Garage-gamer

The Russians Bite Back

2012-02-01T12:32:00.000Z

Thursday nights' continuation of our river crossing scenario looked on the whole to be a matter of the French consolidating their bridgeheads and driving the Russians further back into an increasingly constrained defensive arc. Events however were to turn in favour of the Russians who fought tenaciously and forced the French back across the river at two of the four crossing points.

Some of the triumphant but exhausted defenders of the Russian right wing. Only three of the original six battalions from this division remain.

The evening started badly for Erics' French command when his small force which had made it across the river were assaulted by Russian infantry and he was unable to roll anything above a four in firing and combat. His luck doggedly refused to improve and as the night wore on his position became more and more tenuous. Eventually his entire command was forced to retire back across the river and ended the first day pretty much where he had started.

The redoubt now clear of guns remains in Russian control despite Nicks' efforts to capture it.

On Erics' immediate right Nick having forced the defending battery to rout began streaming his infantry across the bridge in an attempt to take the high ground and establish a bridgehead. Following some initial success Nick was eventually forced back and though he finished the day with troops on the enemy side of the bridge it was decided that these should withdraw overnight.

A mixture of Germans Swiss and Young Guard push into the suburbs of the Russian position.

Happily from the French perspective the evening wasn't a total disaster. On the right they were able to not only force their way across but also reorganise and push back the Russian defenders. This was of course done with the benefit of a flank attack which gave Mark the Russian commander no option other than to retire in the best order he could. The French were also able to gain control of the string of woods which face the left flank of the Russian position which is now at right angles to the right flank.

Lancers of the Duchy of Warsaw about to ride down another Russian defender.

So a game which was firmly in French control has now swung some way back towards the Russians though just how much so remains to be seen. The French have suffered remarkably few casualties crossing the river and now have the Russians couped up into a small area. They will need to maintain pressure on the two lost crossings if only in order to tie down Russian forces and will have to think carefully about where they are going to put in their main attack. For the Russians there is the decision of where to deploy the Guard with its' six gun twelve pounder battery and whether and where to attempt a counter attack. The Russians have received substantial reinforcements but have the problem of not enough space to deploy them, they will also need to rotate their fresh divisions into the line to relieve some of the more battered ones.

Two of the six Russian Guard battalions which have recently arrived at the garage. These are Front Rank Figures and were painted by "Reinforcements by Post".

The second day will see a slight realignment of the lines and limited redeployment before it gets under way. It looks very much like being an infantry heavy fight as despite the fact that each side is fielding a heavy cavalry division as well as a host of light cavalry the area for manoeuvre is severely limited. The French will be hoping to break the Russian line at some point though they will be wary of taking heavy casualties as in this game victory points are being awarded for each destroyed enemy unit. At the moment they have a significant lead. The Russians will of course be trying to hold their line while inflicting heavy losses and very likely attempting a localised counter-attack probably headed by their Imperial Guard division.

Bridgehead Secured

2012-01-23T13:02:00.000Z

Thursday night was not an easy time to be playing on the Russian side in our continuing river crossing scenario. The French attackers have been able to cross at all but one of the four crossing points and establish viable bridgeheads. In addition the threatened flank attack appeared at a particularly bad time for Mark commanding the Russian left wing. A heavy cavalry division consisting of two regiments of cuirassier and two of dragoons supported by a battery of horse artillery entered the table on his left just as three of the battalions which had been defending the leftmost bridge broke. They were summarily ridden down by the gleeful cuirassier.

Westphalian Grenadier-Garde supported by Hesse-Darmstadt fusiliers make their crossing on the Russian centre left.

All is not yet lost for the Russians as they are in the process of receiving large numbers of reserves including a division of heavy cavalry and a division of Guard infantry. The latter being supported by an impressive six gun battery of twelve pounders. However as the Russians are pushed further and further back their room for deployment decreases and they are being forced into a right angled position.

Swiss and Poles commanded by "Nick the dice witch" cross to the right of the Westphalians.

In addition to the Heavy cavalry the French also brought on a division of Italian infantry and a division of young guard making the flank attack force the strongest French presence on the Russian side of the river. This has given the Russian commander a decision to make, does he continue to push forward fresh troops and contest the crossings which will leave his flanks vulnerable? Or does he attempt to delay until nightfall which is still six turns away and use the darkness to reorganise and establish a new defensive line?

The same scene from the rear of the Polish and Swiss position. Infantry and artillery await their turn to cross.

The decision for the Russians has been made a little simpler by the fact that the only crossing point that they still hold which is the one covered by the redoubt, is now also in danger of falling. The battery covering it was eventually destroyed by the radical but effective expedient of wheeling up a twelve pounder battery to cannister range and blasting them out. Already French troops are beginning to cross.

Confusion reigns on the Russian side with routing and retreating troops interpenetating their supports and making deployment difficult for the reserves.

So at the moment the French certainly have the upper hand and with nightfall still some way off they should be looking to secure as much ground as possible in order to have the best possible start point for the resumption of hostilities. The Russians on the other hand will need to decide on their best course of action and look for a likely defensive position where they can attempt to fend off the inevitable french onslaught.

This new battalion of Corsicans is currently making its debut in the battle. It was painted by the ever more prolific Dom, figures by Front Rank.

Following the last post there were a couple of questions regarding photography which I must admit is a bit of a closed book to me. The problem with the garage is that there is only one window to provide natural lighting and the rest is provided by four fluorescent ceiling lights. This tends to produce a startling variety of lighting conditions with the result being that a number of photos taken at the same time from slightly different positions results in huge differences in the way they come out. I'm loathe to use a flash as it tends to just light up the front of the figures and terrain leaving shadows in the background. We did have the benefit of Neil using his mini-Hubble for a while which has a back lighting capability but he hasn't brought it along for some time. So unless I invest in a new all singing all dancing camera (highly unlikely) I'll just have to make sure I pick the best daylight conditions when I take the blog shots.

A final shot, this time from the rear of the French left, after a spirited defence by hosts of Russian light cavalry the French are at last, making ground .

One final thing, Eric has provided me a couple of links to his photobucket page which have shots of the Lubben and Spree games which we played last year. Apparently they're in reverse order but I can't see that making a difference.

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t31/ravenfeeder21/Shed/Lubben/

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t31/ravenfeeder21/Shed/River%20Spree/

So where were the Bavarians?

2012-01-17T20:39:00.000Z

As Paul was astute enough to realise and indeed make comment on, despite the previous post being entitled "Bavarian Bash", there were sadly no Bavarians on show. The simple reason for this of course is that I don't actually possess any. The game was an interlude in the campaign and was designed mostly, by my reckoning at least, to allow Eric to use his beloved Austrians. Despite the fact that he has spent the entire campaign avoiding any hint of action it appears that when given a sufficiently under strength opponent Eric grudgingly accepted battle. Apparently with the proviso that "none of their nice white uniforms get grubby". So there you have it, we had to cobble the Bavarian army together from the French and their Allies who apart from the Wurtemburg division bear them no resemblance whatsoever. The happy news however is that six battalions of Bavarians are in the pipeline and will hopefully be joining the other denizens of the garage before too long.

Russian gunners manning one of the new redoubts which arrived on thursday evening.

Neil who's been running the campaign wanted to have a chat with the various commanders regarding the direction in which the campaign should be going in the future, and therefore suggested an ad hoc game to fill the period of inactivity. Rightly or wrongly, only time will tell, Dom was allowed to vent his megalomania once again by designing the scenario. The battle he's devised, which involves an opposed river crossing for the French has so far proved very interesting and appears to have lots of potential.

Westphalians begin to push across the river in column of march against a sparse defence.

The scenario pits a French and Allied force of three divisions agains what looks like a pair of Russian infantry divisions supported by some light cavalry. The French will have to make their numbers tell early in the game if they're to get across the river without too heavy a loss as Russian reinforcements are already appearing on the horizon. Rumours of the Russian Imperial Guard being amongst them will mean that the French will need to establish a sufficiently large bridgehead in order to be able to fend off any counter attack.

Vistula Legion troops covered by their skirmishers are the first to set foot on the enemy side of the river. If they can link up with the Westphalians to their left things will get difficult for the Russians.

There are two crossing points on each table though one of the southern bridges has been effectively negated by the emplacement of the redoubt directly opposite the point at which the road crosses the river. The Russian players were given a choice in its placement and opted to totally cancel out one crossing rather than incompletely cover two. Whether this was the right move remains to be seen. It does allow them to concentrate their meagre forces around the remaining crossings but conversely ensures that the French don't attempt to cross in a piecemeal fashion at all points.

A shot of both of the crossing points on the Northern table clearly showing the dearth of Russian defenders.

So far the fight has gone pretty much as might be expected with the defenders being pushed back by greater firepower and numbers though there was one spirited attempt by a brigade of Russian light cavalry to stream through a gap in the French position. Unfortunately this led to nothing other than the loss of a fair number of Russian light cavalry, though if it had succeeded it would have caused havoc in the French rear.

The view of the southern table where the French have sensibly refused the temptation to march their troops into the fire of a well entrenched battery.

The fight will continue on thursday and there are rumours of the possibility of French troops carrying out a flank attack on one or perhaps even both of the Russian wings. One thing is certain and that is that Dom is unlikely to pass up the opportunity to get as many troops as possible on to the table so we can expect what is currently a large skirmish to evolve into an all out scrap for the river line.

Stay tuned for an update next week.

Bavarian Bash

2012-01-06T15:39:00.000Z

As a sort of interlude within the campaign our latest scrap took place far to the South of the main action, between the small Bavarian army aided by a couple of friends, and the full might of the Holy Roman Empire. As might be expected the Bavarians were outnumbered and on the defensive and were relying on the strategy of holding for long enough to damage the Austrians whilst ensuring the survival of enough of their force to remain a viable threat.

Austrian grenadiers advance with the intention of doing harm.

In general terms the Bavarian plan was sound enough but withdrawing from a battle once in heavy contact is always difficult especially if things aren't going too well. Dom kicked off the action for the Austrians by pushing his light cavalry forward on the extreme right. This should have caused little problem for the Bavarians but unnacountably Andy, in command of the Bavarian left wing decided to withdraw the units on his left in the face of this perceived threat and Dom was able to push infantry and guns through the gap unmolested.

The main punch of the Austrian army, forty eight man infantry battalions which take a lot of stopping.

On the plus side for the Bavarians, their centre and left were only lightly engaged, with what few casualties there were being caused mostly by artillery fire. However Andy now had to make the decision of whether to stand and fight or to pull his troops out before they became too heavily engaged. Having decided to withdraw he turned his troops around and headed back to the relative safety of the hilly ground to his rear. Dom's infantry were inevitably in close pursuit and were able to cause heavy casualties on the retiring battalions.

Having reached his destination Andy now decided to change his tactics and turned his troops around once more in an effort to engage the Austrians who now outnumbered his forces and who had also suffered far fewer casualties.

Far too many Grenz for comfort, ably assisted by sharpshooting Jaeger.

The result was pretty much a foregone conclusion, even though Dom was unable to throw anything above a six for his firing the Austrian volleys tore into the hapless Bavarians precipitating a cascade of routs as unit after unit of Bavarians turned and fled. Eventually the whole left wing collapsed into a struggling mass of men, horses and guns and the order was given for the remainder of the army to withdraw.

Possibly the one saving grace for the Bavarians was that their centre was able to withdraw unmolested along with an almost untouched right wing though these had finally become embroiled in fighting as the Austrian advance continued.

Duchy of Warsaw lancers painted by Dom who's done a particularly fine job on this unit which is the latest addition to the Garages' ranks.

So a pretty comprehensive victory for the Austrians, though it will remain to be seen whether they have done enough damage to the Bavarian forces to knock them out of the campaign. If so they will be free to head Northwards to Berlin and join their allies in what might be the final push against Napoleon and his massed armies.

Another shot of Dom's lancers, figures by Front Rank with a battalion of Elite miniatures Vistula legion infantry in support.

That's all for this the first post of 2012, I think I can speak for all of the regulars at the Garage when I wish all of you a very happy New Year. Many thanks for all the support which the blog receives and I really will do my best to make the posts a more regular event.

I was asked about the Hesse-Darmstadt troops manufacturer, they are in fact from Elite miniatures and I believe they come from the Napoleon in Egypt range.

2011-12-18T12:39:00.000Z

It was a slow, quiet evening at the garage on Thursday. Our ad-hoc game had pretty much run its course and we were all aware that we needed to have everything put away before starting the next campaign battle which as I previously mentioned pits the Austrian juggernaut against a handful of Bavarians.
Still we have had a chance to test out some of the rule amendments which we came up with and everyone seems happy with the new skirmisher rules. I particularly like the idea of stopping overhead firing by artillery though we haven't really had too much chance to see how that might affect one of the larger games. However it certainly makes people consider their artillery deployment regarding lanes of fire instead of the usual mad rush to the nearest hilltop.

A Brigade of Hesse-Darmstadt troops take position in and around a village.

As a matter of fact we were so efficient in clearing the figures away once we'd agreed there was little left to play on that I completely forgot to take any photographs of the proceedings. So I've been out in the garage setting up a few "action" shots and browsing my photo library for something to lighten up the obligatory waffle.

Another posed shot, this time French infantry advance in support of an eight pound foot battery. All figures from Elite miniatures, the infantry were all painted by Neil Sheardown who sadly no longer paints.

I've been having all sorts of problems with Blogspot lately. The primary one being that I appear unable to leave comments on other peoples' blogs. I know it works because I've been successful in the past but now I regularly go through the rigmarole of making my comment and copying down the squiggly word only to find that I'm back at my own blog and being asked to sign in once again. This is particularly frustrating because from my own experience I know how important comments are to those who produce blogs. They are I suppose a form of validation from like minded individuals and let's be honest there's a fair degree of pleasure in reading the nice things people have to say about your toys. I will of course persist in trying to make comments but I do have a low tolerance threshold when it comes to repeatedly entering the same comment only to have it disappear in to the ether.

Poles posing for the camera this time. These beauties were all painted by Justin Davey and are once again all from Elite.

While I'm on the subject of comments, Doc mentioned that he hadn't heard of Firing Line miniatures so I did a bit of checking and it appears they were bought by Bicorne Miniatures in 2001. At the time they were the only producers of Wurtemburgers that I was aware of though now Front Rank have stepped up to the plate with a release of Wurtemburg infantry. I believe Front Rank will be adding artillery and cavalry in the New Year.

Russian Grenadiers advancing with a little support from their Prussian friends.

That's about all for now it only remains for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year. There may be a brief hiatus over the holiday period but normal service will resume with hopefully some news of the latest battle in the campaign.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel

2011-12-10T12:22:00.001Z

Thursday night was a continuation of Erics' scenario which pitted a Russian force against French and allied defenders. Early moves saw the introduction of a fresh heavy cavalry brigade for the Russians followed by more infantry on the French side. This has left the Russians with twenty battalions in three divisions against twenty five French battalions in four divisions though the Russians have the advantage in heavy cavalry.

Elite miniatures Russian dragoons and uhlans arrive to bolster the centre and drive a wedge between the two French infantry commands.

It was about this time that I realised that we'd actually achieved one the original aims that I'd had when I first decided to convert the garage into a gaming room. This was the ability to fight large games using troops from just one of the allied nations that opposed the French rather than having to amalgamate divisions and corps from various nations. We can now put on games using just Russians and to a lesser extent the Prussians, though the Austrians are as yet not available in large enough numbers especially the cavalry arm.

My original plan had been for about sixty French and Allied battalions plus a division each of old and young guard along with enough cavalry and artillery to support them. These would be opposed by approximately forty battalions each of the three allied nations again with supporting arms. The French army was accumulated more quickly than I had imagined possible largely due to their availability on ebay and through the efforts of various people who wanted to paint them and we went past the original requirement some time ago though we still have no old guard. The Allies on the other hand have taken longer with the Russians being the only faction which at the moment is strong enough to challenge the French on equal terms. This said it's an encouraging development and the next step will be to try and bolster Prussian numbers.

More cavalry action and all that remains of two squadrons of French lancers after mixing it with the Mariopol Hussars.

Back to Thursday night and we were graced with the presence of both Dom and Neil for the first time in ages, Dom has been unavailable due to his having to study and Neil has been away growing a beard. Both were pitted against each other on the night with Dom attempting unsuccessfully to stem the tide of Neils' Russian cavalry. It was an education for both of them as neither had played using the rule amendments which we're currently trying and though these have a minimal effect on cavalry there were some useful discussions regarding other changes.

It was then that I had my second epiphany of the evening, as we discussed the rules regarding skirmishers Dom made a suggestion proposing the introduction of elite skirmishers and I realised then that we all have subtly different conceptions and prejudices regarding how our rules should reflect the period. Not much of an epiphany you might think but when you're trying to introduce rule amendments it lead me to consider whether the committee approach which we're currently using is necessarily the best option. Perhaps we would be better served by having a sort of "informed dictatorship" whereby one person decides which amendments to use or not and everyone else abides by them. That is in effect largely the way published rule sets operate though in time they normally succumb to tweaking. Of course this always presupposes the availability of someone willing and able to play the part of the informed dictator and it's not something I'd like to do so for the time being at least I think we'll be sticking with the open forum, giving everyone the chance to put their ideas into the pot regardless of how odd they may seem to the rest of us.

Wurtemburg infantry from Firing Line Miniatures advance to support Nicks' infantry.

Back to Thursday nights game once more and it appears that the French right has now stabilised with the arrival of another infantry division and in fact it now significantly outnumbers Marks Russians. On the left the Poles who have taken heavy casualties have been bolstered by a Swiss division and are in the process of negating the attack of the two Russian divisions assigned to the area. So it's in the centre that the Allies have been able to make the largest inroads with their cavalry able to sweep aside the small French light cavalry contingent and they now have the options of sweeping around to threaten the flank of either French command.

More Wurtemburgers, infantry and artillery this time attempting to block up the hole in the French centre.

I'm not sure how many turns we'll continue for, considering that this game is designed as a rule test scenario it's probably already done its job. That isn't to say there isn't more testing that needs to be done as small problems tend to arise every now and again with the tweaks we've already put in place. So we'll most likely play two or three more moves and then tidy everything away in readiness for the next campaign battle. This will see the mighty Austrian war machine finally deigning to take an active part in the campaign by pitting itself against the almost insignificant forces of Bavaria.

Mark Votier's four gun redoubt made of resin and manned by an Austrian foot battery which has just been returned to its former glory after Eric mistakenly "varnished" them with grey spray paint.

