The Battle For Plancenoit, 18 June 1815 (Field of Glory AAR)

Trying out a few rulesets lately. With some time at hand I decided to go big on my second game of FoG: Napoleonic. The results these rules produce are quite nice but it is too complicated and hard to reference for me. The basic systems are actually sound and easy to remember but they are drowned in loads of little tidbit rules buried in bullet point lists or in charts.

Maybe I trim it down to a house rule version with simplified movement and cleaner tables for combat. Anyways, we have a battle to report! The Order of Battle are straight from the rulebook but the map and scenario rules are cobbled together from different sources and ideas.

Plancenoit is on the french right flank. The Prussians under Blücher arrived there at 16:30 and tried to take the village from the french to get troops into Napoleon's rear. They took the burning remnants of Plancenoit with their third assault which began at 19:30. Fighting was extremely fierce in and around the village.

First of all, yeah I use chits instead of miniatures and this is a solo battle. If you don't like it, don't read on and don't give me crap. It is as simple as that :)

The set-up is not particularly in scale or accurate but derived from other scenario maps I found online. There were so many variables to test that I just went with it to get a feel for the rules in big battles.
 
The French are in blue:

• The army is commanded by Count the Lobau (VI Corps)
• 19th Infantry Division (Zimmer) has the center on the hill.
• 20th Infantry Division (Jeanin) deployed just short of Plancenoit on the right.
• 5th and 3rd Cavalry Divisions (Subervie, Domon) have the left. Domon is deployed in march formation.
• Young Guard Division (Dusheme) will arrive on the road to Plancenoit later.

The Prussians will are in red:

•  The army is commanded by Blücher (Army) and Graf Bülow von Dennewitz (IV Corps)
• Matching the french cavalry will be a Cavalry Division led by Pruessen.
• 16th Brigade (Hiller) takes the center behind the woods.
• On the prussian left Losthin's 15th Brigade is tasked to take Plancenoit.
• Reinforcements will turn up later: 12th Infantry Brigade (Stülpnagel) will reinforce Losthin in his push for the village and 5th Infantry Brigade (Tippelskirch) will move down the other road behind Pruessen's Cavalry.

Scenario Rules:

• The deployment areas are fixed as described above. French bein 6MU from centerline, Prussians 16MU. 
• The whole table is about 52MU from the Prussian to the French table edge. This is important for the objectives. It was 72MU wide but the river on the right sectioned off a good chunk of the battlefield.
• Reinforcements from both sides will arrive between turns 2-4 via the roads Roll 1d6 for every Regiment at the start of a turn. On turn 2 it arrives on 1-2, on turn 3 it arrives on 1-4 and on turn 4 it arrives guaranteed. This didn't work well as Conscripts clogged up the road. Maybe roll 1d6 for every Regiment in a Division instead and pick one Regiment for every success.
• The scenario is played for 10 turns. Tally up ACV points as Victory Points as described below:
• At the end of turn 10 every Prussian unit that moved off the French map edge or is within 12MU of it, scores VP for the Prussians equal to their ACV.
• Destroyed, broken and spent French units count their ACV as VP. Prussian destroyed and broken units count double the ACV unless they moved off the French map edge. Spent units count normal. Note: Spend Prussian units moving of the French map edge counts as 2/3 VP for the Prussians and 0.5/1 VP for the French.
• Whoever has more Victory Points wins. A difference of <= 4 VP is a marginal victory. <=8 VP difference is a moderate victory and everything above is a major victory.

Note: If the text captions / images are too small, press Ctrl and + a few times.

Set-up

More deployment pictures and commander objectives:

Zimmer, Hold the center hill and link up with Dusheme on the right as he arrives.

Jeanin, hold Plancenoit at all cost. Do not move too far away. Dusheme will fill the gap between you and Zimmer.

Hiller, advance steadily towards the hill and bind the French there so other Regiments can move through.

Losthin, secure Plancenoit and the road in order to march through with Stülnagel's Division.

Bottom Left: Pruessen, break the enemy cavalry and make room for Tippelskirch. If possible flank the French on the hill. Bottom Right: Subervie, hold. Domon, support Zimmer and Subervie.

Turn 1 begins, Prussians go first:

Overview of turn 1 movement.

Domon moves up to screen Zimmer on the hill.

Turn 2:

Subervie and Domon form a long line of Cavalry. Pruessen gets into position for a concentrated charge.

Jeanin has fortified in Plancenoit. Losthin and Hiller threaten to surround him. Prussian artillery moves up front.

French are in luck, though. One of Dusheme's Guard Regiments arrived early and marches at full speed to link between Zimmer and Jeanin.

Turn 3:

Massed charges from Pruessen's Cavalry fail to produce a decisive outcome. Disrupted and wavering spent units everywhere. (Little black square = disrupted, half black marker = wavering)

In the confusion one of Domon's Regiments peeled away from the Cavalry battle and threatens a Prussian Landwehr Regiment that advanced too far. Meanwhile Prussian artillery shells Zimmer at the hill.

On the other side Losthin throws everything at Plancenoit and is pushed back. He fails to bring artillery in, which makes it hard to dislodge the French.

Turn 4:

Reinforcements stream in on all sides. The Prussians have problems motivating their Landswehr to march properly.

Meanwhile Dusheme's Tirailleurs move into position.

