My full Brunswick Corps got it's first official outing as a complete entity a few weeks ago against Cam's French - it was an all action nail biter for most of the game and you can read about it on my blog. I hope someone finds it interesting and/or enjoyable and/or inspiring...
P.S. Apologies in advance for any typos or grammar or similar errors - it turned into a bit of a novel and I haven't had time to do a second thorough end to end proof read yet!
John
Wargaming.info
Excellent AAR John!.....nice to see the Brunswickers on the table ....keep up the good work.
Paul:)
thanks for all the useful material on your blog:)
Yes great looking game and Auckland seems to be a wargaming Mecca ! :-)
Thanks Paul & Gary - appreciate the comments...
...useful material on your blog
...Auckland seems to be a wargaming Mecca! :-)
Wonderful AAR.... and I love your figures. I am toying around with a quatre Bras scenario myself. Of course until I get more Brit allies painted my saxons will just have to do..
Very enjoyable. Another AAR featuring the Brunswikers please!
Thanks Michael & Max.
One of the biggest challenges is how to rate the 1815 Brunswickers. In this game I made them:
Hussar Regiment: Valiant/Experienced
Uhlan Squadron: Reliable/Experienced
Leibgarde Battalion: Valiant/Amateur
Avante Garde Battalion: Reliable/Experienced
6 Line/Light Battalions: Unpredictable/Amateur
I also used similar ratings for the Hussars, Leibgarde, and 4 Line/Light Btns in our Crossroads Game back in May. I'm reasonably comfortable Unpredictable/Amateur is right for the Line & Light Battalions (Cam just thinks the whole force should be Shaky/Amateur) - this game I was fairly lucky and got 2 of 6 Btns as Valiant, 2 others were Shaky, 1 got destroyed while nominally still Reliable, and the last never got tested. In the Crossroads game I think I ended up with 1 Valiant, 2 Shaky, and 1 untested IIRC. While Valiant may seem a bit generous on random occasions Unpredictable does I think, combined with Amateur status, reflect the 1815 Brunswickers well - based on the accounts such as Cavalié Mercer's at Waterloo where they looked always shaky but never actually broke although they were probably not capable of much offensive action I'd argue that in some respects the units were at times worthy of Valiant status just be virtue of remaining intact when raw recruits surrounded by charging cav and being pounded by artillery...
Assuming the above supposition is correct then the Valiant/Amateur status for the Leibgarde (as Sam himself rated them) also seems reasonable, I previously rated them Reliable/Amateur in the Crossroads game, which may be more realistic, however as there is a small chance some of the Line & Light Battalions may get lucky and be Valiant it seems only fair to allow the Leibgarde to be Valiant from the start - it is not completely unhistorical IMO and coupled with Amateur status and only SK1 still leaves them at a disadvantage overall to the their typical French opponents. I can't see Unpredictable working as I'd have thought the high risk of being Shaky a bit unreasonable considering their (apparent) status compared to the Line & Light Battalions?
As mentioned Cam argues they should all be Shaky (scoffing at the notion of the occasional Valiant Brunswick unit) ;-) i.e. the Line & Light Battalions would be all Shaky and then arguably the Leibgarde might perhaps be Unpredictable to allow for the chance of them being exceptional on the day (or at least Reliable)...
The real question though is probably the Avante Garde and the Cavalry, whether Shaky or Unpredictable, I don't think it makes a huge difference for the 7 standard Infantry Battalions. For the Avante Garde I've assumed a certain level of competency - the training for the 2 Light Infantry Companies as Skirmishers, and the type of recruits for the 2 Jäger Companies (independent minded hunters/game keepers/etc) suggests more ability - hence I dabbled with Reliable/Experienced for this, their inaugural outing, but perhaps Unpredictable/Experienced might be a more suitable rating (or even Shaky/Experienced)? I have trouble seeing them as Amateur for the reasons above (when compared to the their fellow Brunswick Battalions) although there is some suggestion at Quatre Bras that although they fought for a prolonged period in and around the wood, they weren't especially effective or aggressive, so perhaps I am being too generous considering Experienced for this battalion?
For the Cavalry I've gone with Valiant/Experienced for the Hussars which again is as Sam rated them originally in the rulebook - and they do seem to have been the best regarded Brunswick unit in the Hundred Days - however perhaps again Valiant/Amateur might be a more appropriate rating (I'm loathe to go Reliable/Experienced as that just makes them seem so plain), but in some ways Amateur doesn't impact cavalry as much as it does infantry so it's more a semantic change? However the key thing is at Waterloo the Brunswick Hussars appear to have charged several times against the French Cavalry and performed well enough to be capable of reforming and charging again, etc, meaning perhaps Amateur would be unreasonable...
The Uhlans are perhaps the hardest to rate, and perhaps also the most deserving of Unpredictable - although once again Cam thinks they should just be outright Shaky! I certainly think that Reliable/Experienced is probably a bit generous (but it was their inaugural outing - not that it helped much in the end), and that in future I'll rate them Amateur for sure, and possibly Shaky, otherwise Unpredictable - but if the Hussars are for example Valiant/Amateurs, then perhaps the Uhlans should be Shaky/Amateurs - as they don't seem to have figured as prominently nor been rated as highly as the Hussars (although many accounts just treat the Uhlans as a squadron of the Hussar Regiment, so don't make much specific reference making it hard to say).
So some slightly revised ratings for their next outing might be:
Hussar Regiment: Valiant/Amateur or Reliable/Experienced
Uhlan Squadron: Unpredictable/Amateur
Leibgarde Battalion: Valiant/Amateur
Avante Garde Battalion: Unpredictable/Amateur or Reliable/Amateur
6 Line/Light Battalions: Shaky/Amateur* or Unpredictable/Amateur
* I'm not sure if they deserve to be rated no better then Poor or Inexperienced Landwehr - I think Unpredictable helps to give them that slight edge as inexperienced Regulars over inexperienced Landwehr.
Very interesting discussion John.
MHO
Hussars Valiant Amateur
Uhlan Reliable Amateur
Avante Garde Reliable Amateur
Line Shaky Amateur
Hussars Valiant Amateur
Uhlan Reliable Amateur
Avante Garde Reliable Amateur
Line Shaky Amateur
But what of the Leibgarde Max - are you suggesting they are just shaky line! And you'll have Cam up in arms with all these 'non-shaky' Brunswick units...!
Some nations used "Lieb" quite a lot. Whether they indeed were elite or not is the problem. The same is true for the French Imperial Guard or the British foot Guards too, at times they were beaten by regular line regiments.
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