Lutzen.

The Allies had a bonus move before the French could even begin to think what was facing them. Even Souham began to look worried. Blucher's Prussian skirmishers (von Zeithen's men) were already over the wall into Rahna before French troops had finished their croissants.

However, as move one started, it was the French in fact who won the initiative and opted to go first. But while Souham lept at the chance to place a few units into buildings, he was perplexed to find both Ricard and Brenier standing idly by. Unbeknown to him, the umpire had ruled that both these divisions, all Ney's other divisions in fact, were not permitted to react immediately to the sound of gunfire in the neighbouring villages. They were stuck fast. Ney and Napoleon were nowhere to be seen so Souham was on his own. A large unwieldy force of 10 battalions, the 10th Hussars and a battery. Some within the French team urged him to withdraw...."never" was the response. The fact that Souham was killed fairly early on, as was his successor and his successor in turn, was testament to how ferocious the battle was in this sector.

French movement. Note Italian units shown in green.

Allied movement

The 10th Hussars covering the left flank of Souham's Division.
 Dark masses of Prussian  infantry can be seen in the background.

Meanwhile Girard, holed up in Starsiedel, had a deployed battery on the ridge line between his village and the four villages. Dolff's Prussian cavalry of Jurgass and Werder looked poised to launch a frontal assault....the battery was doomed surely? However, these Prussian cavalry turned west and headed towards Kolzen.

Compans leading Marmont's Corps towards Starsiedel.
 Girard's solitary battery is  far left.

Von Werder's cavalry of Dolff's Division in the foreground.
Prussian infantry advancing on the four villages in the background.

As von Klux and von Zeithen took control of both Rahna and Grosgorschen, Souham was unlucky enough to throw three successive two's on the 1D8, making withdrawal inevitable. Five hits on separate units under his command made the command test almost impossible to pass.  Blucher was on a roll. Roder swerved left and headed for the open plain to the west of Rahna, but lack of close cavalry support placed this attack towards the ridge line on a knife edge.

Von Zeithen and Von Klux's brigades in the far distance, with a dense
formation upper middle (Von Roder's Prussian Guard)
with Berg's Russians in the foreground.

Yorck supporting the Prussian Guard.

Berg and Alexiev swung right and headed for the stream towards Hohenlohe.  Enemy activity to intervene, was nowhere to be seen except for the sole appearance of the French 10th Hussars, representing Ney's only cavalry. They dared not attack, however, and the Russian advance was allowed to continue.

Compans links up with Girard.

Napoleon arrives on move 5 with the Guard cavalry. (left)

Yorck's assault, supporting the Prussian Guard,
 stretching from Starsiedel to the ridge line. 

Yorck moved purposefully west towards Starsiedel and at the second time of asking took the church. (strongpoint) Horn and Hunerbein, supported by Steinmetz made good progress.

It was not until move 4 that Ney appeared and not until move 5 that he was able to support Souham directly. It was desperately needed. Souham's Division held....just.

Dolff's foray west succeeded in diverting Marmont's arrival and totally held up Bertrand's entry onto the table. Devoid of meaningful cavalry (the one unit Betrand had was quickly dispatched) and scores of French units forced into square.

Souham's Division being pushed back to Kleingorschen. 

Prussian Guard (left) assault the ridge line between Starsiedel and Kaja.

Marchand's Hesse-Darmstadt infantry and one battery appear on the
 north bank of the Flossgraben to face  Berg and Alexeiev.

Little action up to this point in the Far Eastern sector.
Berg and Marchand are just visible.

By move 5 Napoleon had arrived with the Guard cavalry and despite warnings of losing such a unique force, the Guard elite was quickly into action to prevent the badly mauled divisions of Brenier and Girard from totally collapsing. Ricard was still fresh and the Young Guard also arrived and the ridge line held. The Prussian Guard's assault faltered and by close, many units of these battalions were in retreat, falling back to Allied lines.

Konovizin's Russian Grenadiers move with Ilowaisky's cossacks
 to hold off the approach of MacDonald.

Wurttemberg's Corps begins the second attack on the ridge line
after the Prussian Guard's failed attempt.
Russian cavalry clearly visible on the left, in support.