Where is my Landwehr? Domon's Chasseurs charged in and absolutely obliterated the Regiment. What started as French hole in the line turns around dramatically.

The French left starts to crumble under repeated cavalry charges though. Two units wavering (half black markers).

Clogged up roads. Should have attached Tippelskirch.

Turn 5:

Stülpnagel brings in desperately needed reinforcements as Losthin is beaten back at Plancenoit and the center crumbles.

Detail from the other side. Domon's Chasseurs and Dusheme's Guards threaten to sweep the center away. Command lines are stretched thin, though.

In the French center Zimmer looks to be in a good position as well. Cavalry from Domon screens the hill and makes fighting difficult for Hiller.

Prussians can advance further on their right, though. Pruessen met his objectives so far but his troops are tired and weary. Behind Tippelskirch arrives in march column. He has orders to try the breakthrough, so no reinforcements for the Prussian cavalry.

End of turn 5. Halfway through the battle the Prussians have to acknowledge that Plancenoit cannot be taken in time. Their breakthrough has to take place on the other side of the battlefield.

Turn 6:

Troops bunch up around Plancenoit. Losthin and Stülnagel prepare for the next assault while more troops try to repair the damaged center.

Dusheme's Guards destroy Prussian artillery while the cavalry is so far up that orders don't get through.

Here is the disaster from the Prussian side. Disrupted and wavering Landwehr try to hold off of disrupted and wavering French. Stülpnagel has to bring up another Regiment to the center.

French left gets pushed in but it looks worse than it is for General Lobau. The Prussian Cavalry is tired and hard to motivate while Zimmer on the hill repels Prussian veterans.

"You are supposed to move beyond the hill, not away from it!"

End of turn 6. The French throw in everything, they try to push the advantage and don't care for losses.

Turn 7:

Tippelskirch's Infantry is ready for the breakthrough.

Prussian command fails to get their cavalry together. Zimmer's Infantry is now free to shift fire and peppers Pruessen's spent horsemen. The French Cavalry units know that they will lose in a fight but refuse to give ground.

Dusheme's Guards routed another artillery unit! Fierce fighting broke them in the end. But the Old Guards move up and break another unit. It rallies later. Meanwhile the Prussians assault Plancenoit again.

The field at end of turn 7. Dusheme's Guards managed to rally and wish to go in again.

Turn 8:

And in they go. The French see their chance to hold off the Prussians here. The big battle may be lost but Prussians won't fall in Napoleon's back. In the center Domon's feared Cavalry charges in again and routs another Landwehr Regiment off the field.

Tippelskirch has to shift troops to bind Zimmer. Maybe some troops can break through.

Pruessen and Subervie locked in a staring match between totally worn down Cavalry units. Nobody can fight anymore.

Turn 9:

From superior numbers to getting their Lines of Command threatened. Domon's Cavalry is turning the tide of battle. He actually rode up all the way to lead the unit, the French devil.

Tippelskirch finally manages to push Zimmer off the hill and some of his troops might make it. Subervie is pushed with his back to the wall.

End of turn 9. The battle hangs in the balance.

Turn 10:

Pruessen finally gets his Cavalry to charge and Prussian Infantry takes the hill. Superior numbers bear fruit but the French held their foes off for a long time, too long?

Either way, moral victory for Jeanin and Dusheme, who held Plancenoit for nearly 3 and a half hours of battlefield time. They can finally pull out of the brightly burning village and vanish into the night.

Domon's Cavalry gets stopped. The Chasseurs have done enough for the day.

Lobau witnesses Prussian troops streaming past. "Did we hold them off long enough for Napoleon to retreat?"

End of turn 10.

The result is quite surprising. The French thrust into the weakly defended Prussian center scored desperately needed points and Subervie's cavalry held the line until turn 9 with nothing more than wavering cavalry unwilling to make room for Prussians who couldn't get their tired troops to charge.

Bülow and his Prussians failed at the breakthrough at Plancenoit. Their artillery was out of place for the assault and subsequently destroyed. Plancenoit as a terrain piece was also too small to attack in force. This was a bit unfair for the Prussian side. Prussian reinforcements came in Conscripts first which was terrible for the whole logistics side of the battle. They need to pick the reinforcements coming in, in order to get Musketeers down the roads quickly. In the end they only got four Regiments to break through.

Prussian VPs:
1 destroyed small Cavalry: 2
1 small & 3 large units broke through: 10
3 small French Cavalry spent: 1.5
3 other units spent: 3
Overall: 16.5

French VPs:
1 destroyed small artillery: 4
1 destroyed large artillery: 6
1 destroyed large Infantry: 6
1 destroyed large Cavalry: 6
2 small Prussian Cavalry spent: 1
3 other units Spent: 3
Overall: 26

Major French Victory! You can easily see how the French won through a combination of good holding actions and daring attacks. Although it sounds like a trashing in numbers, their win is actually paper thin. Destroyed units counting double was key here. They wouldn't have won if Dusheme and Domon would have defendend passively. Prussian artillery losses were important in terms of VP and battlefield presence. With better artillery management they could have gained control of the hill earlier or maybe even Plancenoit.

Also, just another turn and the Prussians would have gained about 8 more VP from breakthough units. Overall I still think this scenario is in favor of the Prussians but it turned out quite well.