Sunday 21 August 2022

A Great Big Napoleonic Battle!

 I was able to attend one of out "Classic" Sunday games at Barrys house again today. Earlier in the week, I had learned it was to be a Napoleonic game, with a scenario designed by Paul, pitting Austrians against the French. Having armies for both sides, I lobbied for a French command, having suffered under Marks rules with my Austrians previously. On the day, I commanded the left wing of the French army, Barry was on the right wing with his venerable 40 years old Minifigs Bavarians, and Rick, because he arrived last. was in the centre. Opposite me was John with more historic Minifigs Russians, Chris in the centre with Austrians and Mark opposite Barry with more Russians. Everyone had their own figures bar John.

How did it all go - here we go, in 70 images or less!


My Cavalry - all light as stipulated by Paul - a brigade of Cheveaux Legeres Lanciers de la Ligne


Most of my two brigades of infantry, comprising 8 battalions per brigade, plus one battery of artillery


A view along the table from halfway up the spiral metal staircase that connects the rest of Barrys house to his gaming room


The cavalry and their attached horse battery



Half of Chris' Austrian force


Ditto Marks Russians - all Perry plastic (both Austrian and Prussian)


More bloody Russians!



Our orders from Rick were for Barry and me to advance aggressively on the flanks, so, off we go with my first brigade!


The second brigade moves up to occupy the high ground, abutting onto Ricks left



My force from the enemy perspective


The Austrians watch on


While the Russians try to get themselves into some kind of order


Barrys cavalry advance on our right flank


With the infantry following along


Ricks mass of French infantry in the centre of our position


A view down the table from our left flank (my position)


The Minfigs Bavarians step out aggressively


And a lone Russian cavalry unit advances towards them


Marks Russian infantry on the move too


As Ricks serried masses sit and wait


My first battery fires on newly arriving Russian cavalry


A huge Austrian force advances towards Rick and me



The Russian cavalry have an early success against the Bavarians


A bit of a traffic jam seemed to develop in the Russian position opposite Barry


The Austrians appeared to be much more orderly


My cavalry brigade emerges from concealment, shielded by the infantry from the large number of Russian guns at Johns disposal


The leading Austrians hove into view, while a brigade of Russians was slightly to the left of this image


French cavalry in the centre repositioning


Russians have Bloody Big Batteries and lots of them!


Russian Cuirassiers move forward at pace


They are aiming to charge this French light cavalry


On the flank, Marks Russians break through onto German cavalry in column


The Bavarian infantry await the outcome of the cavalry action


My cavalry brigade repositions in an attempt to avoid Johns massed batteries of artillery


The Thin Blue Line awaits the white juggernaut!


Whilst my aggressive flank attack moves towards Johns troops skulking in a wood


And in the centre, Rick also faces a large Austrian force


The Bavarians move towards the river, one of our objectives


The Austrians send forward their cavalry


Austrians and Russians converge on my position


While the second Russian brigade, plus cavalry, wait in cover


Just for all you nostalgia buffs out there (Aly you are one!) a very shiny Minifig Russian officer)


French light cavalry clash with the Russian cuirassiers


No one saw that coming - the French won the fight and caught the retreating Russians, wiping them out and breaking through onto the front line of the advancing Russian infantry!


Defensive fire from my lines prevented the Austrian cavalry from closing 


A bloody big battle about to ensue with the Austrian and Russian columns!


Meanwhile, on the other flank, the Bavarians continue to advance


The Russians face off against the French cavalry brigade in the centre


So far, mes garçons braves are holding on!


A couple of the Austrian units dissolved under the steady fire of the French lines


And the Russians got a face full of lead too!


To my right, the other Austrian brigade is nearing Ricks position


My attack on the woods didnt go so well, a couple of units were lost to combined musket and artillery fire


To the right, most of Johns first Russian brigade has been wiped out in the assault on the high ground


Ricks masses confront the second Austrian brigade


After a couple of poor activation rolls, most both of my infantry brigades dispersed, leaving only a handful of units from the original 16 battalions - ouch!


