Warning Order - Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society

Age of Eagles: Fighting WithdrawalBattle ReportWith some newly painted units for theperiod completed, we decided to do afictional encounter set in the Spring of1813. A Prussian and Russian force ismoving to join the main armyin the Dresden area. Overnight,a sizeable gap has opened upbetween the Russian and Prussiangroups. The Emperor,seeing a chance to divide anddefeat at least one of the forces,grabs the closest units availableand sends them in to block theRussians from joining the Prussians.The rest of the army willbe then be brought up to finishthe trapped Russians.The order of battle is simplifiedhere, but the French had the VII corpsunder Reynier, the II Corps under Victor,and a cavalry corps, all led by Victor.The Prussians, realizing their error, aredoubling back with a corps of infantry tohelp the Russianshold thevital bridgealong the road.The Russianadvancedguard, consistingof a cavalrydivisionand an infantrydivision, arealready astridethe main road. The remaining two corpsof Russian infantry and a cavalry corpsare entering in two places.The French and Saxons were allowedto set up anywhere along the length of theboard edge and up to a foot on the board,except no units could start on the Prussianside of the river. The Russians arestrung out in columns and those that can’tfit will enter as soon as possible.The victory objectives were quite simplein that the French needed to spilt theRussians and Prussians, preventing theRussians escaping over the bridge.This was a big game with nine players,including five who had never playedbefore. Fortunately, AOE can be explainedquickly and with everyone havingtheir own charts, it would prove to be afast moving game. After a few planningsessions and positioning of troops, thebattle began.Opening MovesThe French and Saxons got off to abad start, failing several movement rollsand creating a traffic jam around the village.The Saxons and part of the cavalrydid move out and began advancing towardsthe Prussians.The Russians piled onto the road fastand furious, trying to position themselvesagainst the inevitable French assault. ThePrussians moved over the bridge andbegan to stretch themselvesout into a defensivecrescent to protectthe crossing.The battle beganwith a French cavalrycharge that was bloodilyrepulsed, then a Russiancavalry counterattackdrove back the Frenchcavalry to the outskirtsof the village. Here theFrench infantry andartillery fired again andagain, finally forcing theRussian cavalry to retreatwith serious losses.However, the charge hadheld up the advance inthat sector for threevaluable turns.Page 16WARNING ORDER