Leipzig Continued ... the Allies Gather

As the opening phase of the main battle field draws to a close another meeting engagement sparks into life on a smaller table. Two French cavalry divisions (see bottom of the photograph) supported by integral horse artillery face off the powerful Allied vanguard. The river is fordable but the French cavalry are intent on denying the Allied artillery use of the bridge. This is very much a French delaying action (see below):  

The French cavalry are soon to be joined by a mixed force French infantry, cavalry and artillery on a road leading off from the right hand side of the above photograph (see below):

Blucher is rumoured to be close to hand, but no sign of the inspirational German as of yet! Will the Allies have the bottle to force a crossing or will they stall deploying and waiting for sufficent reinforcements?

Leipzig Battle

The battle is being fought over several weeks (with the table being left set in place). There is a simple board game (called Leipzig 20, I think) driving the arrival of forces to the tactical table top. Interestingly this could mean simultaneous battles taking place, a bit of a strain on poor old Boney as to were he commits his reserves. As a nominal player on the Allied side I can say "serves you right"! Anyway the first 'six turns of tabletop' are one map turn. Both armies are posturing for position, which makes a pleasant change from just a plain old headlong charge with everything you have got. A fair bit of thought has gone into this so I an interested to see how it pans out. The active Allied player being inferior in numbers (for the time being) opted to site himself in the villages giving him protective cover (see below, the central town):

The most significant (strategic) feature on the table is the left most town/village (as the Allies see it) guarding a vital river crossing point, with known "French" forces on the other side (but off-table). The town is duly heavily garrisoned (see below):

In addition between these two villages, but adjacent to the more important bride town, the Russian Artillery reserve is placed atop a low hill, and it even eventually "managed to deploy" before the French came near. One of the frustrating (but probably historically accurate) features of the rules is the tendency of formations to go "inactive" if outside of tactical (18 inches) of the enemy. Thus the mounting frustration of the Russian commander and his eventual relief when the artillery pieces were set (see below, the vast array of Russian heavy/medium [50:50 mix] artillery):  

The deployment show how thin the Allies are on the RHS of the picture. There is an awkward void between the two villages where a mixed formation of Austrian Jaeger and Cavalry are hastily (or not so hastily because of reserve formation movement as defined by distance from the enemy activation) heading to fill. Off in the far distance is a rag-tag formation of Prussian Landwehr and Cossacks literally bumbling about (see below):

The French commander (Murat) decided to concentrate his forces towards the more vital village and river sector, cunningly knowing there is a vast swath of good French cavalry about to appear and spoil the Cossacks day. Thus after the end of turn six a sole unit of French rearguard cavalry, with a ubiquitous annoying horse gun to hand is holding up the Allied "C Team" of Cossack and Landwehr. The game of manoeuvre seems to have 60:40 gone to the French, with Napoleon about to wake up and make his presence felt with his Command and Control factors (see below):

Interestingly it is now off to a simultaneous, but smaller Cavalry engagement, then to the map before we play the next six turns here.

To be continued ...

A Dangerous Thing To Do: 15mm Napoleonic (1813 Leipzig)

I have been missing the gaming aspect of wargaming for the last few months (work/life balance thing), but I had a chance to pop into the local friendly wargame taverna and walked into the frenzied preparation for The Battle of Leipzig 1813 (see below, can you spot some harried looking Austrians, er or should that be Russians, looking for some decent hard cover):

It is a dangerous thing to pick up 15mm Napoleonics. They linger in your hand and start calling out to you "Where have you been?". I can hear my unpainted lead pining for me in the loft. We shall see what future posts will bring ;)

I have two  "ongoing" small Napoleonic painting projects (one French and one Prussian) started some ten years ago. All infantry, 15mm what was then Old Glory, but I think somebody else has picked them up now.

PS: The rule set is called Age of Eagles from the same people who brought F&F to ACW . If memory serves me correctly it plays well in "Big Games" although the artillery seemed too effective and deadly (more ACW than Napoleonic).

Napoleon's last look at Borodino

The Xmas game was finally wrapped up. Below assorted Russian heavy cavalry units (top) faced off the battered French left wing (bottom), now a huddled mass of humanity rather than a rampaging legion. The only thing that deterred their slaughter was the fact they had been pushed so far back that they had inadvertently fallen upon French artillery support from the centre.

Rather humiliatingly the French "finish" positions were further back fro their "start" positions. The "big cheese" gives it his once over (see below)

Napoleon orders some of his "big cannon" to be used against the Russian Right if they advance any further. The Moscow City Militia are quite happy to stay in their newly liberated wood seeing as directly behind Napoleon is the start of his rather large Guard Column: Young, Middle and Old, plus various Cavalry formations. With no strategic incentive to "release the Guard" (other than to just to show off their factors),  Napoleon showed great strategic sense and self-control and stood them down for the night.

Summary:

A very grand spectacle, given as a Russian defensive tactical victory, having done better than history, without changing the course of history. A verdict on the rules was that although once learned they could play fast like their F&F precedents, the effect of artillery seemed out of proportion to historical simulation. In F&F ACW rules the more artillery you put into an attack the law of diminishing returns came into play (which was sensible and made players spread their fire - realistically), whereas the Fire Point factors made the effectiveness of Napoleonic artillery mathematically increase under Age of Eagle. Some modifications/review needs to be done here to reduce its effectiveness IMHO (or we had missed some important caveats in the rules).

Next:

ACW 1861/62 with perhaps Regimental F&F