Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Sept 2nd, 1812 15:00 hrs:

The remaining fantassins with their eagles have gathered upon the hill of Vorobi, and prepare to sell their lives in the cause of L'Empereur.
The Guard on the central road sustain themselves with further bouts of hand to hand combat...
Heartened, as sabres come swinging to their aid.
And at Gzhatsk itself, the fighting redoubles, as the eagles of France match their foe, blow for counter blow.

Colonel Schmidgall
Tirailleurs et Dragons!

Oh, how utterly heroic! You Frenchies are such romantics. Hmmm, I wonder what this would look like with a little (Hanoverian) editing...

The pitfully few remaining fantassins with their eagles have gathered upon the hill of Vorobi, and prepare to needlessly sacrifice their lives in the futile and lost cause of L'Empereur.

The Guard on the central road desperately attempt to sustain themselves with further bouts of hand to hand combat...

Heartened, as soon to be lost sabres come swinging to their aid.

And at Gzhatsk itself, the fighting redoubles, as the eagles of France match their foe, blow for counter blow.

Oh yes, I really do think that is much better and significantly closer to the actual truth! After all, we wouldn't want you Frenchies who are reading the Colonel's propaganda to harbor too much false hope.

Hey, wasn't that festooned officer that just ran past none other than Marechal Murat? And wasn't that 'Old Baldy' Davout that was trying to overtake him? I wonder where they are going, the battle, and their men which they are abandoning, lie in the opposite direction. Oh, I know, they are running for the map edge so they can cower well away from the battle with their 'most brave' Emperor who has been hiding there the whole time.

Not to worry though. It is quite a long road back to Paris from Gzhatsk, and the 'Three Stooges' are not very likely to survive the trip.....due to the swarming Cossacks......and the lack of any army whatsoever to protect them.

Some of us are full of ourselves! I like the other Hanoverian much better, the happy mad one, not this green meanie in a red coat.

We shall.... Battle On....

On another thought--- I really thought our point was accepting coming defeat with class and pointing our who had out generaled us.

Battle On....

Sorry, Al, I did not understand where you were headed. It sounded like French propaganda to me. You know that I love and respect both Todd and you, but you need to ask yourself why Cezary's posts against Gary were acceptable in your mind, but my writing against Todd's is not.

I certainly do not mean to offend you, my friend, but in all honesty, I thought starting a thread on our battle at Gzhatsk, and setting a tone of bragging about the initial French advances was never really a good idea from the beginning. If this thread is going to be continued, and the French are always to be portrayed as noble heroes in Todd's writings irrespective of the actual events, then you had both best be prepared for some push back. I literally just watched two French officers run for their lives and abandon their men. From what I saw the previous turn, I know them to be Murat and Davout. Todd is moving them away, totally forsaking their commands, because he does not want to give us the Victory Points that will entail from their capture. As a gamer, I fully support his decision, but such actions stand in stark counterpoint to writings that make the French defenders seem noble. Napoleon has been hiding near the far western map edge for almost our entire game. Again, I do not see this as being noble in any way. I don't fault the actions from a purely gaming perspective, but it does rankle just a bit when a narrative is written in the very opposite fashion and posted before the entire club. That is the very definition of propaganda.

I think you would be amazed at where I have located Barclay de Tolly. I assure you, he is safe, but he is not in any way hiding. Once in a while, I would like to see a humble Frenchman if any truly do exist. To date, my Hanoverian character has fled from a tavern full of angry French officers, donned a private’s uniform to escape the angry mob, gotten drunk and found himself enlisted in La Grande Armee by Marechal Bardon, strapped in a French cuirass against his will by General Knox, publically surrendered his sword of his own volition in the Rhine Tavern to both General Knox and Marechal Bardon, been carried out of the Rhine Tavern by his men due to his drunken stupor, accidentally set fire to his fellow Guardsman, been publically dressed down by his commanding officer, and placed himself in front of an Anglo-Allied firing squad where he was scared so badly that he literally wet himself. All of which are acts of humility. Humility is something that I almost never see in French officers. I, for one, would like to see you fellows try some on from time to time. Sir Muddy just graciously accepted a bit of humility when he recently called for a carriage to take him back to his headquarters due to the displeasure of his favorite mount.

One always needs to be able to laugh at oneself. It really is good for the soul, and personally humbling situations can really be quite funny.

Now, I’ll bet I can take as many sips of that grape juice that you French swill by the wagonload as you can shots of the gut wrenching Jagermeister of which I am so fond. And what is this rumor that I hear about a Hanoverian stallion being pawned off over at Pierre’s to curry favor with the father of a certain red headed, French lass…

Bravo, Monsieur Jones but ju most remember that when you step on every one in the world toes and they yell you get a certain air and being French in Nap times you were supreme on the battle field. I truly feel you

Cliff, the French lost.

No apology needed because I was much to sensitive and think everyone should enjoy their propaganda. so to speak and as far as bravado goes, go for it and it is I that should apologize to you!

Battle On Mr President and thus far the best opponent I have ever played. But it looks like I have my job cut out for me in the Tournament, so I shall brag early and see how it goes.

Battle On... Oh, I already said that!

Hi Brigadier Jones,

Humble Frenchman don't exist: more than that it is an oxymoron.

