Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Thursday 9 July 2020

Zoom: Battle of Kluis (Vorpommern), 12th Sept 1808

There was a remote wargame hosted here today - a special treat for anyone who likes alternative history...


Outline scenario: The skeleton of this has some bits of actual history in it, if you look for them. Following the French Victory at Vimeiro, and the [much misunderstood] Convention of Cintra, by the terms of which the British Army was evacuated from the Peninsula, attention turns away from Spain for the moment.

There is already a British force in the Baltic, commanded by Sir John Moore and Lord Edward Paget. The original intention was a collaboration with the Swedes to recapture Vorpommern, until recently Swedish Pommerania (next to Mecklenburg), on the Baltic coast. [After the French captured Stralsund in 1807, Vorpommern, the former Swedish Pommerania, has now joined the Confederation of the Rhine, as the new-fangled Duchy of Stralsund-Rügen.] The original Allied plan was for a joint Anglo-Swedish invasion of the (large) island of Rügen. Planning for the joint invasion did not work out - the Swedish King, Gustav IV Adolf, was obsessed with the idea of using the combined force to capture Finland from the Russians instead.

The British are now going ahead with the Rügen invasion without Swedish support. Moore has under his command British and KGL troops - approx 25 units and Leaders. His army includes a rocket battery, which was used with some success at Copenhagen the previous year.

Word of the British plans has, unfortunately, appeared in The Times, and Bernadotte, whose VIII Corps are based in the Hamburg area (having recently been involved at Kolberg and the siege of Stralsund), has been ordered to send a force to intercept the invaders. This army, commanded by Marshal Brune, comprises French and Confederation troops, with a contingent from the Marquis de Romana's Spanish force, also based at Hamburg. Overall, the French army is very slightly larger than the British - the Spanish and Confederation troops are not wonderful, however.

This is an encounter, in open country; the armies will bump into each other on the moors near the village of Kluis. Moore is hurrying across the island to take station opposite Stralsund, to co-ordinate with the Royal Navy, who will bombard the port. The British are not expecting to meet any French force so soon, and the French have little idea of the nature of the invading force.

The only reason you've never heard of this little campaign is the usual one - Napoleon wasn't there, and therefore nobody is interested.
 
Spoiler: the British/KGL force won fairly decisively, though there was heavy fighting on the British left and in the centre. A narrative of some sort should emerge from the pictures... 
 
Initial set-up, with the British/KGL forces on the left, French Allies on the right
Some of Brune's Confederation troops - units from the little army of the Duchy of Stralsund-Rügen; here, on the left, you see the Franzburg Jägers [Scruby figures], on the right the fusilier battalion Putbus [Garrison 20mm]- the Duchy's soldiers fought well enough today, but, when things went against them, they were subject to double retreats. The problem, you see, is that they never cared much for the Swedes when they were in charge, and only joined the Confederation to keep the Prussians out. They don't like the French much either, it turns out.
Sir John Moore, with the controversial rocket troop in the background. The rockets scored a couple of hits, but are generally unreliable. At least there were no accidents. The rockets have mud-brown bases because technically they are part of the British siege train - I knew you would want to have that explained.
British left, with the KGL boys at the far end
The French begin to develop their attack on their right and in the centre; Confederation troops in the foreground, French in the Centre and the Spanish contingent at the far end. [Yes, the Spanish troops should have marched to Denmark and been shipped back home by now, but this is alternative history in action] 
KGL troops positioned behind the pond at the Velkvister Graben. The orange counters were to denote light troops - my original idea was that these counters should be yellow, but yellow looked too close to white on the Zoom picture, so orange it was. We now use white loss counters on Zoom, since the normal red ones don't show up. The bad news was that the orange doesn't show up either...
The quiet end of the field; the village of Kluis can be seen in the foreground, and opposite are the ruins of Schloß Pansewitz, where the Spanish troops are stationed. Nowadays Pansewitz is a Nature Park, but back in 1808 you didn't have to pay to get in
The French assembling their big attack in the centre; Marshal Brune has the white border to his base - he did a good job of organising and bringing up the reserve troops. [Editor's Note: Marshal Guillaume Brune - Billy Broon, as he would be in Scotland - possibly one of Napoleon's less interesting Marshals?]

