View(?) from the east. Apologies for the appalling photos, the light in this room was very poor and even the super camera on my new phone struggled.

Eylau is the town in the depression on the left, with around half the Grande Armee drawn up around it. The Russians under Bennigsen are on the other side of the valley on the right. The rest of the French army is arriving from the east (Davout) and the west (Ney), the latter is pursuing Lestocqs Prussians who are marching to the sound of the guns.

The battle is complicated by frequent snow storms blowing across the battlefield, although all the streams are frozen over. To win, either side must hold the majority of the towns and villages, the Russians currently hold three and the French just Eylau itself, so the onus of attack is on the French.

The Russian left is the obvious spot to attack as it is isolated from the main army, and Davouts Corps comes trudging on to attack it. Just visible on the left is Murats reserve cavalry Corps, also heading for the hill.

Along with attacking on his right, Napoleon, perhaps unwisely also pushes Soult into the valley on the left. The Russians outnumber the French 2:1 in this sector, and it will be quite some time before Ney arrives. Sensing an opportunity, Bennigsen (Phil) begins shuffling units around.

Back in the east, the weather clears, allowing Davout and the French reserve artillery to shoot Murat in, who overruns the Russian redoubts on the hill! This does leave them under a crossfire from the main Russian position, but it is very heroic.  

The Russian reserve cavalry swings around the French left flank, shot in by the Russian divisions on the heights. One Cavalry Corps falls back rather shot up (you can just see the heap of hit markers on it), but the other is neatly across the stream and ready to roll up the French flank.

The French have to fall back towards Eylau, and form a new line facing northwest.

Murats cavalry withdraw to deal with the new threat, leaving Davout to take the village on the hill. It is on the reverse slope so the French infantry can advance under full cover. 

The Russians keep up the pressure on the French left. They engage the French centre and start pushing infantry across the valley. The French line is looking more concentrated now, but their left flank is still hanging in the air. Murat is now in close support of the French infantry.

Davout is now trying to take the village, but villages are tough.

With Eylau firmly held, Soult extends his line back along the ridge line again. There is a major firefight in the centre.

Soults westernmmost units are very exposed and take a hammering from the Russian infantry divisions in the valley. Lestocq has now arrived and marches to join the main Russian army and garrison the right end of their line on the ridge.

The Russians keep pushing hard and gaps appear in the French line. Ney has now appeared, but it is too little, too late. Lestocq is in the village up on the ridge. 

The Russians overrun Soults battered infantry, despite the best efforts of the French cavalry.

View from the west. Ney is trying to take on the Prussians, but the main Russian army is now hard up against Eylau and things aren’t looking too good for Napoleon. Davout still hasn’t cleared the Russians out of the eastern village, and with the ratio of objectives still very firmly 3:1, we call it a well earned Russian victory.

That was a great game and very different to my solo replay. The Russians were very aggressive and took full advantage of their initial numerical superiority. The weather was also much better than in my solo playtest, and although there was considerable light snow which restricted visibility, there was only one blizzard and even a few clear weather turns, so unlike my solo game, there was plenty of scope for sweeping manouvre. I was probably a bit over cautious as the Russians in my solo game, but I think if I was playing this again, I’d use cards for the weather instead of dice to give an average result as it has such a big  impact on the flow of the game.

I used a very minimal set of the rules for this, stripping out the morale rules completely as they added extra complexity but had very little impact on the game. Units in fact retreated when it was sensible to do so of their own (or player) accord. One thing I did keep was rallying, and the players seemed quite happy to do that. As only half the hits are regained and the rest become permanent, it isn’t game breaking, and it gives something for leaders to do if units are in a tight spot.