Tuesday, 18 August 2026

1812 Retreat from Moscow - Scenario 2 - Through Frozen Streets

 The second of the four scenarios in Pazoot's 1812 Retreat from Moscow Battle Chronicles game.

There is no doubt that the French were extremely lucky in the first play through of this scenario. Not only were the Russian reinforcements few but they also appeared away from the French soldiers. The loot that was investigated was a mixed bag but did supply the necessities as well as some useful equipment. On to the detail of the game.


The starting positions. The French need to get from the top right to the bottom left.

The Russian hordes/heroes available to stop them.

End of turn 1 - One loot point has been investigated and it is food! Only one Russian line infantry appears and the Lancer is ready for him.

End of turn 2 - The French continue their investigations / pillaging. No civilians have been asked to join despite their wailing. Two lots of horse fodder have been discovered, at least the horse will be well fed before it gets eaten.
The Russian that appeared has been run down by the Lancer (red dot) but one more has appeared on the left hand side of the board.

End of turn 3 - The French head towards the exit. Two more loot points are investigated and they find a Pretty Green Hat, some gold coins, and some food. Now all they need is firewood!
The Russian soldier charges in bravely to close combat to no effect and battle will continue next turn. From the top two more infantry appear.




End of turn 4 - Another bag of coins is discovered. The Russian soldier is killed in close combat when Marc charges in (red dot). Both the new recruits have shown their bravery. The two Russians move from the top but their musketry is lacking and they hit nothing. Four more Russians appear on the right hand side but they are well away from the rapidly evacuating French. 

End of turn 5. The first French soldier reaches safety and the others are close behind. Marc throws his gold coins to the closest Russians and this will delay them two turns as they dig them out of the snow.  More gold coins and firewood is found and Luc takes pity on one civilian and brings him along. But his kindness is not rewarded and four Russians appear just to his rear.

End of turn 6 - Five French soldiers have made it off the board and only Alain remains, slowed down by searching a house and finding some blankets to stop the cold, will it be worth it. The four Russians shoot at him and cause one wound. He will make it off just in time.

The post game examination of the loot. Two food, three horse fodder, bag of gold coins, firewood, a green hat, and some blankets. Oh, and one civilian.
But importantly only one more wound and no one lost.

Campaign Phase.

Food
Their luck continues and the civilian they rescued is Margurite the cook, who can make an additional three food points, giving them an automatic six food points before they see what the food they looted is worth. The food they looted becomes another 3 food points so now they have 9. What to do with the additional points? They decide to recruit another infantry man (Louis) and another Lancer (Francois on the condition that they can always eat his horse - both being hungry they agree, although his horse is not very happy about it!)

Frostbite.
The two wounded are let closest to the fire as is Marc who found the firewood. Benoit, Luc, Christophe, and new recruits Louis and Francois brave the cold. Luc and Francois both end the night with frostbite, one wound each.

Morale
Plus one for the two new recruits. (But Morale stays at 5 as I added two for the two new recruits at the end of scenario 1 instead of just one)

Will the next encounter be so easy? Let's hope so for our starving desperados, but the reality is that it can go from bad to worse. 

18 comments:

  1. Seems the French are having an easy time of it. Will their luck hold?

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    1. I think that they are going to need it Jonathan. While having a larger team will help the next game is harder.

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  2. Lucky French, good to be lucky!
    Best Iain

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    1. Very good to be lucky Iain. I will be surprised if they remain lucky.

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  3. Building a great little narrative here mate. I do like it when some thought goes into the characters.

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    1. Thanks JBM. As usual Mr. Google helped with the names.....who knew that there would be multiple sites giving male French first names from the late 1700's 😂 But it does make the narrative sound better than just giving them numbers like a Bond villain's minions.

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  4. The system is giving a great account, I like the incidentals like blankets being found to keep out the cold and that the search of the house delayed his escape. The strength of the system seems to be that you really don't know for sure how things will unfold until they do, a continual journey of revelation and narrative building.

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    1. It is a great system and does make the game exciting. As a soldier gets wounded he slows down making escape harder which is a great mechanic.

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  5. Hi Ben,

    The campaign system is serving up a fantastic story—rescuing a cook and bribing Russians with gold in the snow sounds like a proper movie script. Glad Alain made it off the board in time with those blankets!

    All the best, Andy

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    1. Thanks Andy. Definitely the system makes a great story. All I need to do is add the names. When a soldier is close to the exit it is really a toss up whether to check out some loot or just escape. Some great decisions.

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    2. You really can't beat those high-stakes tabletop moments where a bad dice roll turns a quick detour for plunder into a complete disaster! Naming the soldiers makes every decision feel so much more personal too.

      All the best, Andy

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  6. This is a fun little skirmish scenario Ben - I am looking forward to the next exciting instalment! This could easily be updated to substitute a small band of Germans fleeing Stalingrad (or Moscow, or Kiev, Leningrad, or Kharkov, or.....!)

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    1. It is a fun solo campaign Keith. I have had similar thoughts on how to move it to a different time. Replace Cossacks with T-34's? 😂
      But also move it to the desert with a band of French Foreign Legionnaires running from angry Arabs, British soldiers fleeing Zulus, US cavalry fleeing Apache's, soldiers and civilians fleeing the Zombie apocalypse. Perhaps the Chinese Communists' Long March 🤣

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  7. Really great stuff. I like that Napoleonic's can be more exciting than D and D.

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    1. Thanks Simon. Certainly a credit to the game.

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  8. Very COOL encounter Ben, good to see that the games seem to run seamlessly well done!

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  9. I'm playing catch up, Ben. A great run through of senario 2.

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