Battle of Mockern Ends

We wrapped up the battle of Mockern today, and what a finish it was!  The last reinforcements to come into play were the remainder of the Bavarians; a brigade of infantry and a brigade of cavalry.  They were immediately sent towards Mockern where a single French brigade was holding on by its fingernails.  The allies were desperate to make a breakthrough, so all of their forces went on to the attack.  The two best opportunities were Mockern or in the center against the worn out brigades of French cavalry.

Bavarians try to hold the line

The first opportunity was dashed when the Prussian brigade assaulting Mockern was forced to take a brigade moral test when not one, but two officers were wounded in the fierce battles within the town.  The result was that the brigade was broken and had to withdraw.  In a display of remarkable fortitude, four French battalions, 2nd line at that, had held off nine battalions and two batteries for the entire five day game.

In the final turn of the game two fresh regiments of Prussian cavalry charged a single regiment of French cuirassiers, the last reserves in the center.  The Prussians were able to add a modifier of one in to each of their two dice rolls.  The sad result was snake eyes on the first and a three on the second.  The French player rolled a ten.  This meant that both Prussian regiments were routed and the game was clearly over with the French winning a resounding victory.

The final charge of the game

The French victory was largely the result of their aggressive game plan.  They went on the offensive in the center and on their right.  The Russians were off balance from the beginning.  They were never able to bring their superiority in guns to bear.  The French cavalry ran roughshod over the field in the middle, destroying all of the Russian cavalry and then tearing into the helpless infantry up on the ridge.

Over the course of five days 12 players maneuvered of 2,200 infantry and 600 cavalry figures as well as over 80 stands of artillery.  It was an epic battle in the truest sense.  The rules, General de Brigade, gave us a good feel for the period and the results seemed to be very realistic.  Good tactics were rewarded; poor tactics resulted in catastrophe.  But whenever you roll dice, there were still occasions when the unthinkable happened.  This gave some very memorable moments to both sides.  One that comes immediately to mind was on the last turn of the game.  Prussian infantry were trying to assault a portion of Mockern for the fifth time.  They had a 50/50 chance of winning the fight as the French battalion was quite frail due all of the previous attacks.  But a double six gave them one more victory and the Prussian Corp commander who was leading from the front was wounded as well.  This was the straw that broke the Prussian's back.