Davout had suffered a serious defeat on 4 August 1813, resulting in the loss of XIII corps. His remaining two corps were down to half strength, and they faced odds of two to one. He had ordered a retreat towards Celle.
He was unaware that IV corps had reached Brunswick the previous night. Unable to contact Davout, Reynier ordered his corps to attack Peine
Blucher was not expecting a second day of battle. He was aware of IV corps at Brunswick, but was convinced that they would not dare attack after the defeat of Davout.
3rd corps were ordered to move towards Davout’s retreating column, and to follow them with their cavalry.
1st corps, now no more than a reinforced brigade, were ordered to hold their ground to the east of Peine and observe IV corps at Brunswick
4th corps sent their cavalry to pursue XIII corps and were held at Peine just in case the French should attack. This was considered so unlikely that they had provisional orders to follow XIII corps at midday.Table at start of game
Peine is at the bottom left
4th corps are to the right of the town, and 1st corps deployed in front of them
3rd corps are either side of the farm in the centre
V and VI corps are retreating along the Celle road at the top left
IV corps will enter the table on the bottom right on the Brunswick road
Note: The hill is on the wrong side of the road. This was an error in setting up the previous game and has not been changed as it played an important part in the Prussian deployment.1st and 4th Prussian corps
1st corps in front has only one infantry brigade and corps artillery
4th corps behind in reserve and not expecting to fight today3rd Prussian corps
Both corps retreating along the Celle road are reduced to half strength
One brigade is still shaken from the previous days fighting
The retreat is covered by the cavalry brigade facing the enemy cavalry
Davout observes the rear guard from the hill
The position of the Prussian army prevented Davout and IV corps from communicating in the campaign, and he is unaware that they are about to attack Peine.
Davout will retreat until he becomes aware that IV corps is attacking. From his position on the hill he will see them as soon as they enter the table, and he can then order V and VI corps to halt. However he must retreat with his army, and if they move off the table before IV corps arrive they will not be aware of the attack until IV corps open fire.
Three corps are reduced to half strength and one even weaker. For this game a commander who has complete brigades missing from his order of battle will deduct one CP for each brigade missing. He will never fall below the additional CP awarded for his grade.
Wargame rules can be found at