A replay of Avalanche's Eylau ("The Battle" scenario, played against General Englischkow on 99/11/20). The scenario is the standard scenario on the historical battle (there is also a scenario on the skirmishing on the previous day, as well as a combined scenario where setup on the second day is determined by the first day's results).

[In some cases I kept notes of combat outcomes, usually in the format ("modified attack strength+DRM (if any)":"defense strength+DRM (if any)", "hits scored by attacker":"hits scored by defender"). I've appended a "R" to the losses of a side that decided to retreat (note that this means loss results of 3 or less have 1 hit deducted from what is given here, and results of 4 or more have 2 deducted). A "+1p" entry stands for steps killed in pursuit after a charge.]

8:00. The French gain initiative, but fail to activate so the Russians actually get to start the battle. Russian bombardment destroys some guns in Soult's IV Corps. Augereau's return bombardment kills 2 steps in Docturov's detachment. Grouchy is sent west to support Soult's attack on the Russian right wing.

9:00 The French again manage to gain initiative, but the turn ends after they have activated only two formations (and the Russians all of theirs). Obviously Napoleon is still drinking his morning coffee. The Russians bombard St Hilaire's division of IV Corps, exposed near the church, causing heavy losses (1 artillery, 2 long inf steps). At 10:00, the French get the initiative for the third time in a row, and finally get their act together. With Davout's appearance, he is assigned Milhoud's and d'Hautpol's cavalry. Soult recalls St Hilaire towards the left wing and meanwhile leads an assault on Schloditten with Laval's division that pushes the Russians back with heavy losses [17+1:9+1, 7R:1], however the Russians immediately counterattack with Tutchkov's division and drive the French back out [13+1:10+1, 5R:0]. Napoleon waits for the thunder of Davout's cannon that will announce the beginning of the attack on the right wing, but things remain silent. The turn again ends early! (Davout probably still trying to find the enemy under the snowdrifts in the east.)

By now it is 11:00. Before the French can react (Napoleon gets the initiative but rolls a '6' for activation), Tutchkov's division continues the attack, attacking Laval's division and driving it, significantly weakened, back into the swamps in front of the Russian lines [12+1:8, 5R:1]. On the other wing, Davout finally starts attacking and Murat is told to help him out, but is not yet in position for a charge. Two desultory assaults do not test the Russian's mettle [16:7,2:2;11:7,0:2R], but with much of the cavalry now exposed in front of the ridge east of Eylau, the Russian artillery finds targets for its bombardment and causes heavy losses to the assembled cavalry as well as some losses to the troops in Eylau itself. [This was incredible dierolling - the Russians basically hit on every second dieroll that turn]. A massive Russian cavalry assault against Morand's division leads to losses on both sides [8:6, 2:3]. Up to this moment, the French have decidedly come off worse, taking about double the infantry losses of the Russians.

At noon, to make matters worse, Soult reports he will not be able to retake the offensive, he is busy collecting Laval's men from the swamp. In addition the accurate Russian bombardment continues, causing 3 hits among the French troops. In desperation Napoleon orders Murat to charge the Russian left wing. The previous turn's attacks have not left all cavalry in good positions but Murat takes what's available and sents his first Grand Charge into area 093, driving the Russians off with heavy losses [15:14, 7+1p:3]. Meanwhile, Davout sends d'Hautpol's heavy cavalry against the Russian center. They drive Docturov's troops off the spur which points from Eylau to Kutschitten, with Docturov being carried off the battlefield [12:?, 4:0]. With cavalry milling about madly to his right and left, Davout sends Morand's and Friant's divisions into the fight and throws the Russians out of Klein-Sausgarten. Although he himself also retreats to briefly regroup [19+1:9,5R:1R], this series of punches seems to have left the Russians in serious disarray. Their left wing has been pierced in two places by the cavalry charges (d'Hautpol ended up next to Bennigsen's totally unprotected HQ, but the Russians managed to bring up infantry just in time). By 13:00 (the French finally got the initiative and could use it, too) Davout already sends his troops in again, assaulting Galitzin's cavalry which is guarding the Russian flank behind Klein-Sausgarten [18:9,3R:0], while Soult again attacks Schloditten on the oter wing in a bloody attack that leaves neither side in clear possession of the town [18+1:12+1,7R:4R]. The Russian reaction is, under cover of the continuing bombardment which continues to cause heavy losses, to fall back on to the ridgeline, moving the HQ to Kutschitten.

At 14:00 The Russians gain an unexpected respite when the weather turns bad and hides much of the Russian center from French eyes and gunners. Murat uses the time to reposition his cavalry for the next blow, but the squalls wander eastwards by the end of the hour.

15:00 sees only inaction on the right wing, followed by the additional blow of a message from Ney that he will not reach the battlefield before 17:00. This prompts Napoleon to start shifting the Guard to the left since this is where he expects the blow to fall if the Prussians should arrive before Ney. On the other wing, an assault by Davout on an outlying position produces no result [10+1:2,1R0], and while the Russian left falls back all the way to Lampach (outstripping Davout's ability to keep contact while holding his cavalry ready for the assault), their artillery again cuts swathes into Murat's cavalry which sits there waiting for the big push. Still, since noon, the loss situation has reversed, with the Russians losing 4 long infantry steps to 1 French (and 18 others to 11 French).

