Monday 10 August 2020

Sunday Game - Napoleonic Encounter

As promised, here is my report on our Napoleonic game yesterday. We had almost a full house, four players per side plus Paul as umpire. The scenario was an encounter between the Austro Russians on our side and a motley collection of Germans and Poles on the other! The battle ebbed and flowed for much of the day although ominously, the Coalition right wing made steady progress against Julian on the Austrian left. In retrospect, we made an error is leaving Julian with a quarter of our force to hold half our front line, although that was the initial disposition mandated by Paul in his scenario.

The basic idea was that the Coalition was part of the 1812 invasion force and the Russians, having gained fore knowledge of this attack, intended to pre-empt it with a counter strike of their own, dragging the Austrians along for the ride.

I was the Austro Russian commander so I guess you can lay the responsibility for poor planning and placement of troops on my shoulders. We didn't really discuss a plan so in effect, we fought three separate battles - another tactical error! Despite these problems, in the middle third of the game, the Austrians were in the ascendancy - with Julian doing a sterling job holding off Rick and Chris's combined forces - although they claimed they had hardly any more troops than Julian did ...… but it didn't look like that - you may judge for yourselves from the images below!



The Austrian commander - so me, in fact! My OG figures



Coalition left flank - Marks Perry plastic Prussians, facing off against Nick with some old school Russians



General view of the table - Austro Russians to the left. The aim of the game was to control the roads


Some of Barry's old style Minifigs Bavarians


More old style 1970's era 25mm Austrians, commanded by Julian


Rick commences the assault on our left wing, commanded by Julian



In the centre, my Sash and Sabre/Old Glory Austrians commence the advance towards Barry's Bavarians


The Russians comprised our right flank, commanded by Nick

 
More old school figures in action - Rick assaults Julian...


Supported by Chris in the Coalitions centre with the Poles - mostly Minifigs I believe
 
 
Barry managed to occupy this farm and held it for the entire game although his unit was carrying the maximum number of hits permissible for half the time


Just prior to lunch, I launched a massive assault on Barry's Bavarians - two columns head onto a line, plus a third column coming in from the flank - 9 dice to 3 needing a 5 or 6 for a hit.....and we got one each!


The Bavarians rushed in reinforcements to hit my stalled assault - and also failed - a draw!


A view from the Bavarian commanders position,


The Russians to this point had sheltered in the dead ground on the far side of a hill, whilst the Prussians had practised the art of masterly inactivity - but Nick got bored with that.....


A seemingly unstoppable tide of Bavarians mass to attack my Austrians in the centre


Meanwhile, off on our extreme left, Julian and Rick continued their tussle. Julian had a number of remarkable successes with the dice to keep himself in the game


As Chris moved forward with a mass of Polish infantry


At the other end of the table, Nicks Russian command charged into Marks leading units


The view from the receiving end of the Russian assault


And the view from behind the Poles moving inexorably towards Julian's second brigade


The end was nigh on our left flank as Rick finally started to get the upper hand


My cavalry ponced around in the centre, adding some class but little else to the affair


Close up of my OG Grenzers


Barry's Bavarian artillery occupied this position for the entire game and did good execution upon the Austrians


The old school Minifigs Russians assault the Perry plastic Prussians


Our left flank starts to disintegrate - where has that brigade of Austrians gone Julian?!


That looks like an awful lot of Poles mate!


The ongoing melee on our right wing


John commanded a small force of Russian Pavlovski Guards who came up between Nick and me to support both our attacks


Solid Austrian lines poured fire into the advancing Bavarians, causing their commander to lose heart temporarily


But all was saved by the charge of the Russian cavalry, who destroyed the Pavolvski guards then broke through onto one of my Austrian battalions and sept them away too


At the same time, the last of Julian's command were assaulted simultaneously from front and flank


Final view from the now empty left wing of the Austro Russian position - we called the game at this point, with our left wing demolished, the centre on the back foot and our attack on the right a stalemate with Mark's Prussians.

