grunberg (october 6, 1813)
The southern road to Leipzig
INTRODUCTION
Whereas Napoleon was in
Duben trying to avoid the
reunion of the armies of Bernadotte and Bluecher, the
Schwarzenberg’s Army of Bohemia was slowly and
ponderously advancing from the South towards the Allied rendez-vous
in Leipzig. The
Prince Murat, left in the zone
commanding several French Army Corps, made local counter-attacks
trying to impede or delay the Allied advance.
Thus, at October 6, Victor’s II Corps
along the
Latour-Mauburg’s I and Pajol’s V Cavalry Corps,
attacked Gyulai’s advance-guard near Floha, in the area between the
Zschopau and Floha streams, taking by surprise the Austrian
Murray’s division, that retired towards its main body.
The
French success was short-lived and finally
the Russo-Austrian forces close on Murat in
Lieberwolkwitz.
This Lasalle Scenario is loosely based on that combat. The OOB's
have been changed to include some colorfoul French cavalry units!
Bibliography
- G.F. Nafziger. “Napoleon
at Leipizg: The Battle of the Nations 1813”. The Emperor Press,
Chicago, 1996.
D. P. Buturlin. “Tableau
de la campagne d'automne de 1813, en Allemagne”. Paris, 1817
G. Fabry. “Pajol,
General en chef”, Tome III, Paris, 1874
TABLE-TOP ADAPTATION
GO TO THE BATTLE IN PICTURES
Actual movements of the Austrian and
French forces on a
near contemporary map
Marechal Claude-Victor Perrin
Game map
The actual battlefield
The initial deployement
Scenario pdf file for 'Grunberg'
GO
TO THE BATTLE IN PICTURES
Summary of the oob
French Army
C-i-C Victor French II Corps
6th Division Vial
- Infantry: 9 battalions
- Artillery: 2 Foot batteries
1st Light Cavalry Division Berckheim
- Cavalry: 4 regiments
Reinforcements
V Cavalry Corps Pajol
- Cavalry: 4 regiments
5th Division Dufour
- Infantry: 7 battalionss
- Artillery: 1 Foot batteries
Austrian Army (Army Moral 52; Break point 17
C-i-C Gyulai 3rd Austrian Army Corps
2nd Division Murray
- Infantry: 8 battalions
- Artillery: 2 Brigade batteries
- Cavalry: 1 regiment
Reinforcements
1st Division Crenneville
- Infantry: 2 battalions
- Cavalry: 1 regiment
- Artillery: 1 Horse battery
3rd Division Hessen-Homburg
- Infantry: 4 battalions
- Artillery: 1 Brigade battery
Notes: The basic duration of the game is 24 Turns (3 hours). Bonus Turns
are allowed rolling 2D6 ( p. 66 of the e-Lasalle book). The French are
attacking and are the first side.
OPTIONAL RULES
Reinforcements
French units, not marked as
reinforcements, must deploy north of the stream. However, if desired or
diced for, one infantry brigade and/or one Light Cavalry brigade may
deploy at A4 and/or A5, These detached brigades arrive automatically at
turn 3 (if deployed in A4) or turn 5 (if deployed in A5) French
reinforcements may enter in the following areas:
Infantry C1-D1-D2 (30%/50%/20%); Cavalry C1-D1-D2 (20%/40%/40%)
The units arrive in march or attack column formation as desired. Each
commander arrives with his first unit. Each brigade arrives separately.
Austrian units, not marked as
reinforcements, can deploy in any area south of the stream (with a
maximum of one unit in the north bank). Austrian reinforcements may
enter in the following areas:
Infantry A5-B5-C5 (20%/30%/50%); Cavalry A5-B5-C5 (40%/40%/20%).
With the exception of the detached French units, all the ‘normal’
reinforcements follow the Lasalle arrival rules (p. 91 of e-Lasalle).
The lost unit (optional)
Light cavalry usually formed the advance guard of the Napoleonic armies.
In this Scenario,
one of the French light cavalry brigades may act in
that way
and it will start the game hidden in the wooded northern bank of the
Floha stream. To add more spice to the game, the exact turn and location
of its exit from the southern border of the wooded area, will be unknown
in advance.
Turn of exiting. Roll two D4 at the start of the turns 3, 5, 7 and
9. If their total roll is smaller than the current turn number, then the
unit has exited from the wooded area.
Location of exiting (see the table map)
Turn 3. The unit exits at the point 3
Turn 5. The unit exits in any location between 5 and 5’
Turn 7. Idem between 7 and 7’
Turn 9. Idem between 9 and 9’
When the unit exits from the wooded area in the turns 5, 7 or 9, the
exiting point is found by dividing the exit area in 11 intervals
numbered from 2 to 12 and rolling two D6. Their total rolling marks the
exact exiting point
Assault of defiles
1) A march column can assault a defile like a bridge, a fortified gate,
a fort, etc. It represents not only true march columns, but also all
those formations with a very reduced front.
2) It fights at 1/2 dice and with no previous shooting, adding a -2 for
"bad terrain" as they will be fighting in cramped quarters.
3) The enemy can use the "cover" or "higher elevation" modifiers when
applicable.
3) However the small front, the enemy never halves their dice
Victory conditions
This is an encounter battle and neither side is looking for specific
objectives, so the standard Lasalle rules are of application.
See a story version at the
Project Leipzig (1813)
blog
THE BATTLE IN PICTURES