But elsewhere, the French/Bavarian forces were still in good shape, Rick, I think, did not lose a single unit!


The Bavarians were also holding their own against Marks Russians


The Bavarians control the river


The remnant of my command retires to the rear/centre


Having helped maul my brigade adjacent to Rick, Chris switches his attention to the latter


The Bavarians in pretty good shape 


Marks Russians moving hither and thither


A big empty space where my first brigade used to be!


Another open space on the flank with the last two of eight battalions being advanced on by a fresh Russian brigade


The main authors of my destruction, four large Russian batteries that could fire a total of 16 dice per turn at my infantry, whilst I had only two standard batteries (6 dice) with which to reply


The Bavarian cavalry (top left) breach the Russian line


The struggle for the river continues to the last turn


The last of my flank attack about to be overwhelmed by the Russian horde


By this point it was 4pm and we had been playing all day, so Paul called a halt. As umpire, his verdict was - a hard fought draw! Barry held control of the river, but with the complete destruction of my force, John had the ability to advance and take control of the farm on our baseline - we had not even known that the farm had any significance- but that was part of Paul's scenario design - the French/Bavarians had objectives not known to the Austro - Russians, and vice versa.

It was nice to get the French Napoleonic troops out of their barracks for the first time in a long time, but rather disappointing they got such a hiding. I am not sure I am a very good senior commander - I seem to do better in charge of smaller scale forces. These large-scale clashes tend to become an exercise in arithmetic and lining up the right number of units in the right position at the right time, a talent I don't seem to possess with any kind of consistency. I did enjoy the game, in retrospect, but having my entire force melt away over the course of a couple of activation throws was a pretty deflating experience!

But one thing is for sure, these large games do provide a lot of photo ops for the blog, so it was not a total disaster :)

36 comments:

  1. Whilst a mauling for your troops, what an epic game! A fabulous day out.

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    1. Thanks Michael and you are right, it is great to get together with a group of like minded chaps and push so many toys around such a large table!

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  2. Wow, super looking battle. Thankfully I’ve never been directly involved in anything on that scale - it looks grand but I’d probably get a bit bored waiting for everyone else to get through their portion of the turns (or worse from my own observation, debating, at length, the meaning behind a specific rule). I think being a small scale solo gamer suits me better - even if I’m forever denied the grandeur of a show like that one. All those toys though…again, wow.

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    1. It can be a bit like that sometimes, JBM, but such inevitable periods of "hanging around" can have their own benefits and sometimes, can even add a level of amusement to proceedings!

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  3. Quite the spectacle! Highlight for me was the French hussars seeing off the Russian cuirassiers. It was a bit of a slog, so don't be too down on your generalship - after all, you fought to a draw, so you did as well as Napoleon at Eylau!

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    1. Thanks Nate, I was kind of telling myself the same thing....that I was part of a team effort....but if I had known the farm in my rear had significance, I could have garrisoned it and possibly turned the result into a minor French victory....ah, well!

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  4. Well done Barry on his wargaming room 😊

    Fantastic looking battle and it must have been fun to play with so many units. A great spectacle!

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    1. Thanks Ben, totally agree about Barry's set up, it's great, isn't it? As to the game, not so sure, I think I go with the "less is more " philosophy nowadays , but I am in a minority in our group, I realise that....they would have even more figures on the table, given half a chance!

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  5. Excellent, that's how a wargame should look; channeling the inner Gilder!

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    1. Thanks Benjamin. One of our group actually visited Peter Gilders place in the eighties!

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  6. Looks great, and interesting that almost everyone brought and played with their own figures. If nothing else, everyone knew their own troops well,. and should have sped up the postgame cleanup!

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    1. Thanks Peter. Yes it does help with the clear up, although I often find I struggle to fit everything back into the boxes it arrived in!

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  7. Oh, that's looking amazing sir!
    Best regards

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    1. Thanks Michal, these big games certainly are an amazing spectacle!

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  8. Impressive sight, Keith! You fellas certainly do not hold back in your Gaming in the Grand Manner. Gobs of troops on a huge table. Perfct for a Napoleonic display. Too bad about your commands going down but you were clearly outgunned.

