Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

You laugh but that was the man who beat your beloved Emperor.....

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Generalfeldmarschall Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen
Kommandeur des Königlich-Preußischen Armee-Korps
Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Allied Coalition
Allied Coalition Webmaster & Club Website Support

Actually thinking about it wouldn't Hannibal have found it much easier to cross the alps with his elephants into Italy if he like Blucher carried them inside himself. Hannibal von Blucher - it has a ring to it.

No seriously I must say I actually like Blucher, the firebrand really did challenge Tondu. His leadership was decisive at Waterloo. But I will add his staff such as Gneisenau were the real brains. He was the emotional leader though.

In my game of Waterloo Wavre Muddy von Blucher is coming on hard now. He even managed to ambush a sqd of cav escorting a battery that had Grouchy and Vandamme with it and killed them both! Don't you have some award for this Scott?

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Marechal Knox

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

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"

Haha! Too funny, it does have a nice ring to it....

I know you respect him, you've said it before. Hey I like guys like Eugene, Poniatowski & Davout, I think some of the best and most dependable of Tondu's leaders. All faithfully achieve things no matter how difficult.

But yes Gneisenau & Scharnhorst are very key to the success of the reformed Prussians.

I will have to point Muddy to the medal. Is it too soon to point him towards his reward if he beats you?

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Generalfeldmarschall Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen
Kommandeur des Königlich-Preußischen Armee-Korps
Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Allied Coalition
Allied Coalition Webmaster & Club Website Support

Scott, salute!
You mentioned some of the French officers you respected, and I was glad to see you mention Eugene, he's someone I feel gets overlooked by many, and yet played important roles in many of his step-father's strategies.
I am also a fan of Marechal Saint-Cyr, whom I believe was nicknamed "the Owl" for his tactical and strategic wisdom (did a fair job holding Dresden against the Army of Bohemia until L'Empereur could arrive).
I've always found it interesting that it is often said one of Napoleon's failings was for not teaching many of his Marechals the secrets of his principles of war (hence their failures in the waning years of the Empire).
But, on the other hand, there is considerable evidence that he spent a lot of time teaching these principles to his close aide de camps, such as Rapp, Mouton, etc.
It is said by some that Napoleon may have read Sun Tzu's The Art of War. If so, perhaps he should have skipped the following passages:
It is essential for a general to be tranquil and obscure, upright and self-disciplined, and able to stupify the eyes and ears of the officers and troops, keeping them ignorant. And, Direct the masses of the Three Armies as though commanding one man. Press affairs upon them, do not explain the purpose to them.
Just some thoughts on a cold early spring night in Maine, while waging simulated Napoleonic warfare.

Hey, wait! That might mean he is attacking me!!

Oh, you wouldn't.... Flow like water, I will.

(I have to admit that I did not remember that particular passage from The Art of War.)

Water configures its flow in accord with the terrain; the army controls its victory in accord with the enemy. One who is able to change and transform in accord with the enemy and wrest victory is termed spiritual.Ah, that makes you a water sprite!

Yup, that's me, as effective in battle as watered down Sprite!

(Egad, Lieutenant Peccolo! It looks as if we are engaged against a literate Frenchman for a change. Not only has he read Master Tsu's works, he quotes them as well. The problem for us will arise if he truly understands the principles he so readily cites. )

Todd,

Saint-Cyr is another one that is a fine officer & tactician. Mouton is also one to be respected too. Eugene certainly gets overlooked by many. He deserves the credit very much for pulling the remnants out of Eastern Europe after the 1812 Campaign with uprisings everywhere and bringing back a lot of troops in the various forts for Napoleon to use in 1813. He also hardly ever failed to carry out his father in law's wishes. I do think Napoleon didn't teach as well as he could of. He also didn't utilize his Marechals to their best advantage in the later periods of the wars. But of course the master himself by then was not what he used to be & Europe had learned his game by then.

But indeed he should of probably skipped that passage. Wonder if Stonewall Jackson read that and took it to heart too?

_________________
Generalfeldmarschall Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen
Kommandeur des Königlich-Preußischen Armee-Korps
Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Allied Coalition
Allied Coalition Webmaster & Club Website Support

I also think it is about time the French Army here raises the various parts of the Empire from the ashes. The Poles, Italians, Saxons, et al....

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Generalfeldmarschall Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen
Kommandeur des Königlich-Preußischen Armee-Korps
Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Allied Coalition
Allied Coalition Webmaster & Club Website Support

General Ludwig, Muddy von Gneisenau and I are at turn 32 in Waterloo Wavre. I have destroyed Wellington and have a major victory but now Blucher comes on and I must survive the day to keep my victory. The battle is in the balance.

Now referring to earlier conversations can't say I rate Sun Tzu To soft and abstract for my liking.
I prefer the cold steel of Von Clausewitz, Guderain, Von Manstein and Alexander. Not to mention the greatest master of war of them all. Napoleon Bonaparte.

The latters teachings are not scribed out in poetic sayings they are however fundamentally practical and there for those who go and seek them through study.
I must say our games have deepened my understanding greatly - more so than books and the opinions of historians. 'what more is history but a fable agreed upon'.

Look carefully at HPS the battle of Ligny and study Napoleon's deployment or perhaps Austerlitz or even Leipzig. You will see the hand of the master in most of the pre battle setups it is like a code though you must unravel to understand. It would seem to me Napoleon was all about practical calculation. It's true even of Borodino a strategy he is much criticised for but makes total sense when you analyse it from micro to macro level. Bearing in mind you don't have gods eye view in any of these deployments.

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Marechal Knox

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

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"

General Knox, salute!
I agree that L'Empereur was definitely a master of practical calculation.
Such calculation informed his brilliant deployments.
And what are these calculations? Space, time, force, and their intertwined relationships?
Napoleonic warfare is nothing if not kaleidoscopic in the ever shifting nature of its variable factors.
This is all the more so when placed in the context of what had been the norm before. The use of speed, and maximized force is second nature today, but was brand new methodology in that time.
No wonder the Allied Generals were found to be spinning dizzily for the most part when they faced him. Always with a bold word before hostilities, but shrieking a different tune upon finding themselves caught in the nets of his strategic plans.

This Lt has a Marechal's Baton in his knapsack that is clear!
I agree.

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Marechal Knox

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

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"

We would be remiss not to mention the the French Cavalry Commanders:

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research ... wenty.html

I don't mean Murat either.....my favorites are:

LaSalle, Montbrun, Pajol, Latour-Maubourg, Nansouty and Lefebvre-Desnouettes to name a few....

_________________
Generalfeldmarschall Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen
Kommandeur des Königlich-Preußischen Armee-Korps
Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Allied Coalition
Allied Coalition Webmaster & Club Website Support

Wow! Talk about hijacking a thread!

Ya think? Al, you could probably get some sympathy from Lt. Schmidgall in this regard.....

http://wargame.ch/board/nwc/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12182&start=0