Sharp Practice for the 1812 Retreat

We decided that as I had managed to get enough Russians with snow bases finished for a game we would get the snow gear out and have a game of Sharp Practice.

We are all still novices but the basic mechanics are simple and easy. For the Allies I needed to borrow soem of Steves "summer" French to make up the numbers, sorry but needs must.

So basic premise of the game, a column of four units (groups in Sharp Practice) of 8 troops each is retreating towards the shelter of a defended village, a unch of Cossacks and Jaegers are pursuing them whilts a formation of three groups of Grenadiers and a couple of guns attacks the top end of the village itself.

The Village has 2 groups of foot and gun in defence.

So French forces 6 Groups of foot in pairs each with a commander. The Poles are Veterans and the rest conscripts. Plus one light Gun.

The Russians 3 Groups of Grenadiers and two Groups of Jaegers supported by three groups of Cossacks and 2 guns.

In rough terms 9 units against 7 with the 7 defending for the most part.

For me it was a real pleasure to see them all on table for the first time, although it did again have me questioning the basing and whether it worked for me. Perhaps a debate for another post there.

We also deployed a large formation of biscuits and battenburg which was quickly destroyed before the game had got going.

I had "read" the rules a few times and tried a couple of test games, I say read, nothing really sinks in unless I actually play it through so the game was likely to be pretty slow.

Steve commanded the Allies and Mark had the majority of the Russkies whilst I took the two units of Jaegers. Steve pointed out theat three groups of Cossacks in a solid formation was likely to be entirely unstoppable and therefore would probably ride down his retreating troops in short order. Well he was both right and wrong and  it gave us some ideas on better ways to use Cossacks.

I based the stats on those in the un-official Moscow 1812 there and back again supplement which is a great resource for this campaign.

I love the below photo which is pretty evocotive of the retreat and how I want these games to look.

The opening moves were not so spectacular with the forces steadily converging on the Village. My Jaegers in particular being very leisurely in their approach. Deep snow we assume.

However as the Grenadiers rounded the corner of the forest Steves artillery quickly gets the range and starts to make its presence felt. The Cossacks also get goign pretty quickly.

The Cossack battery feels a little too effective for such a small game so we quickly reduce this to just one gun to keep the game moving.

The retreating conscripts turn to form line whilst the veteran Poles keep going and the Cossack horse closes in. Before they can hit the poor old conscripts however Steve turns his Poles back to support the Conscripts. My Jaegers continue to stumble slowly through the snow and Marks Grenadiers close with the village whilst taking more casualties from the gun.

The Cossacks close up on the conscripts who volley them, but of course being three groups the effect is spread too thinly as Steve predicted. We get four command cards and decide to use them to re-acivate the Cossacks and charge home. The results are as expected and the conscripts are down to half stregnth and sent realing, however the Cossacks have taken damage and a volley from the Poles sends the first unit into retreat leaving two groups left in the formation.

The Grenadiers have reached musketry range and begin to exchange volleys with the conscripts in the village, however having taken so much shock from the gun they are unable to advance any further. With three groups against two however they begin to slowly have the better of the exchange especially as they have the support of their own sled gun.

The Jeagers bumble along and the Poles get their card before the Cossacks so a further close range volley sees the Cossacks off with too much shock for them to keep moving.

Its down to the Jaegers now and they finally get moving and get a volley into the Poles. A further draw of 4 activation cards sees a further volley into the now depleted Poles.

The firefight between the Grenadiers and the conscripts is reaching a crescendo and the sled gun has switched targets to the French light gun and started to inflict shock and reduce its effectiveness.

Mark now gets four hits and for effect? Yes four sixes. Thats four dead cosncripts and Steve is having to rally shock off as quickly as he can to stay in the game.

Another volley from the Jaegers and the remnants of the Poles are forced to pull back. At this point we call it a day having throughly enjoyed the game and found it fast paced despite us being relative novices.

A few things learned;

1. The game is fun and flows quickly

2. Artillery is deadly use it wisely or dont give them a commander so it only fires on activation cards and reduces effect.

3. Blocks of three groups of Cossacks are also deadly, use wisely or give each group a seperate commander and dont allow them to form up so they are small units snapping at the heels of the French as historical.

4. I need more French!

5. I need skirmishers, especially for the French.

6. I am rubbish at reading and digesting rules.

7. I am still not happy with my basing.

So there you go, all round a very productive night and a fun game. More French on the painting table so hopefully another go with this lot in the near future.