    Great stuff!

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    1. Thanks Jon, I felt like I was doing fine....until I wans't! All of a sudden, most of my units from both brigades just melted away!

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  9. I like a grand spectacle every once in awhile and this certainly fits the bill. Really cool looking. The crazy amount of troops and the huge table are great fun to see. Great fun to play as well I hope for you. Sometimes it’s cool to play on one side of the battle and have no idea / control on what is going on on the other side; like in a real battle. 😀
    It’s neat when a group all has troops from the same genre so that putting on a big game like this easier. Now off to see the battle from the other side on Marks blog. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew. Interesting what you say about a large game being like a real battle(apart from it not hurting so much!). I agree and have remarked on that feature a few times...I really had very little idea of how events unfolded at Barry and Marks end of the table!

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  10. Spectacular looking game and good to get your troops out on the table. Shame about the mauling

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    1. Cheers Scotty, unfortunately, unlike many other bloggers I follow, I do not enjoy the game just as much, win or lose!

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  11. A very impressive game Keith. Playing Austrians is one of my least favourite armies. I find them quite ponderous and unwieldy.

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    1. Funnily enough, I agree with you both! Obviously, I would not have created an Austrian army if I didn't like the look of them, but the few times I have played with them, they have been incredibly frustrating...oddly though, John did not seem to have the same issue with the Russians, who are usually even worse!

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  12. A spectacular game. Brilliant figures and terrain. Sounds like a great time was had by all. There is nothing like a massive Napoleonic game with tons of figures. Too bad today most members of the club game Napoleonic at higher scale with tiny regiments. Must better as you have done it. Reminds me the of the massive CLS games in the 1970's.

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  13. Certainly lives up to the post title: Big and Great. Nothing else is quite like a large 28mm Napoleonic game. It really is the "showpiece" of the hobby. Particularly nice to see the "old skool" figs standing tall in the game: too bad your game-experience was on a downward skid at the end, but to paraphrase, "A bad day gaming beats a good day at work!"

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    1. Thanks Ed and in retrospect, that's how I felt too. I left it all on the field, as they say...five minutes after the game ended, my gloom had vanished!

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  14. A cracking looking game Keith…
    It’s nice to see that the venerable old shiny toys are still fighting on..and on….

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Cheers Aly, yes the Russian and Bavarian Minifigs woukd be at least forty years old, I imagine. I thought you would appreciTe their shininess!

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  15. Oh wow! What a great looking game.

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  16. Excellent looking game and report Keith. Kudos to Barry. Sounds like it was always going to be an uphill struggle against the Russian batteries.

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    1. Thanks Richard. According to Marks 1866 blog, the advantage in guns was only fourteen batteries to twelve. It certainly seemed like more than that at my end! The Austrian batteries were standard three dice each, same as ours, but the Russians rolled four dice each, requiring a three or better on D6 for a hit. Infantry in line save on a four plus, cavalry or infantry in column on a five plus. Cavalry are very easy to kill in these rules!

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  17. A visual feast for the eyes there Keith. I've played a few big games over the years, but nothing on this scale, that's for sure. Like you I struggle somewhat with these sort of games, preferring something smaller, but still it's nice to do something different now and then. Go to see the unknown victory ojectives for both sides, which is a nice touch and only really works if you have an umpire.

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    1. Thanks Steve - yes, a big game like that needs an umpire, for sure. We generally take turns to come up with a scenario, and usually (though not always) the scenario designer acts as umpire/game master and does not play.

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  18. Splendid looking game, sounds fun whatever the result as I'm planning on umpiring the Napoleonic game at Christmas I'll take on the unknown victory objectives, so thanks for that!
    Best Iain

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    1. You are most welcome Iain - I have since learned from our commander on the day (Rick) that he was satisfied with the result, my command, to quote him, "was sacrificed". At least I know!

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  19. A fine looking game and a top outing for all involved, I'd say?!
    I really like the concept that Barry's house is an addition to his wargame's room!
    Regards, James

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