A great scenario and the fortunes of war swung in the balance more than once. Perhaps the pivotal action was my failure to gain victory over Barry's Bavarians in my 9 to 3 assault. If that had succeeded as the odds would have suggested it should, we may well have been able to collapse the Coalition centre at the halfway point of the game - but it wasn't to be!

23 comments:

  1. Excellent Napoleonic spectacle, Keith! Your group has a handsome collection of figures. How many figures in total were out on the table for this clash?

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  2. Thanks Jonathon...how many figures...hmmmm...well, I had two brigades of 5 battalions each, totalling roughly 250 infantry - plus I had 24 cavalry. Most of the players had similar numbers although John had a small command of only four battalions and a couple of guns...but very approximately, 1000 infantry and 100 cavalry plus around 8 - 10 guns per side....not a bad effort.

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  3. Hi Keith- Wow! What a huge Battle - lots of troops- and good to see the 25mm Minifigs out and about. Certainly a Battle that could be re-played with quite different results. I've always liked the Austrian Uniforms. Thanks for posting. Cheers. kEV.

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    1. Thanks for dropping by and commenting Kev - yes, the Austrians are my most recent Napoleonic Army, so probably the best painted and based. All that white is a bit of a chore to be honest, but then I guess its better than the Brits, with the red coats then all the white lace and cross belts! The brown of the artillery and Landwehr adds some variety and their cavalry are wonderfully colourful!

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  4. The game looks great! An impressive number of beautiful miniatures - that’s why we love Napoleonic :) despite the results I believe you had a lot of fun. Didn’t you?

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    1. Thanks Dmitry... And this was quite a small game by our standards! Yes of course, spending a whole day with some good friends wargaming is always great fun! Thanks for commenting.

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  5. A nice AAR Keith, and great to see so many figures on the table. Austrians must be my least favourite Napoleonic army to game with, but you nearly pulled it off. I have played against and been thumped by Barry's Bavarians in I think 1978, although I must have been around fourteen at the time!

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    1. Thanks Lawrence....yes, Barry's Bavarians certainly have a venerable provenance and have turned up in a number of our Napoleonic games over the years!

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  6. What a splendid looking game Keith...
    To my eyes it looked like the shiny side won the day...
    That varnish properly applied is like Kevlar...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Very true Aly, although with the exception of my Austrians and Marks Prussians, ALL the troops on the table were shiny! I knew you would enjoy seeing them in action :)

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  7. Love the look of massed Napoleonic armies. Great battle and good to have some F2F games. Cheers Greg

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    1. Thanks Greg - there is something to be said for the large formations of the Napoleonic era!

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  8. And this is why we game with miniatures and not care board counters. A wonderful game with great terrain and masses of figures. Outstanding!

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    1. Totally agree Mark - I have never been able to drum up any enthusiasm for board games with counters, even though I can see some of the advantages they offer!

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  9. Fabulous gaming, Keith. Impressively done.

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    1. Thanks Dean - its always nice to get a decent sized force on the table! Looking forward to seeing your beautiful figures in action one day too!

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  10. Minifigs how that takes me back.
    Looks like a wonderful game and great to see BIG battalions in action.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stu - re Minifigs comment - me too. They were definitely my go to range in the mid to late 70's but time moved on and I don't have much nostalgia for the! Yes, a decent sized game is always nice now and again!

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  11. Brilliant, great to see all the figures on the table there Keith, old school figs fit in very well :)

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    1. Thanks for visiting and commenting Mark - lots of people have a great sense of nostalgia for old glossy figures but I am not one of them - they do the job however!

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  12. Great looking shiny and matt Napoleonic game! My favourites are your OG grenzers!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks for the kind words of support Iain - sorry its taken me so long to acknowledge them

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  13. Great looking game Keith. Big units always look wonderful!

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