Souham's position looked precarious if French units did not arrive soon. In the east, Marchand arrived to face off the Russian threat from Berg and the first elements of MacDonald's Corps (Charpentier and Fressinet) had also moved opposite Berg and the small Cossack force. Fresh Russian units were moving swiftly into the action areas...notably the Grenadiers of Konovizin with Wurttemberg and the cavalry of Lanskoi, "Pants", Knorring, and Ilowaisky. They may have something to say about any French revival.

Allied commanders assess the situation at half time

French commanders in optimistic mood?

Situation at half-time. Note the direction of both
 Russian Guard and French Imperial Guard units.

By half time, losses were roughly even. Souham, Brenier and Girard were all looking weary and ready to break. The Old Guard arrived, crossed the stream and moved east,  heading towards Souham. The flanking Corps of both MacDonald and Bertrand (finally) looked set to make inroads. Much will depend on the first 3-4 moves on the second day....will those French Divisions, already badly shaken, crumble or have the Allies shot their bolt?

 Once artillery had had a resupply, the second half produced some unexpected results which made for a less predictable game. (photos to come)

The French YG and Guard cavalry deployed to hold the centre, while the Old Guard and their batteries moved to support Souham. Bertrand's progress remained slow, but progress nevertheless was made. Likewise for MacDonald who entered at the far eastern end of the table to support Marchand who was already attempting to cross the Flossgraben but a poor command throw, coupled with the fact that Marchand was a -1 commander suddenly saw their troops stop, unable to press home their attack at the critical point. Konovizin and Ilowaisky's Cossacks (3 regts) did much to hold the flank against superior French numbers. 

Souham begins his withdrawal across the Flossgraben,
abandoning any hope of keeping Kleingorschen.

Old Guard move up to support Souham's withdrawal.

In the centre Blucher succeeded in squeezing Souham into an ever smaller pocket in a Dunkirk style press. Souham, unable to move forward, and waiting for the Old Guard to arrive, saw little option but to withdraw across the Flossgraben to semi safety on the north side, abandoning Kleingorschen in the process. 

French infantry, now supported by the Young Guard watch as the
Prussian Guard vacate the ridge line and wander back to their lines.

Along the ridge line the Prussian Guard was repulsed, taking heavy losses. The fact that a Prussian battery decided to inflict serious casualties on tall men in blue with large black plumes in the process should have served as a warning to the Russian jaegers in closer proximity who decided to do the same thing, ignoring the fact that they were maiming their own Prussian Guard. Such a blue on blue all too easily done. 

Blue on blue. Prussian guns fire at their own Guard in the distance,
while the Russian skirmishers make the same error.

A yawning gap appeared, the French readied themselves for another attack from the combined arms of Wurttemberg's infantry and large swarms of Russian cavalry. The Young Guard seemed unsure where to place themselves to face this onslaught, eventually deciding to move east towards Starsiedel in an effort to take the Church (strongpoint)

Wurttemberg's attack to the west of Kaja proved a resounding success,
just as the Young Guard moved to Starsiedel.

Alexeiev's Cossacks cross the Flossgraben. Konovizin and Ilowaisky
 move to replace Berg's shattered force. French light cavalry move south
 while the Cuirassiers move towards Eisdorf.

French Cuirassiers cross the bridge at Eisdorf in the
face of a Prussian battery. The Cossacks then attacked.

On the western flank it was left to the Guard cavalry to inflict losses on the remnants of Dolff's cavalry but in doing so, rendered themselves pretty much useless thereafter. I believe there was a further unintentional blue on blue incident where a cannon ball shattered the stain glass window of the church in Starsiedel but no reports of casualties. Marmont and Bertrand tried to cooperate where they could to stem the flow of Russian troops (notably cavalry initially) and later on the Guard infantry and Pavlov Grenadiers. The Pavlov battalions moved up to help the beleaguered unit inside before being attacked by the Young Guard while the other two battalions of Russian Guard further west to threaten Kolzen. 

Pavlov Grenadiers move to secure the church at Starsiedel. 

