I now have this scenario set up and have made the pre battle 'Mother Russia' roll. You can see the 'paper strength' markers added to these units. I had a good long think about this scenario, it looks very challenging for the French as the Russians are deployed in depth and are basically undertaking a fighting retreat. Any Russian unit that exits the battlefield from the Russian left flank sector earns a VP. There are sufficient 'strong' units on the board to hold up any French attack while the smaller units slip away to safety and a victory - at least it looks that way to me. While there is a large French force deployed upon the Russian right the Russian position there is strong, with a well sited foot artillery battery, bought up to paper strength by the pre battle roll. I really don't know how to begin the French move, the 5 card hand is very powerful as you can see, such that the French could initiate a speedy all out assault. But I'm cautious, and have learned from playing this game that it usually pays to develop attacks more slowly, making sure units are well supported etc.
I finally decided to move the French cavalry against the Russian right, forcing one unit to form square. On this note I have to say I do wonder slightly about troops being able to form square in woods, I can only assume they are in a clearing or something! It's a good position now for the square as cavalry can only roll a single die against them and there is always the -1 fighting into woods deduction, so this negates any dice throw against them ( am I reading this correctly?). I can of course bring up infantry to attack the square however in a subsequent move.
I'd just like to ask any C&C players here what they would do? How would you have opened this battle? You should be able to see the French hand in the photos.
Commission work.
Having played this scenario as the Russians, I think I would have played "Bayonet Charge" as soon as possible and run my line infantry out of the woods and slammed them into the three strength Russian infantry in the centre. This would present the Russian player with a particularly sticky wicket as he would then have to choose between activating those now weakened (5 dice from French Line) infantry units to either get out of trouble or hit me back or getting the chaps off the back line. With an attack centre and a forced march in hand, there are sufficient cards there to keep three turns worth of hard hitting going, by the time those are exhausted, the left can be used to get the French horse into a position to either finish off weakened units or force Russians that should be scampering for the base line pinned in square.
ReplyDeleteFor the French player, the worst case scenario is a Russian player with Le Grande Maneouvre or Force March in hand, anything that will allow the Russian player to pull units off without too much trouble, hence I think the need to strike him a blow as quickly as possible so that he is unable to focus on an orderly withdrawal.
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DeleteThank you for that CK, most interesting and I did indeed play the Bayonet Charge card next turn with predicted heavy loss for the 3 block Russian units resulting in 2 early VP's for the French. The additional dice for French infantry v infantry did the job! It does not look as though Russian victory could be obtained by pulling off units alone, I think they will need to inflict some losses on the attacking French and they do have the troops to do this - the Grenadier units for example and a very well placed battery of foot artillery. My plan (if card hand allows) is to pull back the weaker units as you suggest and use the stronger/better quality units to fight a rearguard action in the hope of taking out a few French units as they move forward. Certainly looks to be a challenging scenario, even playing solo, as the card hand will influence how things go.
ReplyDeleteI'll write it up once the game is over.
Cheers,
Lee.