Untitled Page

Our display game at the 2006 Napoleonic fair (all hail Mike Oliver for organising the wargames section!) was a bicentennial refight of the morning of Jena.
This pits Lannes V Corps against Tauentzien's combined Prussian-Saxon advanced guard (now the rear guard because of recent events!).
The orders of battle and map can be found here. This is a very nice size of game to get started with the rules, although for real flavour you need the 1805-7 supplement, published in the 2006 TooFatLardies Summer Special.

The refight went a little differently to the real battle. This was because the French were not so aggressive in driving in the Prussian light troops around Closewitz, thus drawing them into a more frontal assault than perhaps they would have preferred. Actaully, the Prussian light troops held up pretty well, with good use of their more numerous cavalry to frustrate the French.
In the centre, the French skirmishing ability slowly began to tell on the linear Prussian and Saxon infantry, especially when later supported by the Corps artillery.

The French were wearing down the Prussians, who could not match the speed of maneouvre of their opponents, and were forced to stand and take casualties as their commanders tried to react to the latest threats.

Towards mid-day the French tactics became clear. Eventually, the Prussian centre was weakened sufficiently that the French light cavalry were able to execute a superb charge right through the middle of the line. They were unopposed by Prussian horsemen, because the French had sucked them into the indecisive fights on the flanks.

The Prussian and Saxon reinforcements under Prittwitz and Grawert, particularly the cavalry, came forward and slowed the French advance. However, their was insufficient fresh infantry available to hold the ground around Verzehnheiligen and so the French had their victory. We judged that the Prussian/Saxons would have been able to withdraw in slightly better order than had been the case historically, due to their superior cavalry.

All in all, a scenario well worth fighting. The French certainly do not have this all their own way!