AAR 3

From: Tom Cusa, umpire

As the GM on site with the flechettes I just wanted to make a few comments on Tom's observations/suggestions.

I don't know if an extra French reserve corps committed on that board could have made much of a difference expect as part of a future game (possibly coming to Fall In, stay tuned folks).

The biggest problem faced by the French in the flechettes was traffic control. Except for their civil improvement project of building that bridge through the forest and over the ravine they were faced with a narrow bottleneck in which to deploy. If the French had sent more infantry or the guard cavalry onto that board they would have had very little room to maneuver except to follow up the French breakthrough that was already occurring.

The French planned for and were executing a textbook breakthrough with the better part of the Italian Division as the game ended. More troops would have enabled them to push harder on the Russian right, but until army morale started kicking in they were still staring at a tired but unhurt line of 3 batteries on that flank and they did not know what was waiting for them behind that hill. As it turned out there was a reinforced division behind that hill.

A hard push from the French before the actual push came would have been very bloody, but could possibly have broken the army morale that much sooner. The final factor would have come down to the issue of timing that Tom mentioned.

Any new troops sent by Napoleon to the Flechettes would have spent several turns working their way through the traffic jam on that board. Duke Constantine however had plenty of Guardsmen ready to jump into either the Great Redoubt or the Flechettes and they could have deployed freely in plenty of time to receive the Frenchmen.

The most important point I am trying to make is that the French on the Flechettes board played their "A" game that weekend. They moved up, attacked and waited patiently for their best opportunity to exploit a break in the lines. I honestly did not want to nominate a best French player on my board because they were a seamless machine who each played their role excellently. (Also most of them were named Bob, which made the choice more difficult as well).

More troops sent to the Flechettes board would have enabled the French to make more of the breakthrough when it came, but I do not think it would have made the breakthrough come sooner than it did.

Tom Cusa