And Finally..... I thought it would be nice to show a couple of shots of a redoubt made by our newest regular member, Mark. This four gun redoubt is for London wargamer Nick Farrel and I believe Mark is making others of various sizes for Nick including a huge six gun position. Once that order is complete Mark is going to make a few for the garage as well. Mark is trying to set himself up as a commercial model maker and so I'm doing my bit by unashamedly promoting his work.

A front view of the redoubt this time manned by Russian Artillery. My own ones will be greener to fit in with the terrain here and the ditch in the front will probably have a few chevaux de frise inside.

That's all for now, I'm off to see if I've got the correct spelling for "chevaux de frise".

The run in to Christmas

2011-12-03T14:27:00.001Z

It looks as if we're heading into another period of minimal activity in the garage as the Christmas holidays draw closer so the likelihood is of more one off games to allow us to thoroughly test any proposed rule amendments. On Thursday evening with only four of us being able to make it we decided to wrap up the previous weeks' game and Eric, who has a knack for these things quickly devised an attack and defence scenario to further test our theories.

A couple of squadrons of Elite Miniatures lancers part of a French contingent which has been making life difficult for the Russian infantry.

The scenario set a Russian force, initially of two infantry divisions, against a defending French and Allied force also of two divisions. The French had the advantage of holding a defensive line between two villages while the Russians were able to deploy anywhere along their side of the table. Things went quite well for the Russians on the right where a veteran division of six battalions and a three gun battery were able to force the French defenders from the woods to their front. The arrival of a further division allowed them to maintain the momentum of the attack and with the advantage of numbers and the French left is now looking a little shaky.

The Russian attack on the left has run into problems after trying to assault a dug in enemy.

On the Russian left however, things didn't go so well. The nine battalions supported by a six gun battery found it difficult to dislodge an enemy which was almost equal to it in strength and were forced back to regroup. This allowed a hole to appear in the centre of the Russian position which the French lancers gleefully exploited by running down a couple of battalions. This wasn't helped by the Russian commanders' inability to throw the correct dice for the arrival of reserves and the light cavalry division of two Hussar and one Uhlan regiments didn't make an appearance until the last turn of the evening.

French line infantry garrisoning one of the villages on the Russian left. The village has been very kindly loaned to me by Mark Freeth who runs Wargames Holiday Centre.

So the game remains quite balanced and though I suspect there may be more troops yet to arrive on the French side much will rely on how effectively the Russians can use their cavalry to isolate the two French divisions by pushing through the centre. We'll have to wait until next week when there should be one or two more players available to command the reserves.

Finally I'd just like to say thanks to those kind folks who took the trouble to place a comment on last weeks post. In answer to Doc's question, using ITGM the Russians in the village can fire at the supporting French battalion as long as the skirmishers are within four inches of it. Casualties are shared with one in three coming off of the skirmishers. When the French charge (if they do) the skirmishers are automatically moved to the rear of the battalion and take no part in any subsequent melee.

A recent new arrival to the garage is this regiment of thirty six Austrian uhlans. Elite miniatures once again. Unfortunately Dom appears to have fixed their lances with flour and water as most of them have fallen off. Still they're very pretty and make a most welcome addition to the Austrian cavalry arm.

The Seldom Seen Kid

2011-11-25T16:32:00.000Z

I can't quite believe it's August since I last posted on the blog. I know I said we were in for a quiet period but three months is pushing it. To be honest it hasn't been particularly quiet in the garage either, as despite the campaign being delayed due to Neil being unavailable for a variety of reasons, we've still managed to get a few games played. I think we've actually only missed the one week when I was up at the Wargames Holiday Centre for a Peninsular campaign. So why the prolonged absence? Well first and foremost sheer laziness on my part, on numerous occasions I've sat down at the PC to start a new blog entry but somehow never actually got anything done. It's true that I did feel that the blog was getting a little repetitive with similar battle reports and and photo's being posted each week but I've had a few enquiries regarding it's absence and so here goes.

Prussian Landwehr painted by Neil Sheardown make their entry.

We've spent a few games lately testing out tweaks to the rules we use which are "In The Grand Manner" or ITGM. These rules have been around now for thirty years or more and were designed to allow large scale battles using lots of figures. Not everyones idea of wargaming heaven but they work very well for the sort of games that we like to put on. If you're not familiar with the rules then much of the following will make only a little sense, on the other hand if you are an ITGM player some of it may seem like heresy.

Another shot of the Landwehr. The figures are all from Calpe Miinatures and are in my opinion the best there are by a country mile. I just wish that Calpe would expand their Saxon range.

Ok so what are the changes that we're play testing? Firstly we've decided to stop allowing artillery (including the howitzers) to fire over the heads of friendly troops. It almost never happened and when it did there were specific circumstances which made it possible. The benefit of this is that players have to think much more about where they deploy their guns. The old tactic of sticking a battery on a convenient hilltop now only works if you have a clear lane of fire to the target.

Next, we're enforcing the 2" rule for target classification. Basically if troops are within 2" of each other then they become a bigger target for artillery and are therefore easier to hit. This rule has always been around but I for one have never seen it used, it was paid lip service by simply leaving a smaller gap to indicate that units were separated. We haven't yet really seen enough of this to be able to make a judgement but it certainly does make for a better looking game without the huge phalanxes of troops clumping forwards.

Austrian Jaeger advance warily towards an enemy occupied village.

Towns and villages haven't escaped our scrutiny and we've decided to try out something from the original edition of the rules by only allowing up to fifty percent of village occupants to fire out of any one side. Again this is still in the early stages and my suspicion is that Russians in particular with their lower firing ability will prove to be relatively easy to "shoot out" of a village by a battalion in line. This could lead to players defending villages from behind which would cause problems of its own. However time will tell and it might stop villages from becoming the black holes that can often develop into, sucking in more and more men until the battle is won and lost on a single massive melee.

A Russian held village which can effectively fire only 14 men attempting to out shoot a 36 man battalion supported by 12 skirmishers.

Probably the biggest change we're trying out involves skirmishers, which under the current rules have become a fourth arm, equally as important as the cavalry, artillery and line infantry. They are able to act almost completely independently and are often seen racing from one place to another in order to engage the juiciest targets. What we're proposing is that skirmishers were open order troops whose task was to screen their supporting infantry, counteract the enemies skirmishers and harass their line. With this in mind we've restricted skirmishers to operating to the front of their supporting infantry. They must also be in visual contact with their supports who in turn must be formed troops. They are no longer exempt from morale tests in hard cover and even when manning a skirmish building must have supporting troops within 12".

French Heavy cavalry to the rescue supported by line lancers and a horse battery.

As I've said all of these tweaks are being play tested and we'll continue to do so for some time before anything is accepted as an amendment. If you are a member of the ITGM yahoo group I'd be happy to give more details and even attempt some justification online.

That's all for now hopefully it won't be another three months before I post again, oh and the title for the post comes from a favourite album of mine by Elbow, it seemed apt.

Yet more from the Battle of the River Spree

2011-08-15T13:18:00.000+01:00

After last weeks post youcould be forgiven for assuming that the allies would by now have rolled up the French on the southern bank of the Spree and settled themselves down to await the onslaught from the northern bank.

The cascade of Russian routers floods backwards causing havoc for their supporting cavalry and forcing the Guard to form square to avoid being pinned.

At the commencement of the evenings play things were looking quite rosy for the Allies. With a third crossing point under their control and the phased withdrawal of the covering force on the northern bank under way their plan to capture and hold the line of the Spree seemed to be working. However despite their numerical advantage on the southern bank they took the opportunity to feed yet more troops across into the area between the opposing frontlines. Steve the French commander, having had the opportunity to redress his lines and push his last remaining fresh troops to the fore responded by attacking them whilst they were at their most vulnerable and before they had arrived in large enough numbers to become unstoppable.

The view from the French side, a mix of Prussian and Russian troops attempt to cross by the bridge whilst in the background the remainder of the rearguard attempt to hold off the advancing French reinforcements.

The result was a minor disaster for the Allies. Troops routing from the melee caused morale checks on the units in their vicinity, some of which had already taken casualties and panic ensued in the Russian ranks. If you've ever used ITGM rules you'll be aware of just how easily a couple of routs in the wrong place can spread like a disease amongst the surrounding units with even fresh units sometimes breaking. This was precisely what happened and the whole Allied attack on the south bank ground to a halt.

Steve's last bastion against the Russian hordes which turned the tide of the game even if only for the time being.

Of course it's hardly all over for the Allies, they still have plenty of fresh units to throw into the attack once the routers have cleared and they should still have the upper hand. What Steve's attack has achieved however is that it has bought precious time for the remainder of the French army to close with the allied covering force by clogging up one of the main crossing points. In addition the Prussians which make up the right wing of the covering force should by now have been close to being able to cross the river at the final bridge which the Russian attack was designed to capture. As it is they are in great danger of being caught between the advancing French and the river.

The position on the north bank, having come under heavy pressure routing and retreating Russian troops attempt to find a crossing point to safety.

We have now reached turn sixteen with the game still balanced in favour of the Allies. With eight turns left they still have enough time to reorganise and once again assault the weakening French line. This time the job will be given to the Russian Guard infantry who will be much more difficult to repulse. On the plus side for the French they have the opportunity to destroy the remaining troops of the covering force before they can seek the comparitive safety of the south bank.

A panoramic shot of the battle from the Northern bank of the Spree, more and more French reinforcements push on to the table in an attempt to catch the defenders.

As usual we meet again on thursday, possibly to conclude the battle though it's even possible that this could become a three day fight with the final day seeing the Allies having reversed the original positions and defending the southern bank of the Spree against the French on the northern bank. Stay tuned for the next report.

And finally.... some Prussian Uhlans, just because they look nice.

The Battle of the river Spree, End of Day One and Day Two

2011-08-08T19:48:00.000+01:00

Following on, albeit a little late, from my last post the Allies despite a last gasp attack by the remainder of Justins' division were able to secure a viable bridgehead over the Spree before night fell and the various commands were reorganised prior to the next days fighting.

Having crossed the western bridges, Nicks' Russians reorganise and push on to try and wipe out the remainder of Steve's command.

Steve withdrew the division which had suffered so much at the hands of the Allied guns and formed his new line to the East. However things looked dire for his position as once again the Allies were able to use their superior artillery numbers to fire directly into his flank across the river whilst simultaneously pushing fresh units into a frontal attack. There was little coming in the way of help from the remainder of the French army which arrived sporadically on the far side of the back table as day two wore on only to be faced with Prussian and Russian heavy cavalry.

The French eventually begin to arrive across the rear table but are delayed by large numbers of Allied cavalry.

This deployment led to a major confrontation between the two cavalry arms when French Cuirassier and Dragoons charged into three regiments of Prussian heavy cavalry which made up the Allied right. The fight lasted for three rounds of combat but in the final round the Prussians were heavily outnumbered by fresh French cavalry and were bloodily defeated. On the Allied left the Russian Guard Cavalry were opposed primarily by infantry and gave ground slowly though not without some loss.

The Prussian survivors of the cavalry melee finally break and flee.

Things were not going so well however for the French on the other side of the Spree. Nicks' juggernaut continued to drive back Steve's battered battalions supported by heavy cavalry and uhlans and with the added impetus of the Russian Guard infantry.

Russian Guard Infantry supported by a smattering of Prussian Battalions head eastwards in support of the Russian attack.

This was the situation at close of play on Thursday evening. With Steve trying to maintain his lines against ever increasing pressure, whilst the French relief columns battle their way through the delaying forces of the Allies. It appears that the Allied tactic is one of crossing the Spree once the last of the French have been cleared from the Southern bank and then holding the river line themselves in order to stop the remainder of the French army. Whether they can do this in time is dependent on whether Napoleons force can reach the river line quickly enough to stop them crossing, though at the moment this looks unlikely.

The remnants of Steve's Corps prepare themselves for another Allied onlaught.

The Battle of the river Spree, Day One.

2011-07-22T13:23:00.000+01:00

We're all back safe and sound from our weekend at the WHC where we had an excellent time playing Marengo. Sadly I don't have access to the photos which Neil took of the game at the moment so I can't do a proper blog update on it until I have them. However when one door closes another opens and so I'm now able to report on our campaign game taking place to the South of Berlin on the river Spree.

Probably the most difficult of all of the crossing points were the ones entrusted to Eric. Covered by infantry and artillery they have so far proven impassable.

The battle kicked off with the Prussians probing forward over four of the five crossing points in order to find a weak spot. This met with little success and their initial forays were easily dealt with. However it was just a matter of time before the Prussian artillery was able to get into position to cover the crossing points and make life difficult for the French.

Prussian heavies make an attempt to find space on the far bank but are stopped by volley fire from French troops occupying the village.

It became clear relatively quickly that an all out assault across all of the bridges wasn't going to work and so the Prussian Artillery was called into position. Two twelve pounder batteries began to take a heavy toll of the defenders on the French left forcing them away from the western bridge. This allowed Dom to push some infantry over the river but once again they took heavy casualties and were forced to retreat.

The first Russians arrive and with them yet another twelve pounder battery to torment the French left.

The Allies had apparently decided to throw everything into breaking the French left flank in order to gain a bridgehead and consequently another twelve pounder battery was unlimbered, this time a six gun Russian foot battery which immediately started to pound away at the hapless French infantry which was forced to find cover wherever it could. Eventually the pressure began to tell and the Allied infantry was able to gain a toehold on the Southern bank, led by a lone Prussian battalion the Russians began to pour over the bridge.

Another courageous but ultimately unsuccesful attack by the Prussians in the early stages, led by light cavalry a couple of battalions sprint across the bridge to be met by a hail of fire.

However the French were now covered from some of the Allied guns by the advancing Russian troops and took the opportunity to push forward against the attackers who responded by charging at them. The resulting melee was fought out for three rounds and though the Russians lost all of them they held their nerve and though they were forced back they were undefeated. However almost as a sideshow this allowed a single French veteran battalion to charge into the flank of another Russian battalion which had earlier been pinned by a retreating unit which promptly turned and ran. Undaunted the veterans charged on into the flank of the rallying combatants and this was to prove too much for them. Having fought one tough melee they were in no mood for another and they in turn retreated from the attack.

The French counter-attack forcing back the Russian infantry and gaining some breathing space.

The whole Allied bridgehead was now in danger but instead of attacking the lone Prussian battalion which was the only formed unit on the French bank of the river the French believing their job done withdrew behind the cover of the hill. This allowed the Russians to recover and the minor crisis for the Allies was past. As it stands now on turn twenty with only four turns to go until nightfall the allies maintain a small but established hold on the Southern bank of the river and are poised to push more troops across in the last few turns. Nightfall will probably bring a redressing of the lines and if the Allies will be able to move more troops over during the night. Of course they will have to bear in mind that the arrival of the rest of the French army in their rear is imminent and will need to consider how many troops they can afford to push over the Spree without leaving the remainder of the army hopelessly outnumbered.

Calpe Prussian Landwehr painted and based by Julian Waites.

Finally here is the latest arrival at the garage, a battalion of Calpe Landwehr which was painted by Julian Waites. Julians' output isn't great in terms of volume as he doesn't get much time to paint but the quality is outstanding and the figures are always worth the wait.

River Terrain

2011-07-10T14:13:00.000+01:00

It looks set to be a lean period for the next week or so here on the blog. There was little to report last week as we had decided to give our usual weekly get together a miss so rather than just babble on I decided against making a post. This week once again there's not much to say as we spent much of Wednesday evening sorting out some of the terrain for our forthcoming campaign battle on the river Spree. Steve's Auerstadt game continued in the background but it was a half hearted affair and we decided to finish it early with no result so that we could begin the campaign battle next week.

The river Spree from the Northern bank which is where the French will be defending.

We'll be starting the game on Thursday evening and I would normally then create a post at the weekend. However on Friday morning we're all off to the Wargames Holiday Centre for the weekend to refight the battle of Marengo but more of that later. The campaign game has Soults' IV corps defending the line of the river Spree in order to stop the Allies from retaking Berlin. They are opposed by two Prussian divisions under Von Arnim and I think Von Ruchel (I'm one of the French players so I'm unsure about the Allied formations). Both of these divisions took part in the battle at Leipzig and have suffered losses in numbers and morale also one of them lost an entire brigade at the crossing of the Elbe.

The Spree from the Southern bank, the Allies should have their work cut out to make a succesful crossing.

This leaves both infantry arms roughly equal with the French probably having the edge in the class of their troops. Fortunately for the Prussians however a Russian army of about twenty thousand is hot their heels and might be able to make the difference once it gets into position. We've been told that the Tsar is accompanying this force and so it's almost certain that the Russian Imperial Guard will also be in attenadance. What further complicates the scenario is that Napoleon with the rest of the French army is closing on the Allies from the South and can be expected to make an appearance before the game ends. This puts the Allies under tremendous pressure. They will need to decide whether to try to force the crossing and take the inevitably high level of casualties or to try and deny the crossing to the French and turn to face the Emperor. Either way they have a difficult task ahead of them.

Three battalions of Russian grenadiers which have recently hit the shelves at the garage. All are from Front Rank,the centre and right hand ones were painted by Neil Sheardown. the ones on the left by myself.

Finally back to the weekend away, as I stated previously we're playing Marengo which is not a game I've played before and from what little I know of the actual battle it should be an interesting challenge for the game designer. Weekends were always a bit of a headache before the centre moved to a more easily accessible location due to the amount of time spent travelling between Plymouth and Scarborough but now we can make the journey in three hours. This still means however that there'll be no blog update until we return, and that will primarily be about the weekends' game. I'll try to get lots of pictures and do a full battle report but I tend to get a bit involved in the games at the centre and forget all about it. That said there should be plenty of us taking photos and Mark Freeth who runs the Centre will as always have an after battle report on the website so if I do get carried away with the game I can always just put a link to his site on the blog.

Interlude

2011-06-26T18:57:00.001+01:00

We're now into the full glory of our English summer which so far has consisted of an assortment of rain, mist, high winds and cloudy skies, variously mixed together to produce a pretty dismal though consistent backdrop to daily life. However as I write, my better half is sunning herself in the garden, and there's a real prospect that tomorrow might be "pleasant " too. Which is about as far ahead as I trust the ability of our so called weather forecasters to divine from whichever piece of seaweed or chicken entrails they are currently using. So why am I wittering on about the weather on a wargaming blog? I suppose it's because that regardless of the meteorological situation, we're at the period when availability of our regular gamers takes a bit of a hit and we find ourselves filling time. So once again this week due to unavailability we were unable to continue with the campaign which as you may remember will next consist of the Prusso - Russo attempt to cross the River Spree while Marshall Davouts IV corps takes pot shots at them from the other side.

Our initial attempt at river sections sporting some of the bridges which the brave Allies will be using.