Same moment, from the French left - Kluis on the far side of the field, Pansewitz in the foreground
Inevitably, the light cavalry of the Duchy got twitchy as the day progressed - Brigadier-General Leberknödel in command...
...and had a bash at the British cavalry opposite...
...this produced a series of lively fights, with a lot of to-and-fro, but the cavalry largely cancelled each other out
General view from the French right, as Brune puts together his main attack
British infantry (all right - with anachronistic uniforms) in the village of Kluis. They gave the place a very nice write-up on TripAdvisor.

Crunch time in the centre - Moore was very pleasantly surprised that his boys held the position well. The bonus die for British line infantry firing from a stationary position is a valuable advantage (though the small cavalry units are not)
The big French attack was suddenly falling back - the big line more or less disappeared...


By this stage there is a big hole in the middle of the field
The British have plenty of troops left - one of the KGL light battalions has been pulled back out of the firing line, with a lot of white loss counters

On the British right, the troops are still watching each other very carefully
The action has slackened elsewhere as the French fall back
Another look at the Nature Park - the Spaniards had no losses; in fact they were not involved at all, though their field battery scored a couple of long range hits
The victory requirement was 8 Victory Points - the British had won 9-4
The British left flank - still holding the ridge next to the pond, as Brune organises his retreat

 




15 comments:

  1. Excellent battle report and fine looking table! A 9-4 victory is decisive. What could the French have done differently to make this a more closely contested match?

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    1. Hi Jon - interesting question. The battle actually felt closer than the final tally would suggest. Brune could maybe have got his attack moving quicker, and used his Spaniards, at least to give Moore something else to think about. The game set-up was a bit niggardly on numbers of orders, so we increased that a little during play - that didn't help the attack. The double-retreat thing for both Spanish and Confederation troops didn't cause extra VP loss, but it did remove troops from the firing line from time to time. The game started with an awkward phase where the sides exchanged artillery fire and waited to see if the enemy was going to attack! I am going to refight the game over the weekend, so let's see how it goes!

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    2. I expressed that badly - I meant that the period during which the numbers of orders were (we felt) too low would impact the attacking side more.

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    3. Looking forward to the replay! I wondered what effect the double retreat may have had on the outcome.

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    4. I won't do a full report - more likely a late edit to this post!

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  2. Looks a good challenging scenario Tony.

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    1. It was interesting, certainly! The nice thing about a made-up [pretend-be] scenario is there is no obligation/temptation to be influenced by what really happened!

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  3. That is a beautiful table full of beautiful soldiers Tony. Good to see the rocketeers on the table, are they conversions or vintage? Do the Spanish get to ignore that double retreat if well supported etc as others do? Great game.

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    1. Hi Lee - thank you - one or two units that you painted were involved here! Rocket troop are original S-Range - they don't get out much! Interesting to try a completely made-up battle. The Spaniards get the same exemptions as everyone else, but if they do have to take any retreats then they are x2. x3 for militia!

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  4. Great game Tony but where were the 15th Chasseurs when I needed them!

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    1. Hi Ian - I think you should write to the Minister of War about this. You did have the 22e, but they didn't get to do much!

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  5. Looks great, Tony. I appreciate it all the more having attempted hosting my first remote game this week!

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    1. It still astonishes me that anyone could enjoy one of these games if I do everything and they just sit at home with the laptop - it's like inviting everyone for a football game in my back yard, but they just get to watch through the railings. In fact it seems to be OK - I haven't played a remote game at someone else's house yet, but am looking forward to it!

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  6. Great looking game Tony and a beaut bit of alternative history too!

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    1. Hi James - I like the made-up stuff - no-one can say you're doing it wrong! (as per https://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/2011/06/foys-tenth-law-principle-of-enforced.html )

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