On Sunday, our usual game day, only two of us could meet so what did we do? Et sans resultat! Of course.

Another battle in Russia, with the Russians on the defensive versus three French Corps! My buddy tried Claude to build our scenario. I’ve attached the unedited version below for your reference. We found several items that we had to last-minute-ruling to work through and Claude did not provide a detailed order of battle for the French, so we did a bit of spontaneous adjustments to adapt to my miniatures collection.

I’ll save to the end my impression of the quality of the scenario created by Claude. Let’s talk about the game and how much fun we had pushing these troops round the table. As can be seen in the setup there are distinct lack of roads. Another key note, the town is being played as a prepared defense, with all troops (the Grenadiers) doubling their cohesion in this terrain. The Russians are starting on the north side of the map while the French coming in from three roads in the south.

One other item of note, I have lots of photos of the game. I tried to take overlapping photographs of the action as we played. I stitched them together using Photoshop. That’s why some of the photos are a bit out of shape but are able to cover such a wide area.

Russian Order of Battle:

Overall Commander: General of Infantry Prince Gorchakov (Place HQ in or behind Krasnov Posad)

Grenadier Division (Centre — Posad Ridge)

— 10 Grenadier

— 3 12# Artillery

2nd Infantry Division (Left Wing — Malye Krivy sector)

— 4 Jaeger Infantry

— 8 Line Infantry

— 2 6# Batteries

1st Infantry Division (Right Wing — Novo Selo sector)

— 4 Jaeger Infantry

— 8 Line Infantry

— 2 6# Batteries

Cavalry (Rear Reserve — release only on Gorchakov’s order)

— 8 Cuirassier

— 3 Cossack

French Order of Battle:

Overall Commander: Marshal Bessières (enters from the northern table edge)

Centre Corps. Marshal Bessieres

3^rd Chevau-Leger Brigade

— 3 Chevau-Leger

2^nd Infantry Division

— 2 Legere Infantry

— 6 Line Infantry

— 1 6# Artillery a Pied

— 1 6# Artillery a Cheval

5^th Infantry Division

— 2 Legere Infantry

— 6 Line Infantry

— 1 6# Artillery a Pied

— 1 6# Artillery a Cheval

— 4 12# Artillery

1^st Cuirassier Division

— 1 Lancier

— 8 Cuirassier

Left Corps — ADC Savary

17^th Infantry Division

— 2 Legere Infantry

— 6 Line Infantry

— 1 6# Artillery a Pied

2^nd Austrian Division

— 10 Line Infantry

Right Corps — Marshal Murat

4^th Chevau-Leger Brigade

— 3 Chevau-Leger

8^th Infantry Division

— 2 Legere Infantry

— 6 Line Infantry

— 1 6# Artillery a Pied

— 1 6# Artillery a Cheval

11^th Infantry Division

— 2 Legere Infantry

— 6 Line Infantry

— 1 6# Artillery a Pied

— 1 6# Artillery a Cheval

The battle opened on turn one with setting objectives. The French setting three assigned to each of the Corps and one for the Russian player. The French placed objectives on both flanks and directly behind the large town.

On turn 2, each side rolled for objectives. Gorchakov, Bessieres, and Savary all made their objective rolls. Murat would be late. Further, at the beginning of each turn, the French player will roll to see when the other Corps would be arriving. The Russians and two-thirds of the French added directives to their Formation dashboards, but not Murat. (Remember this, it became a theme.)

By turn 4, the French had made their directive rolls. Murat finally accepted his objective (allowing Bessieres to roll for Murat’s arrival – next turn). Each of the French Corps were preceded by their light cavalry brigades. The Russians decided to make a heavy push across the stream and advanced across the fords. (Note that we played the stream as impassible except at the bridge and the fords. The fords we played as rough terrain.

On turn 5 Murat was finally able to roll for directives. The 4th cavalry brigade at the head of the column received their move directive, but the 8^th Infantry Division was delayed, stopping the 11^th Infantry on the road behind them.

On turn 7 it was clear that the French were going to mass on the town, but the mass of Russian infantry on their right was going to cause some problems. Murat was issued a new objective to head to the ford on the right. The Russian defenses built up an unbroken line between the two fords running from the 1^st Division, Grenadier Division, and the 2^nd Division.

On the left, Savary led with his 17^th Division which went on the defensive when they contacted the Russian 1^st Infantry Division. This was to allow the Austrian 2^nd Division to catch up.

In the center, Bessieres let the light cavalry find the Russian Grenadiers and fall back after a small amount of musketry. Trusting the cavalry to recover, the French 2^nd Division followed the same tactics as the 17^th Division, changing from move to defend when in range of the Grenadiers. The trailing 5^th Division deployed on the right flank of the 2^nd, leaving lots of space for those big 12# guns.

Murat moved some cavalry. Murat did take personal command of the lead division 4^th Division to explain to the General that move did indeed mean move. Writing orders in three different languages was certainly taxing Marshal Murat’s patience. However, since all of the commanding officers were native French, these multiple orders may have been the cause of their confusion.

