1812: The Retreat from Moscow (at Replay Wargames Show)

The Rejects gathered at the Royal Engineers Museum on Saturday for a demo of the collaborative skirmish wargame that Ray & I collaborated on with Paul earlier in the year. We were able to play the first three scenarios and everyone seemed top have a great time. Indeed the group seem to want the chance to play the fourth game in the campaign so I spent a bit of time writing up the notes and deciphering the game rosta to calulate the condition of their party of stragglers should they wish to play game four. 

We have just wrapped up the third game in our 1812: Retreat from Moscow campaign, and what a brutal journey it has been. The cold is bitingly relentless, the Russians are closing in, and every single step through the drifts feels hard-fought. Here is how our desperate band of survivors has fared across the first three games, along with where we stand heading into our final, climactic scenario.

Game One: The Barn at Dawn

“A handful of exhausted soldiers wake in the half-light of an abandoned barn, breath misting in the frozen air. During the night, their unit has moved on without them—boots crunching away into the darkness, leaving only silence behind.

Outside, the land is no longer empty. Russian scouts stir and advance, tightening the noose with every passing hour. The barn offers little shelter, and less safety. You must act quickly, learn fast, and move with purpose if you are to survive the day.”

Six of our men stumbled out from the shelter of the barn into the biting wind, only to find Russian infantry emerging from the gray morning to harass their retreat. They suffered their first heartbreak early on. Vincent was overwhelmed by the enemy, though he certainly went down fighting. In a heroic last stand, he emptied both of his pistols, bringing down two Russian soldiers before the rest swarmed him with bayonets.

By the end of the game, five of the original group remained standing. Fortunately, they had enough spare food to entice three lost stragglers—Phillipe, Jacques, and Arnoud—to join their ranks. Losing Vincent cost the group morale, but bringing three new recruits into the fold helped steady their spirits, keeping theitr overall group morale steady at 5.

Game Two: Through Frozen Streets

“The village emerges from the snow like a half-buried memory—low wooden huts, collapsed fences, frozen lanes choked with drift and debris. Once it might have offered warmth and shelter. Now it is silent, watchful, and already stripped bare by those who passed through before you.

As your group advances cautiously between the buildings, shapes begin to move at the edges of sight. French civilians—camp followers, families, the wounded—huddle in doorways and barns, too weak or afraid to continue alone. They have waited for soldiers who might protect them, or at least give them a chance to survive the night. Without help, they will freeze where they stand.

There is little time. Russian troops harass the village from all directions, probing through alleys and fields, firing from cover, then fading back into the snow. They are not yet strong enough to overwhelm you outright, but they are closing in, testing your resolve, waiting for exhaustion and panic to do their work."

Navigating the ruined village was a tense affair. Russian skirmishers probed the village constantly, from alleys and tree lines, refusing to engage head-on but whittling away at the french stagglers nerve.

During the chaos, Jacques fell to enemy fire, dropping the group morale down to 4. However, the French managed to rescue five French civilians hiding among the wooden huts, including two vital specialists: Antoine the Surgeon and Margarete the Cook. While gathering civilians does not boost the groups morale, their skills quickly proved invaluable. To ensure the party could keep moving, they were forced to make the pragmatic choice to leave two civilians behind, but only after sharing rations with them so they wouldn't starve. Because they treated them fairly, the group suffered no morale penalty for leaving them behind.

Game Three: The Killer Wind

“The Grande Armée is no more than a memory, swallowed by snow and silence. In the endless white wastes of the retreat from Moscow, the stragglers press on through a howling blizzard, half-frozen, half-lost, and clinging to the hope that the next ridge or frozen treeline might offer shelter—or escape.

Visibility is measured in yards, not miles. Landmarks vanish as quickly as they appear, and the wind distorts sound and direction alike. Shadows move in the storm: enemy skirmishers, lurking Cossacks, or desperate foes driven by hunger as much as hatred. Attacks come suddenly and without warning, melting back into the snow before the soldiers can regroup.”

This third game was by far the groups hardest challenge. A driving blizzard cut visibility down to almost nothing, making it nearly impossible to locate the escape route. To make matters worse, the storm allowed Russian forces to close in undetected before opening fire at point-blank range. The Stragglers took casualties during the push through the storm, losing Jerome, Sebastien, and one of the civilians. The sudden losses rattled the men deeply, leaving the group morale hanging by a thread.

Campaign Phase: Preparing for the Final Push

To give our survivors the best possible fighting chance, I managed several administrative details between games, though one key tactical choice remains in their hands.

Medical Care: Rolling for collected bandages and alcohol yielded five points of healing, and Antoine the Surgeon added three more. With eight total heals available to cover seven accumulated wounds, every single man in the group enters the next scenario fully healed.

Rations & Supplies: Between automatic rations, carried-over stock, and a lucky food token discovery, the party had more than enough provisions to feed everyone, leaving two spare rations which can attract new stragglers to join the group for the final push.

Frostbite Checks: Arnoud generously passed his woollen hat to Phillipe while keeping his heavy coat. Even with low morale penalizing the checks, great die rolls spared both men from injury. The firewood the group collected ensured the rest of the troops stayed warm enough to avoid frostbite as well.

Now the group face one critical decision before setting up the final game. With spare food for two new recruits, and flenty of fodder for horses they need to decide to add two fresh infantrymen to their group, or two mounted cavalrymen? Either choice will raises the groups morale slightly up to 3.

Roster for Game Four: The Eagle

Here is how our small band of survivors looks as they prepare for the final dash to safety:

Etienne: Unwounded. He carries our pouch of gold and keeps Antoine the Surgeon close by his side.

Jean: Unwounded.

Marc: Unwounded. He travels alongside Margarete the Cook.

Phillipe: Unwounded, wearing a warm fur hat in place of his shako.

Arnoud: Unwounded, wrapped in a tatty fur coat over his uniform, armed with his sword and musket.

Recruits: Two additional soldiers (Infantry or Cavalry, pending the players choice).

There is spare fodder, but its not needed for the last game. In Game Four, they either break through the lines to rejoin the remnants of the Grande Armée, or they perish in the snow.

So, if this were your choice, who would you recruit for the final push? Let me know your choice and if the players decide they want to play game four I will post a battle report here.