kzucker
12-07-2007, 01:26 PM
OSG REPORT / DECEMBER 2007
In this issue ...
Habit of Victory AARs from Mark Herman and Craig Ambler (see pages 2-4)
The Habit of Victory is due to arrive in our warehouse tomorrow, December 7th...
Pre-pub 30% discount will expire on 9 December.
If you have previously pre-ordered this game, but have not yet confirmed, please confirm the 30% discount at our Store now.
If you haven't yet pre-ordered you can still save $25 on The Habit of Victory through Sunday, December 9th!
Go to: http://www.napoleongames.com/store.html#HoV
Or postmark your payment to OSG by December 9th.
OSG
PO Box 50207
Baltimore, MD 21211 USA
_ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _
Operational Studies Group Report December 8, 2007 Page Two
Mark Herman: Campaign Scenario 1: Pultusk
(Reprinted from Consimworld.com)
My chosen Russian strategy for this scenario is to slow the French advance, hold onto Pultusk as long as possible without losing a Critical battle and then keeping a large Russian army within striking distance of Pultusk to garner the monthly interphase Paris Morale point and winning an operational victory. A more Fabian strategy is to retreat north and avoid losing a big battle trying to hold onto a tactical victory (Paris Morale of zero), but that is not how I like to play. What players will not be used to is the Russians are very tough when entrenched, especially in bad weather as they have more artillery than the French and better bad weather tactics. The Russians suffer from a divided command structure, but Bennigsen is quite good. In essence why make the French job easy when it is not in your benefit to do so.
The French need to try and win at least one big battle, while driving the Russians back from Pultuski.
Opening: French forces press forward. Ney attacks Bulow; L’Estoq comes to his support, Prussians fall back east on Allenstein via Osterode
On the Warsaw front Murat-Davout move west toward Dwor and emplace a pontoon bridge and cross the Bug River. Davout skirmishes with Barclay who falls back on the Sierock redoubt. Bennigsen attacks Davout who is reinforced by Lannes at Nascelski; French victory with Davout pursuing Bennigsen toward Putuski (Bennigsen falls back toward Magnuszewo where he builds a redoubt). Buxhowden advances toward Pultuski. Barclay is in Pultuski.
Middle Game: In a major battle Napoleon (with very small Guard; commanding Davout, Lannes, , and Murat) throws Barclay back toward Magnuszewo. Murat pursues and discovers Bennigsen entrenched in redoubt.
Meanwhile Osterode falls to Ney who then countermarches back toward Marienburg, which falls after a small battle with MG Auer’s division being eliminated. Bernadotte advances on Osterode.
Battle of Magnuszewo: This is a three round bloodbath where the French lose 11 SPs (33k forces) versus the Russian 13 SP (39k). The French do not win a critical victory, so the Paris morale remains at zero, Russian tactical victory is maintained. Bennigsen falls back on Rozen with a replacement March division moving forward to assist in rebuilding the force. Buxhowden builds a redoubt at Makow Mazowieki (hereafter MM) within 5 hexes of Pultuski.
End Game: Here is how you can set up a Napoleonic battle of annihilation with the new card system. With two turns before the interphase, Napoleon maneuvers NW toward Golymin with Davout, Lannes, and Augereau plus guard which is the maximum allowed by a 9 command span. Murat holds a bridehead over the Bug across from Magnuszewo, while Soult moves through Pultuski toward Magnuszewo.
The Russians now have to make a decision. Buxhowden can abandon the redoubt and fall back north or can hold his ground one more turn and garner the +1 Paris Morale point for an Operational Victory. The Russians stick as much so I can see the next cool maneuver work out, but another path would be to fall back and hope to hold onto a tactical victory. It is not a bad decision to hold. Buxhowden is in a redoubt and the French army is beat up. Buxhowden is at least as strong as Napoleon’s force plus the defensive benefit of the redoubt makes a 1-2 ratio attack likely, so the Russians can put the question to the French player.
I know, but an opponent would not know, the French are holding an Envelopment card, which if it works allows Napoleon to control two forces for one battle. The Russians play New Wagons, and increase their hand size plus avoid attrition.