Though we do have several river boards, there are nothing like enough to cover the fifteen feet of table that Neil wanted to use on the battlefield, so we looked for other solutions. What we've come up with is simply roofing felt cut into irregular strips and painted blue with a little white on the edges for effect. Actually they're not too bad and once we've used them for the battle we have plans to improve them by adding banks and the odd patch of reeds. The good thing is that they only took about thirty minutes to produce including the cutting out and initial painting. The sections are designed to be not less than five inches wide at any point meaning that any musket fire across them must be at least at effective range and all of the ends are of course the same width to enable them to be placed together.

It does seem however that the campaign will have to wait a little while longer as with so many of us unavailable due to holidays, exams etc. there won't be enough of us around for a couple of weeks to make continuing with it feasible. Added to this is the fact that in mid July most of us are off to the Wargames Holiday Centre for the weekend to play Marengo which is one of the new games I've never played before.

The Prussian right wing lacking artillery support recoils from sustained French fire.

Of course give a group of gamers a little time coupled with a supply of terrain and figures and it won't be long before they've got a game started. So almost inevitably someone, in this case Steve, came up with a scenario which he'd been mulling over for a while. It's based on Davouts epic fight against the Prussians at Auerstadt and consists of a prepared defensive line for the French being assaulted by more and more Prussian infantry divisions. Artillery is limited at the moment which seems to be favouring the French but more enemy troops seem to be arriving each turn.

The French left wing having fought off one half hearted assault awaits the next one.

At the moment the French appear to have the upper hand which is understandable as they have the better class troops and the Prussians have to attack across difficult terrain but as their numbers increase it will be come more difficult for the French to hold them at bay.

One of the small number of batteries so far deployed, firing on distant Prussian cavalry.

We'll be continuing in two weeks as there's no game next week due to shortage of numbers, and we should have it decided by then. Which means we'll have a week to begin the campaign game on the Spree before we head off to play Marengo. So all in all a pretty disjointed period here at the garage but eventually normal service will be resumed and the campaign should start to hot up with the arrival of the first Russian troops.

French veteran light infantry beat off an assault by two columns causing disruption in the Prussian centre.

The Fall of Berlin

2011-06-19T17:25:00.001+01:00

No battle to report on this week as we spent the whole of wednesday evening carrying out campaign map moves. We did however eventually generate one definite battle and the likelihood of another.

The general area of action, Berlin and upper Saxony.

Following their defeat at Leipzig the Allies retired to the east, splitting their force, with the Saxons and Von Arnims corps heading towards Dresden and the divisions of Brunswick and von Ruchel heading northeast towards Torgau. The French after spending the morning reorganising followed up behind the northeastern column and were able to catch and destroy the Prussian division acting as rearguard covering the crossing of the Elbe river. In the meantime Soults' IV Corps having already crossed the Elbe moved through Dessau and continued to advance on Berlin via Weisenburg and Trebbin.

In an attempt to cut off Soult the Prussians abandoned Torgau to its garrison and moved north to Dennewitz, but they were too late and Berlin fell to Soult without a shot being fired. The Royal family had long since fled along with their government to an as yet unknown refuge in the east but the fall of Berlin was a hammer blow to Prussian morale. Torgau fell after a short but spirited fight to Marmonts II Corps while Davouts' III Corps continued to follow the Prussians who now headed east from Dennewitz to Leuben.

Two of the many command figures painted by Justin, new ones appear almost every week. These are Austrian divisional commanders, Elite Miniatures on the right and I think Front Rank on the left. Addendum: both are Elite miniatures.

At this stage the French received information that a Russian column of around 25,000 men was advancing westward with what looked like the intention of joining up with the Prussian army. Therefore Napoleon decided to try and knock out the Prussians before the Russians could arrive and began to move on Leuben expecting the Prussians to cross the river Spree. Surprisingly they decided to follow the southern bank of the Spree, shadowed about a days march behind by the Russians who it was discovered were accompanied by the Tsar himself. They then continued their march and against all expectations decided to launch an opposed river crossing against Soults IV Corps ensconced in Berlin.

More of Justins divisional commanders, this time French infantry and carabinnier both by Front Rank.

Not to be outdone by their Prussian allies the Russians despite having knowledge that the remainder of the French army was hot on their heels followed along behind and have joined in the attack on Soult. So the situation as it stands at dawn is that Soults IV Corps is defending the river Spree against Brunswick and Von Ruchel with the Russians beginning to appear behind them. Napoleon with Marmont and Davout are following closely behind the Russians and should start to appear on the table before last light.

More of Justins Front Rank French, I particularly like the basing on the infantry General and his mud splashed cloak.

So it appears we have a must win situation for the Allies with their river crossing or they face the prospect of being caught by a superior force with their backs to a river, the other bank of which is held by the enemy. In practical terms this means that we have to produce some river terrain before we can fight the battle and as we have very few river boards for the table it's come down to strips of roofing felt painted and laid on to the existing terrain boards. Not ideal but with a bit of work they could be made to look presentable.

Carabinnier trumpeteer and Cuirassier commander, again both Front Rank.

I thought it would be a good idea to showcase some of Justin Daveys' command figures which he brings along to the garage with amazing regularity, something in the order of two each week. We use a system whereby divisional commanders and staff officers are represented by a single figure, Corps commanders by two figures and Army commanders by three or more. So the command base in the picture above would be used for a cavalry Corps. Justin has produced the vast majority of these figures and is, I believe currently painting a group of Russian commanders.

Front Rank French Divisonal commanders.

Attendance at the garage is likely to be a bit sporadic over the next few weeks as we head into what is laughingly known as summer in this part of the world so it's unlikely that there'll be a battle report next week either. However I'll try to keep posting photos and talking rubbish at least once a week so as always, stay tuned.

French Triumph at Leipzig

2011-06-11T15:39:00.000+01:00

Well perhaps triumph is a bit of an overstatement but as a member of the French team it certainly felt like a triumph on wednesday evening when by turn twenty four the Prussians were halted and in some places in full retreat. Once again Neil has provided us with a commentary of the game, though this time it is by necessity less comprehensive than his earlier reports due to him being drafted into the Prussian side as Dom was unavailable. This was sadly the harbinger of doom for even handed umpiring decisions as Neil vented his Francophobe spleen on his hapless opponent in a vain attempt to claw back some semblance of pride for the battered Prussians......

The following report may be lacking in the same detail as previous reports from the front and may be missing a few of the ancillary happenings as our war correspondent stepped into the boots of Brunswick in command of Von Preussen, Blucher and Von Oswald due to the Prussian CiC being AWOL for the night….

Turn 18 and the French Guard Heavy Cavalry continued its single handed demolition job as it rode through 2 battalions of Scharnhorst’s Prussian Infantry and caused them to rout. This panic spread rapidly through the rest of the command and in short shrift the Division broke, with the exception of a brave but almost certainly foolish officer who steadied his battalion in front of the French Infantry and prepared for combat.

In the centre, half of Von Oswald’s infantry continued its rout whilst the remainder stood on the slope of the hill and re-ordered after its melee victory. Just South of the village itself, Vandamme moved onto the offensive and advanced to put pressure on the previously untroubled Blucher.

On the far South flank, Von Irwing announced his arrival in the front line by charging into and through some French Lancers sweeping them completely from the field.

A little too late to influence the outcome of the battle, Saxon infantry and cavalry arrive to take position in the centre.

Turn 19 and the countdown toward the end had begun for the Allies. Von Pletz receives heavy casualties from fire as he pulls back his line to reduce the open flank left by Scharnhorst collapse. Scharnhorst isolated rearguard gets decimated and eventually cut down by rampant French Infantry from St Hilaire’s division. Von Oswald begins the difficult task of trying to break contact with the French but Caferelli with his blood up isn’t keen on letting them go and advances to match their withdrawal. Blucher throws everything he has available in the way of the charging French Columns but to no avail as his battalions come out second best and the front ranks break. The far South sees the ponderous advance continues.

The field of battle from the North. In the South Nicks' troops finally push the French defenders back to their second line of defence and end the game as the furthest advanced Prussian troops.

Turn 20 and determined to match the performance of their heavier colleagues the French Light regiment spots an unformed Prussian battalion facing away as it flees and spur their mounts onwards. Alas though, the glory was not to be theirs. Various reasons were given on their return, to the amusement of the Grenadiers, but suffice to say they failed in their efforts to break into the Infantry and instead returned to their own lines.

In the centre, Blucher reorganises from his set-up, Von Oswald continues his gradual withdrawal and there appears a new face on the front line scene as Von Dyherrn’s Saxon Infantry advance between Oswald and Scharnhorst’s position.

T21 sees Scharnhorst regain control over his command however, their flight now sees him occupying ground in a remarkably similar position to where he first assembled some 7 hours previously. More minor manouvering in the centre took place in preparation for the next storm whilst the Village defenders transferred their fire onto anything that remained visible to them. In the South however, Von Mufflings Infantry finally got within Musket range of Oudinot’s Elite infantry and took out their frustrations on the French forcing them to fall back in some disarray.

French reserve heavy cavalry await their turn in vain.

Turn 22 and Vandammes reformed masses crash headlong into the next line of Blucher’s troops and after a fierce and bloody confrontation are again victorious with the Prussians breaking and Vadamme having confirmed his control and domination of the South Central area.

The final stages of the battle saw most sectors relatively quiet being restricted to limited long range fire and minor line manouvers. The exception to this however was the Centre North side of the village where D’Hautpoul managed to squeeze a squadron of his Cuirassier forward to engage Von Oswalds retiring Infantry. Advancing at the trot into Musket range, a hail of balls met the brave troopers and in spite of their leaders best efforts they were unable to be convinced to follow through with the charge and instead fled backwards in some disorder! Von Dyherrn, now the front line in the face of Caferelli, lined out his Grenadier battalion and poured fire into the mass of French Infantry.

Austrian and Russian cavalry playing the part of the Saxon heavy division.

Turn 24 and as the light faded, there was only a single piece of action really left to resolve as Caferelli ordered his already bleeding battalions into the charge against the Saxon grenadiers. The Saxon’s held their cool, calmly reloaded and, waiting until the French were in short range, they ripped the lead ranks apart with a devastating series of volleys. Undeterred and after bloody revenge, the brave French souls continued into melee and gained a slight advantage once they got to grips with their outnumbered German foes. In the second round however, only a single French column could find courage enough to join the slaughter whilst 3 battalions of Saxon musketeers responded and the melee and battle were soon over leaving many hundreds of dead and dying on the ground.

One of the curses of too much artillery, nowhere to go and nothing to shoot.

So the battle was over, in the North Von Arnim had lost much of the ground they had seized earlier in the day and they were in no fit state to continue the fight even if light had allowed. In the centre, Vandamme had held and even advanced his position slightly whilst Caferelli had regained all the ground he had given up. Caferelli’s troops had paid a heavy price in the struggle, less so Vandamme but it was the two main assault Divisions of Von Blucher and Oswald who were licking the heaviest wounds with close to 50% of their Infantry injured or dead on the field – a testimony to the struggle they had been involved in! In the far South, the watching war had resulted in a surprising degree of casualties considering the long range nature of the combat but really resulted in the troops from both sides being in decent order and more than fit should battle resume. Victory goes to the French and defeat to the Prussians in both tactical and strategic terms. It was not the decisive killer blow I think Napoleon hoped for prior to the battle but it ended as a victory without question for the French.

In the campaign, both sides need time to recover and replace their losses properly and decisions now need to be taken by Dom and Noel as to whether to resume conflict with the surviving forces available immediately or break off at Leipzig. Dom has to consider what to do, or try and do, about the French Corps marching on Berlin. Austria has crossed the Bavarian border and engaged a Danube Fortress whilst Maximillian hastily tries to mass and raise his field army to counter....

So there you have it, the campaign movement continues next week and may or not result in an encounter. It also remains to be seen how the Prussians and their Allies will react to the almost certain loss of Berlin.

Leipzig Week Two

2011-06-04T19:46:00.000+01:00

Neil has once again produced the battle report this week which takes us from turm turn eleven to turn seventeen:

The battle continued this week from where we left it. In the North and Centre the French had lost the initial Artillery duel against the Prussians and given some areas of ground ahead of the Prussian advance to reposition to a new line. The Central Village was still held and strongly supported on its Southern flank which was the only sector the Prussians hadn’t really advanced in and seemed content to bide their time.

Dom looks down with an air of grim satisfaction upon his assembled horde.

Turn 11 and Oudinot on the extreme French right begins to adjust his line into a slightly more aggressive stance to counter Prussian light cavalry probing forward. There are also some, albeit limited, signs that Von Quitlow may have aroused from his slumber as his battalions begin to parade behind the front line as if organising into a Divisional attack column. In the Centre Vandamme remains static and resolute in the face of a general Prussian advance but Caferelli and St Hilaire continue to retire to the West leaving a space to the North and Northeast of the central village.

The areas of action taken from the Northen end of the battlefield.

The next turn, and the mid point of the days battle, sees the Saxon Cavalry reserve ride onto the field in the form of Von Cerrini’s Division. They arrive to the centre right of the Prussian line roughly where Scharnhorst began the day. The French battalions of Caferelli, now redeployed, pour fire into Von Oswalds’ Prussian who march stoically onwards whilst their supporting Heavy Cavalry under Von Preussen begin a wheel to their left, and toward the Southwest, to skirt the edge of the central hill and Village. In the far South, French Hussars spur their mounts into the charge against an isolated Prussian foot battery. The misguided gunners thought they were covered by their own lights but unfortunately the Prussian Cavalry are caught napping and find themselves too far away to affect the French strike. The Battery blasts away with Canister but, whilst horse and men fall, the bulk continue, barely breaking pace as they crash headlong into the gunners. A swift and bloody swirling melee later and the battery is wiped out where it stood.

The central village (we really should give it a name) shortly before the sea of Prussians hit it.

T13 and more white clad Saxons, Infantry this time, march onto the field in a Central position some distance behind the lead units of Von Oswald Division who crest the rise of the Central hill for the first time and see the Village ahead of them. Hell breaks loose from the Village as Vandammes Veterans open up but as the smoke clears it is evident, to the relief of the closely packed Musketeers that the Skirmishing Fusiliers and Jagers bore the brunt.. Vandammes supporting Artillery limber up and begin to redeploy to the West as the threat of Prussian Dragoons looms larger.

In the far South the French Hussars, fresh from their success clash with Von Muffling’s Hussars who have shaken off their lethargy and after a bloody melee that escalates with both sides throwing in additional troopers, the survivors troop off to their respective lines. The far North of the battlefield sees Von Pletz’s infantry at last get a clear sight of the enemy directly to their west only for it to be the French Imperial Guard Cavalry Division menacingly positioned over a line of low hills….St Hilaire decides his moment has come and he reverses his earlier march to advance on Pletz and Scharnhorst and at the same time protect his foot battery from Prussian Light Cavalry. Scharnhorst meanwhile has brought up a 12lb battery and after a devastating round of fire, more French gunners are slain, compromising the future of the battery.

Meanwhile in the Northern sector more Prussians crest the ridgeline.

Turn 14 opens with Von Preussens’ Dragoons attempting and only narrowly missing out on catching the French 12lb battery limbering up. Von Oswald brings more Infantry onto the central hill in preparation for the assault against Vandamme whilst in the North, Prussian brace themselves and then walk, trot and gallop into the charge against the French Guard Heavy Cavalry. The first round sees very light casualties on both sides but when the French reinforce the remaining Uhlan are cut from their mounts. Rolling volleys issue from the village and tear ragged holes in the Prussian lines but they bravely stand their ground and redress their ranks.

Elsewhere Von Muffling orders his Infantry in the South to begin to advance in numbers and the final Prussian reserves appear on table in the form of Von Bergdorf’s Saxon Infantry and Von Irwing heavy Prussian cavalry.

Prussian veterans get to grips with Wurtemburg light infantry in the tussle for the woods.

Turn 15 and reporting North to South, the Guard heavy cavalry reform on the spot of their victory and spur themselves onwards into another unfortunate squadron of Uhlan. Von Pletz forms his lead battalions into square to counter the Cavalry threat leaving Scharnhorst to contest the last wooded area before the open ground before the Leipzig outskirts. In the centre Von Oswald orders 3 battalions against the Village but only 2 can muster the courage to advance into the face of the musketry. Napoleon moves his staff to the central ground where together with his two present Marshals he can best direct the columns of French massing to counter the Prussian attack. A devastation volley pours forth from the village and cuts down swathes of Prussians but still they close on the village. A single round of melee is sufficient to further reduce their numbers and it is not long before, their courage spent, they break and flee back down the ridge through their supporting battalions. Prussian Heavy dragoons execute 2 regimental charges and once again French Hussars are asked to stop impossible odds with the easily anticipated outcome in order to protect their Infantry behind.

Finally in the South, Von Muffling’s advance cannot be accused of being overtly rash in its pace against Oudinot as the Heavy Cavalry of Von Irwing move more rapidly to get closer to the action.

The first line of Prussians close with the village despite heavy fire from the defenders. Shame about the chocolate digestives.

Turn 16 and the Prussians suffer a set-back in the centre as Von Oswald’s Infantry repulsed from the Village pile through their own lines effectively pinning the bulk of the fresh infantry in place. Caferelli takes advantage to push forward in numbers, occupying the ground he held at the start of the battle and putting himself in a position to engage some of the enemy infantry. Bourciers Dragoons also move forward behind Caferelli in response to the threat brought by the distantly approaching Saxon heavy cavalry. In the South Von Muffling continues to cautiously advance whilst at the opposite end of the battle, St Hilaire and Scharnhorst continue a fierce fire fight over the woods. The French Guard light cavalry spot a disordered infantry battalion in line amongst Von Pletz’s squares and charge on through a volley in an attempt to ride them down. The Prussians regain some semblance of order just in time to hold off the Chasseurs a Cheval and who, narrowly thwarted, retire to their own lines in good order.

The same action from the Prussian side of the table. Happily for the French this first attempt failed, though more is likely to come.

Turn 17, mid afternoon and the last turn of the evenings gaming sees Scharnhorst push on off the hill and move to engage St Hilaire. This may have been encouraged by the Saxon Infantry and Cavalry who are now closing in close to his rear position in support. St Hilaire responds to this aggression and launches his own troops into a Prussian line, wins the combat and by the end of the turn they are ready to take flight. The bitter close range fire fight in the woods also reaches its bloody conclusion as a severely battered Prussian battalion begins to pull back. Finally in the North the swing in fortunes is completed as the Heavy Guard cavalry ride down an unfortunate unit of Von Pletz with the remainder keen to resume their defensive squares.

