Borodino 1812

Borodino was fought between the Army of Imperial Russia and Napoléon's Grand Armée on September 7, 1812. The battle ended with a French victory, but strategic defeat. Losses were terrible on both sides, but the Russians could replace theirs. One week after the battle Napoléon occupied an undefended Moscow, hoping to impose a peace, but after four weeks was forced to retreat home with calamitous results. The historical battle involved wave after wave of frontal attacks by both sides, focusing on the Russian redoubts. However, the wargame shows all the options available to Napoléon and Kutuzov, including some not attempted historically. The French player has several possible lines of attack and the Russian player must try to anticipate and counter them all. The tactical interaction of Napoléonic infantry, cavalry and artillery is also emphasized, including cavalry charges and squares. This makes for exciting and tense gaming. Movement and combat are resolved within areas. The game plays using the fast-paced Move-Move-Battle sequence seen in Shiloh. Players activate leaders to command divisions of the same corps. Game time is 3-4 hours. COVER ART La Moskowa by Mark Churms The scene depicts the French 1st Carabiniers charging at Borodino. Borodino Battle History On September 5, 1812, the French Grande Armée under the command of Emperor Napoléon I, advancing along the main highway from Smolensk, approached the village of Borodino where the Russians under Gen. Mikhail Kutuzov had resolved to make a stand to save their ancient capital of Moscow from the invader. Three months before in late June, the French and their allies gathered from all across Europe had crossed the Niemen River with about 450,000 men, and over 225,000 more in reserve and covering the flanks. Though the Russians under Tsar Alexander I could also call on about 500,000 active troops throughout their vast empire, only about 200,000 were at the front facing the invader, and so the Russians began to fall back as Napoléon pursued closely, hoping to defeat them in detail. The two main Russian armies, the 1st under Gen. Barclay de Tolly and the 2nd under Prince Bagration, finally joined at Smolensk in August, where they fought for the city but were forced to abandon it to Napoléon's superior forces, after each side suffered heavy losses. Following this defeat, the Tsar appointed the elderly veteran Kutuzov to lead the two combined armies. By this time, heavy attrition, battle losses and detachments of corps to cover long flanks and supply lines had reduced Napoléon's Grande Armée to only about 135,000 men and 587 guns. At last the Russians, who had about 120,000 regulars and Cossacks and at least 624 guns, along with some 30,000 militia from Moscow and Smolensk, could fight an evenly matched battle. The Russians chose a position with their right flank covered by the Kolocha River, and improved their left flank to the south of the Kolocha with several redoubts, while further south their position was covered by marshy woods around the village of Utitsa. The stage was set for what Napoléon afterward called the "most terrible" of all his battles, immortalized by Leo Tolstoy in "War and Peace." After a preliminary engagement for control of the Shevardino redoubt on the Russians' far left on September 5, and a delay on September 6 while the rest of the French army arrived and moved into position, the main battle was fought on September 7, the bloodiest day of fighting in the Napoléonic Wars. Borodino cost the French about 28,000-30,000 and the Russians between 44,000-50,000 casualties, and while the battle opened the gates of Moscow to the French, the Russians managed to retire in good order and rebuilt their army, while Napoléon could receive few reinforcements so far from France. The Tsar would not negotiate, despite the loss of Moscow, with his army still in the field. In the end, the French limited victory at Borodino only paved the way for the destruction of the remains of the Grande Armée during the Russian winter of 1812.