30 December: The weather turns really bad with Frost/Snow, ensuring that the French will take at least two SPs of attrition during the march, but there is no choice. The plan is to more or less surround Buxhowden and annihilate him against the Bug due to Murat’s anticipated envelopment. For descriptive purposes MM has the bug river on its North, NE, and SE hexsides with a road crossing the Bug on the NE hexside. Roads enter MM on its NW, SW, and S hexsides.
The French play an Advance card as their Operational Intent card, which gives extra movement commands if the initial force enters an enemy ZOC. Napoleon takes the order and goes up the center (SW) with Davout and the Guard. Lannes has the left flank (NW) with Augereau on the right (S). The extra movement command is given to Soult who crosses the Bug and closes the NE road out of MM. The French have one more movement command due to Soult’s entering a ZOC also, which allows Bernadotte to advance and reinforce Osterode in the north. The French then play the envelopment card on Murat. Murat moves to the NE road (stacking with Soult, who he can command) and makes the Order Acceptance die roll to see if the Envelopment works. The French need to beat a 7, which is accomplished by rolling a die and adding Murat’s initiative rating of 5 (66% chance of success). The Envelopment works and Napoleon can now command his force, plus one additional force (Murat’s).
The starting forces are: French 1a (gd), 17i, 4c vs. Russian 2a, 11i (redoubt), 2c. The battle is a Two round affair with both sides bidding Pitched in the first two rounds (allowed by the Advance and Envelopment card for the French). The French win the first round, causing extensive damage during the counterattack. The guard was the deciding factor in round 2, which changes a pitched battle into a pursuit battle. Buxhowden takes double pursuit losses due to retreating across a minor river. French losses are 7 SP versus 11 Sp for the Russians. The Critical Victory die roll is low giving the French a +1 Paris morale.
At this point the Russian forces have been severely mauled and they play a General Retreat card to pull their forces back, followed by a Cantonment card ending the scenario (gives the French an additional +1 Paris Morale, but it doesn’t change the outcome). French Operational Victory with a Paris Morale of +2. A great way to open up my 4 day vacation.
One interesting difference between HoV and NaC is the Imperial Guard has only 1 SP of infantry, so when you stake the guard it is a serious decision as you do not get to do it twice, unless you wait until later in the Grand Scenario when the OG can grow to 2 SP. Definately not the Guard of 1813 when it has grown to a Corps sized formation.
In this issue ...
Habit of Victory AARs from Mark Herman and Craig Ambler (see pages 2-4)
The Habit of Victory is due to arrive in our warehouse tomorrow, December 7th...
Pre-pub 30% discount will expire on 9 December.
If you have previously pre-ordered this game, but have not yet confirmed, please confirm the 30% discount at our Store now.
If you haven't yet pre-ordered you can still save $25 on The Habit of Victory through Sunday, December 9th!
Go to: http://www.napoleongames.com/store.html#HoV
Or postmark your payment to OSG by December 9th.
OSG
PO Box 50207
Baltimore, MD 21211 USA
_ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _ _ _ _ ... . _
Operational Studies Group Report December 8, 2007 Page Two
Mark Herman: Campaign Scenario 1: Pultusk
(Reprinted from Consimworld.com)
My chosen Russian strategy for this scenario is to slow the French advance, hold onto Pultusk as long as possible without losing a Critical battle and then keeping a large Russian army within striking distance of Pultusk to garner the monthly interphase Paris Morale point and winning an operational victory. A more Fabian strategy is to retreat north and avoid losing a big battle trying to hold onto a tactical victory (Paris Morale of zero), but that is not how I like to play. What players will not be used to is the Russians are very tough when entrenched, especially in bad weather as they have more artillery than the French and better bad weather tactics. The Russians suffer from a divided command structure, but Bennigsen is quite good. In essence why make the French job easy when it is not in your benefit to do so.
The French need to try and win at least one big battle, while driving the Russians back from Pultuski.
Opening: French forces press forward. Ney attacks Bulow; L’Estoq comes to his support, Prussians fall back east on Allenstein via Osterode
On the Warsaw front Murat-Davout move west toward Dwor and emplace a pontoon bridge and cross the Bug River. Davout skirmishes with Barclay who falls back on the Sierock redoubt. Bennigsen attacks Davout who is reinforced by Lannes at Nascelski; French victory with Davout pursuing Bennigsen toward Putuski (Bennigsen falls back toward Magnuszewo where he builds a redoubt). Buxhowden advances toward Pultuski. Barclay is in Pultuski.