In the Centre, a series of devastating volleys form the Village edge pour into the brave Prussians of Von Oswald who have lined out and are engaging in a fire fight, a fire fight that they are losing, but stoically holding their ground as they are cut down in swathes. Caferelli continues his aggressive stance and charges into a Prussian battalion on the hilltop just North of the Village, both sides contest the first round of melee and the combat escalates as both sides commit many hundreds more Infantry to the fight sensing its importance. Losses are heavy on both sides but eventually Prussian numbers tell and the remains of three battalions begin to run back down the ridge. South of the village, the Prussian dragoons continue their victimisation of French light Cavalry, carving up another 2 squadrons for little loss whilst in the far south the slow ponderous advance drips onwards… one can only assume that the Allied force are hoping the unseasonal afternoon sun and a large lunch will have caused Oudinot to drift off before they arrive.

The "Guard cavalry" actually a regiment of line dragoons and another of Westphalian light cavalry. Plans are afoot to remedy the lack of French Guard troops.

So there we have the battle to nearly its ¾ stage. In the North the French appear to have held the position with little prospect of allied advance although the arrival of the Saxon reserves and with plenty of meat left available to him, Eric will no doubt try one more time. In the centre, whilst Von Oswald has taken a hammering and Caferelli some damage, the Prussians have Blucher largely untouched in position and reserves marching up, it is just really whether they can gain a suitable position from which to try and damage the barely troubled Vandamme who stands still defending the ground he began with. Von Preussen and his Cavalry have taken care of the best part of 2 light cavalry regiments for little loss but have been unable to unhinge Vandamme’s position thanks to the Lights sacrifice so whilst horse meat is on the menu tonight in abundance they probably have not played a key role in the battles outcome to date. An accusation that sits better on Von Ruchel’s corps of Von Muffling and Quitlow. Undoubtedly they would have sustained losses in the advance and it is naturally not a tactical place to launch a large attack however strategically the drain on reserves it may have caused from behind the centre may have left the French sweating a bit more on the outcome than I feel they probably currently are…

Still some dice to be thrown but I have to say it looks like it is definitely advantage French at the moment with 6 turns to go until evening and the light begins to fail hindering ongoing fighting.

Clash at Leipzig

2011-05-29T14:17:00.000+01:00

Our long awaited campaign finally got under way on wednesdy night with a battle between the Prussians and French in the area of Leipzig. The French with two Corps took up a defensive position and awaited the attack of the Prussian army. Fortunately because of the size of the battle we had enough French to field their entire force and by adding Austrians and Russians the to the Prussians we could also field the entire Prussian army. Neil who has devised the campaign has done a battle report so I'll hand over to him....

The early mist of the 8^th November 1806 lifted pre-dawn and as the weak hazy light of the sun spread slowly across the field at Leipzig it revealed over 100,000 men in final preparations to make battle. The field had scattered hills and stretched from a wooded valley in the North down across rolling low hills and undulating cultivated land toward the South. A line of hamlets and villages were scattered across the centre with a central hill dominating and topped with a Village.
The French army had drawn up in an advanced position centred around this central village with the Divisions of St Hilaire, Caferelli, Vandamme and Oudinot running North to South in the front line. Further reserves were ready behind to add their support when needed. Lined up ready to attack, again running North to South, were the Prussian Brigades of Von Pletz, Scharnhorst, the Heavy Cavalry of Von Preussen, Blucher’s Infantry in the centre flank in the far South by Von Muffling and finally Von Quitlow.

Troops of St Hilaires division forming the French left wing.

Napoleon had opted for a forward position to try and punish the Prussians with his superior artillery before they were able to close on his Infantry. It was with some consternation and dismay, that he viewed a formidable gun line opposing his troops made up of Foot batteries, Horse guns and battalion guns.

Side note: This unfortunate situation had arisen at least in part due to the solution arrived at by the umpire on paper for the campaign to ‘model’ battalion guns. It was to create smaller, non-howitzer batteries who could not ‘grand battery’ up with others and used a d12 die to hit instead of the normal d10. This achieved the weaker batteries invisaged but has a flaw in that it still does create ‘batteries’ which are a different beast to battalion guns. More on solutions to this mis-modelling at a later date but the Demon was out in the room so, for this battle at least, that is how they are to be played.

The opening turn saw Von Pletz and Scharnhorst begin to advance amongst the trees and valleys in the North whilst the rest of the Allied army sat behind its gun line which opened up across the front. The French gunners retaliated and began an artillery duel. Turn 2 saw more of the same with a largely static Prussian army gaining the upper hand in casualties in the centre but suffering themselves in the South. In gun terms, the artillery in the Centre/North saw 3 French batteries of 3 x 12lb, 3 x 8lb, 3 x 6lb and 2 howitzers battling against 6 Prussian Batteries totalling 6 x 12lb + 2 howitzers, 6 x 6lb and 6 x 6lb battalion guns. In the South, the 3 French batteries had 6 x 8lb, 3 x 12lb and 3 howitzers facing 3 Prussian batteries totalling 3 x 12lb + howitzer and 6 x 6lb battalion guns.

Prussian heavy cavalry and infantry advance against the French left.

Turn 3 and Von Pletz continued his advance in the far North whilst Scharnhorst’s Brigade slowed beside him. The remainder of the Allied force appear almost catatonic in its state as the guns did their bloody work on the French batteries! Turn 4 and 5 saw more of the same but also saw Napoleon decide that the threat in the North was becoming an issue so activated his first reserves with both the Infantry of both La Roffiere and the Imperial Guard moving out from their initial positions.
Turn 6 and 7 and mid-morning arrived and appeared to stir the Prussians from their lethargy…. In the far South Von Muffling sent forward his Light cavalry squadrons toward Oudinot’s Infantry whilst in the North, Von Pletz halts his advance behind a ridge of hills between him and St Hilaire. In the centre Blucher’s Infantry begins to change position.

Turn 8 and the first Prussian reserves advance on table just to the North of Blucher in the form of Von Oswald’s Infantry Division. This turn also saw the French Divisions of St Hilaire and Caferelli, who had been exposed on the front line, begin to pull back and find some protection from the bombardment.

Russian infantry and battalion guns on the allied left.

Turn 9, St Hilaire seeks cover as Von Pletz begins to advance again in the North whilst in the Centre, Von Oswald’s march signals a general advance as he is joined by Blucher and the Heavy cavalry of Von Preussen moving towards the French lines. Turn 10, approaching the half way point of the battle and things are moving as the Prussian right and centre continue to push on and Margeron throws out a couple of squadrons of light cavalry in a counter move which is short lived after heavy musketry from a wood on their flank sends them backwards. The only position that still seems static at present is the far South where Von Muffling and Von Quitlow appeared resolved to hold their ground in a stale mate situation.

From my perspective as the umpire, and with the pseudo apology in place already for the battalion guns and therefore ignoring them, the French had a sound plan of holding the edge of the open ground and pounding the Allies as they advanced toward them. In the South this sort of worked as they had gun dominance and were able to fairly effectively drive off the Prussian 12lb’s leaving a whole Prussian Corps ‘pinned down with only barrels of cannon to look forward to if they did advance. In the centre however, the Prussian decision to ‘soften up’ the opposition before a general advance led to the artillery duel, which they in turn won, and now the French Infantry will find themselves fighting full strength Prussians rather than the weakened ones hoped for…

The Prussian centre begins its advance.

The battle began with the Prussians having a slight numerical advantage, some 53,000 men to the French 49,000, but the French defending the outer environs of Leipzig. There is a long way to go in this battle yet with hardly anything truly committed to action and next Thursday when we convene should see both sides getting into the meat of the matter.. In Campaign terms, there is still the obvious issue of where the other third of the French army is whilst the whole of the Prussians are committed to battle at Leipzig together with their Saxon allies who are yet to make an appearance on table.

Neil intends to give us a blow by blow account each week which should make for entertaining reading, stay tuned.

The Campaign Season Opens

2011-05-21T15:53:00.000+01:00

First things first I suppose, as I reported in the previous Blog entry I headed up to the Wargames Holiday Centre last weekend for a bit of playtesting of Mark's new Waterloo game. Mark has moved the terrain to the West so that Hougomont is now at the extreme right flank of the Allied line which has allowed him to bring the villages of La Haye and Papelotte on to the table as well as Plancenoit. Of course this gives a greatly enhanced role to the Prussians as they arrive earlier and have a larger area to operate in than in previous incarnations of the battle.

Prussian troops from Ziethens Corps head towards La Haye.

I must have played Waterloo at least half a dozen times at the WHC and I really liked the changes that Mark had made. In previous games there was often the feeling that the arival of the Prussians was dependent on how well the Allies were coping with the French assaults. This time the French were forced to react to their arrival from early in the game and were unable to blindly assault the Allied ridges knowing that the Prussians would probably arrive too late to turn the tide.

Two of D'erlons divisions begin the climb up the ridge.

The French plan of attack was relatively straight forward. Lobau's Corps would defend the right flank against the Prussians whilst D'erlon and Reille's Corps each of four divisions would carry out the main attack on the right and left of La Haye Sainte respectively. One of Reilles divisions was tasked with tying down Hougomont while D'erlon had to detach a division to concentrate on Papelotte.

The right of the French line was seen as the main point of attack and therefore the heavy cavalry divisions of Milhaud and Kellerman were also allotted to this crucial area.

The Chateau D'Hougomont defended by four, yes four, British Guards battalions.

Both divisions of the Imperial Guard along with the Guard cavalry were held in reserve to carry out the final breakthrough should they be needed. On the left Reille's Corps was given the job of assaulting Hougomont, though this quickly became a screening action once it was discovered that the chateau was defended by four, forty eight man battalions of British Guard. Reille also had the task of holding the French left while putting pressure on La Haye Sainte.

One of Reilles' division contend with the KGL for La Haye Sainte.

In the end the French were once again victorious but it was a much closer game than most of the ones I've played before. I say once again, because in previous games it has generally been up to the French to lose it rather than for the Allies to win. If the French did all the right things they would usually break the Allied line and this could sometimes happen very quickly. Considering that the majority of the experienced players were on the French side it was still a hard fought game with the French just shading it.

The Guard cavalry once released head off to give some much needed support to Reille's Corps.

Changing the subject our new campaign is now under way and we have our first battle to fight. The French face a coalition of Prussia, Austria and Russia and have headed North from their cantonements in Bavaria in an attempt to knock Prussia out of the war before the Russians and Austrians can come to their aid. Advancing on a broad frontage it was the intention of the French to cross the Elbe in the vicinity of Meissen and advance on Berlin thereby forcing the Prussian field army to defend it. Unexpectedly the Prussians rather than guard the line of the Elbe have crossed to the South bank and moved towards Dresden in support of the King of Saxony who has declared for the Allies. This has allowed the French to send one Corps Northwest and cross the Elbe closer to Wittenberg.

The remaining French Corps remained at Leipzig to cover the crossing and it is here that the Prussians with their allies the perfidious Saxons have decided to attack.

The area of operations with Leipzig close to the centre.

In the South there are reports that the Austrians are attempting to bully the brave and honourable King Maximillian of Bavaria into allowing them passage through his lands though information is scarce at the moment.

So next week it's the Battle of Leipzig and if this campaign is anything like the last one we may end up fighting there several times.

Short and not so Sweet

2011-05-14T08:27:00.000+01:00

Not too surprisingly our current game which we recommenced on turn seven was all over by turn nine. The Prusso-Russian attack on the French left wing foundered and was then thrown back in utter disorder, whilst the Austrian attack in the centre fared no better. I was actually caught out by the brevity of the game and took very few photos until it was all over which is my excuse for the rather poor selection which accompanies this post.

A variety of Confederation troops queue up to take a swing at the hapless Allies.

The Allies never recovered from the debacle of their early assault and were caught by the pursuing Germans and Poles at a huge disadvantage. The result was inevitable, more routs and more ground lost followed by the collapse of the Allied right. One brave thirty two man battalion of Pavlovs lined out to try and buy some time for their comrades but was hit by the combined fire of artillery infantry volleys and skirmishers, losing fifteen men in just one turn.

Having taken the fire of guns and infantry for several turns the leading Austrian battalions begin to crumble.

For the Austrians in the centre it was very much the same story. Advancing on a two battalion frontage their infantry was forced to endure the defensive fire of four French battalions and an artillery battery. Despite their ability to take heavy casualties and keep going forward it was all to much for them and they failed to even get in to contact.

A battalion of Elite Miniatures Swiss, part of a small but potent division holding the French right.

So where did it all go wrong for the Allies? With the twenty twenty vision afforded by hindsight I think it's fair to say that they went at the whole thing a little too hard and fast. Once again there was no preparatory artillery fire, instead the infantry advanced from turn one straight in to the sights of the waiting and untouched French. In the centre the Austrians would probably have benefitted from clearing the French from the woods to their front instead of ignoring them and attempting to advance on a narrow frontage against a force which had plenty of space to line out. It is of course easy to be wise after the event and it's not always obvious before the game gets under way where the vital parts of the battlefield will be.

A sotnia of cossacks seeing the way things are going decide to look for some stragglers to pick on.

So what now? Maybe we'll start another game next week or it may be an evening of campaign moves now that Neil has given us our army lists along with a general brief. For my sins I rolled high on the dice and ended up as Napoleon which means that any blog entries regarding the campaign will have a distinctly Francophile slant.

As for me I'm off to the Wargames Holiday Centre this weekend for a spot of playtesting Mark Freeths new Waterloo layout. The idea is to give the Prussians a greater role in the game and Mark's moved the terrain around quite radically to achieve this. I'm taking my camera so assuming that I actually remember to use it I'll post some pictures and a report when it's all over.

2011-05-07T14:30:00.002+01:00

It took us no time at all to get a new game started following last weeks' decisive session and this time it was Eric who stepped up to the crease with another scenario. This time we're only using the one table as the intention is that this will be a relatively short game designed to fill the time until we're ready to start Neils' long awaited campaign.

The field of battle with the French on the left and the Allies on the right. Very quiet at this end so far but hotting up in the distance.

Eric employed the tried and tested "dice for your troops" method, in which each player rolls a D10 and receives the corresponding troops from the list which he had devised. This gives everyone a division sized infantry force of varying quality with or without cavalry support. The French players ended up with only one French division, the other three being Swiss, German and Polish. The Allies have two Russian, one Austrian and one Prussian division.

A Saxe-Coburg battalion enjoys the cover of a redoubt while their Westphalian and Kleve-Berg comrades duck.

It appears that from the outset both sides decided to attack and defend in the same areas. This is understandable considering the ground. The Allied left/French right is hilly with small woods and a village presently held by the French, whereas the the Allied right /French left is relatively flat and open. The latter sector is the one which has seen the majority of the fighting so far.

Russian Hussars and infantry, part of the division which forms the Allied left. To their right is a battalion of Austrian jaeger.

As well as rolling for our troops we also rolled a D6 for initial deployment. This left the French with all but one of their formations already on table while two of the Allied divisions had to march on from the base line. Dom's division of Austrians had the dubious distinction of having one of its battalions march on table on turn one and immediately retreat off table on the following move when he threw a five for their morale. In fact out of his six, forty eight man battalions only three are still advancing together following a serious of tragic morale throws.

Dom's reluctant Austrians advance by installments.

To Doms right Nick had the responsibility of controlling his own Prussian division and Andys Russian division as Andy was unable to make it on the night. The added responsibility might be the reason behind a couple of rather strange decisions made by Nick which left the rest of us a little bemused. Nick decided to support his advancing Prussians by bringing up his artillery to knock out Neils guns. However he chose to do this by moving them up into cannister range of Neils guns. The resulting carnage left Nicks guns at half casualties whilst Neils battery though damaged survived the encounter.

Nicks' Prussian battery decide they've had enough for today.

While advancing into cannister range was a strange enough thing to do, Nicks next idea was even stranger. The battery moved to its right and was unlimbered next to a battalion which was about to be charged and had next to no chance of winning the melee. The resulting rout sparked a morale test for the battery and off they ran. This meant that there were now two routs adding a total of minus five to any morale throws and unsurprisingly another Prussian battalion was thrown into retreat. The situation isn't unsalvageable but the French have gained a decent advantage in the area.

Looking a little like a flag sellers convention the Pavlov grenadiers enter the table to the right of Dom's Austrians.

We got as far as turn seven, which isn't bad considering we had to finish off putting away the figures from the previous game and set up the new one. So next week we'll be continuing the motion and I'll be able to digress a little about Neils' campaign which we were briefed about on thursday evening.

Westphalian, Kleve-Berg and Polish troops from Eric and Neils divisions nip forward to take advantage of the confusion in the Prussian ranks.

A Matter of Space

2011-04-29T19:44:00.000+01:00

You could tell by the looks on the faces of the French commanders' that it was all over bar the shouting by turn fifteen on day two of our latest battle. The French counter attack which the Allies had been steeling themselves for failed to materialise and their efforts to resecure their embattled right flank were doomed to failure. The final straw was the loss of the vital central village which was the linchpin of the French defensive line, this fell on turn thirteen and the resulting routs caused havoc amongst the fresh troops lining up to assault the Austrian lines.

Prussian infantry capture and hold the woods which form the French right.

The main problem that the French encountered seemed to be a lack of space in which to deploy what troops they had, and they were always vulnerable to the effects of retreating or routing troops disordering their fresh units. Added to this was the fact that many of their existing troops were in such a poor state that any rout passing by them would be likely to encourage them to follow suit. This is eventually exactly what happened and by the time the domino effect of routs had taken it's toll even units at full strength and in square were beginning to retreat.

Utter confusion in the French centre. The white discs show the position of routing troops amongst the mass of reinforcements. We find that this causes less damage than putting the routing troops on top.

Nick had decided to go for an assault against the Austrian with his last throw of the dice and the eight battalions of the reserve infantry dutifully lined out in to their attack columns behind what was left of the Westphalian and Berg infantry. However they were unable to get moving before the mass of refugees from the French centre ran headlong into them. On the other side of the table this gave the Russians extra time to arrive and take up supporting positions behind the Austrians and their heavy cavalry was able to throw back the French cuirassier threatening the Austrian right.

The Young Guard advance to retake the woods but were unable to withstand the volley fire from lined out Prussian veterans and the pounding from two foot batteries.

Even with hindsight it's difficult to imagine how the French could have achieved a successful result in this battle as soon as it moved into a second day. They were always constrained by the ever shrinking area available and found it difficult to move troops to the places they were most needed. The one force they could have possibly deployed earlier was the Young Guard which sat at the rear of their line for most of the game and when it was used it was forced to cross broken terrain in order to reach its target. This left the attack disjointed and the total lack of artillery support meant that they were attacking fresh units at full strength.

Russian cuirassier and horse artillery advancing to support the Allied right.

