French Vs Russians

The first semi-final of my "Horse and Musket" era Tournament pitted my Revolutionary French against my Napoleonic Wars Russians, battling for possession of a small village surrounding a strategically important crossroads.

Despite both armies fielding quite sizeable forces, this amounted to little more than a skirmish with almost no casualties.

Speed of deployment proved to be decisive, as the French arrived first and were able to establish a strong defensive position north of the river, forcing the Russians to approach from the south, with the bridge then acting as a choke point.

While the dragoons leading the Russian column did make it across the bridge, they immediately found their path blocked by a rapidly increasing number of French forces. They succeeded in destroying a squadron of French scouts that was sent forward in an effort to persuade them to turn back, and inflicted some casualties on the supporting French infantry that was following up.

But with overwhelming numbers of French now pouring through the village from the north, east and west, the Russian commander decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and withdrew across the river, determined to find another point of attack.

The French now meet the winner of the clash between my Seven Years War Prussians and my Napoleonic Wars British in the tournament final.