Middle Game: In a major battle Napoleon (with very small Guard; commanding Davout, Lannes, , and Murat) throws Barclay back toward Magnuszewo. Murat pursues and discovers Bennigsen entrenched in redoubt.
Meanwhile Osterode falls to Ney who then countermarches back toward Marienburg, which falls after a small battle with MG Auer’s division being eliminated. Bernadotte advances on Osterode.
Battle of Magnuszewo: This is a three round bloodbath where the French lose 11 SPs (33k forces) versus the Russian 13 SP (39k). The French do not win a critical victory, so the Paris morale remains at zero, Russian tactical victory is maintained. Bennigsen falls back on Rozen with a replacement March division moving forward to assist in rebuilding the force. Buxhowden builds a redoubt at Makow Mazowieki (hereafter MM) within 5 hexes of Pultuski.
End Game: Here is how you can set up a Napoleonic battle of annihilation with the new card system. With two turns before the interphase, Napoleon maneuvers NW toward Golymin with Davout, Lannes, and Augereau plus guard which is the maximum allowed by a 9 command span. Murat holds a bridehead over the Bug across from Magnuszewo, while Soult moves through Pultuski toward Magnuszewo.
The Russians now have to make a decision. Buxhowden can abandon the redoubt and fall back north or can hold his ground one more turn and garner the +1 Paris Morale point for an Operational Victory. The Russians stick as much so I can see the next cool maneuver work out, but another path would be to fall back and hope to hold onto a tactical victory. It is not a bad decision to hold. Buxhowden is in a redoubt and the French army is beat up. Buxhowden is at least as strong as Napoleon’s force plus the defensive benefit of the redoubt makes a 1-2 ratio attack likely, so the Russians can put the question to the French player.
I know, but an opponent would not know, the French are holding an Envelopment card, which if it works allows Napoleon to control two forces for one battle. The Russians play New Wagons, and increase their hand size plus avoid attrition.
30 December: The weather turns really bad with Frost/Snow, ensuring that the French will take at least two SPs of attrition during the march, but there is no choice. The plan is to more or less surround Buxhowden and annihilate him against the Bug due to Murat’s anticipated envelopment. For descriptive purposes MM has the bug river on its North, NE, and SE hexsides with a road crossing the Bug on the NE hexside. Roads enter MM on its NW, SW, and S hexsides.
The French play an Advance card as their Operational Intent card, which gives extra movement commands if the initial force enters an enemy ZOC. Napoleon takes the order and goes up the center (SW) with Davout and the Guard. Lannes has the left flank (NW) with Augereau on the right (S). The extra movement command is given to Soult who crosses the Bug and closes the NE road out of MM. The French have one more movement command due to Soult’s entering a ZOC also, which allows Bernadotte to advance and reinforce Osterode in the north. The French then play the envelopment card on Murat. Murat moves to the NE road (stacking with Soult, who he can command) and makes the Order Acceptance die roll to see if the Envelopment works. The French need to beat a 7, which is accomplished by rolling a die and adding Murat’s initiative rating of 5 (66% chance of success). The Envelopment works and Napoleon can now command his force, plus one additional force (Murat’s).
The starting forces are: French 1a (gd), 17i, 4c vs. Russian 2a, 11i (redoubt), 2c. The battle is a Two round affair with both sides bidding Pitched in the first two rounds (allowed by the Advance and Envelopment card for the French). The French win the first round, causing extensive damage during the counterattack. The guard was the deciding factor in round 2, which changes a pitched battle into a pursuit battle. Buxhowden takes double pursuit losses due to retreating across a minor river. French losses are 7 SP versus 11 Sp for the Russians. The Critical Victory die roll is low giving the French a +1 Paris morale.
At this point the Russian forces have been severely mauled and they play a General Retreat card to pull their forces back, followed by a Cantonment card ending the scenario (gives the French an additional +1 Paris Morale, but it doesn’t change the outcome). French Operational Victory with a Paris Morale of +2. A great way to open up my 4 day vacation.
One interesting difference between HoV and NaC is the Imperial Guard has only 1 SP of infantry, so when you stake the guard it is a serious decision as you do not get to do it twice, unless you wait until later in the Grand Scenario when the OG can grow to 2 SP. Definately not the Guard of 1813 when it has grown to a Corps sized formation.