_________________
Général David Guegan

3ème Régiment de Grenadiers - Bataillon d'élite du 3ème Légère
2ème Brigade
Grenadiers de la Réserve
Réserve
La Grande Armée
--------------------------
"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
Napoléon Bonaparte

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

OOOHH. No, how did I end up in this conversation????

Al, I really do think that you are absolutely great! What you are accomplishing for LGA with the work you are putting into their websites almost brings tears to my eyes. That has been needed for so very long now, and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you for taking the initiative and making things better for everyone. If I could figure out some way to successfully clone you, there would thousands of little 'Als' running around our club shouting "Battle On!" No need to apologize to me, my friend. I love the hell out of you for who you are and all that you do for us.

Now, embarrasing as it may be, I have to step up to my own mistakes. I was (am) still a bit miffed at myself for the escape of Murat and Davout from our Russian trap. Muddy and I have been working so hard together to corral as many points as possible to meet the ridculously high Coalition Victory Levels in our Gzhatsk battle, and I screwed up. When I received your last turn, and watched the Battle Replay, it was immediately obvious to me that the location of my cavalry units in the south was wrong. I moved them during my turn, isolated all of the French Gurad cavalry again, and cut off any possibility of anything escaping our trap. The problem is, I did not save those moves! I must have been interupted while completing my turn and closed my computer without saving them. When I got back to the game, I knew that I was finished with my southern movements and proceeded to work the movements of my units to the north without ever looking back. To see Murat and Davout just freely walk away came as rather a shock to me when I viewed the Battle Replay. As I said, I don't blame Todd in the least for making those moves. I am mad at myself for screwing up my turn and letting him do it!

Hehehe, I do suppose there is a lot of truth to that in the role playing of this club. On the other hand, David, you actually are French and absorb the barbs and jabs exceedingly well without ever taking them personally.

The truth is, as an American in a Haonverian uniform, I love the French! I can only eat so much bludwurst before my stomach turns, and the victuals that I can manage to capture in the French supply wagons are literally a Godsend. If not for those, I would probably starve to death.

P.S. I am still searching for the wagons with the Pizza, Hamburgers and Fried Chicken. They are bound to be around here somewhere....

I will have you know Brigadier Jones we French are all humble
I for one am a prime example of humility.

Helga please bring my polish I have a small speck on my boot. Also please send in my hairdresser I am about to join battle with the formidable Prussian GeneralMajor Fredel and I would like my hair just right before the blood is spilt.

As it is Paris variant 1 from 1814 it may well be my blood....

_________________
Marechal Knox

Prince d'Austerlitz et Comte d'Argentan
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"

Of course you are my dear and most formidable adversary, but there is a difference between imparting and partaking in humility. You are most definitely more the imparter of the trait, as opposed to a partaker thereof.

Any officer with the nickname of "The Peacock" could be nothing except humble, could he?

GeneralMajor Fredel is a fine officer from what I hear. I am sure the both of you will have a simply lovely time in Paris. Maybe when you finish beating the crap out of each other, you will still have time left for a bit of shopping, or perhaps some fine theater.

How do you ever manage to keep that splendid uniform of yours so clean? It is utterly amazing really. I suppose it is always good to look your best for a funeral; yours, theirs, or otherwise.

Brigadier Jones wrote: "I certainly do not mean to offend you, my friend, but in all honesty, I thought starting a thread on our battle at Gzhatsk, and setting a tone of bragging about the initial French advances was never really a good idea from the beginning. If this thread is going to be continued, and the French are always to be portrayed as noble heroes in Todd's writings irrespective of the actual events, then you had both best be prepared for some push back."

Well, and I do believe that somewhere else my writing was referred to as romantic, as for that point, I will have to say, that mi-lady has always said that about me.

As for setting a tone of bragging about the initial French advances was never really a good idea to begin with, I am sorry they were taken so offensively.
Propaganda may be involved, but then most military writings usually are...

As for the post indicated above (or below, I do get lost sometimes in the threads), I will stand by it. The remaining fantassins with their eagles have gathered upon the hill of Verobi and prepare to sell their lives for the cause of L'Empereur, this is true as true can be.

As for Marechal Davout and Prince Murat escaping the jaws of death closing about them, what else should a Marechal and Prince do, but live to fight another day.
You say Napoleon is hiding on the map edge, well, I can assure you he is not on the front line, I am not so fool hardy as all of that... But where he is... hmm, you must do some hunting with your formidable jagers it seems.

I believe that in the combat narrative exchanged between us (which by the way, this was originally, and not posted here by me, mind you) the tone of writing, while from your POV has reeked of French noblesse, has contained a more than somber measure of admittance to the harm done our side at the hands of the Siberian Thunder, and Muddy's Muscovites! in general.

And for the official record, yes, we Tirailleurs et Dragons! have been roundly & soundly defeated by our noble foes. Beyond the count of victory points, the defeat is in reality, a major defeat, to be assured. The only reason for the battle to continue is to avoid the official score of a major defeat, if at all possible (and believe you me, even with only 12 turns left, such a doom is clearly still upon us).

And when the fateful moment (ah, can you yet stomach more of this romantic writing? ) of this heartpounding battle (the pounding of our running and your chasing even) coming to an end arrives, you may be assured good sir, that all such respects and honor will be given to the conquerors. As I believe such has always been rendered to the officers who have bested me upon the battle maps.

Regards,