Murat now waits for the weather to improve, he is in perfect position for a charge. Instead, what happens is that at 16:00 the squalls which hide the Russians from his view so far now start to engulf him, making a charge impossible! D'Hautpol, sensing that the situation is again become critical, charges the ridge in front of Kutschitten with his cuirassiers alone and - the charge is repelled! D'Hautpol suffers heavy losses for no gain [0:4]. Napoleon now throws Augereau into the fray, and with Desjardan's and Heudelet's divisions hitting the remains of Zapolski's division hard, Augereau indeed manages to gain a foothold on the opposing hill [area 032 - 10:2+1,1R:0], although he is thrown back again a bit by a Russian counterattack [14:10,2R:0]. By now though the situation has become critical again on the left wing. Soult, who had ceased attacking due to the weakened state of his troops, suddenly finds himself the target of the Russian right wing's guns, and immediately afterwards, St Hilaire's troops (his strongest remaining division) suffer a terrible attack by Lestocq's Prussians debauching from the woods between Althof and Schmoditten. Initially causing some damage to the attackers, the division is driven into the swamps and roughy handled [20+1:9+1, 8R:1R]. The 6 French step losses include 3 Long Infantry steps. The Guard, so far waiting behind the swamps, is set in motion towards Althof.

Around 17:00, as the evening approaches, the battle rages on, but the weather gets worse. A new series of squalls envelops the Russian right and center around Ostermann-Tolstoi and Tutchkov, focusing the action on the far right and Rise 032 in the center. Murat launches the second Grand Charge against Sacken's division, but surprisingly despite good odds [11+1:8,5:4+1p] only narrowly manages to force a retreat while taking heavy losses. [Russian dierolling has picked up again significantly since noon.] Augereau again assaults the rise, but decides to fall back to conserve his troops instead of pushing onto the ridge. In the West, the Guard Grenadiers together with Legrand's divisions fall on the flank of the Prussians south of the woods, pushing them towards Schloditten [22+1:11, 8R:1R]. However, it is too late to prevent another assault by Rembow's 2nd Prussian division on St Hilaire's division which eliminates it [22+1:11 after modifiers, resulting in 9R:3R - again incredible Russian dierolls] and 3 French long inf steps lost.

At 18:00 the weather clears and the French attacks on both wings continue. Murat keeps pushing, now with a series of smaller charges. However, the cavalry is now spent - his own charge, together with Klein's brigade is repelled. The 2nd Heavy Cav charges successfully but suffers losses. Having pushed the Russians backwards from Rise 032 and pursuing one more area (which brings it adjacent to the Russian HQ for the second and last time in the battle) it becomes the target of the remaining guns in the Russian center, suffering 3 hits (which leaves 3 steps). Augereau does not have his infantry in position to support them immediately and an enormously energic (or lucky) counterattack by the Markov detachment and Russian cavalry sees them eliminated [10+1:8, 6:0!!]. In the west, Ney has arrived and Marchand's division together with the Guard attack the Prussians again in the clear terrain between Althof and the swamps. The combat is bloody but inconclusive [19+1:11+1,7R:5R], with both sides retreating from immediate contact, but the Prussians have had enough. Both divisions retreat into the protection of the Russian right flank around Schmoditten. Immediately afterwards, at 20:00, they are effectively hidden from sight by a massive series of snow squalls and nothing more happens on that wing.

Ironically, the Russians gain initiative for the first time on the 20:00 turn, but waste it by rolling a '5' for the initial activation. Instead, the turn sees the French attacks continuing in desperation, trying to make up for the time they lost in the morning's inactivity and the afternoon's bad weather. Davout finally has his troops in position and takes Lampach in the first assault [19+1:7,7R:2]. West of him, the remains of the cavalry reserve engage in indifferent attacks, but Augereau has been reinforced by the Guard cavalry under Bessieres and they assault the Markov detachment, causing losses but not taking major ground [15+1:10+1,7R:5R]. The last action of the day is a Russian counterattack by Sacken's and Ostermann-Tolstoi's division against Friant's division holding Lampach, but despite losses the French are not budged [15:10, 2:0]. The fire peters out in the darkness.

Overall outcome was 21 long steps lost for the French and 17 for the Russians (7 for the Prussians who strangely don't count for victory). The French have lost 57 other steps (among them 12 Light Cavalry), the Russians 42 and the Prussians again 7. At this point we look in puzzlement at the victory conditions and decided that the French "draw" should slide one level upwards on the list, which would make the battle a draw overall. It was interesting to note how charges at noon swung around the fortune of both sides - the French had really been lagging, but the Russian left wing was cut apart by the cavalry. Of course the arrival of the Prussians which threatened to smash the IV Corps brought the Russians back into the game.