All said though we had two enjoyable games from this scenario which of course is the point of it all. I thought it might be useful to give an outline of the orbats for both sides so here they are:

Allies

Austrians

1 x 36 jaeger

11 x 48 line

4 x 36 line

2 x 48 grenz

1 x 36 grenz

6 x 36 grenadier

2 x 24 Lt cav

1 x 24 cuirassier

2 x 6lb foot bty

1 x 12lb foot bty

Some of the Austrians which made up the Allied right flank for most of the game.

Prussians

16 x 32 line

11 x 32 landwehr

3 x 24 lt cav

3 x 24 hvy cav

3 x 6lb foot bty

1 x 12lb foot bty

1 x 6lb hse bty

The Prussians reorganise having captured the vital strongpoint in the French line.

Russians

12 x 32 line

2 x 32 dragoon

1 x 32 cuirassier

1 x 6lb foot bty

1 x 6lb hse bty

French cuirassier attempt to unlock the Austrian right.

French

44 x 36 line

8 x 32 young guard

4 x 24 lt cav

2 x 24 lancer

1 x 32 dragoons

2 x 32 cuirassier

3 x 8lb foot bty

1 x 12lb foot bty

2 x 6lb hse bty

French dragoons who were unable to get in to combat due to limited manouevring space.

That's it for this game, next week we'll clear away what figures still need to be put away and prepare for the next conflict. I think I'm getting battle fatigue. Neil will hopefully be giving us an in depth brief on the new campaign the first part of which appears to be army selection and map moves. This could take some time so it looks like another generated scenario will be starting, more of which in the next post.

Decision Time

2011-04-24T15:58:00.000+01:00

Our current game appears to have reached the point of decision for the French in particular. Nick the French commander needs to decide where he is going to use his reinforcements to achieve the best result and time is running out. He has an as yet unrevealed force marching on table, which I strongly suspect to be an infantry division and he also has his reserve young guard formation, eight battalions strong. The choices are a little limited, firstly he can decide to reinforce his defensive line and hold out until nightfall. Secondly he can choose an area for a counter attack and go for it hoping that the rest of his line can hold off the remaining Allies.

French and Polish troops move into position for a possible assault on the Austrian lines.

On the Allied side the good news is that the Russians have finally appeared and are moving into position behind the embattled Austrian lines. True enough they have taken their sweet time, but their chances of ever being involved improved drastically when Eric decided to take on the responsibility for rolling the dice for their arrival following my own pitiful attempts. The two infantry divisions and a division of heavy cavalry should hopefully be enough for the Allies to either stem the French tide or even put in another assault.

The thin white line, Erics' Austrians await the possible onslaught. The boards are used to mark units which haven't yet been spotted by the enemy.

On the Allied left the Prussian artillery has seen off its opposite numbers on the French side leaving the French right bereft of guns. This should hopefully (I say hopefully because it's my command) allow the Prussians to get forward once they've concentrated on softening up the opposing infantry for a few turns. There was an inclonclusive melee in the area around the village which forms the main strong point of the French line. Three battalions of French and four of Prussians fought each other to a stalemate and both were forced to pull back to reorganise.

Much of what is left of the French cavalry facing the Prussians, a squadron of lancers line up a tempting target. Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.

Wednesday night was unique in 2011 as it was the first time that all eight of us were present at once. As well as catching up with all the normal nonsense, we were able to set a date for our first visit to the new Wargames Holiday Centre. We decided on the weekend 15-17 July and will be fighting the battle of Marengo so that'll be something to look forward to.

The Prussians forming the Allied left reform after a severe tussle with the French defenders.

Once again Justin turned up with some more of his lovely command figures and though he was somewhat dismissive about them I think they're very nice indeed. He's currently working on something which he constantly refers to as project X which hopefully is wargames related, though knowing Justin it could just as easily be a time machine. There are even dark hints of Projects X2 and X3. Who knows where it will end?

Austrian staff officers, hussars and grenadiers. The figures are by Elite miniatures I think

I can't imagine us finishing the battle next week but we should have a better idea of which way it's going to go so watch this space for further updates.

Business As Usual

2011-04-16T16:16:00.000+01:00

We kicked off the second day of Dom's scenario on wednesday evening with the French forces hemmed in to an almost semi-circular defensive position facing the Prussians on their right and the Austrians on their left.

The French reserve, Middle and Young Guard battalions await the call to action.

On the Allied left things continued much as before with the Prussians trying to force the French right further and further back. Many of the Prussian units saw no action on the first day and are therefore fresh and at 100% strength. Once again the Prussians are attempting to make a hole with their artillery before sending in the infantry to exploit the situation. At the same time they are engaging the flanks of the French right and are in a good position to capture the wood which forms the French extreme right.

Prussian Infantry and divisional cavalry wait patiently for the guns to soften up the French right.

On their left however the French appear to be thinking about making a breakout and have massed a large amount of infantry with heavy cavalry support opposite the Austrians. In response to this move Eric has set his Austrian hordes up in a defensive position though he appears to have the facility to switch to the offensive should the opportunity materialise.

Part of Erics' defenses, six pounder artillery supported by infantry.

Reserves are once again a talking point Dom arrived armed with a pack of cards and each side had to select one to discover when they can start rolling for reinforcements. Quite how the rolling works is still a mystery as I selected a sufficiently high enough card to discount any chance of them arriving for some time yet. Who knows? By the time the Russians finally arrive it could be over one way or the other.

Yet another of Justins' lovely command bases which he brought along this week, this is one of the excellent Calpe Prussian sets.

Next week it looks as if we'll have a full house for the first time in ages, which means eight of us in all. I just hope the biscuits can take the strain.

End of Round One

2011-04-08T16:40:00.000+01:00

Our latest game came to a temporary close last night, no great surprise as there were only two turns until nightfall. This has proved to be just a lull in the action however as we've already set up the table for day two. Dom being one of the French players grudgingly admitted that the Allies have the upper hand after the first day and the new set up has the French forces bottled in to a position which curves back on the right where they face the Prussians.

Prussian infantry get to grips with the French right wing.

The casualties from the first day are carried over to day two which should be interesting. Units which start the game with casualties can be very brittle and it's going to take a little bit of thought about where to put the remaining untouched units. As yet there is little talk of reinforcements though the Allies are aware that a Russian corps is marching towards the battle. Quite when it will arrive though will be subject to the strange system of reinforcement rolls which Dom has devised.

An idea of how heavy the fighting became for the central position. The French managed to hold on until dark and the village in the centre now forms the main strongpoint of their position.

In order to give us a bit more room the terrrain boards have all been moved across by three feet and new terrain has been added behind the French position. This should give us more room to manoeuvre though it does mean that initially we'll be fighting across the gap in the tables. However we all seem to be getting used to that now so it shouldn't be too much of a headache.

Action on the French left. A limited counter-attack carried out by the Poles in order to secure the terrain for the following day.

So the terrain is done for day two and we've got the troop tiles laid out ready for turn one next week. With a bit of luck Neil will be along for the first time in ages which means the photos ought to improve and he might also have some news about the new campaign.

In addition to bringing posh biscuits Justin also brought along three very nice new command figures which he's painted. I think they're the best stuff he's done yet and apparently he's got lots more in the pipeline.

French Carabinnier senior officer, Front Rank figures.

Prussian officer, I think this one is by Calpe.

No picture of the third figure I'm afraid, I couldn't get a shot of it that looked right so we'll have to wait for Neils mini Hubble to do it justice.

The Meat Grinder

2011-04-01T19:55:00.001+01:00

This battle is starting to resemble some of the later clashes during the Napoleonic wars, when tactical finesse was abandoned for the battering ram approach. With only two more turns until nightfall both sides are feeding in more troops in order to do the maximum amount of damage to the enemy before darkness calls a halt to proceedings.

Prussians of V Corps advancing into the area swept clear of enemy by their superior weight of artillery.

Nearly all of the troops from both sides are now fighting on the rear table and the French are slowly being forced back by the Allies on their right flank and in the centre. However Dom's troops holding the French left have inflicted reverses on Erics' hard pressed Austrians, the fighting here seems to have been particularly fierce.

Austrian Jaeger and Grenz form square in the face of freshly arriving Cuirassiers.

The French have received some reinforcements during the game but these have had limited effect due to the space available to deploy them. On the other hand the Russian reinforcements for the Allieswhich have a whole tables worth of space to arrive on have failed to materialise. It's worth pointing out that this is a two day game so doubtless the Russians will eventually get their chance and will be a useful fresh formation to spearhead the Allies next assault.

Wurtemburgers from the reserve corps are thrown in to shore up the French left.

At the moment we don't know how Dom is going to reflect the casualties from this days fighting into the second day. I asked him on Wednesday night but he remained tight lipped, which means he doesn't know either. Either way it should be interesting to see what effect the losses have on the various formations, for instance having fought practically non stop throughout the game on the French right, Nick's light cavalry division is now practically non existent. The same goes for the Prussian heavies that they were fighting against who have also lost heavily.

Chaos in the French centre as pinned guns and infantry in square are about to be charged by the Prussians.

I think it's been four weeks now that we've been playing this game but it will certainly be over next week and then it'll be on to Dom's megolamania part two. I wouldn't be too surprised to see all of the dead formations reconstituted as new ones just so that he can get more stuff on the tables. However hopefully we'll have Neil back in a couple of weeks time and we'll be able to start the new campaign that he's planning.

Part of the French reinforcements, a heavy cavalry division, pour onto the table but are in no position to have much effect. In the middle distance is the fight for the centre.

Another good thing about Neil returning is that he'll be bringing his camera and we won't have to put up with my digital Pentax, which in all honesty isn't really sufficient for this type of photography.

Guns, Guns, Guns.

2011-03-21T14:17:00.000Z

We continue with Doms' interpretation of megolomaniac Napoleonic warfare and by now the Prussians and Austrians have forced the French back into an ever decreasing defensive area. Eric on the right with the Austrians is having a difficult time of things and occaisionally glances over at me and shakes his head. In fairness he has had to advance over difficult terrain against a forbidding gunline whilst on the left my Prussians have been able to advance almost unmolested and are now in a position to start making life very difficult for the French right wing. Still no Neil this week so once again it's down to my photos which for some reason appear to be mostly of guns.

The majority of the Prussian gun line, two six pounder batteries and a horse battery with their flank supported by cavalry.

Thankfully for the French, they have just received some reinforcements though these are still arriving on table and it's not possible to see what they are just yet. This small ray of hope is balanced by the knowledge that three divisions of Russians will also shortly be arriving to bolster the already large number of Allied troops jostling each other for table space.

The rest of the Prussian gunline, an elite twelve pounder battery.

We're trying out a new development on artillery rules in this game. We've gone back to four gun foot batteries, but now each battery is given a rating of elite, line or militia. Elite batteries fire using eight sided dice on the "to hit" table and line use ten sided whereas militia batteries use twelve sided dice. This makes elite batteries particularly effective in counter battery fire.

having taken the first line of hills the Austrians have now set up their guns at close range and are attempting to dislodge the next lot of French defenders.

I'm personally not sure about the new rule yet as I'm always wary of anything that makes artillery more effective than it already is, especially at long range. If we're going to keep using this method then elite grade batteries will need to be kept to a minimum, though it does allow for the big six gun Russian batteries to be graded as militia for firing purposes.

Cleve-Berg infantry take cover behind the crest line awaiting Andy's attack in the centre.

The game continues on wednesday when we'll probably find out what the makeup of the French reinforcements is, I'm betting on at least one regiment of cuirassier but probably two plus more infantry. It may even be that Justin will be dropping in to visit us which will be particularly welcome because he always brings posh biscuits.

Calpe Prussians, Silesians painted by Neil Sheardown which arrived at the garage too late to take part in the current battle but most welcome nonetheless.

I've just started painting up some Front Rank Russian infantry in greatcoats. I've never painted Front Rank figures before but they're quite nice to paint and have a high level of detail. Once I get a few finished I'll stick a picture up.

A Weekend of Play Testing

2011-03-15T20:05:00.001Z

I've just spent the weekend at the new wargames holiday centre play testing rules for the upcoming Marlburian games and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised.

Bavarian Infantry defending Obersdorf

To be honest I'd played a couple of games at the original WHC over the years and had never been overly impressed. I think this was mainly due the fact that I was there to get my annual Napoleonic fix and viewed anything else as a necessary evil to keep the other punters happy.

British heavy cavalry, these lads turned out to be very tough indeed.

I still don't pretend to understand much about the period. I couldn't say when the Seven Years War, The War of the Spanish Succession or the Great Northern War took place and more importantly have no idea of the differences between them. Though I would assume its the varying levels of technology and strategy. To further complicate things I believe one or more of them is referred to as the Lace Wars though I could be wrong and probably am.

The Elector (not sure of what) with more Bavarians

To be fair I shouldn't be surprised that I enjoyed the games so much, look at the number of blogs and articles on TMP which enthuse about the period and it's clear that it has a great appeal for many gamers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to melt down the Napoleonics and start buying hundreds of 18th century figures but I definitely found myself warming to the period and developing a historical interest.

British and Allied troops cross the nebel stream using fascines (bundles of sticks apparently).

It was decided to refight the battle of Blenheim, though as it was a playtest we only used a small portion of the orbats for the first day as though all of us had used the rules before it was quite some time ago. In addition The rules we had were basically fast play sheets with a few paragraphs of definitions and explanatory notes. Not surprisingly we found ourselves applying some Napoleonic mechanisms to fill in the gaps with varying levels of success.

French Line Battalions manning the defences of Blenheim. Infantry proved to be remarkably resilient.

On the second day we laid out the whole battlefield with complete orbats and made our deployments in order to generate specific situations. Cavalry against infantry, infantry against infantry defending earthworks, that sort of thing. This allowed us to test as many of the game mechanics as we could think of and threw up lots of questions to which we hopefully found suitable solutions.

British cavalry line out to cover the advance of the infantry.

The final day was spent in the same way as the previous one with lots of time spent discussing rule interpretations and trying to get an idea of how warfare was carried at this time, both tactically and strategically. The only book on the period I own is Chandlers "Marlborough as a Military Commander" which while in itself seems to be a good reference only scratches the surface of the wars which were fought at this time. So if anyone knows which are the must have books or know of any good online sources I'd be grateful to hear from you.

2011-03-04T18:46:00.001Z

As Neil Diamond once said, "Hello again, Hello". The more astute reader may have noticed a slight period of inactivity here at the Garage of late. I'd like to be able to say that I've been busy saving the world or showing Jennifer Aniston how to get over Brad Pitt, even a couple of months at Her Majesties pleasure would be preferable to admitting that I just got lazy. The thing is the longer I left it the lazier I got, but that's now hopefully all in the past and without further ado it's time to tell you all about what's been going on here in the past few months.

Actually there hasn't been a great deal happening. We still haven't started the new campaign yet as Neil who is running it hasn't been able to attend due to family commitments. This is also the reason why the accompanying photographs in this entry aren't up to Neils' usual high standard. We've had a couple of games in the intervening period which has allowed us to try out some rule modifications and at the moment are just into a new game devised by Dom which pits nearly all of our Prussians and Austrians against what appears to be a very small French force.

Austrians under the command of Eric advance in force against Doms' gun line.

Dom for those of you who don't know, runs a second world war megagame each year using thousands of little square things which are meant to be the various tanks and such like that second world war gamers like so much. Clearly his megolomania has once again gripped him and the orbat for this game basically reads "clear the shelves of any troops you see and put them on the table". Well to be more accurate those are the orders for the Allies. The French orbat appears to be much more parsimonious, (I've always wanted to use that word). It seems to consist of a thin line of French and Polish infantry backed up by some guns. This is fine by me as I'm playing the Prussians.

Some of the aforementioned Prussians, Elite cavalry and mostly Calpe infantry.

We're a bit shorthanded at the moment, as well as Neil being away Steve is working all the hours of the week and Andy has just recovered from man flu, so we're only up to turn six. However we had a productive night last night and the Allied assault is well under way with the Prussians winning the early cavalry encounters.

French infantry who presently appear to have little other option than to take what's coming.

One thing I have had the chance to do in the past few weeks is to pop along to the new Wargames Holiday Centre which has now been moved to a new site just outside Basingstoke. I was lucky enough to get along to the inaugural weekend game which of course had to be Waterloo. I didn't originally go along to play, just to lend a litttle moral support to Mark Freeth who is the new man at the helm. However on the Sunday the guy playing the British right flank was unable to come along due to illness and I was coerced into taking on his command, or what was left of it. Despite having three divisions of infantry and a cavalry division I discovered that Hougomont was held by just two battalions of Brunswickers and that all of the artillery on this flank had been lost. Hougomont inevitably fell with hardly a shot fired, and from then on it was really just a case of trying to stem the tide of blue coated troops who gleefully raced around the flank.

More Calpe Prussians, advancing in column of march this time.

The game was adjudged a French victory but more importantly was a great success for Marks' first weekend with paying customers. Throughout the game there were website updates with a turn by turn description of the game. I was surprised to find out how many people were actually following proceedings online. Mark has lots of other games planned including WWII, ACW and even Marlburian, if you're interested I'll be sticking the link to the shiney new website on the end of this post.

Elite Prussian Landwehr advancing behind the line troops.

Finally as many of you will be aware Mike Ingham who took over the running of the WHC from Peter Gilder many years ago, passed away on the 6th of February after a long illness. Sadly he never got to see the new WHC but was instrumental in helping Mark set it up and was enormously enthusiastic about the whole project. Mike was a kind, thoughtful, intelligent and funny man who I shall personally miss enormously, as I know will so many others both in the wargaming fraternity and in the wider world. I was able to attend his funeral in Scarborough on the 14th along with so many others who had been privelidged to know him and it was a fitting celebration of his life. My thoughts are with Margeret his wife, and his family.

The website address for the new WHC is: http://www.wargameshc.co.uk/

2010-11-27T11:25:00.001Z

Yet again the Allies tasted the bitter fruit of defeat at the hands of the plucky French on Wednesday night. Having reached turn twenty two and with the opening session of the first Ashes test match fast approaching we called it a night on our current game. It had been once again an interesting tussle with a fair amount of ebb and flow but as I alluded to in the last blog entry it became increasingly difficult for the Allies as time wore on.

Dom's Hungarian Grenadiers who finally wrested control of the woods from Neils' Westphalians only to find that the battle had left them behind.

Rather than outline the orbats in full I'll just give the total numbers involved for each side:

French (starting forces)

25 x Bns Infantry

2 x Regt Hvy Cavalry

4 x Regt Lt Cavalry

12 x Guns in 4 Bty's

Three infantry and one cavalry division.