On Turn 11, the Russians surged forward contacting the French line. Savary, Bessieres, and Murat (finally on the table) pushed forward with as much speed as their divisions could manage. The Russian counter offensive made contact with 3 of the 4 reserve artillery batteries. The ensuing melee found the Russians and French trading hit for hit. Unfortunately, the Russians were splitting across three divisions while the French have five in combat. Furthermore, the French had deployed more batteries allowing their division commanders to direct both melee combat and short-range cannon fire.

At the close of Turn 11 combat, both of the support Divisions – the 2^nd Austrian and the French 5^th – recommitted to the attach and moved the 450 yards to make contact with the Russians. A new combat round traded hits with the Russians causing both the 1^st and 2^nd Russian Divisions to withdraw.

Turn 12, the French attempt an aggressive pursuit. Both the 1^st and 2^nd Russian Infantry Divisions are in modest shape. So sending in the small cavalry brigades will not break them. The infantry march as quickly as possible but are just able to make contact.

At the end of Turn 12, the two Russian flanks are in retreat with the grenadiers in the center holding strong. They would be forced to withdraw in a turn or two, especially with the artillery firepower available for a cannonade.

This did not occur without cost to the French. Both of Savary’s divisions are close to withdrawing. The French 2^nd Division is completely fresh and ready to continue the action, but the 5^th is close to withdrawing to recover. Marshall Ney’s lead division, the 8^th is also fatigued and needs to rest. The 11^th was hardly engaged but still at least turn from the ford.

By scenario rule, this is a Russian victory. The French failed to clear a line of march with two good-order formations by the end of turn 12.

As a scenario, this was a lot of fun to play! My opponent had to take it on the chin for a couple of turns, but it was worth it to still be in position at the end of the game.

This brings us to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) discussion of this AAR. Is it good or bad? In the bad column, Claude’s interpretation and understanding of the ESR rulebook is suspect. It was truly unfortunate that the AI did not format a nice order of battle for both the French and the Russians – although the Russian OOB was very nice. The French Corps commanders were also not listed in the scenario, other than Bessiers. However, in the good column, not much time was spent creating a playable scenario! The scenario did not throw out terrain, line up troops, and have them march at each other. There was some consideration given to the need to maneuver and provide some time limit to allow the Russians an opportunity to win in game turns – although the ultimate result is probably a foregone conclusion.

My advice: Use AI. However, understand that it is a tool and it does not do everything. You cannot build a house using only a hammer. You will have to read what it says and make adjustments. However, when you have writer’s block, and you cannot get out of your own head, AI can give you that little push to think about your writing in a new way. Now, if I could only get it to paint my mini’s while I write AAR’s!

To that end, the original AI output:

Happy gaming, everyone!

SCENARIO: THE BATTLE OF KRASNOV POSAD

Et Sans Résultat — Napoleonic Wargame Scenario

Historical Setting: Summer 1812, Russian interior. A French corps advancing along the Moscow road encounters a Russian covering force holding the town of Krasnov Posad.

GROUND SCALE & TABLE

Scale: 225 yards per inch
Table: 5 ft × 8 ft (60″ × 96″)
At this scale the table represents approximately 13,500 × 21,600 yards (~8 × 12 miles of frontage and depth)

Now let me render the battlefield map:—

SCENARIO DETAILS

Strategic Situation

Following the border engagements, General of Infantry Prince Mikhail Gorchakov has been ordered to delay the French advance long enough for the main Russian army to concentrate beyond the Dnepr. He has chosen to make his stand at Krasnov Posad, a prosperous market town astride the Moscow high road. The Krasna Brook — fordable at two points but an obstacle to artillery without a bridge — forms his forward screen line. The Posad Ridge behind the brook gives his artillery a commanding field of fire.

Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières commands the pursuing French force, roughly double the Russian strength, with orders to force the position before nightfall.

RUSSIAN ORDER OF BATTLE — Defender

Overall Commander: General of Infantry Prince Gorchakov (Place HQ in or behind Krasnov Posad)

Grenadier Division (Centre — Posad Ridge)

Holding the town and the ridge crest, this is the anchor of the Russian position.

Unit	Type	Notes
Leib-Grenadier Regiment	3 battalions	Elite; placed in the town itself
St. Petersburg Grenadiers	3 battalions	Right of town on ridge
Tauride Grenadiers	2 battalions	Left of town on ridge
Ekaterinoslav Grenadiers	2 battalions	Reserve behind ridge
12-pdr Grand Battery	3 batteries (one per division, massed)	Ridge crest, commanding the brook approaches

2nd Infantry Division (Left Wing — Malye Krivy sector)

Unit	Type	Notes
4 Jaeger Battalions	Light infantry	Deployed forward in Malye Krivy village and the Birch Copse
8 Line Battalions	Infantry	Behind the ridge, left of center
2 × 6-pdr Batteries	Foot artillery	Left flank ridge line
1 × 12-pdr Battery	Foot artillery	Joins grand battery on ridge

