Luca is a new wargamer and strategist.  He played with the draft components of Bloody Monday with the designer. I’ve made minor edits to the post but wanted to leave it intact in one HUGE image rich slab.

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Here we go:

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Hello Everyone!, after having played Moscow’41 and Leningrad ’41, I wanted to play Bloody Monday, Napoleon at the gates of Moscow.

In the session that I attended, we played the game with all the Optional Rules and All the Units. I will explain the O.R. during the game in order to give you a better idea of what is happening.

Emanuele explained me also that one of the Victory Conditions is to destroy 10 Blocks of the opponents, explaining me that the Russian has a very high advantage on that. Any French Blocks counts to reach the 10 necessary for the sudden death, while the Russian’s Jagers, Militia and Cossacks do not count for that. That makes me think I could use those Units to create a shield to the important Units.

Game Lenght= 1 hour

TURN 1

Emanuele plays the French with the Initiative disk and starts first.
He uses the Gran Battery (O.R.) which lets him uses his artillery at the beginning of the first turn. The artillery cannot move and they fire in an adjacent area without reducing at the end.
In this way he deals some damage to my frontline injuring a couple of Jagers.

The turn starts.

Emanuele starts with an assault on Borodino using his forces led by Eugéne supported by strong Artillery Fire.

While my right flank is under attack from Eugéne’s IV Corps, the left flank is assaulted by a combined force of several French Corps, including the famigerate Davout’s I Corps and Murat’s Cavalry.
On this flank, the artillery support is strong. I soon realise how important is going to be the Artillery. It was in the past, it will be now again. I will have to plan my defences carefully trying to move my Blocks in order to avoid to leave holes in my lines.

In the Combat phase, the Artillery shatters the defences on Borodino, leaving me with only 5 Victory Points.

 

The French advances on my left flank too with a combined force of artillery and Units.

He tries to move some Cavalry on my left into the woods, in order to encircle me and attack my rear Blocks. I have to stop him.

Considering my plan of making a line of Jagers and Militia in the front, I had to play my first impulse in order to reorganise all my Blocks in order to have the strongest behind and also I’m forced to move the artillery in the center of my formation in order to be able to perform a counter attack when the moments will come. To do that, I have to activate all my Leaders, the first impulse is the most important part of my plan because it will create the shield I need to resist to his attacks.

 

I realise that no matter what I do, Utitsa will fall. Green terrain requires a big investments in Units, number that i’m not willingly to use. I leave there one Infantry alone. My battle will be in the woods.

His next impulse will strike on Utitsa using Poniatoski that gives a cube of Inspiration to one of his Block ( in order to improve its Firepower)

While a second group led by Davout strike my fleches with artillery fire and Inspiration. Fortunately I managed to put there some Jagers to bait his attack.

Using all the O.R. means also that the combat is not simultaneous all the time but it varies depending on the type of the terrain. On the Green terrain, a Combined attack rolls first (Cavalry + Infantry) and that exactly what Emanuele does, he brings in his Cavalry from Murat and the Infantry of Poniatoski in order to attack me first. Unfortunately I did not have the combined attack and my Block is shattered without rolling any dice at all.

 

I decide to regain control over an Area he just conquered, in order to free one of my Block that was encircled after the attack on Utitsa. I send in my best Cossacks and tons of Artillery activating only Bagration to do this. I have to save my Leaders for later on.

 

 

In the next impulse, the French will use Utitsa as a staging point to further actions against my left flank, spreading like oil trying to attack several Areaa and opening the road to the Fleches.

 

He breaks all my Areas but, with a lucky dice roll, 2 of my cossacks survive the French fury.

During my Impulse I decide to strike again on his position using my cossacks supported by strong artillery fire. Another great dice rolls allow me to destroy his troops completely with only the artillery, regaining the position I had lost.

In the meantime the situation on the Fleches is in his advantage and that forces me to protect the Areas around it and be ready for the possibility of a counter attack.

He tries to smash my last defender on the Fleches but unfortunately for him, I left there a shielded Unit with an extra absorb bonus for the shield (O.R.) that destroys completely his Unit.

 

The battle on the Left Flank is enraging and he destroys my cossacks threatening Bagration himself! My Leaders are giving their best, but their strength is being reduced and I will not be able to activate them forever.

Using a combination of Bagration and Barclay de Tolly I manage to send in some forces in order to protect my cannons. I can’t lose them without a fight.

 

Some damage from both sides but I realise that I have no more Leaders to activate.

He understands that my Leaders are on heart level and that I need one starred Leader to activate them. But I don’t have anyone starred to continue. He decides to go All-in using a combination of exhausted Leaders and one starred to activate them all.

 

 

Some of my Units resist, but he manages to break my right flank and move his troops all the way up to Tatarinova, conquering the Victory Point but most important, he cuts the Line of Communication from my units to Kutuzov.
Given the actual situation, I had no other option but to concede.