Gaming - Napoleonics

 I was invited back to play in Vienna this weekend. We were doing the southern part of Liepzig 1813 with the army of Bohemia versus Napoleon. 

 

The early stages of the battle French defending in the right . The allies would outnumber the French for the first 12 turns then the French would build up forces each turn from there and begin to attack.

 

Lots of tough fighting 

Wachau changed hands a number of times , my Italians hold it for a couple of turns before I had to retire the division and we had to go again .

the rules are In The Grand Manner with a number of new rules amendments and developments the Vienna guys have been working on .

In the end a pretty historical fight - not to be unexpected really . Played in a great spirit . I look forward to a future visit .

Gaming - Napoleonics - Dresden 1813 - part 2

 The last two days of gaming saw the lead count increase significantly. The French army had its reinforcements arrive with the Young Guard arriving first followed by the cavalry and The Old Guard. In addition a further 3 line corps turned up too. Napoleon issued the orders to attack . 

So,etching like 12,000 28mm figures on the table - that’s epic 

My division of Vandamme’s  Corps was supported by a Young Guard division and the Empress Dragoons - time to throw the Kaiserlickes back across the battlefield . Though they did have fair few guns lined up against us . The Guard cavalry would deal with most of those.

 

The Allies had captured the Palace at the centre of the Great Garden , the French would fight to get it back .

 

My chassuers ride through an Austrian battery , and then a Cossack battery that was setting up behind them . Payback ! 

It was then a matter of pinning the Austrians in square while firing artillery and musketry at them - but those damn 48’s take some shooting. 

As ever with these very large multiplayer games you only really know what’s happening near you - the other end of the table is another world sometimes - occasionally interrupted by shouts of joy or groans of agony. 

By the end of the fighting the result ended up somewhat historical- the allies though had done better in some areas , and their reserve was uncommitted. 

Overall a cracking week of gaming was had . I left Vienna with new friends and great memories . 

Coffee and Sachertorte at the Cafe Schwarzenburg while waiting for the car back to the airport - very nice !

Gaming - Napoleonics Dresden 1813 part 1

 The last week has been spent at the invite of Wargamers Vienna playing in their home city in the Wargamers Paradise permanent games room . The game was the 1813 battle of Dresden with the allied armies attempting to take the city before Napoleon could arrive with his reinforcements. 

The guys had created a whole load of new terrain item for the city walls and the Grosser Garten  with itswalls and it’s palace. 

The game was played out over 3 phases :-

Phase 1 - 7 turns - initial allied arrival against the line French Corps - so taking the outer villages . 

Phase 2 - 17 turns , the massive allied army outnumbers the French by about 6 to 1 - there were special rules to toughen the French units but it would still be a challenge to hold the allies away from the city 

Phase 3 - the arrival of Napoleon with the various Guard formations and 3 more line Corps - which would go on the counterattack. 

I was playing French with a division of St Cyr corp to try and hold the approach to the right hand side of the city - it would get desperate. 

The view from my end of the table - as ever with these large multi player battles you end up absorbed in your own area and frequently have no idea what is going on at the other end . The rules are In The Grand Manner with a number of local amendments- we had 15 players.

The view from my end of the table 

 

The view from the far end 

The 3D printed city walls 

The 3D printed Grosser Garten.

The allied army starts to arrive and the fighting commences .

My division pushes out (bottom left) to try and slow the Austrian corps as far away from Dresden as possible 

The defence of the Grosser Garten 

The allies approach the city defences 

More next time ±

Gaming - Napoleonic - Battle of Borodino

 This weekend I was invited to a friends birthday gaming bash to refight Borodino hosted by the good lads at Legendary Wargames near Bradford. The battle bunker had 2 tables 24x6 with more quality miniature than you can wish for. We were using Grand Manner rules 

It was a typical Borodino hard bruising fight. As ever with these very large multiplayer fights you get wrapped up in the fight in your own area and lose track of what happening further along the line . The only indication may be shouts of joy or groans of despair. I have Davouts Corps which was a sizeable chunk of the French army to attack the Fleches and woods west of Utitsa. I would receive additional cavalry support early in the game too.