Reserves (used)

2 x Regt Hvy Cavalry

1 x Regt Lt Cavalry

3 x Guns in 1 Bty

Reserves (not used)

14 x Bns Infantry

1 x Regt Lancer

6 Guns in 2 Bty's

Two infantry Divisions.

French Heavy cavalry with Wurtemburg light cavalry attached switch from the left flank to the centre leaving their horse battery to cover against any further Allied advance.

Allies(starting forces)

28 x Bns Infantry

4 x Regt Lt Cavalry

1 x Regt Uhlan

21 Guns in 6 Bty's

Four infantry and one cavalry division.

Reserves(used)

3 x Regt Cuirassier

3 x Guns in 1 Bty

Reserves(not used)

16 x Bns Infantry

7 Guns in 2 Bty's

Two infantry divisions.

Andy's Hungarians enjoy fleeting success against Erics line forcing him into retreat, but routs on their flank sapped their enthusiasm for further action and they were unable to exploit their gains.

As can be seen, though the Infantry and cavalry arms were relatively balanced there was a huge disparity in the amount of artillery available to each side. This was further compounded by the fact that a third of the Allies guns were twelve pounders and that two of their batteries had Elite crews whereas the French had six and eight pound batteries with line crews. The question I suppose is why didn't the Allies make more use of this advantage to achieve a win? I think the problem was twofold, firstly the ground which the Allies were attacking over especially on their right made it difficult to concentate fire from guns and often they were masked by their own infantry. Secondly the Allies failed to spot the one place where they would have the opportunity to employ a grand battery which was their extreme left. Instead they employed a succession of localised attacks against equivalent forces and their artillery was often left unused.

The remnants of Justins' Russian line division gamely attempt to exert some pressure on the Swiss to support the attack of the Russian Elite division, but get toasted for their troubles.

So another game over and we'll be starting afresh next Thursday. At the moment there is nothing specific planned though I've been mulling over the idea of a small scale battle using just the one table. The idea is to introduce a bit more manouevre and a modified command and control structure into a game to see what happens.

Finally the answers to the questions I posed in the last entry, yes, no and not bloody likely.

2010-11-22T19:04:00.002Z

We continued last weeks game on Wednesday, there being just the eight of us this time as Steve had to work. Once again the Allies attempted to push forwards and were in each case repulsed. Dom attacking across some pretty awful ground was unable to make any real headway against Neils' confederation troops and ended the evening with a large part of his infantry in retreat. To be fair he did throw some consistently poor morale dice for his troops but even if they had held on for another turn or two the outcome was never really in question.

A combination of tough terrain stalwart defending by Neil and fickle dice Gods leave Doms' Austrians with nowhere to go but backwards.

Things were no better for the Allies on the other table, Justins' Russian line division having lost the support of its foot battery attempted to slog onwards against French guard and elite troops with the almost inevitable consequence that nearly the whole division ended the evening in rout.

"Routed Ground" markers litter the area where Justins' Russians had been just moments before. In the background three elite, (yes elite, and each one with a staff officer) regiments of Russian cuirassier make their entrance.

For this game Eric has introduced a reinforcement system based on escalation. Basically on a given turn the Allied commander was asked if he wished to escalate the battle by deploying one of a number of optional reserve formations. If he decided to deploy reserves then the French were allowed to do the same from the reserves which they had available. In this case the Allied commander decided to bring on his cuirassier division and fortunately for the French their choice was also a cavalry division consisting of two regiments of dragoons and two light cavalry regiments. The next choice of whether to deploy reserves fell to the French four or five turns later. However being happy with the state of the battle and extremely wary of Erics' blatantly Francophobe orbat they decided not to utilise their reserves thereby denying any fresh troops to the Allies.

The Russian Elite division, two guard and four elite battalions. Possibly the Allies last remaining hope for victory.

With the game stalemated on the Allied right and their centre in tatters it appears that the one real chance of a victory in this game will come from their left where the Russian elites are currently advancing to take on the weakened French guard division who are still holding on to their original defensive line. If they can break through then they may be able to roll up the extended French line giving Doms' remaining Austrians the opportunity to break through against Neil.

Front Rank Austrian hussars, I know the colour combination isn't everyones' cup of tea but I think they're lovely, and I get to choose the photos.

So will the Russians break through? Can Neil hold on? Will Eric ever discover how the kettle works? Answers to all of these questions and more in the next installment after Wednesdays game.

A Matter of Balance.

2010-11-17T19:29:00.000Z

We had a full house for last thursdays game which meant nine of us in the garage. Understandably it was a little crowded but we were able to get a new game started and play the first nine turns. This is another game designed by Eric and is loosely based on the aftermath of our previous game. The French orbat is very similar to the previous one though some losses have been factored in, for instance the Elite division has lost two of its elite young guard battalions.

Russian Hussars manouevering past a new piece of marsh terrain, one of a couple which Justin kindly brought along on the night.

The Allied orbat on the other hand has undergone some radical changes. Following the loss of their entire Prussian Corps the poor things are having to make do with a fresh Russian corps including a Russian elite division and yet another elite twelve pounder battery. In addition to this they have just deployed three regiments of cuirassier plus a horse battery and this is only the stuff that the French can see. The likelihood of more Russians and even a division of Prussians arriving is high.

Doms' Austrians in a bit of a log jam attempting to head towards their supply lines.

The scenario is one of pursuing French forces moving parrallel to their Austrian counterparts in order to keep them cut off from supply. This movement is stopped by the appearance of the Russian forces who have immediately attacked the head of the French column. Their initial attack has so far been unsuccesful but it would appear that numbers must eventually tell.

A division of Russian infantry advancing to test their mettle against French Elite and Guard troops

in a defensive position.

The initial turns have in general gone the way of the French including an early cavalry melee in which a couple of light cavalry squadrons gave some Russian uhlans a bit of a pasting for no loss to themselves. In addition the first Russian attack on the French held village at the centre of the table has been repulsed though not without some loss to the defenders. The arrival of the Russian Cuirassier will doubtless make things very difficult for French to carry out any counter attacks as what little cavalry they have is on the other table facing off another Allied cavalry division.

The view from behind the French lines during the first Russian assault.

We continue the game tonight with all but Steve present and it should prove an interesting if tough task for the French players. There is still the option for more reserves to be deployed and the decision whether or not to do so may be key to the final outcome.

As a final point all of the above photos were taken by Andy using a tripod and a long shutter speed (I think that's the right term). personally I think they're really nice and hopefully we can look forward to loads more of Andy's pics in the future.

A Game of Two Halves and Some Interesting News

2010-11-10T21:21:00.000Z

We called it a day on our one off game at somewhere around turn twenty three. As the title says it had been a game of two distinct battles taking place one on each table. On the Northern table a Prussian Corps commanded by Andy supported by Nicks Austrians were up against the best of the French forces, a strong Guard division and a good line division commanded at different times by Neil, Steve and Eric. The tables were deemed as being seperated by a long wooded area which took time to transit and had the effect of unforming most troops who passed through it. First deployments on the Northern table had the French 6th Div defending a central village against the Prussians with The Austrians arriving from the West.

Part of Andy's Prussian corps in its start position, at this stage things were looking decidedly grim for the French.

Unfortunately for the Prussians they soon discovered themselves to be flanked by the arrival of the French guard supported by another line corps on their left. With such a linear position Andy found his command being rolled up from the left as the Guard relentlesly drove all before it. This left the assault of the French held town to Nicks' Austrians a struggle which continued for the remainder of the game with neither side gaining a clear advantage.

The Guard (2 x 36 Guard and 6 x 32 Elites) arrive to ruin Andys' day.

On the Southern table the French position also looked difficult. The two French divisions moving up to support the village (7th and 8th Divs) over one third of which was made up of militia found themselves to be outflanked by an Austrian line corps and an Elite Grenadier division. This led to some hasty redeployment for the French. The original village garrison, 6th Div, was recalled through the woods to assist its parent corps whilst the newly arriving 5th Div from I Corps was rushed in to fill the gap.

7th Division form line to their left from the line of march to counter the unexpected arrival of a strong Austrian force.

Fortunately for the French defenders on the Southern table the terrain had the effect of breaking up the Austrian advance with the result that their attacks went in peicemeal and suffered heavy casualties before being able to close with the French defenders. This slow advance also allowed fresh troops to arrive in time to shore up any gaps which appeared in the French line. Eventually enough troops were able to arive to make the Austrian assault impractical and this part of the battle became a stalemate with the Allies main strike force, the Grenadiers, unable to make their presence felt.

Young Guard assaulting the Prussian left flank, with the loss of this village there were no more defensive positions available to the Prussians and they were rolled up.

The battle was eventually won and lost on the Northern table. The French Guard with their greater movement and combat power were able to cut through the Prussian defenders resulting in the loss of almost the entire Prussian corps. This is the first time we have used Guard quality troops in our games and it was an interesting example of how useful they can be in the right place at the right time. Though there were only two battalions they did have a marked effect as could be expected though as much as anything it was the psychological effect of being up against them that made much of the difference.

The Southern table showing the difficult terrain (centre and right) which broke up Doms' attacks.

So all in all a useful and enjoyable game which allowed us to test out some minor rule amendments, most of which I outlined in the previous post. I particularly like the idea of allowing riflemen some offensive firing capability and the dropping of the -4 for cannister against single rank cavalry made people think twice about using frontal, single squadron charges against guns. We made a change to one of the amendments during the game by allowing troops to move tactically (12" for infantry 18" for cavalry) regardless of their proximity to the enemy as long as the whole of the turn was spent in column of march formation. This seemed to work well and does away with the idea of "doubling" troops every fourth turn. Admittedly as yet we haven't come up with a solution for skirmishers but we're getting together again for another one off battle on thursday night so we'll probably work something out by then.

Elite Miniatures Westphalians painted by Neil Sheardown for no other reason than I think they're gorgeous.

Finally the title of this entry states that there's some good news and indeed there is. The Wargames Holiday Centre whose sad demise I was bemoaning a few posts ago has been given a new lease of life. It appears that the whole lot is to be relocated to Basingstoke (about an hour outside London) and will be reopening its doors early in next year. To be honest I had heard a few whispers about this but it was very much "pie in the sky" at the time. The man taking up this particular Marshalls' Baton is Mark Freeth whom some of you may already know, I'll be speaking to him in the next few days and will try to get some more details such as prices and an itinerary which I'll then post on the blog.

An Interlude

2010-10-20T17:21:00.001+01:00

We are currently between campaigns here at the garage and so we decided to play a one off battle or two with in order to try out several minor rule amendments. I stress the fact that these are minor changes as we are fully aware of how the balance of the game can be shifted by too much tweaking. So what are the changes? Well unless you're familiar with ITGM then they'll probably mean little to you but for those of you who do use the rule set here they are:

1. No -4 when firing cannister at single rank cavalry.

2. Grenz are graded as elite infantry when taking unforming checks in woods.

3. Horse batteries fire once.

4. No doubling. Tactical move speed is allowed outside a given range of the enemy and this is variable depending on the scenario. A typical example would be 12" for infantry, 18" for cavalry when 36" or more from any visible enemy formation.

5. Rifle armed troops, line and skirmishers, may move half a move and fire at half effect.

Reinforcements in the shape of a Westphalian Division hurry forward to supportthe hard pressed French left flank.

One or two of these rule changes we've tried before and are happy that they work, we'll have to wait and see for the others.

On to the battle itself, this one has been devised by Eric and pits a French force against a large force of Austrians and Prussians supported by a Russian light cavalry division. We've been playing the game for a few turns now so I think it won't be giving too much away to publish the orbats:

French I Corps

4 Div

2 x 36 Guard

6 x 32 Elite

1 x 3 Gun 8lb bty

1 x 24 Lancer

5 Div

4 x 36 Vet

4 x 36 1st

4 x 36 2nd

1 x 3 Gun 8lb bty

Attached Cavalry Division

2 x 32 Dragoon

2 x 24 Lt Cav

1 x 3 Gun Hse bty

An Austrian line division supported by Russian light cavalry make their push against the French centre.

II Corps

6 Div

3 x 32 Vet

2 x 36 2nd

4 x 36 Mil

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

1 x 32 Dragoon

1 x 24 Lancer

7 Div

3 x 32 Vet

2 x 36 2nd

4 x 36 Mil

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

8 Div

2 x 36 Vet

2 x 36 2nd

2 x 36 Mil

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

On the face of it then a decent force with a nucleus of good troops bulked out with a fair amount of dross.

Austrian Grenzer, one of two 48 man battalions painted by Alan Tuckey of Blue Turkey Painting service which have recently arrived at the garage.

Allied Corps (Yorke)

1st Div

1 x 24 Lt Cav

1 x 32 Elite

3 x 32 1st

2 x 32 2nd

3 x 32 Landwehr

1 x 3 Gun 12lb bty

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

2nd Div

1 x 24 Hvy Cav

4 x 32 1st

3 x 32 2nd

2 x 32 Landwehr

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

Austrian Jaeger (Elite Miniatures) which can now be used in a more offensive manner.

Allied Corps (Radetsky)

1st Div

1 x 36 Jaeger

6 x 36 Elite

1 x 3 Gun 12lb bty (Elite)

2nd Div

1 x 48 Grenz

3 x 48 1st

3 x 48 2nd

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

1 x 24 Hussar

3rd Div

1 x 48 Grenz

3 x 48 1st

3 x 48 2nd

1 x 3 Gun 6lb bty

1 x 24 Hussar

Allied Cavalry

4 x 5 Cossacks

1 x 32 Uhlan

2 x 32 Hussar

1 x 3 Gun 6lb hse bty

Pretty much equal in terms of cavalry and infantry numbers though the two 12lb batteries make a noticeable difference.

Prussian infantry holding the Aliied left flank come under heavy pressure from the Young Guard.

We reconvene on thursday evening though Eric who devised the scenario is suspiciously unavailable. I'll get a battle report sorted out and hopefully we'll have some first impressions of the rule changes we've tried.

Tight Finish at Gotha

2010-10-04T15:20:00.000+01:00

The battle of Gotha went all the way to the wire with the Allies eventually taking their final objective on turn twenty four, the last turn of the game. Nicks' Austrians despite having been initially repulsed stormed forward to throw Andy's stubborn defenders out and leave Dom the French commander with little choice other than to issue an order for his troops to withdraw under the cover of darkness.

Neil's Russians storm the first village to be captured in the centre of the French line, the small wood to the right would remain in French hands for the remainder of the game.

The French position was based on a crescent of five villages which curved backwards towards the French side of the battlefield from their left. A reserve consisting of a division of Young Guard and a heavy cavalry division was positioned to the rear centre of the line where it could move to reinforce any threatened areas and another division of heavy cavalry was placed on the left though the ground there was possibly not best suited to their abilities.

Andy's French await the onslaught of Nick's massed Austrians supported by Russian Cuirassier

Though the French began the game with all of their troops on table the Allies had to wait for reinforcements to arrive based on a dice throw added to the current game turn. Fortunately for them Nick was able to bring his troops on relatively early as they had the longest way to go to engage the French right. A further Austrian division arrived on table to bolster the Allied right and this was able to put heavy pressure on Eric's thinly spread troops.

The reserve Young Guard division move out to shore up the French centre right. This was the only part of the original line which remained in French hands by the end of the game.

Almost inevitably the large numerical advantage enjoyed by Neil's Allied army eventually began to tell and despite localised victories the French were eventually pushed out of all but one of their defensive points. On the final turn Nick's Austrians finally ousted their opponents and the game ended in a victory for the Allies. This was useful for Neil as his army had it been defeated would have been out of supply and forced to retreat across country with the loss of most of its' guns and a large number of troops.

The final moments of the game, Nick's Allied troops prove too strong and numerous for Andy's French.

So another Allied victory and it was once again back to map movement. However with Dom's army which had been already weakened by the loss of a large part of one corp now suffering losses in another battle the French were relying on Eric's army in the north and Andy's army in the south. Unfortunately for the French, Andy had been forced to garrison Erfurt with one of his corps and when whilst trying to withdraw out of reach of Neils' troops Andys' remaining force bumped into Schwarzenburg commanded by Steve it was all over. It was decided that a fight between Steves' untouched army backed up by the Russian guard division and Andys' battered corps would have been to uneven and Eric graciously conceded defeat in the campaign.

Althought the campaign is over we will be starting another in the near future and will implement some further rule modifications a few of which we'll be trialling in a series of one off battles starting this week. I'll list the rule mods in my next update for anyone who's interested.

The End of an Era

2010-09-21T16:24:00.000+01:00

Each year for nearly thirty years now I've been fortunate enough to spend at least a week at the Wargames Holiday centre in Scarborough. For my first few visits the place was run by Peter Guilder a charming and humorous man who's decision to start a centre for wargamers has had a huge bearing on my enjoyment of the hobby. The centre was then taken over by Mike Ingham who probably like me had fallen in love with the place as a customer. A few years later Mike was joined by Gerry Elliot, and for the past seventeen years the two of them have put on countless games for the paying public to enjoy. Sadly due to Mike suffering from ill health the centre will close its doors for the last time later this year and though there are a few rumours of other interested parties taking up the mantle no one has yet come forward publicly.

The British led by Moore and Wellesley begin their assault on the thinly held French line.

I've just returned from another week of playing an excellent Peninsular campaign with a group of friends each and everyone of whom I have met through playing at the centre over the years. In truth it does seem sad that without the centre to act as a focal point anymore, at least some of those friendships will fade.

As well as being a focal point the centre has acted as an inspiration to myself, and I'm sure many others and my own gaming set up is completely based upon it. During my time in the armed forces it would have been impossible to accumulate and store even a modest 28mm army and the chances of finding opponents were even more remote. So each year I'd head up to NorthYorkshire for my annual fix of gaming, returning with unfulfilled plans of doing the whole thing in 6mm or 15mm.

Oddly enough I've often considered that I was in many ways "spoiled" by my visits to the centre. Having seen and participated in games on such a scale, with thousands of 28mm figures laid out amongst superb scenery I found it difficult to adapt to club level games which had to played out in an evening and with comparatively small forces.

British and KGL cavalry await their chance to get into the action.

That isn't me taking a pot shot at wargaming clubs by the way, it's just a portrayal of how wargaming can be if people have the time space and money to do it. Unfortunately for most of us at least one if not all three of those commodities are in short supply.

The title of this entry is "The End of an Era", I did think about putting a question mark at the end but the truth is that regardless of what happens in the future an era is definitely ending. There will be no more driving to Folkton each morning, no more smell from the pig farm down the road, no more nights out in Scarborough or long journeys home to Plymouth at the end of another week. However when one era ends another begins so with a bit of luck some brave soul will throw his hat into the ring and perhaps in the future I'll be entitling a blog entry "The Start of a new Era", I for one sincerely hope so.

