Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

I have been playing the first battle of a Jena Campaign and I have only just noticed the points necessary for the French not to lose. I see that we Frogs must get 4000 points to avoid a Major Defeat. There are also no objective hexes so I must assume that in order to win we must completely destroy the Prussian Army. I am facing a very able opponent, Ed Blackburn, so I really don't expect to him make the mistakes the Prussians made in the real campaign. Is it possible for the French to win this against a competent opponent? Opinions?

Marechal Jonathan Thayer
Commandante Moyenne Garde
Duc de Saalfeld et Prince de Friedland
1/10/III
Armee du Nord




jonathanthayer@bellsouth.net

A customer brought the Victory Levels to my attention and here is the text of my message to him:

Chris,

Thanks for buying Campaign Jena-Auersteadt. I am happy to help you with this issue.

I did a check of the VPs and here is the breakdown for the scenarios:

French: 27,682
Prussians (less L'Estocq's East Prussian Corps): 25,740.6

Difference between two armies: 1942
Victory Point Locations: 1800

Total possible French Victory Count if both sides use the exit VP locations on the north side of the board: 3742

This is a Draw. Basically you would have the same if I didnt have VP locations at all. So yes, if the Prussians want to retreat they can gain a Draw in the standalone or campaign scenario.

The Victory path in the campaign for the French is mainly if they fight and defeat the Prussians should they decide to stick around and fight. I could just as easily have disregarded that first long scenario and just had the Prussians start with their retreat path being towards the east anyway. The large Jena scenario is mainly if the Prussians think that they can give the French a nosebleed. Which frankly I believe is possible giving that there is alot of ground for the French to recon and ambush terrain abounds. Initially the Prussians have a HUGE advantage in the scenario. Their army releases completely by 2pm of the first day and after that they are only facing four of the six French corps. Davout and Bernadotte arrive later.

So yes, I did the math right during my design process. There is not much I can do if the Prussians just want to retreat off of the board. And frankly the situation is such that it wouldnt have been very prudent to stick around and fight.

So you have a Draw situation at the worst if the Prussians retreat.

Check out the Notes.hlp file. There are several spreadsheets in the file you can get to by clicking on the arrow key at the top menu bar. The VP counts for each army are located on these spreadsheets. If you find something you think I missed let me know.

---end of email---

Ok, so lets say that the Prussians decide to fight to the death ..

Note that they have ALOT of their points in cavalry. I believe that they have more cavalry than the French but I have yet to do a full count of that. We all know how vulnerable cavalry can be. In the end the larger French battalians usually win out. The artillery factor is nil as neither side has a huge amount of guns to work with.

The email text above outlines what happens if the Prussians just up and quit. Here are some strategy notes for both sides:

Prussians: the French must come to you and the Prussians have the initial numerical advantage. An overconfident French player cant get mauled. There is alot of ambush locations on the map. The best thing to do is use the interior road network, especially through Jena, to your advantage. If the French arrive in the South then you will find two columns which cannot support each other for a day or so. If you chose to deploy in the south you may be able to defeat the lead elements before they can unite. Or you could post a delaying force on the Saal front and go over to attack the French right. Eventually you will be outnumbered. Its particularily important for you to use your cavalry advantage early on. Destroy some French infantry if you can. They have big battalians but like the Austrians their strength is concentrated in fewer battalians. Once the mid point of the scenario is reached the French will have more men than you unless you have been able to destroy alot of their forces. At this point you must decide whether you will try to wipe out one of their wings or just fall back off of the board. You cant hold all of the VP locations. (this was by design) Thus retreat is probably the best choice.

French: Early on you must be careful. Probe ahead but dont get too caught up in fighting the Prussians unless you can isolate and destroy one of their columns before it can be reinforced. If you choose the West strategy you will have the Saal river as an obstacle. Keep your pioneers handy to repair bridges and use 4-6 of them at a time (remember that you only have to be adjacent to the bridge and not the entrance in order to perform repair) in order to repair more points per turn.

The Prussians outnumber you to begin the battla by a huge majority but usually are separated by vast distances of over a day's march. For now keep them in view as much as possible. Once you get four corps on the board you can go on the offense. Once Bernadotte and that last cavalry division arrive you will enjoy the numbers if you have been wise with your actions. The terrain can be decieving. There are alot of folds in the terrain to hide alot of forces. Usually the Prussians are going to be just inside of a forest road, waiting for you to enter the woods and then pounce on you. Or they will allow you to get through the woods and then run you over with their more numerous cavalry. The main thing to do is try and avoid advancing through the woods. Go around them. There are some good observation points that you need to get to. Some of the locations on the other side of either major river are very helpful to watching the enemy. Put a horse battery just across the river from a pike to interdict the movement of the enemy if you can. Both sides can use this tactic (the Prussian actually has the advantage on this one but ....).

In the end you will enjoy the numerical superiority and the lack of large numbers of Prussian infantry (yes, the French will eventually win any infantry vs. infantry fight) is going to hurt your opponent especially in the skirmisher category (mainly for use in the woods nowawdays as the skirmisher is no longer the dominant tool it used to be).

The French should be able to get a Draw at least in this one but a Minor Victory either way is also possible. A Major Victory for either side will be difficult but not totally impossible. It will only happen if one side has allowed the other to destroy a substantial portion of their army.

Bill Peters
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

[url="http://www.fireandmelee.net"]Fire and Melee Wargame site[/url]

Thanks Bill.

Marechal Jonathan Thayer
Commandante Moyenne Garde
Duc de Saalfeld et Prince de Friedland
1/10/III
Armee du Nord




jonathanthayer@bellsouth.net

Is that the first scenario of 'Scharnhorst's Campaign Plan - Alternate Version'? I've just bought the game and am just familiarising myself with it.

By the way Bill it looks like a great game. I'm really glad I bought it[:)]

<center>[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/Napoleonic/nap.htm"]Lieutenant Colonel Antony Barlow[/url]
~ [url="http://www.geocities.com/anglo_allied_army_stats/Anglo_Allied_Army_Cavalry_Corps.htm"]2nd British (Union) Brigade, Anglo-Allied Cavalry Corps[/url] ~
~ [url="http://www.geocities.com/militaireacademie/dragoons.html"]4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards[/url] ~
</center>

Yes Tony, its the first scenario of the campaign. The exit hexes were put there so that the guys that dont like it when an entire army marches off cant say much about it. It "legits" such a move.

The "Here Come the Russians" campaign doesnt have exit hexes because the numbers are about even. Its a fight to the death more or less.

The players can consider the first scenario optional if they like and just use the TERM BID system. A Draw or Minor Def is good for the Prussian. A Minor Vic is good for the French. MajDefs either way ends the campaign.

Bill Peters
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

[url="http://www.fireandmelee.net"]Fire and Melee Wargame site[/url]