Anyway her is a selection of action shots .

 

Classic Grand Manner large cavalry melee action .. my Empress Dragoon’s dishing it out to various Russian Kuirassier in style ! 

 

Starting the French Adance.

Moving up the woods-,veteran battalions lead the way

The Grand Redoubt  looms  large.

Russians have succumbed to first attacks and are on the back table 

The French advance through the woods pushing the Russians back 

 

The attack on Borodino goes in 

Two divisions of Daviut have taken the 3 Fleches and are advancing supported/protected by the Empress Dragoon’s.

A cracking weekend has been had . It was declared a French victory - somewhat historical overall .

I was great to be back doing big games with a bunch of great guys

Napoleonics - A bit of gaming and the new project.

 It’s been a long time since old friend Scotty and I have played a Napoleonic game , so it’s been good to get one under the belt. Scotty has used his lockdown time to complete a whole load of basing for his 15mm acquisitions over the last few years. He has also been making terrain bits. We played In The Grand Manner as it’s a system we have played a lot over our years attending the Wargames Holiday Centre and we pretty much know it backwards  . I know they are not everyone’s cup of tea , however if  you like chucking a bucket of dice they can work well. 

We used French and Austrians this time. We also have Russians & British as well already painted that need a flesh out .

This will also mean a return to Napoleonics for me in 15mm - initially looking at Confederation of the Rhine or Duchy of Warsaw for my first top up. So I need to do some figure research- I suspect Blue Moon for now .

Anyway on with some pictures -in no particular order as I only remembered to take them occasionally.

All in all a great day was had . Scotty was pleased to see the return of my fabled cavalry dice , with his infantry being sorely harassed by Uhlans , batteries ridden down , and French Guard Cavalry put to the sword by my Kurrassiers.  

It’s given us a project to work on with fleshing the armies out over the winter and getting them onto a bigger table - well it’s not called Grand Manner for nothing you know! 

Roll on the big battalions.

Getting back to it..

The blog has been a little neglected of late - the usual stuff - you know  how it goes , but things are coming back together. Anyway to freshen things up while I dig out the paint desk and fire up the brushes I thought it might be nice to revisIt some creations from a few years back - and these are among my favourites.

The squadron of Mamalukes is now completed. Great fun unit to do, lots of movement and colour

These are 28mm Bicorne Miniatures , each once individually converted and reworked with the soldering iron.

Spanish Hussars

OK - a bit left field for me of late. In between preparation work for the winter challenge stuff I have decided to clear out some side projects. So here is the first one, some Old School shinyness for you. These are 28mm Spanish Hussars by Eagle Figures. I had only come across this range recently and there are some nice bits in it. They come with seperate sword arms which I took the opportunity to solder on in a range of positions - personally I hate seperate arms etc as if glued at some point they are likely to come apart - these lads won't now.

A more traditional view of Spanish Hussars - that of running way..(sorry Juan ;-)).

Talking of preparation works - I had to get into the loft to reach the far end of the lead mountain in search of horseflesh - I found the bag of "spare" horses. Most are at least 20 years old but will be just the job to provide mounts for my Colonial Cavalry for the Sudan - I am using Peter Gilder's Connoissuer figures, so it will save a few pennies (actually a lot of pennies - have you seen the price of 28mm horses!) not having to buy 64 horses , just riders. Just a bit of clean up work required.

One of the early jobs for the challenge will be to do all the oil rub on these and leave them to dry for a few weeks - 3 cavalry regiments should provide a nice point boost for the back of the challenge.

I have another "Shiny" project up next as well - the long awaited Highlanders for the AWI...

Marshal Marmont & staff

A recently completed bit of "Classic Shinyness". These lads are by Elite miniatures , a mix of the ordinary and Collectors ranges. The figure used for the Marshal had some conversion work done to him adding a sash, order badge on chest from green stuff, twisted wire lanyards , and flattened wire into the hand to create a better finish the reins. Horses were done with a mix or wiping and proper colour blending. The base blue was the ever dependable Andrea Blue. A real treat to top it off with Gloss , really makes the colour shine - so unfashionable...but i love it. Proper toys!

cheers
Dave