The British flank attack by Fane and Paget begins to roll up the crumbling French right.

Well so much for pathos, (not the musketeer). I feel I should mention that our battle at Gotha is reaching it's conclusion with only three turns before nightfall forces a halt to hostilities. The Allies are poised to breakthrough at two key points and if succesful the French will have to decide whether they should regroup and fight on for another day or withdraw.

A "library" picture from a game at the WHC now forgotten but one which I couldn't resist.

So we meet once more on wednesday evening where the fate of Dom's French troops will be decided. A report and more pictures to follow.

New Arrivals and a New Battle

2010-08-30T17:17:00.000+01:00

It's been a quiet period at the garage for the past couple of weeks due in main to the end of one battle followed by a protracted series of map moves in which six opposing armies managed to dance around each other without coming to grips. Fortunately for all of us Neil decided to try and take Erfurt but discovering that it was strongly garrisoned turned back in the direction he had come from only to find Dom's army sitting across his lines of communication at Gotha.

Pre 1809 Elizabethgrad Hussars take on a squadron of the 2nd lancers, two newly arrived units both painted by Neil Sheardown.

For Neil there was no choice but to fight if he wanted to reopen his lines of communication but Dom with a weakend force had a difficult decision to make. In the end the presence of the reserve grenadier division attached to his army made his mind up for him and he decided to make a stand. This led to us setting up the terrain for the battle of Gotha a task which takes some time and so it wasn't until this week that we got the game under way.

More new arrivals, two of the four battalions of Elite Russians painted by Alan Tuckey of Blue Turkey painting service (email address at the bottom of the page) flags as always by GMB.

In an effort to make a more interesting battlefield which used both tables and allowed us to play the game with some depth the table was set up with the French defensive line angled back on the right flank. This area was left open enough to hopefully negate the problems of fighting across the gap in the tables but time will tell if this has been successful. The opening moves have been relatively cagey so far, Dom has loaded up his left flank and centre, leaving the right open but with enough reserves to cover the gap if necessary. Neil began the game with only two divisions deployed and has bided his time until his reserves arrive, he has a large numerical advantage, mainly in infantry but also in artillery once his army is complete. This should allow him to pick his point of attack after forcing Dom to deploy his reserves so it would appear that at the moment the Allies have the upper hand though it's still a close call.

The battlefield from the Northeast, the French lines run from the two villages on the near table back towards Gotha on the rear table and then to the village just visible at the back of the table.

On Wednesday we got as far as turn eight most of which was taken up by rolling for the arrival of new troops and artillery duels, during which both sides have have a gun destroyed by artillery fire. A relatively rare occurence in ITGM. Neils troops are now on average fighting their third battle in as many weeks of game time and the influx of replacements has had an effect on their level of experience but it is still a potent force. Dom on the other hand has a smaller force but much of it is well trained with the added bonus of the elite division. So it appears that this should be a test of quality or quantity? Maybe we'll find out on Wednesday night.

Calpe Prussian Horse Artillery not actually taking part in this game but another new arrival at the garage.

As promised the Blue Turkey painting service can be contacted at http://www.blueturkey.co.uk/

French Victory at Seehausen

2010-08-12T13:04:00.000+01:00

The campaign game at Seehausen came to an end last night by mutual consent of both sides. Nicks' attack floundered against Erics' defence and it was agreed that no further purpose would be served by continuing. So what went wrong for the Allies who have so far been the dominant side in the campaign? Well with the 20-20 vision of hindsight Nicks' decision to attack through the centre was always going to be difficult to carry out. The Allied right was open terrain and Nick sensibly placed heavy cavalry there, though he also placed a heavy division on his left wing where the ground was much less favourable to cavalry.

The battlefield from the mid left of the Allied line. Prussians attempt to get forward against the French held villages but are thwarted by cavalry and lines of infantry.

This splitting of his cavalry strength left Nick at a numerical disadvantage on the right where his squadrons were soundly beaten by the French heavies. From this point onwards the task for the Allies was going to be extremely difficult. The infantry supporting the Allied cavalry was unable to advance and therefore spent the rest of the game trading artillery at long range and the French with their left flank now secure were able to channel more reserves into the centre.

Line infantry supported by Landwehr, having finally cleared the woods on each flank find themselves unable to reach their objective due to heavy fire and heavy cavalry.

With both flanks stalemated the game now revolved around the fight for the two villages in the centre. The right hand one of the two from the Allied side was to be assaulted by the Russians and the left hand one by Prussians. The Russians had by far the more difficult task, their right flank was now threatened by cavalry and the front of the village was an area of broken ground making a frontal assault almost impossible.

Russian troops try in vain to get past the various obstacles in their path in order to launch an assault on the village. French reserves, by this time outnumbering the attackers wait to counter attack.

On the Russian left the Prussians pushed slowly forward but having taken too long to clear the woods on their flanks found the French well positioned and ready for them. With too much of their strength used up forcing single battalions out of the woods the remaining Prussians were never going to be able to absorb the casualties they would incur assaulting the village and they began to edge left in order to avoid the volley fire of French lines. At this point it was decided by all that there was little else to be gained as the Allies had decided to withdraw and so we started to clear away. It was a bit of a shame that the game had ended so quickly and I think much of it was due to me having allowed the French reserves to arrive a little too quickly. A slower and more spaced out arrival would have made the French line harder to hold, as it was by the time the Allies got into position the French reserves had either arrived or were practically in position, it's one that I'll have to think about for future games.

Four Prussian battalions capture the woods from a single French battalion, a case of overkill which denied troops to the Prussian main attack.

One of the highpoints of last night was that we had a visit from Justin Davey, a one time regular who decided to take a break from painting and gaming. Justin brought along his first painting project for some time which came as a very nice surprise. This vignette of Napoleon and some of his mates all beautifully painted and laid out. I think the figures are foundry which are small by most modern standards being more of a true 25mm casting.

Justins' first project in over a year, he was going to throw the figures away and then had a change of heart and decided to paint them.

Finally I was asked what camera Neil Braddon uses for the pictures which are used here on the blog and he informs me that it's a Canon EOS 450D, most shots are 18-55 IS some are 55-250 IS whatever that means.

Cavalry Clash at Seehausen

2010-07-31T12:48:00.000+01:00

The action in our campaign has finally moved away from the area around Menningen, northwards to Seehausen which is a small town on one of the Elbe crossings. Nicks Allied army of Pomerania has advanced to take on Erics French army of the Weser and rather than be caught with his back to the Elbe Eric has moved out to meet him. Initial deployments saw Eric station one infantry corps to hold his centre with his flanks covered by the small amount of cavalry he had available at the beginning of the game.

The battlefield from the northeast. The Allies prepare to deploy on the far table edge with the French defending a line based on the two villages.

The ground on the French left is very open and perfect for cavalry operations. However initially Eric only had two regiments of light cavalry to cover the space and it soon became clear that the Allies had also spotted the potential for their cavalry to exploit the area.

Russian infantry deploy to assault the French centre.

Fortunately for Eric his reinforcements arrived in good time and heavy cavalry was rushed to cover the space left by the withdrawing lights. It soon became apparent that both sides had stationed a large amount of cavalry on the same flank and that a major clash was likely to occur. Elsewhere the Allied infantry in the centre moved slowly forward to take on what appeared to be a very tough defensive position and on their left yet another heavy cavalry formation threaded its way forward through the woods and steep hills towards the remainder of the French cavalry. It was very clear however that the first phase of the battle was going to be a large cavalry combat on the Allied right.

Cuirassier and Dragoons take up position on the left flank to oppose the Allied advance.

There was enough open space for each side to line out on a four squadron frontage but in taking time to do this the Allies lost the numerical advantage they initially enjoyed as more French cavalry joined the line. In the end both sides declared charges against each other and the combat began. We decided to treat the whole thing as one combat which in retrospect was probably wrong as there were issues regarding the reinforcement of melees which had to be ignored. This probably worked to the benefit of the French but it's unlikely the effect would have been crucial.

French Cuirassier,Dragoons and Chevaux Legier mixing it with Russian Cuirassier, Dragoons and Uhlans.

The combat was epic to say the least and continued for three rounds of melee but eventually the fact that the French had the ability to continually outnumber the Russian cavalry with fresh squadrons made the difference and the Russians broke. This has left a very large hole on the Allied right and though the French cavalry will take time to recover its order, the Russian infantry in the centre is now going to have to form some sort of defensive position on its right flank which will obviously have to come from the troops designated for the push against the centre.

The Russian centre prior to the cavalry combat. These troops will now have to suffer the attentions of roving French heavy cavalry.

So first blood to the French and a difficult situation for the allies, but we're still only on turn seven and plenty more can happen to change the ebb and flow of the game. No game next week as several people can't make it so my next blog update will feature some of the new units which have arrived in the past few months.

2010-07-28T11:19:00.000+01:00

There's been a lull in blog related activity of late, mainly because our second Menningen game was abandoned after both commanders decided that there was little to be gained by continuing but also because last week we all packed our bags and headed off to Scarborough for a long weekend at the Wargames Holiday Centre. I'll briefly cover the fallout from the Menningen game first of all, both sides having taken moderately heavy casualties in certain formations made the decision to withdraw. The Allies pulled back their advance division in Menningen and the French withdrew to Schweinfurt. In retrospect it wasn't the best game we've had due to the lack of involvement for several players. I have to put my hand up for that as I allowed Neil to set up too far forward on his initial deployment. what I should have done was adjudicate an opening encounter and then got the players to set up for a larger scale game.

Chris Cornwell (aka itinerant wargamer) gives his dice a good talking to, Mark Freeth wonders about his sanity.

So, as I said we all headed up to sunny Scarborough in Gods' own Yorkshire on thursday to play a couple of games on a truly grand scale. The first game was loosely based on Corruna, an indication of how loosely based it was is that I had command of the Kings German Legion. This didn't of course detract from the game which I think ended in a marginal victory for the French. One of the odd but possibly realistic things that happen on a thirty foot long table is that you have no idea about what is going on outside the player to your left and right. This can often result in people being convinced that having won in their sector they were on the victorious side, only to discover that large parts of their army are streaming from the the battlefield.

A nice shot from the Corunna game, British infantry attempt to cling on to the two central villages which are the key to the game. In the background Chris continues to berate his dice.

The game lasted until about two o'clock on Friday, and then we packed it all away and started the briefings and planning stage for the battle of Goerlitz. This is a fictional encounter in 1813 btween the Allies and the French commanded by Napoleon. Initial dispositions have the French thinly spread but with reinforcements arriving quickly. The Allies have the initial advantage in numbers but their reinforcements arrive at a much more leisurely pace.

The French take the first of the two villages at Corruna, in the centre of the shot are the "terrible 57th" (white shako covers) leading the line.

On the Allied right flank Eric discovered that his single corps was being assaulted by two French corps and was slowly forced further and further back. In the centre the Russians had more success and were able to push the French out of their defensive line. On the left Gordon and myself found that his infantry corps and my cavalry corps were opposed by seven regiments of light cavalry and lancers which meant that we had to get forward as quickly as possible before French reinforcements turned up.

Russian Guard infantry storm a French held village with great elan. This village had previously been held by the Poles and had cost the Russians heavy casualties in an unsuccesful attempt to take it.

The battle swung back and forth as they have a tendency to do and I became involved in my own little section of it so I can't really say what else was going on for much of the time. Gordon on my left was able to occupy a village covering the river crossing on our left flank and I was able to force back the light cavalry with my heavies. All was going well until the sound of bugles and a cloud of dust heralded the arrival of the entire French Guard on our unguarded left flank. Two divisions of Young Guard and one of Old Guard plus the Guard cavalry meant we had to redeploy quickly. Fortunately they would have to cross a river first and this allowed Gordon enough time to turn to his flank and deploy into some semblance of a defensive line.

The final act for the French cavalry, all that was left of the Saxon Garde Du Corps and the 1st Carabinniers after an abortive attempt to take on more than twice their number of Russian heavies.

Gordons' troops were never going to much more than a speed bump but they played their part and delayed the Guard for long enough to allow the Allies to take the centre. The final result was a marginal Allied victory, depending on who you listen to of course but as always we all had a great time and that's really the only thing that matters.

Tomorrow night we continue the campaign with the battle of Seehausen. Neil is away for a couple of weeks so you'll have to make do with my photography but I'll try to get a blog update done at the weekend.

Second Menningen

2010-07-09T22:20:00.001+01:00

You could forgive the good folk of Menningen for being just a little bit fed up with our current campaign. After the defeat of the French army of the Saale and its subsequent retreat towards Fulda, Neils' allied army of Bavaria-Ansbach took the opportunity to rest and recouperate at the scene of their triumph. However their relaxation was cut short by the news that the French army of the Danube had left Wurtzburg and was now advancing up the road from Schweinfurt. Neil had the option of standing his ground or retiring towards Widensong with the disadvantage that this would leave his army unrested, being a wargamer he decided on the former.

Russian heavy cavalry, dragoons and cuirassier, show the plucky but short lived French lights the pointy ends of their swords.

Like the Allies before them the French were attacking northwards towards Menningen though this time the difference was that the Allies had decided to contest the southern suburbs of the town by placing and avant garde division and a heavy cavalry division in the area. The remainder of the Allied army was drawn up in a line based on the Menningen - Widensong road some distance to their rear. On the face of it this left the avant garde force in a dangerously isolated position.

French Infantry supported by heavy cavalry advance into the open ground opposite Menningen.

The French deployment left them with a corps directly in front of Menningen and the remainder of their forces arrayed in a mass with a large open space to their front. Things were looking bleak for the isolated Allied division as more and more French troops arrived and began to move in to position to cut off their avenue of retreat. Unfortunately for the playability of the game it appeared that the French had no intention of engaging the main Allied force and were solely concentrating on destroying the Allied avant gard. This meant that at least two of the Allied players would be reduced to the role of spectators.

Austrian infantry and artillery feeling a little unloved await the onslaught.

The initial action commenced with a cavalry combat on the Allied right between Russian curassier and dragoons, and French light cavalry. The result would prove to be an indicator of French fortunes for the rest of the evening. The heavies swept away their original opponents and though the dragoons returned to their own lines the cuirassier rallied on the spot and crashed into more light cavalry. Very quickly two regiments of French light cavalry had been effectively taken out of the battle for little loss to the Russians.

French infantry experience more bad luck while assaulting Austrian veterans.

In order to achieve their aim of destroying the single Allied division the French opted to assault the woods where most of the Allied infantry was located. Three columns moved into position supported by close range fire from their artillery. The Allies charged in and suffered only two casualties per battalion from defensive fire but this was enough for one of the attackers to decide that discretion was the better part of valour and break into retreat. Even with this setback the remaining two battalions were still confident of success and crashed into the line. Being in column they immediately became unformed in the woods but their impetus and numbers meant that that they won the first round of melee. Amazingly the line passed its morale and was reinforced by another battalion in line which was able to maintain its order. The second round was lost by the attackers and they broke, routing away from the woods.

French Lancers and Austrian Hussars mixing it, once again the dice Gods interceded on the side of the Allies.

On the Allied left the mass of French cavalry continued to advance, being opposed by only a single regiment of light cavalry. The Lancers finally got into position to attack and both sides charged, the French were able to get heavy cavalry in place to reinforce the melee in the second round whilst the Allies had no one to call on. Once again the French failed to do enough damage whereas the hussars achieved seven kills. The lancers broke and the hussars pursued, neatly extracting them from the danger of the hovering dragoons.

French Cuirassier regiments waiting to make their impression on the battle.

Due to the centralised nature of the game we got through eleven turns pretty quickly and though there was little for some of us to do it was still an interesting contest. By the end of the evening the avant garde despite having fought off the initial attacks were beginning to get cut off by the advancing French. We'll have to see next week whether to come to an adjudication of the game or whether there is any value in playing a few more turns. Stay tuned.

Allied Victory at Menningen

2010-06-26T19:26:00.003+01:00

Despite their best efforts the Allies still managed to get a victory on thursday evening. In the end it seems that the sheer weight of numbers made the difference and the Allies were able to break through the French centre cutting off VI Corps, the survivors of which were forced to retreat through the woods to their rear. Things didn't go all the way of the Allies as the Russian left which consisted of Doktorovs' Corps was comprehensively defeated by the French right.

The game at the beginning of turn 16. In the foreground French forces hold stubbornly onto the small village while Doktorovs infantry attempt to reform for another assault. In the centre Austrians from the Hesse Homburg division assault the key central village.

The Orders of battle were as follows:

French

V Corps

3 x 36 Veteran

3 x 36 1st class

2 x 32 1st class

3 x 36 2nd class
2 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty
4 x 6 Light cavalry
VI Corps
2 x 36 Veteran
6 x 36 1st class
2 x 32 1st class
4 x 36 2nd class
1 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty
4 x 6 Light cavalry
II Cavalry Corps
2 x 32 Cuirassier
1 x 32 Dragoons
1 x 24 Light cavalry
1 x 2 gun 6lb horse bty

Allies
Doktorov
1 x 32 Veteran
2 x 48 1st class
3 x 32 1st class
4 x 48 2nd class
2 x 32 2nd class
1 x 4 gun foot bty
1 x 3 gun foot bty
4 x 6 Cuirassier
4 x 8 Dragoons
Bianchi
1 x 32 Veteran
1 x 36 Jaeger (Elite)
1 x 36 Grenz
1 x 36 Veteran
2 x 36 1st class
3 x 32 1st class
2 x 32 2nd class
1 x 4 gun 6lb foot bty
1 x 3gun 6lb horse bty
4 x 6 Light cavalry
4 x 8 Light cavalry
Weissenwolf
1 x 32 Veteran
2 x 48 1st class
3 x 32 1st class
4 x 48 2nd class
2 x 32 2nd class
1 x 4 gun 6lb foot bty
1 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty
4 x 8 Cuirassier
4 x 8 Dragoons
4 x 8 Lt cavalry

The Austrians finally capture the strategically vital central village, thereby sealing the fate of VI Corps.

Casualties on both sides were heavy The French have lost the whole VI Corps for campaign purposes for some time. Stragglers will make it back to French lines and by adding fresh drafts of troops it will eventually be brought back up to strength. However the new corps will be of much lower quality than the original. Less hard hit were V Corps who were able to withdraw towards Fulda, and their losses of 136 infantry plus a few cavalry will have little effect on the Corps as a fighting force.

For the Allies the victory came at a steep price with 332 infantry lost, 144 of these in Doktorovs Corps alone. This will mean a period of rest for the army of Ansbach/Bavaria and once again there will be a reduction in the quality of the army as replacements come in.