Returning to the eastern sector, MacDonald's cavalry split into two, with two regiments of light cavalry heading south towards the bridge at Hohenlohe while the two Cuirassier regiments swung along the road towards Eisdorf in at attempt to cross the bridge there. Marchand's infantry (Hesse-D and Bardeners) forced their way across the Flossgraben again with support from Fressinet's Neopolitans, Charpentier. Gerard moved west to help Souham. Weight of numbers saw the final destruction of the cossacks of Alexeiev and Berg's Russians. However, Konovizin restored some order before he too was being pressed back.  The French cuirassiers on paper at least should have made short work of Ilowaisky's Cossacks, but there were two problems. First they had to cross the bridge at Eisdorf which slowed progress and second, these Cossacks had support from a nearby Prussian foot battery. So by the time the Cuirassiers did make contact and with some considerable damage on themselves, the melee outcome was less certain. As it was, both French regiments lost the ensuing melees. Much vodka was consumed that night. 

In the centre the Old Guard batteries and infantry lined the Flossgraben and made any further Prussian progress impossible. Souham had saved the greater part of his force, which was no mean feat considering the odds. But the victory points with three villages secured were in Allied hands. 

Once the last remnants of the Prussian Guard had returned including those wounded by friendly fire, the way was clear for another Allied assault. While the quality of the Russian infantry was standard (0) this time they had the cavalry in support. French held Kaja looked also to be in peril. This attack was a resounding success smashing a hole in the French lines, effectively cutting the French forces in two. 

Wurttemberg's attack on the ridge line.
 Massed Russian cavalry was too plentiful for French stomachs. 

Russian infantry taking Kaja.

Further west Compans and Bonnet's divisions of Bertrand's Corps were in a desperate way while Morand's troops spent time in uncomfortable squares, Freiderichs (Bertrand) and Peyri (Marmont) were able to hold much of the ground, but lack of cavalry made progress forward extremely difficult. No amount of heroics from the naval artillery battalions in this sector could make up for lack of cavalry. Towards the end they also faced other remnants of Russian Guard infantry as well as the Russian Guard cavalry under Schaevitch, all appearing towards the end.

The final turn (10) was one where there were still victory points to be won. Could the French take the church at Starsiedel and claim the village to add to the battle honours of the Young Guard? Could the Russian infantry secure Kaja and would a final Old Guard lunge across the bridge by two Grenadier battalions with skirmishers in front, secure Kleingorschen and wipe out a Prussian foot battery in the process?

French Guard Chasseurs re-enter Kleingorschen one final time.

French Imperial Guard Grenadier battalions
move across the bridge in one last valiant effort.

In the end it was the Allies who prevailed on the final move partly by winning the initiative. The Pavlov Grenadiers replaced the unit inside and so were able to withstand the Young Guard assault. The Russian infantry moved into Kaja, vacated by French infantry who had been forced to withdraw and the French attack in the centre foiled by an eagle eyed Allied commander who spotted that both French Old Guard battalions were outside their command radius. Had Roguet followed up the attack by crossing the bridge himself then this attack would have succeeded.

Final positions on move 20.

French losses.

Allied losses.

End to end stuff and lots of fun. A clear allied victory. Despite the Allies losing 13 cavalry regiments (more than the French total) they were able to secure more victory points in terrain held (all four villages as well as Hohenlohe) The French did hold Kolzen and would have made life difficult for Allied forces in the east had the game carried on. But the damage had been done. Allied losses were approx 2/3rds the French. Ney's Corps virtually ceased to exist, while Marmont's troops had also been badly mauled. 

