Borkowo on the Tabletop

Having seen how this scenario works in a Kriegsspiel, I think it suggests itself quite well for a normal table-top game without losing all semblance of the historical battle.

You really need a table about 2.4m by 1.8m (i.e. 10' by 6') or bigger or the sides start too close together and are too dense on the table to allow realistic room for manouevre. In order to keep its flavour as a meeting engagement I recommend that the parties be forced initially to move in along roads, having already specified their march order.

A small flanking force to the north is realistic for both parties, if they wish, but given the difficulties of sending messages it should arrive with a variable, and potentially long, time delay.

I recommend limiting ammunition supply, as both realistic and making for a better game.

The map below shows very approximately the two tables I laid out with figures when I ran the game. I suspect that fighting will almost always occur around Dworskie, one way or another, with a smaller attack to the south:

(the red and yellow markers are each 1 kilometre long)

The terrain for the blue rectangle makes for more interesting gaming, as troops disappear from view in the middle of the table, but is harder to physically represent on a table since most gamers find it much easier to put hills down than create gentle depressions in the table. If you do not have geo-hex or the equivalent, then a cloth over appropriately shaped filler would appear to be the easiest method.

The red rectangle assumes that the Polish player goes onto the local defensive upon seeing the enemy. This happened in the first game I played because the Pole had a large flanking force to the north and therefore was badly out-numbered along the main road.

I assumed that the stream was only a very minor obstacle (I've seen the general site, and even the river isn't much of an impediment). The squares represent scattered farms.