Polish infantry from Erics' V Corps expel the last of Steves' Russians from the woods on the extreme Allied left. Doktorovs Corps became bogged down in this area in a futile attempt to cut the Fulda road.

To summarise the battle I would say that the Allies have achieved what they set out to do by effectively destroying an entire enemy corps. However they would not have done it if they had not had such a large advantage in numbers. Though Eric thinks I was a bit harsh, I stand by what I said in the previous post. The Allies had a workable plan but nearly failed to achieve their aim despite the huge advantages in men, guns and horseflesh that they enjoyed. In a game which lasts for 24 turns the failure to use a large superiority in artillery to prepare the way for assaults is a major oversight. This along with serious errors in deployment nearly cost the Allies the game. Even at the end the Allies were still committing basic mistakes such as leading attacks with units at over thirty per cent casualties. On the plus side the Allied right despite being a relatively weak formation was able to force the French out of their redoubt and take its objectives. It only had to stop when it ran out of fresh infantry.

Russian heavy cavalry moves up to exploit the hole in the French centre.

For the French, though they lost the battle and have taken heavy losses there is the moral victory of having faced off a superior force for so long while inflicting heavy casualties. Their only real error in fact was to accept battle in the first place but I think that is very much down to the fact that at the moment we are all relatively inexperienced in the Grand Strategy aspect of wargaming.

Doktorovs' Corps rout from the battlefield after failing to capture any of their objectives.

Next week we'll be continuing with map movement and if a battle ensues, setting up the table and troops for the following week. So far the Allies have gained the upper hand with two victories, but there are lots more Frenchmen roaming around Northern Germany just spoiling for a fight.

Making Hard Work Of It

2010-06-21T10:51:00.004+01:00

Thursday evening saw a continuation of the battle of Menningen with the Allies trying to cut off a smaller force of French from their preferred avenue of retreat. Desite this the French have had other ideas and are still hanging on tenaciously to their right flank and the centre. Their left flank however is beginning to crack under the strain of relentless Allied assaults.

Russian troops assaulting a farm complex on the French left.

To say that much of the Allied attack has been mishandled would be an understatement. On the Allied left far too many troops have been concentrated into a small area in an attempt to clear the French from woods which were not even a part of the original objectives. The Allies have a healthy advantage in heavy cavalry and artillery but these are sat impotent behind infantry who cannot get out of square due to the threat of French heavy cavalry.

Russian Cuirassier reduced to charging squares in the hope of a lucky dice roll.

In the centre the Allies have fared little better. Their assault on the central village has been punctuated by moving from column to line and back again and they now face the real prospect of being unable to take their objective due to lack of numbers where they are needed most.

Austrian infantry despite a having a huge open area to advance through decide to go around a skirmish building. While Russian and Austrian cavalry mill about aimlessly.

If the Allies do eventually muddle their way to a victory it will be a very costly one and is unlikely to be anything like as decisive as the one they should have achieved. The Allied left which should by now be advancing to cut the Fulda road is now actually further back that when we started play on thursday evening and the attack in the centre is more than likely to fail.

French Cuirassier having a whale of a time holding up an entire Corps

If my battle report seems a bit harsh on the Allies it isn't meant to be, I was hoping for scathing. The overall plan was good but other than on the right flank it has been very poorly executed. The Allies despite a numerical advantage in every arm have failed to rise to the occasion. This was illustrated by the sight of an unsupported second class Austrian battalion being formed into line in front of cuirassier with inevitable results.

A bad day at the office for the Austrian infantry.

Next week may well see the end of this particular battle and we'll move on to more campaign movement. Rest assured that the final turns will be recorded on this very blog.

The Battle of Menningen

2010-06-07T12:43:00.001+01:00

Menningen is the second battle in our campaign based in Northern Germany. The Allies having forced back the French following the battle of Schweinfurt were able to follow up and secure Wurtzburg. However more French forces from the army of the Saale moving south from Erfurt threatened to cut them off and they were forced to retrace their steps back towards Schweinfurt The French halted at Menningen and the Allies now joined by a further two corps advanced northwards to force them to fight or withdraw. The French though only two corps strong elected to stand at Menningen despite being informed of fresh Allied forces advancing on Langensalza.

The situation at daybreak on day nine of the campaign saw the French forces facing south holding a line with their right on Menningen and their centre and left holding the road to Widensong in the East. The Allied advance corps having captured the outlying farms and hamlets on the road from Schweinfurt took up a position facing the French left and their place was filled by a further allied corps arriving to face the French right.

the French are in a dangerous situation, their only avenue of escape should they be defeated is west along the Fulda road. A retreat northwards through the forests would probably lead to them dissolving into an uncontrolled mass and result in the abandonment of their artillery. In addition by the time they arrive at Langensalza it will probably be in enemy hands leaving them with little option other than surrender. For the French commander it is vital that the Fulda road remains open and that none of his forces can be cut off from it.

Menningen from the east. In the foreground is the Fulda road which the French will have to keep open if things don't go their way in the battle.

The Allies began the battle with the unusual deployment of a one corps on each flank but nothing in the centre. This gap would shortly be filled by the third corps' arrival and Neil the allied commander could be reasonably sure that the French would not be attempting to seize the initiative by advancing into the very open terrain to their front.

The game began with the, by now almost obligatory defeat of formed cavalry by a squadron of cossacks.

Once again the flank assaults began with little or no artillery preparation. Though in fairness there did appear to be little to oppose the mass of Russian and Austrian infantry which crossed the start line on the Allied left. This illusion would not last for long however as veteran French infantry appeared defending the woods on the French right supported by cunningly hidden cuirassier. Steve, the allied corps commanders' reaction was to line out his Russian infantry and engage in a firefight with the veteran French who had the advantage of soft cover. Whilst his Austrian forty eight man battalions had to form square due to the cuirassier threat.

The Austrian advance is halted by a lack of supporting cavalry or artillery.

Unfortunately for the Allies they appear to have crammed too much infantry into too small an area and will now have to come up with some very clever manoeuvres before they can continue to advance. They will have no effective counter to the cuirassier until they can get their own heavy cavalry into a position where it can challenge the French and to do this the allied cavalry will have to move past a French held village which will doubtless take a heavy toll of the Allied horsemen.

That's the situation on the Allied left at the moment and as we have no game this week due to me being away in Bristol, I'll update the rest of the battle so far, at the weekend.

A setback for the French

2010-05-29T12:04:00.001+01:00

Russian heavy cavalry advance to counter the French threat to the south of Schweinfurt

Our first campaign game came to a close on thursday evening with a pretty decisive victory for the Allies. Casualties on both sides were heavy amongst the infantry, though understandably heavier for the French. Andys' VIII infantry corps and III cavalry corps from the army of the Danube withdrew to the fortified town of Wurtzburg leaving the Allied Weissenwolf corps to hold Schweinfurt.

The order of battle was as follows:

FRENCH

VIII Infantry Corp

1st Division

3 x 36 vet

4 x 36 1st class

4 x 36 2nd class

1 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty

1 x 24 Lt Cav

2nd Division

2 x 36 vet

6 x 36 1st class

4 x 36 2nd class

1 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty

1 x 3 gun 12lb foot bty

1 x 24 Lt Cav

III Cavalry Corp

2 x 32 Cuirassier

2 x 32 Dragoons

1 x 24 Lancer

1 x 2 gun 6lb horse bty

ALLIES

Corps Weissenwolf

1st Division

1 x 32 vet

3 x 32 1st class

3 x 48 1st class

2 x 48 2nd class

1 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty

1 x 24 Lt Cav

2nd Division

1 x 32 vet

2 x 32 1st class

1 x 48 1st class

3 x 48 2nd class

1 x 3 gun 6lb foot bty

1 x 32 Lt Cav

Cavalry Division

1 x 32 Cuirassier

1 x 32 Dragoons

As this was a relatively small battle between two single corps the infantry arm on each side was increased by roughly fifty per cent.

Steve considers his options whilst Nick writes out yet another list of his ten favourite biscuits.

So what went wrong for the French? Initially they had the upper hand with two divisions in position to attack a single defending division on two seperate fronts. Neils reinforcements were taking time to arrive and would have to feed into a relatively small area. Well to start with, the French had three gun batteries, one a 12lb'er which played little or no effective part in the battle. This left their infantry with the difficult task of ejecting practically untouched infantry from a decent defensive position. Andy's original plan was to wait until both assaulting divisions were in place and then attack at the same time. This was a sound idea but I think it would have been better for Erics' division attacking from the west to begin its' attack further up the table. This would have given space to deploy the guns and split the defenders more effectively.

Neil who commanded the Allied contingent

Andy the French Commander

However even without the support of the guns the attack had a good chance of success. The French teams' next mistake was to bring their cavalry corps on table directly behind the infantry division in the south. To be fair they were a little unlucky to be held up for such a long time by a single squadron of cavalry though this was compounded by poor deployment of the French light cavalry. The effect of this delay was to force the right flank of Andy's attacking infantry to form square thereby reducing the number of battalions available for the assault. By the time this had sorted itself out the Allies had been able to bring up heavy cavalry to threaten the advancing infantry. This was when the French heavy cavalry was needed but it was still stuck behind the infantry and remained unavailable for the whole game.

Russian infantry arriving to bolster the defence

Even now there was a chance that Erics' attack might succeed but this time the dice Gods abandoned him, and his troops after fighting three bloody rounds of combat were driven back by the defenders. This withdrawal was subsequently turned in to a rout by more casualties and the presence of other routing troops and the writing was on the wall for the French.

Erics' division quit the field whilst the gun batteries mill around looking for something to shoot at.

The end of the battle led to much frenzied activity on the campaign map and for a while it looked as if there may be another battle of schweinfurt. Thankfully for all of us the fighting has now moved north though not very far, to Menningen where Dom has taken up a position and is awaiting Neils' Allies. Oddly enough it appears that everyone has got the point about concentration and this next battle will be between larger bodies of troops.

We'll be kicking off the battle of Menningen next week and as usual I'll post an update in the following days.

More Schweinfurt

2010-05-23T11:54:00.002+01:00

Taking up the story from my last post we left the Allies in a difficult situation, heavily outnumbered and with the danger of being assaulted on two fronts. In a bid to slow down the advance of at least one of the attacking columns Neil, the Allied commander threw in what meagre cavalry he had available.

Russian Hussars make Andy's French lights pay the price of poor deployment.

Fortunately for Neil, Andy who had a whole regiment of light cavalry available chose to lead with a single squadron and this was summarily routed back through its supporting squadron unforming them. Neil's hussars then rallied on the spot and were able to get a free hack on the supports. A handful of sixes meant that the French were cut down to a man.

Andy's immediate reaction was to form square with his right hand battalions thereby removing them from the subsequent attack on Schweinfurt, round one to the Allies.

Andys' attack on the Southern edge of Schweinfurt, Neils' skirmishers beat off a battalion of infantry.

Meanwhile Erics' assault on the Western side of the town got under way with much less drama. Having lined out on a four battalion frontage the French began to lumber forward. Things were once again beginning to look bleak for the defenders, though reinforcements were now beginning to arrive.

Erics' assault column about to come to grips with the Austrian defenders.

The resulting melee was bloody on both sides but once again the big Austrian forty eight man battalions proved their worth. Despite winning the last round of the melee Eric was unable to break the Allies morale and was forced back with both sides suffering heavy losses. Eric's problems were compounded when a rout on his flank caused a morale test on the combatants resulting in them also routing.

The view from the French side, in the foreground Eric's assault gets under way while over on the right Steve begins to move allied heavy cavalry into place to support the southern flank.

Back to the Southern side and Andy commenced his attack. The key target was a twenty four man village held by Neils Russian contingent. This time the French were successful and were able to oust the defenders. However the success was short lived as the victorious infantry were immediately charged by cuirassier who made short work of the unformed troops causing heavy casualties. This resulted in the French quitting the village leaving the Russians to reoccupy it.

A fleeting moment of glory for the French as they capture the Southern edge of Schweinfurt.

If you read the previous post you may be wondering what happened to Andy's cavalry corps. Unfortunately Andy took the option of deploying them directly behind his infantry to the South. This has meant that for much of the game they have been unable to deploy and are only now beginning to appear. The upside of this was that Dom, commanding the cavalry corps was able to keep us all supplied with tea and coffee throughout the evening. Whether the cavalry will be able to turn the tide for the French is debatable but we have decided to play out a few more turns next week to give the French an opportunity to salvage something.

In the next post I'll hopefully have a full summary of the battle with the orbats and casualty returns. In addition I should be able to update the campaign situation.

The Battle of Schweinfurt

2010-05-21T11:17:00.003+01:00

We've just started a new campaign here at the garage. One which is primarily designed to throw up fun and interesting battles. To set the scene both the Allies and the French have three seperate armies each of which the individual commanders are allowed to breakdown into a number of corps using a list of available troops. The average army is about thirty to forty battalions strong with attached cavalry and artillery. The area we're using is Northern Germany primarily because I was lucky enough to find this beautiful map on TMP, created by Malcolm Mccallum using the CC3 map making software. Malcolm was kind enough to allow me to use the map for the campaign for which I'm extremely grateful.

Malcolm's Northern Germany map with the initial deployment areas added. His others can be found at this link: http://www.murat.ca/maps.htm

Movement is on roads only, at the rate of about twenty miles a day though formations need to rest periodically or lose troops due to straggling. The basic idea is that by occupying the majority of towns in a given area, that area comes under control. The side which gains control of two thirds of the map is deemed the winner. Not very historical I grant you but the idea as stated at the beginning of this piece is to generate battles and that aim was achieved almost immediately. In the South an Austro-Russian army heading West from Ansbach has run into the French army of the Danube advancing from Wurtzburg at the small town of Schweinfurt. Or to be more accurate elements of each army have clashed there.

The Battlefield of Schweinfurt looking from the Northeast. The town is in the centre with the road to Wurtzburg leading off in the distance.

Staying true to the wargamer ethic both commanders on being informed of enemy troops to their front gave the order to advance and engage. Fortunately for both of them the opposing forces were roughly even but had one of them been in strength then the other would probably have received a severe drubbing. Each side is fielding an infantry corps supported in the case of the French by a strong cavalry corps. Due to the numbers involved being relatively small I decided to increase the infantry and foot artillery by fifty per cent and fight the battle on one table.

Schweinfurt from the North defended by the Austrians and Russians of Weissenwolfs Corps

The Allies having arrived slightly earlier than the French gained control of the town and set up a defence facing westwards towards the Wurtzburg road where Eric had already deployed an infantry division. They were however surprised to discover that Andy, having delayed his deployment for two turns now began arriving on table from the South. This required some quick thinking from the Allies and a redeployment of some of the infantry.

The French assault on Schweinfurt gets under way.

Things were beginning to look difficult for the Allies, if the the French could co-ordinate their two seperate assaults they would have nearly double the numbers of the defenders and should be able to take Schweinfurt before the Allies had the chance to deploy the rest of the corps. Much would depend on the ability of the Allied cavalry to delay one or both of the French assaults.

We got as far as turn eight of the projected twenty four turns last night and it's been a bloody clash to say the least. I'll post a report of how the battle is progressing during the weekend so stay tuned.

Disaster at Hannau

2010-05-09T15:22:00.000+01:00

Our latest game based loosely on the battle of Hannau came to a bit of an abrupt ending on thursday night, resulting in a French victory. The over extended allied centre was punctured by a Young Guard division and a Line division leaving the Allies with no option other than to withdraw.

Not the best of photos but showing most of the game area. In the foreground an Austrian Avant Garde division slowly forces back the two Old guard battalions covering the French left flank. While in the centre The Young Guard attack the Wurtemburg infantry.

Unfortunately for the allies it appears that their plan to defend the flanks using the Wurtemburgers as a central reserve played directly into the hands of the French. The French plan was to use the Young Guard's superior movement and discipline to allow them to move quickly through the open woods where they would anchor the left of the French line allowing the division behind them to assault what we had perceived to be a sparsely manned centre.

Austrian Jaeger who bravely traded volleys with the Old Guard for much of the battle.

The French right was made up of two regiments of Guard cavalry whose job it was to tie down as much Austrian infantry as possible in order to stop them reinforcing the centre.

Young Guard softening up the Wurtemburg line with volley fire prior to charging. In the background the assault columns of the resrve division move into position to take the centre.

It's always nice when a plan comes together and this time everything seemed to work out just right for the French. The Young Guard slammed into the Wurtemburgers forcing half of them to quit the field and the attack in the centre drove back the exposed Austrian infantry. A charge by the Guard Light cavalry at the same time forced an Austrian gun battery to rout back through their supporting infantry and it was all over for the Allies.

The French assault from a different angle. Young Guard in the distance attacking the Allied infantry and artillery. In the foreground the assault column forms up.

The Orbats for the game were as follows:

ALLIES

Wurtemburg Division

6 x 32 1st class Line

1 x 3 Gun 6lb Ft Bty

1 x 24 Lt Cav

12 Skirmishers

Avant Garde

1 x 36 Jaeger

1 x 36 Grenz

3 x 48 2nd class Line

1 x 3 Gun 6lb Ft Bty

2 x 24 Lt Cav

18 Rifle Skirmishers

Line Division

8 x 48 2nd class Line

4 x 36 2nd class Line

1 x 3 Gun 6lb Ft Bty

18 Skirmishers

Austrian Reserve

6 x 36 Vetreran

1 x 3 Gun 12lb Ft Bty

12 Skirmishers

1 x 24 Kurassier

FRENCH

Guard Division

2 x 36 Guard

6 x 32 Elite

1 x 3 Gun Ft Bty (Elite)

Guard Cavalry

1 x 32 Guard Heavy

1 x 24 Guard Light

1 x 2 Gun 6lb Hse Bty (Elite)

Line Division

4 x 36 1st class Line

4 x 36 2nd class line

1 x 3 Gun 6lb Ft Bty

12 Skirmishers

Line Division

2 x 36 Veteran

6 x 1st class Line

1 x 3 Gun 6lb Ft Bty

18 Skirmishers

"Guard Lights" move up to threaten the Austrian artillery.

I haven't had the chance to hear the other players ideas on the use of smaller batteries yet though think it made for a better game on this occasion. We'll have to keep trying it to see if it works in other circumstances. I'm also a big fan of dropping the -4 for cannister firing on single rank cavalry so we'll be trialling that out in the next game.

Our next outing will hopefully be the start of a campaign in Northern Germany. Each player will command his own army and will have set objectives to carry out. I'll go more in to the detail of it in the next post but I'm looking forward to it as I've always preferred playing campaigns where the effects of battles are carried over, to just playing one off encounters.