FRENCH

CORPS COMMANDER	CORPS	2nd May 1813 strength	Commander. NOC = No overall command.	Code	Brig rating.	Personal rating.	Deployed (D) /due on when?	Ratio of 50:1.  /24 = no of inf bns. Or /16 = no of regts of cavalry.	Total no. of units.
Napoleon. Arrives with Guard Cav (move. 5)	Imperial Guard.  Mortier.
	Old Guard	5,000	Roguet NOC	INF 1A	+2	+1	Reserve. Enters table on move 8	4 bns OG  + Artillery Guard reserve of 2 FT batteries.	6
	Young Guard	9,800	Dumoustier  NOC	INF 1B	+1	+1	Reserve. Enters table on move 7	8 bns + 1 YG FT battery.	9
	Guard Cavalry	3,340	Walther. Bessieres was killed by a cannon ball the day before.
			D’ Ornano NOC	CAV 1A	+2	+1	Enter on move 5	2 regts. Chasseur a cheval and Polish lancers. + Guard HA battery.	3
			Letort NOC	CAV 1B	+2	0	Enter on move 6	2 regts. Horse Grenadiers and Empress Dragoons.	2
Ney. Arrives at Kaja (move  4)	III Corps	48,000
	8th Div	12,000	Souham. Paul Hayes	INF 2	0	+1	D	5 bns in G-G.  2 conscript. + 1 FT battery. 5 bns in Rahna. 2 conscript. Plus 10thHussars rep 24th Lt cav brigade.	12
	9th Div	9,400	Brenier.  Phil Sibbald	INF 3	0	+1	D but cannot move until move 2.	8 bns + 1 FT battery To the rear of Kaja. (3 conscript)	9
	10th Div	10,000	Girard.  Mike Irvin	INF 4	0	0	D but cannot move until move 2	8 bns  (3 conscript) + 1 FT battery.	9
	11th Div	8,500	Ricard. Neil Harper	INF 5	0	-1	D but cannot move until move 3.	7 bns (3 conscript)	7
	39th Div	7,200	Marchand. Richard Poynter.	INF 6	-1	0	D but cannot move until move 3.	6 bns. (2 conscript) 4 bns of Hesse-D line infantry plus 2 Baden bns + Hesse- D FT battery.	6
Marmont	VI Corps	21,000
	20th Div	6,600	Compans. Juan Amador	INF 7	0	0	D	5 bns  (2 naval artillery bns) (2 conscript)  + 1 FT battery	6
	21st Div	6,600	Bonnet.   Juan Amador	INF 8	0	+2	Move 3.	5 bns. 2 conscript (2 navals bns) + 1 FT battery	6
	22nd Div	6,000	Friederichs. Mike Irvin	INF 9	0	0	Move 4.	5 bns. 2 conscript.	5
Bertrand  (arrives move 7)	IV Corps	30,000
	12th Div	5,300	Morand. Dan Tomlinson	INF 10	0	0	Move 7.	4 bns + 1 regt of line chasseurs. (Fresia) (includes Beaumont/ Marmont’s Corps.	5
	15th Div	8,000	Peyri. Dan Tomlinson	INF 11	-1	0	SUN Move 1	6 bns. 4 bns line. (2 conscript) 1 light. 1 Milan Guard + 1 Italian FT battery.	7
	38th Div		Franque-mont. 38th Div	N/A	N/A	N/A	Arrives too late.	6 bns. Wurttemberg infantry. (N/A)	-
MacDonald (arrives move 7)	XI Corps	20,000
	31st Div	2,500	Fressinet Bob Robertson	INF 12	-1	0	Move 8	2 bns.  Neopolitan velites	2
	35th Div	6,000	Gerard. Richard Poynter	INF 13	0	0	SUN Move 2	5 bns. 4 bns Italian line. (2 conscript) 1 Italian light.	5
	36th Div	6,000	Charpentier. Bob Robertson	INF 14	0	+1	Move 7	5 bns. 4 line.(2 conscript) 1 light. +1 FT battery. (12lbs)	6
Latour-Mauborg (arrives move 7)	I Corps Cav	3,000	Latour-Mauborg
	1st+3rd Lt Cav Divs		Bruyere NOC	CAV 2	0	0	SUN Move 1	2 regts. 1 line Chasseur 1 line lancer.+ 1 HA battery	3
	1st + 3rdCuirassier Divs		Bordesouelle NOC	CAV 3	+2	+1	SUN Move 2	2 regts Cuirassiers	2
TOTALS								90 Inf bns (2,160) 10 Cav regts (160) 11 FT batteries (165) 2 HA batteries. (16)
