Borodino

Been studying the Battle of Borodino, 5-7 September, 1812 between Napoleon's Grande Armee and Kutuzov's Russians. Played the battle out using VPG's Napoleon 20 system. During the first two days, the French beat their heads against the wall, eventually taking Shevardino and pushing on to the Russian main defenses around the Fleches and the Great Redoubt. Lots of back and forth, and French morale kept going down while the Russians went up.

Finally on the last day of the fight, things started to happen for Napoleon. After two key Russian units routed from the vicinity of Semenovskaya, the French committed the Imperial Guard and smashed the Russian line, gaining attack frontage against the Redoubt. Late in the day the French V Corps occupied the Redoubt and the Russians fell back to Gorki. By nightfall, the French were on the outskirts of the town, but it was too late. As the battle ended, French morale was still low, and the Russians were doing fine.

In retrospect, I think I wasted the first two days on ineffective French attacks that contributed to the low morale. A better approach would be to maneuver, use the lulls to rest the troops, and begin a strong push late on the 6th with the coup de grace the next morning.