The Action at Königswalde
The affair for Dammberg — September 1813
The Situation
The autumn campaign had settled into a business of roads and villages, and Königswalde was on one of them.
A French advance guard under Charpentier held it across the northern road; Stavitsky was coming up with twelve line battalions, five Jäger battalions, a grenadier battalion, four fusilier battalions, a Landwehr battalion, twelve guns, two regiments of dragoons and a squadron of Cossacks. The vineyards on the slope were staked and wired and no formed body could cross them.
The Balance
who holds the edge, and whyOn paper the Allies outnumber the French by about 1.8 to 1; once the French ground is reckoned in, it comes out close to even — a fair, stand-up fight.
French — defending
- holds the ground — the villages, the high ground and the water count for more than numbers here
- fights under a single commander, where the enemy does not
Allies — attacking
- the greater weight of numbers, about 1.8 to 1
but must contend with —
- two separate commands that cannot lend each other staff — the attack tends to arrive in uncoordinated pushes
- part of the force arriving late, and from a distant edge
- open ground to cross before it can come to grips
One side had ground, cover and a single will; the other had mass and artillery, and the burden of the attack, divided between two commanders who could not help one another. Which of those told first would decide the day.
Orders of Battle
Muster rollThe Ground
measured from two edgesThe frontages above are the ground itself. How many battalions your own rules let you put into a place of that size — and whether a strongpoint counts separately from the village around it — is a matter for those rules.
Command
who gives the orders, and how manyEach commander is rated on five levels, best to worst — Decisive · Capable · Workmanlike · Laboured · Adrift — and the scale on his card shows where he sits. The rating says how much of his command he can get fresh orders to in an hour's fighting. Whatever he does not reach carries on with its last orders, and the more formations he has under him, the less of it he reaches. If your rules grade generals, Workmanlike is the middle of that scale.
French — advancing
A Workmanlike general; in this action he plays as Capable.
He can turn most of his command within the hour, and all of it within two. What he does not reach holds what it has and conforms to what is happening beside it — it does not blunder forward and it does not sit under fire doing nothing.
- In his favour
- a small command — only 2 divisions, few enough that his orders reach all of them.
- Général de Division Charpentier — 2 brigades
- Général de Division Wathiez — 2 brigades
Allies — advancing
A Workmanlike general — what helps him and what hinders him cancel out.
About half his command can be turned to a new purpose within the hour. What he does not reach goes on doing what it was last told, competently, whether or not that is still the right thing.
- In his favour
- a small command — only 2 divisions, few enough that his orders reach all of them.
- Against him
- his side is in two commands that cannot help one another.
- General-Leytenant Stavitsky — 4 brigades
- General-Leytenant Kaptsevich — 1 brigade
A Workmanlike general; in this action he plays as Laboured.
One formation at a time, and the far flank is an hour behind the near one. What he does not reach goes on with its last order, and commits itself before news of any change arrives.
- In his favour
- a small command — only 3 brigades, few enough that his orders reach all of them.
- Against him
- his side is in two commands that cannot help one another; he comes on at turn 4 into a battle already running, and this holds for his first two turns.
No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.
Neverovsky and Steinmetz are separate commands, not one army. Neither commander's effort reaches the other's formations, whatever the crisis.
The rating is the app's own and is not taken from any rule set: it says how much of his command a man can turn to a new purpose within the hour, and what the rest do meanwhile. Set your own dials from that.
Objectives
8 points · weighted8 objective points in all, counted at nightfall. Dammberg is worth the most, and a decisive result needs most of the rest with it. Nobody holds any of them at the start.
Victory
who wins, and how wellRead from the top: the first line that is true at nightfall is the result.
- Allied DecisiveHold 7+ of the 8 objective points, Dammberg among them, at nightfall, with no allied formation broken.
- French DecisiveHold 7+ of the 8 objective points, Dammberg among them, at nightfall, with no French formation broken.
- Allied MarginalHold Dammberg at nightfall, and more objective points than the enemy.
- French MarginalHold Dammberg at nightfall, and more objective points than the enemy.
