Rearguard action 1812 - Eagle Rampant demo

After our visit to Little Wars in Stockholm, we set to work on creating our own resources for the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809 or "Suomen Sota" (War for Finland). As it takes time to convert and paint the Finnish / Swedish troops we started playing Eagle Rampant (see WI April 2016) or "Pikeman's Lament" with Russians chasing after the retreating French in the cold winter of 1812...

This was a team game for 4 players, 2 of whom had never played any Rampant variant before.

Scenario: Secure the retreat

French player must protect the straggler's escape from the field.

Special rules:

WEATHER: in the beginning of each French round a die is rolled: on 1 a weather die is rolled.

* Any kind of rain image: -1 for all activation rolls, on French blunders (snake eyes) D3 models succumb to cold weather. All shooting ranges are reduced to 12"

Stragglers

·         Have evade, test for 7+

·         If on a road or enemy within 12”, move 1 move even on a failed activation roll

Victory points awarded:

French:

+ 3 per straggler unit, that has left the field

+ 2 per straggler unit, still in the field and not "wavering"

+ 1 per Russian unit destroyed or " wavering " in the end of the game

Russians

+ 3 per straggler unit destroyed

+ 2 per straggler unit, " wavering " in the end of the game

+ 1 per other French unit destroyed or " wavering " in the end of the game

Game duration: 8 rounds + 9th on 4+ of D6 (or as seen fit by the Umpire) - we eventually decided a deadline for the game.

Order of deployment

1. Russian player 2

2. French Player 2.

3. Russian player 1.

OOB -Russians

* All Russian troops deployed within 6" of the Russian table edge.

Player 1. 20 points

6 Hussars (5p.)

* wild charge +1p.

2 X 6 Cossacks (7p.)

* one with lances (no shooting)

2 X 6 Jaegers (4p.)

1 X 6pdr light artillery battalion gun (4p.)

Player 2. 24p points

Russian line infantry elite & Command 6p.

4 X Russian line infantry (16p.)

OOB - French

Player 1. 26p.

- troops ordered in from the French table edge

6 Lancers (line cav.) 6p.

6 Cuirassiers 6p.

6 Carabinier cavalry 4p.

6 Voltigeurs 2p.

2 X 12 Column Infantry 8 p.

Player 2. 18p.

- troops deployed on a 12" zone in the middle of the table

2 X 12 Stragglers (militia) 2p.

6 Voltigeurs 2p.

6 Guard infantry 6p.

2 X 12 Column Infantry 8 p.

Setup

Once again the excellent winter table we have built for The Winter War came into use. Once the scenario was introduced and few basic concepts of the rules were explained we deployed as per scenario and the game started.

Situation after the first Russian turn

Russian infantry in it's glory!

The catch is sighted - Cossacks give chase!

Russian infantry commanded by me follows stalwartly their colors

While the poor stragglers are frozen to the spot as they hear the cossack war cries!

First blood

Slow reaction of the Grand Arme remnants proves fatal as the cossacks easily capture the first unit of stragglers and run them to the ground, earning 3 victory points for team Russia!

In the meanwhile the Cossack Commander Dmitri and his entourage receive some hot lead to their faces from the muskets of French Guard and as they have just seen the French reinforcements arriving, they decide to call it a day, dragging their wounded commander along. This dramatic event leads to courage tests in all of the Russian troops commanded by Mikko. The other cossack cavalry unit retreats away from the face of the enemy... 

French commander has learned his lessons and moves his own unit to block the road and protect the other stragglers unit, whom pick up the pace of their feet after seeing the fate of their fellows.

Russian infantry invades the farm enclosed by fences, driving the Fench voltigeurs away.

Enemy perspective

Escape! 

With the cossack cavalry neutralized there's nothing much we can do to stop the other stragglers unit from escaping, 3 points to the French

French reinforcements arrive - take the fight to the enemy!

All stragglers either dead or escaped, the French clearly decided to take the fight to the enemy to make sure, there wouldn't be any similar engagements in the near future...

French (or Polish) Uhlans gallop to the field

French commander and his "Les Bleus" look surprisingly fresh and crisp, even if they have spent the last months retreating through Russia! Even the flag is starched! - Marko's miniatures

The foremost Russian infantry unit secures the farm perimeter and engage 

into a firefight with the last French Guards

The French reinforcements start to take the fight to the Russians

My Russian infantry "division" forms a battle line and engages the enemy with several salvos

My co-commander kokelas Mikko (soon to be an ensign)  watches as the two pros make their evil plans. The Savolax jaegers, whom had joined Russian ranks make a daring dash from the cover of the woods (rolled snake-eyes for activation) and end up facing French lancers and a unit of French line infantry...

But unfortunately the black powder of these jaegers has gotten wet, the just stand there!

In the meanwhile on the other flank; the French elite cavalry (curassiers) finally get their horses moving (maybe the 7+ to move is a bit too much, they are elite anyway)

Finally the jaegers have manageg to fire, causing severe casualties to the lancers (whom never bothered to attack). They joy is short as the French infantry finally realize, that they excel in melee...

After making short work of the jagers, they proceed to take out the Russian gun

Conclusion

The deadline was reached and the sun set over the bloody battlefield, it was time to calculate the score...
Both sides got 3 points from stragglers (one destroyed and one escaped), 5 of our units destroyed / routed and we destroyed routed 4 French units... marginal 8-7 victory for the  French

• We had fun and the game flowed quite nicely
• 2 new players were able to play and learn while playing -good rule set!
• I'm very motivated to paint more of Russians and Finns / Swedes for the coming 1808-1809 campaign

Some close up WIP pictures on the freshly painted Russians and the Savolax command