1st Infantry Division (Right Wing — Novo Selo sector)

Unit	Type	Notes
4 Jaeger Battalions	Light infantry	Deployed forward in Novo Selo and the brook bank
8 Line Battalions	Infantry	Behind the ridge, right of center
2 × 6-pdr Batteries	Foot artillery	Right flank ridge line
1 × 12-pdr Battery	Foot artillery	Joins grand battery on ridge

Cavalry (Rear Reserve — release only on Gorchakov’s order)

Unit	Type	Notes
8 Cuirassier Squadrons	Heavy cavalry	Held behind Krasnov Posad; counter-attack reserve
3 Cossack Squadrons	Light cavalry / irregular	Screen the flanks; may operate beyond the brook

Russian Special Rules

The Krasna Brook counts as a minor obstacle — infantry crosses freely but artillery requires the two ford points (marked on map) or the bridge on the Moscow road (held by the Leib-Grenadiers initially).
Posad Ridge grants a defensive bonus to any unit in position on it; treat it as slightly elevated ground for line-of-sight and musketry range purposes per your ESR rules.
The Grenadier Division may not be ordered to advance beyond the ridge without a special order issued at the start of a turn (simulating Gorchakov’s reluctance to commit his elite reserve offensively).
Cossacks may not charge formed infantry but may pursue routed units and harass French artillery limbered for movement.

FRENCH ORDER OF BATTLE — Attacker

(Approximately double the Russian total strength; precise battalion/squadron counts left to the scenario organiser to balance to preference, but the structure below is suggested.)

Overall Commander: Marshal Bessières (enters from the northern table edge)

Centre Corps — the main effort down the Moscow road, including a Guard infantry division, two line infantry divisions, a heavy cavalry division, and a massed 12-pdr grand battery.

Left Corps — two line infantry divisions with a light cavalry brigade and artillery reserve, tasked with turning the Russian right through Malye Krivy and the Birch Copse.

Right Corps — two line infantry divisions with a light cavalry brigade and artillery reserve, tasked with fixing the Russian left at Novo Selo and threatening the Dark Pines flank.

French Special Rules

Staggered Arrival: The Left and Right Corps are strung out on approach roads. At game start only the Centre Corps vanguard (one division plus artillery) is on the table north of the Krasna Brook. The remainder enter per a random die-roll schedule (e.g., roll each turn on a D6; additional divisions enter on a 4+, or use ESR’s standard column arrival rules).
The French player wins by occupying Krasnov Posad with at least two infantry brigades in good order, or by breaking the Russian army morale before end of game.
The Russian player wins by holding the ridge and town until a fixed number of game turns have elapsed (suggested: 12 turns), representing Gorchakov successfully buying time for the main army.

TERRAIN SUMMARY

Feature	Location	Game Effect
Krasnov Posad	Centre table	Built-up area; substantial defensive bonus; treated as a large town
Malye Krivy	Left-centre, brook crossing	Village; light cover; forward outpost
Novo Selo	Right-centre, brook crossing	Village; light cover; forward outpost
Stary Brod	Far left, south of brook	Village; on Russian left rear
Krinitsa	Far right, south of brook	Village; on Russian right rear
Posad Ridge	Behind the brook, centre	Low ridge; +1 defensive modifier for artillery LOS
Krasna Brook	Across table mid-section	Minor obstacle; two fords plus bridge
Volkov Wood	NW table quarter	Dense; impedes column movement; Jaegers may skirmish in it
Sosnovy Wood	NE table quarter	Dense; as above
Birch Copse	Left centre, forward	Light wood; skirmisher cover
Dark Pines	Right rear	Dense; screens Russian right-rear
Moscow Road	North–South main axis	Classifies as high road per ESR movement rules
Smolensk Road	Enters from west	Secondary road
Vitebsk Road	Enters from east	Secondary road

SCENARIO LENGTH & VICTORY CONDITIONS

Game Length: 12 turns (representing approximately 6 hours of daylight action).

Russian Victory: The town of Krasnov Posad is still in Russian hands at game end, and the Russian army has not reached its army morale break point.

French Victory: Krasnov Posad is in French hands by turn 10, or the Russian army morale breaks at any point.

Draw: Krasnov Posad changes hands after turn 10 but Russian morale holds, or neither side achieves its full objective.

SCENARIO NOTES FOR THE UMPIRE

The scenario is designed around a classic delay and hold problem. The Russian player faces a genuine dilemma: the Jaeger battalions pushed forward into Malye Krivy and Novo Selo are vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the French corps bearing down on the flanks, but pulling them back early surrenders the brook line and compresses the defence. The cuirassiers are powerful but fragile if committed piecemeal against formed French infantry — their moment is either a counter-thrust against a French column that has crossed the brook in disorder, or a screen against the French cavalry while the infantry firms the ridge.

The French player’s staggered arrival creates an interesting tempo problem: the centre corps commander will be sorely tempted to attack before the flanking corps arrive, knowing every turn wasted is a turn Gorchakov’s men entrench themselves more firmly on the ridge.

initial game set up.