CORPS COMMANDER	CORPS	2nd May 1813 strength	Commander	Code	Brig rating.	Personal rating.	Deployed (D) / Res /due on table on move ?	Ratio of 50:1.  /24 = no of inf bns. Or /16 = no of regts for the cavalry.	Total no. of units.
Blucher. 1st line	I Corps
	Upper Silesian Bde	6,000	Von Zeithen. Tim Cull	INF 1	0	+1	D	5 bns (1 jaeger, 2 landwehr) + 1 FT (12lbs) battery+ 1 regt Silesian Hussars.	7
	Lower Silesian Bde	6,000	Klux Tim Cull	INF 2	0	0	D	5 bns (1 jaeger, 2 landwehr) + 1 FT battery. + 1 regt Landwehr cav + 1 HA battery	8
	Branden-burg (Guard) Bde	8,000	Von Roder (Guard)  Patrick Lees	INF 3	+2	0	D	7 bns Guard. + 1 FT battery (Guard) + West Prussian Dragoons	9
Yorck. 2nd line.	II Corps.
	East Prussian Bde	2,835	Von Hunerbein. Bill Scott	INF 4	0	-1	D	3 bns.(1 jaeger, 1 landwehr) + 1 FT battery + 1 regt dragoons	5
	West Prussian Bde	3,386	Von Horn. Bill Scott	INF 5	0	+2	D	3 bns. (1 landwehr)+ 1 FT  (12lbs) battery +1 regt dragoons	5
	Colberg Bde	2,394	Steinmetz. Bill Scott	INF 6	0	0	D	2 bns. (1 landwehr)+ 1stLieb Hussars + 1 HA battery.	4
	Prussian reserve cavalry	3,000	Dolff
			Von Werder. David Burden	CAV 1	+2	0	D	2 regts. Garde de Corps.	2
			Jurgass David Burden	CAV 2	+1	0	D	2 regts. East Prussian Cuirassiers. + 1 HA battery.	3
TOTALS								25 Inf bns (600) 10 Cav regts (160) 5 FT batteries (75) 3 HA batteries. (24)
Wittgenstein.  C-in-C.	Yorck in command of Russian 1 Corps.
Russian I Corps	Berg. 5thand 14thDivs.	6,800	Berg. Adrian Francis	INF 1	0	+1	D	6 bns (1 jaeger, 2 conscript) + 1 FT battery	7
	Cavalry Div	1,000	Alexeiev . Adrian Francis.	CAV 1	-1	0	D	1 regt Cossacks+ 1 Cossack HA battery	2
Winzingerode. 3rd line	Russian II Corps.	10,450
	3rd and 4thDivs	6,700	Wurttem-berg.  Mike Baker	INF 2	0	+1	Move 5	6 bns (1 jaeger, 2 conscript) + 1 FT (12lbs) battery.	7
	Troube-tzkoi. II Corps Cav	4,000 excl Cossacks	Troubetzkoi (cavalry)
			Lanskoi. Mike Baker	CAV 2	0	-1	Move 5	2 regts. Hussars.	2
			Pantschou-litschev. Mike Baker	CAV 3	+1	0	Move 5	2 regts. Dragoons.	2
			Knorring NOC	CAV 4	0	0	Move 6	2 regts. 1 Uhlan. 1 Hussar	2
			Nikitin NOC	HA	0	+1	Move 6	2 HA batteries	2
			Ilowaisky NOC	CAV 5	-1	0	Move 6	3 regts Cossacks.	3
Reserve Army	Tormassov
	III Corps. 1st +2nd Grenadier Divs	6,130	Konovizin David Mott	INF 3	+1	0	Move 7	5 bns Grenadiers.  + 1 FT batt	6
	Lavrov (Guard)	10,800 +
			Baron Rosen NOC	INF 4	+2	0	SUN Move 1	2 bns Guard. +1 Guard FT battery.	3
			Udom NOC	INF 5	+1	0	SUN Move 2	2 bns of Guard (Pavlov)  + 1 Guard FT battery	3
		1,834	Schaevitch NOC	CAV 6	+2	-1	SUN Move 1	2 regts. Guard Hussars and Guard Dragoons.	2
	Gallizin
	1stCuirassier Div	1,984	Deprera-dovich NOC	CAV 7	+2	0	SUN move 1	2 regts Guard Cuirassiers.	2
	2ndCuirassier Div	1,984	Duca. NOC	CAV 8	+2	+2	SUN move 2	2 regts of Cuirassiers + 1 HA  battery (Guard)	3
TOTALS								21 Inf bns (504) 16 Cav regts (256) 5 FT batteries (75) 4 HA batteries. (32)
			Still to place:					GRAND TOTAL. ALLIES Infantry: 1,104 Cavalry: 416 Guns: 17 (150+56)
								BOTH SIDES: 4,227 Excl artillery riders and command. (approx. 200)
								ST110,104