and even though we're all generally fighting on smaller fronts than when we fight AI, the battles are still tense and interesting.

In the observation of the Russian leadership, once we had superior numbers, a bulk of infantry, we felt very confident. We realized casualties are lower than captures on the list of concerns. When we took those regiments and battalions in the first day we went from being cautiously optimistic, to being confidently optimistic.

In the battle I kept looking at what seemed like very thin lines (Pat's lines) while Miko hid his second brigade behind a hill. I wanted to attack but that wasn't quite a part of Kevin's plans. At one point I asked him how many casualties he would allow me if I destroyed the force in front of me and I haggled him up to 20%, but I wasn't certain I could get the job done. Shortly after that point Miko counter attacked my woods-holding brigade and swiftly drove them out while I was maneuvering the rest of my division.

By the end I went and tested Pat's lines anyway and ended up with some unnecessary casualties on both sides.

I'm excited for the next one.

I'm always amazed that people don't learn from history. Don't mess with the Russians. Despite this truism, the battles were very tense and we Russians had to always be cautious. A well timed counterattack can come out of nowhere and be devastating. That's something the AI has real difficulty with but is easy for humans.

As the Russian CinC, my greatest concern was identifying as early as possible the locations of the French divisions. Only until this was established could I make a plan of attack or defense. Before the 1st battle, I decided to fight the campaign in true 19th century style, keeping our three divisions in close supporting distance. This has the advantage that surprise enemy attacks are not going to be immediately overwhelming as assistance is never far away. It has the disadvantage in that the enemy has a large target that is easy to find.

Once the battles were joined, it quickly became apparent that each one would be a battle of attrition. Here again history repeats, as nearly all Russian/French battles were such affairs. The exploitation of a weakness in the enemy line was immediately telling. Given that 2 of the 3 divisions were relatively small, reserves were not readily available and a breakthrough would be a queue for the fat lady to start singing.

For the next campaign, I'd recommend 2 of the divisions have 3 infantry brigades each, while the 3rd have just two. It would be the obvious choice for the army CinC to directly command.

At the start of the 2nd day of the 2nd battle my goal changed to that of Napoleon's; geography doesn't matter, the destruction of the enemy army is the only objective. Once that is achieved, he could go anywhere and capture anyplace he liked. This turned our campaign into a true Russian-French slugfest, like Eylau or Borodino. The last battle had 30% French casualties and 20% Russian. These are within historical results but I think in order for this not to become the norm, the decision of withdrawal by one or both armies should not have such dire consequences as they would have had in the last two battles. Those two battles required the defending side to fight to the death. Even Kutuzov refused to do that, and he was defending Moscow.

I suggest trying a modification for the next campaign. Have a 5 map world to fight over. These maps would be known in advance by both sides. The central map is neutral ground. A decision to withdraw after the 1st day's fighting would result in no real losses apart from casualties and a small loss of prestige.

The 2nd battle would take place on the borderlands of the army that withdrew or lost. Here the consequence of losing or withdrawing by the "home team" would have a greater loss of prestige and a more serious loss of men due to desertion. But it would not be a crippling loss. The "home team" would get to choose, within reasonable limits, where he wishes to deploy given 2 or more towns or other key points he needs to protect. It is his territory after all.

Assuming the "home team" lost/withdrew from the 2nd battle, the 3rd map would be the central province of that army. A loss here would have very significant consequences for the "home team". For them, this would be a battle to the death, but for the other side, it would be just another day at the office and they could withdraw with only a small prestige penalty.