Along the Volga with Blucher

I have always been attracted to the idea of fighting battles rather than skirmishes.  I have read a few reviews of the Blucher rules and they seemed to offer a quick play option for large battles.  (Admittedly by lifting the unit scale up from battalion to brigade.)

Knowing that my friend John Dance has a huge Napoleonic  Russian 15mm  army, I pulled out my 1812 Italians and French for a battle.  We ran the introduction battle from the rules "Along the Danube" but modified it to "Along the Volga". My friend John suppling the battlefield.

One of the fun things about Blucher is the concealed deployment. Here we can see the French have massed on their right flank whereas the Russians are more spread out.

I had looked at the map and told myself "ignore the river sweep the left flank".  However in all the excitement and having convinced myself that the river would just be a speed bump I attacked the right!

I liked how the battle looked the two French Corps advancing to the river did look impressive.  At this time I have no idea if I was advancing on the Russian infantry or their cavalry reserve.

The Russian force turned out to be what I hoped, a regular infantry corps with no supporting cavalry.  My plan had been to steamroller across the river and with 2:1 odds crush the Russian left wing.  However...that damn river was more than just a speedbump and Russian Infantry just love to defend.

secret command point system used in Blucher meant I didn't want to kick off too many assaults at the sane time.  (Your opponent roles 2d6 of command points and hides them from you, with each unit needing 1 or 2 points to move it is easy to stretch yourself too thin.)

With my assault stalled, the Russians launched their counter attack.  One of the features I like in Blucher is how a concealed reserve can make a move six times longer than a standard infantry move to  just outside of cavalry charge range.

With the Russian centre advancing and their right flank sweeping onto the French left flank a bloody battle took place between both heavy cavalry divisions. Alas the support of the Russian Grenadier Division enabled the Russian cuirassiers to win the fight.

Having taken too many casualties to hold the field the French retreated in good order. The fresh French IV corps covering the fighting retreat.

This was a large battle for two players. There were about 25 units per side.  It took about 3 hours to play with neither of us having player Blucher before.  I found the rules easy to remember and use.

I'm not sure about the idea of Artillery running out of ammunition  and getting weaker  over the course of the battle.  I have read of battles where running out of ammunition was a factor but in the accounts I have read it's infantry ammunition which was the problem.  

I think I'll use these rules again as I liked the playing speed and the size and look of the battle.