- DrawAnything else — Dammberg contested at nightfall, or the side holding it outscored on the rest.
Reinforcements
scheduled & uncertain- Scheduled The Russian corps enters across ZONE B from turn 1.
- Uncertain From turn 4, roll a die at the start of each even-numbered turn: on a 5 or 6 the Prussian contingent enters that turn across ZONE D — the right-hand edge of the map as printed, the 36in of it nearest the top edge.
- Uncertain From turn 4, roll a die at the start of each even-numbered turn: on a 5 or 6 a detached French cavalry regiment enters that turn across ZONE A, anywhere along it.
Deployment & Opening Moves
Neither side is on the table when the game begins, and nobody holds the central ground — Dammberg, Königswalde and Waldhain. The French enter across ZONE A — the bottom edge of the map as printed, a strip the full 144in width of the table and 7in deep, or by the road corridor ZONE C on the Niederfeld road, in column of march. The Allies enter across ZONE B — the top edge of the map as printed, a strip the full 144in width of the table and 7in deep. No road crosses that edge: every unit arrives across country, in whatever formation it chooses. Both sides come on from turn 1. The Prussian contingent comes on later and elsewhere: across ZONE D, the right-hand edge as printed — see Arrivals.
Special Rules
- How the result is read. Nightfall is the end of turn 10. Go down the victory table from the top: the first line that is true at nightfall is the result, and nothing below it is looked at. A place is HELD by the side with the last formed unit on it or within 6 inches of it, and CONTESTED — held by nobody — if both sides have one there. A unit is FORMED if your own rules would let it charge. A FORMATION is a brigade, or a division that has no brigades, and it is BROKEN when half or more of its units have been destroyed or have routed off the table. OFF THE TABLE means marched off the named edge in good order: a unit that routs off is lost, not saved. Battalions are infantry battalions; a gun is a battery, and a battery still on the table at nightfall counts as taken.
- Divided command. The Russian and Prussian contingents draw command and staff resources separately. Orders and staff officers may not be transferred between them.
- Skirmishers — who can screen, and what your rules do with them. Light battalions are marked in the muster. The French field 3 light battalions; the allies field 9 light battalions. That is the scenario's part of the answer: these are the troops armed and trained to fight in open order, and a screen comes out of them. How large a screen a brigade may put out, how it is formed, whether it is a separate playing piece or a state the battalion adopts, and what it does to shooting and morale are your own rules' business — consult them for the allocation. Where a brigade has no light battalion it may still screen if your rules allow line troops to.
- A brigade pushed forward. Vachot's Brigade begins the game ON Waldhain itself — the most exposed of the objectives — and nowhere else, out of supporting distance of the main line. Set it up there before anything else. Extracting it, or feeding it, is the defender's first dilemma.
- Uncertain arrivals. An arrival marked uncertain is diced for as its line says, and neither side may plan the opening moves on its timing.
- Unreliable contingent. The Prussian contingent of the Allies is not certain to fight. At the start of each of its turns, before anything moves, roll one die for the whole contingent: on a 1 it stands where it is this turn — it may fire and it defends itself, but no unit of it advances toward the enemy or charges. Once a unit of it has been charged or lost, it is committed and the roll is no longer made.
Umpire's Notes
the designer's intent- Neither commander wanted a general action and both will get one anyway. The dilemma is escalation: every reinforcement committed here is one the parent army wanted elsewhere. An umpire running this as part of a campaign should record what each side burned.
- Vachot's Brigade sits forward of the line at Waldhain. It is the defender's to lose: committed too long, it is cut off; withdrawn too soon, the outlying point falls without a fight.
- The attacking command is divided in fact and not merely on the roster: staff effort cannot be lent across the seam, so the attack tends to arrive as two pushes that do not quite meet. Neither commander may spend any part of his command on the other’s formations, by any means his rules allow. Whatever you play, do not let the two halves coordinate for free.
Exploring Officer is an independent, unofficial product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or licensed by any games publisher, and it contains no rules text, statistics or points values from any published rule set.
Made by a wargamer, for wargamers. A guide to the game, not a work of reference.