hanau (october 24, 1813)
INTRODUCTION
Believing the French Grande Armee fully routed after the Leipzig
disaster, the Bavarian General Wrede attemtpted to cut its retreat to
France, only to be crushed by Napoleon in person.
HOUSE RULES
The order of battle (OOB) is based on the book of George Nafziger 'NAPOLEON
AT LEIPZIG. THE BATTLE OF NATIONS' (Chicago, Emperor's Press 1997)
The second edition of Napoleon's Battles edited by Five Forks has been
used with some modifications:
1) The cavalry scale is also 1/120
2) To display small cavalry groups (regiments), units of cavalry
from 480 men upwards are allowed,
3) Units of infantry with less than four elements are allowed to
display under-strenght French light infantry or Russian jager units.
4) Routed units can try to rally without an attached general
with an additional '-3' modifier.
5) The attempts to avoid routs and/or dispersal (14.2.1) can be
made without an attached general. The attempt to avoid the dispersal
requires a previous rout movement.
TABLE-TOP ADAPTATION
 |
 |
Hanau pdf file | |||
| Old map | Game map | ||||
| The battlefield | |||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
| The Bulau Forest at foreground with Lehrdof i and Hanau at distance | Neuhof farm, the Lamboy Forest and the Kinzig stream | Hanau and the Fasanerie with the Main River at foreground | |||
| Allied deployment | |||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| The Allied far right with the Bavarian | Center of the main Allied line with the Jaegers in the woods in brigade-skirmish order | The massed Allied cavalry at the left behind the artillery | The Cossacks scouting at the Allied far left. | ||
| French deployment | |||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
| The Victor's provisional Corps advancing through the woods at the French left | The MacDonald's provisional command advances against the Allied center | Schematic view of battlefield at 9.00 h | |||
SPECIFIC RULES OF THE SCENARIO
Fictional Scenario (or Wrede is right)
The Bavarian General Wrede wrongly estimated the French forces at 20,000 men as
a maximum (including the three arms). To take into account his error, the French
Corps have a basic and an additional strength (highlighted in yellow in the OOB).
Whereas the basic units always exist and arrive to the battlefield, the
additional ones may exist or not depending on a die roll. For each additional
unit throw 1D10. If the roll is equal or lesser than the modified Response
Number of the Corps General, the unit exists. If the roll is greater the unit
does not exist and can not be used. The modifiers are: “+2” for Excellent, “+1”
for Good and “-1” for Poor Generals.
| FRENCH CORPS | Basic strength | Additional strength | Modified Response Number |
| Imperial Guard | 4320 | 1920 | 8 |
| Artillery | 3F +1H | 1F-1F-1H | 8 ; 8; 8 |
| Cavalry Guard | 2880 | 960 | 8 |
| 2nd Cavalry Corps | 1800 | 1200 | 7 |
| Artillery | 1H | ||
| XI-XV MacDonald | 3840 | 1920+1920 | 6 ; 6 |
| II Victor | 1920 | 1920 | 6 |
| Cavalry II | 360 | ||
| III-VI-VII Marmont | 3840 | 1920+1920 | 8 ; 8 |
| V Bertrand | 0 | 2400 | 6 |
| Red units actually arrived in this re-play | |||
Free Arrival point
In this variant the French forces are out of control and can
enter the table through three possible end-roads D3, D4, D5, according to its
composition. When the force arrives roll a 1D10:
Cavalry: 1-2 D2; 3-6 D4; 7-10
D5
Artillery: 1 D2 ; 2-5 D4; 6-10 D5
Infantry: 1-3 D2; 4-8 D4; 9-10 D5 This
variant can be used in combination with the previous one.
THE BATTLE IN PICTURES
| FIGHT IN THE WOODS | |||||||||
| 9.00-10.00 h. Macdonald advances by the right bank of the Kinzig stream | |||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
| The Grenzers are routed | The Austrian Jaegers and the Light Bavarians resist | Bavarian Light attack and rout the French | The jaegers retire faced by the French | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||
| Victor outflanks the Bavarian Light that retire | The Victor's Wesphalian cavalry routs the Bavarian, and failing 'recall' attack the Jaegers which, taken by surprise in skirmish-brigade order, are routed. However, the Wesphalian cavalry is dispersed (two winner losses are enough!) | ||||||||
| THE FRENCH CAVALRY ARRIVES | |||||||||
| 11.00 - 12.30 h. The cavalry arrives at the French right and attempt to advance towards Hanau | |||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
| French cavalry, Light, Young Guard and Light Guard, arrive thorough the woods | Band is rejected by the Light infantry Bavarians | The French cavalry deploys at the right | |||||||
| THE FIGHT IN THE WOODS FOLLOWS | |||||||||
| 12.00 -14.00 h. Victor and MacDonald advance through the woods | |||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||
| Macdonald exits the woods and is rejected by the Bavarian infantry | A general view of the French left-center | In the left flank, Victor routs the Bavarian line infantry | |||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||
| Austrians pass to the first line | Victor routs the Austrians; | the French left at 14.00 h. | |||||||