THE DAY IS LOST
Fighting rearguards actions in the Napoleonic Era
Fighting rearguard actions in the Napoleonic era.
Even amidst the most disastrous military defeat, a well-executed rearguard action could mitigate the worst effects of the disaster and give the losing army time and space to recover. Equally, an aggressive pursuit could turn an organised retreat into a rout, irrecoverably destroying an enemy’s capacity to recover.
INTRODUCTION
Rearguards are a rich source of material for wargamers, involving, as they often do, desperate fights and last stands against horrendous odds. Some of the most celebrated actions in the Napoleonic era involve rearguards in the aftermath of major battles. One of the most famous of these (despite being fictional) was the Old
Guard’s stand at Waterloo while
Napoleon escaped the battlefield.
Such events, whatever their basis in historical fact, have a certain frantic excitement and fascination. Furthermore, they typically involve smaller numbers than the main battle, which is advantageous for those with smaller figure collections and for gamers who want a shorter
yet still action-packed game.
THE SCENARIO
The scenario presented here is intended to represent the start of an army’s withdrawal from the field of battle. Both sides are still reeling from the shock of the fighting and have several challenges to overcome. The general who has just won the main battle (the attacker in this scenario) will be trying to maintain the pressure on his opponent to maximise his victory. Meanwhile, his opposite number (the defender) must attempt to rally what men he can to stop his army’s retreat turning into a rout. The retreating army may need to sacrifice some units to provide cover the remaining troops to safely retreat. If the defenders can hold out until darkness falls then this will make a safe withdrawal for the rest of their army much more likely. The attackers must be wary however as given some luck and skill it may be possible for the defeated general to turn the tide completely and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, even at this late hour.
OTHER PERIODS & RULES
Although the Napoleonic era is the focus of this article, players should feel to translate this for use in other periods. It would require little modification to achieve this except to tweak the army generation table. Other aspects of the scenario presented here are timeless so would be appropriate for most rearguard actions from the Ancient World to the 19th Century. Finally, this scenario uses Sharp Practice, but players are encouraged to use other rules if they so wish. If using Black Powder for example, simply treat “groups” as regiments and “formations” as brigades instead.
ARMY LISTS
One player must be designated the attacker and one the defender. Players should flip a coin or decide this between themselves. Once this has been decided, armies will be generated. Until the game begins the composition of both armies should be kept a secret from the opposing player with all rolls being done out of sight of the opponent. A sense of fair play is therefore critical. Players will also note that the scenario has been deliberately designed to be asymmetrical. Such is the fickleness of war.
Players do not choose the composition of their forces. In the chaos at the end of a battle officers on both sides would have to take in-hand any troops near to them that were still in a coherent formation. They would not have the luxury of picking and choosing their forces. Instead, both players roll on the Army Generation Table below to
generate the army they will use in the game. Players are limited in how many times they can roll on this table.
To see how many times they may roll on the Army Generation Table, each player rolls a D6 with the following chart informing them how many rolls they make. The attacking player gets one additional roll.
In most army lists it is apparent which category each group falls into based on the historical role and performance of the unit type in question. However, depending on the player’s collections you may need to apply some flexibility to the above table (or you could use this as an excuse to buy some additional models to bulk out your forces).
Players will receive 2 support points for each roll they can make on the Army Generation Table. So, if a player can make 6 rolls they would receive 12 support points. They may spend these support points on leaders or any of the following support options using the appropriate list entry from the main Sharp Practice rulebook:
◗ Holy Man
◗ Relic
◗ Colours Party
◗ Musician
◗ Secondary deployment point
◗ Moveable deployment point
Both sides will also be given a Status 3 leader for free, who will be their force commander.
Having randomly generated their army lists the players will now need to confirm which groups will be in a formation with one another. Players may do this in any manner they see fit, excepting that cavalry cannot be in the same formation as infantry, and artillery is always in a formation by itself. Leaders will then need to be assigned to each formation. Each formation must have a leader to command it.