Austrian parade and another drubbing at Goya's

Back last July I posted a review of the Austrian infantry but of course since then recruitment has continued unabated so I thought I would treat you with a full review of the complete Austrian army.

There are now 12 units of foot, 6 of cavalry and 6 batteries.

This brings the whole force (including generals) to 400+ figures which is surely enough?

I'm thinking even Bonaparte must be starting to take them seriously!

The map reading generals section - always good to know where you are.

On Monday I was invited to take in more seaside air at Goya's with a game billed as the AWI battle of Cowpens but as we were using his War of 1812 collection it had more of that sort of feel about it. The rules were standard Commands & Colors Napoleonic.

We played the game twice swapping sides. In the first game I was the Americans (on the left) and Goya played the British (on the right).

These are all Airfix British figures painted as US troops - they look great.

All the troops on my left flank were militia and once the redcoats advanced they seemed to melt away.

The result was a swift and decisive victory for Goya. These troops are of course Hinton Hunt so no wonder they were winning.

The second game played out in a completely different way as although the militia once again ran away it wasn't far enough to give me any VPs. Then somehow the US troops got the upper hand and before I knew it I seemed to have no army left...

It's always a pleasure to see Goya's troops on the table even if it results in a double drubbing!

Arm & Leg Cuirassiers and fighting Johnny Reb

A few weeks before Christmas there was a conversation in our house that went like this:

Mrs S "What do you want for Christmas?"

Me "Dunno"

Mrs S "Is there any Hinton Hunt you need?"

Me (thinking need? need? need?) "Well come to think of it, there are some Prussian Cuirassiers on eBay that I need"

Mrs S "Why don't you bid on them then?"

Me "Because they're rare and they'll go for a silly price and I'm not paying that!"

Mrs S "But why not bid a silly price if you want them?"

Me "Because it's a matter of principle, I'm a pensioner and I won't pay more than three quid for a cavalry figure"

Mrs S "But if you want them...."

Me "um, er... no I won't.. no... no..." ...CLICK

Costing an arm and leg, 12 x PN77 Prussian Cuirassier, lovely vintage castings, yes really, really lovely and so worth it honest...

Goya came over today to indulge me in a game of Fire & Fury with my 15mm ACW collection. Despite having had the ruleset for 30+ years I have only ever played one game using them and that was a multi-player game back in the 90s and frankly I had no idea what was going on.

I convinced Goya to take the role of James Longstreet as I have an aversion to playing the Confederates. The scenario was a simple encounter battle with the aim of taking possession of a vital road junction.

The Rebs are on the left whilst my own command (part of General Porter's V Corps) are on the right.

Goya moved first and we were both quite amazed at the speed of his 'foot cavalry' as they fair zoomed along the road towards the crossroads.

At the same time Anderson's division rolled forwards. The figures are mostly a mixture of AB and Old Glory but there are some Freikorps and even the odd Essex in there too.

I responded by sending the Iron Brigade forward in column but this proved to be a mistake.

General Porter surveys the scene from the top of the hill.

The Rebs however seemed to get the better of the fight with two of my five brigades 'Swept from the field'.

The Louisiana Tigers sweep up the hill towards General Porter uttering a fearfull Rebel Yell.

We both agreed that we really like the game system, particularly that the morale element is built into the combat mechanisms. I'm thinking we might give it a run out again.

Have a Happy New Year!

Pomeranian Progress and the Battle of Rohr

A few distractions on the painting desk have caused a drop off in Prussian production although I can now report that I am halfway through the unit. Also done and dusted is the standard bearer and flag. The bearer is another conversion of PN5 and the flag this time is a printed paper one.

My other Prussian musketeer units have old Revo paper flags but I have run out of those and wanted something that would fit in. I found this one on line and have given it a couple of coats of gloss varnish to stiffen it.

On Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to Goya's seaside residence for a game of Command & Colors Napoleonics. This time it was Austrians versus French at the Battle of Rohr from the campaign of 1809.

I played the French and with a 3:2 advantage in units thought I would have no problem smashing the Habsburg lackeys. How wrong I was.

As usual at Goya's there were a mixture of Hinton Hunt and Minifigs S-range figures on the table.

My masterstroke - playing the 'Grande Manoeuvre' card enabled me to turn the Austrian right but in the end my men were just blown away by their superior firepower and the game ended in a French defeat. Those buildings are really nice plastic ones Goya picked up for a song.

After lunch we swapped ends for a re-match but this one was in the balance when I had to head for home.

The scenario turned out to be a lot trickier than it looked as although the French had an advantage in numbers those Austrians with their bigger units were hard to shift. I'd forgotten how much fun CCN can be and the rules are very easy to pick up again after a break which is perfecrt at my age.

Pondering Prussians and a wargame at Tony's

You will remember that earlier this year I was the lucky recipient of some very nice vintage Hinton Hunt Prussian castings from Ian. Amongst them were quite a few of PN.5 (the figure cast with a separate musket). I've been wondering about the best way to animate these so couldn't resist having a go and after several attempts I came up with this.

I did try a few other options but none of them looked very realistic poses so this rather safe version will be the one I use for a unit.

This week I was fortunate to get an invite to Tony's for a War of the Spanish Succession game with his superb Les Higgins forces using his Corporal John Lite rules. The rules have some similarities to C&C but Tony has done away with cards and introduced a clever brigade activation system instead. The game progressed at a fair old pace and we fought to a conclusion in four hours which was impressive. Tony has already posted an AAR here so what follows are just a few photos of his lovely toys.

This is the view from my side of the table. I went for the Austrians again as it seemed a good idea after my success at Nigel's last month.

French cavalry on the move.

The view from Tony's side of the table.

I've always had a thing for cavalry with lobster-pot helmets.

This cavalry clash was a big one and it lasted for the whole game.

My lads got a lucky break with a random event double move that allowed me to rapidly advance my centre.

This village was worth 1VP to whoever held it. Here you can see the French have beaten me to it.

And here you can see that I have pushed them out - hooray!

These very smart chaps are from Hessen-Kassel. They went forward bravely and immediately routed. The mini-dice shows which brigade they belonged to.

This unit of French cavalry hid in a turnip field for much of the game. Nice to see those old Britains hedges.

In the last turn of the game I managed to destroy one of Tony's guard cavalry units and unhorse both of his cavalry commanders (that was 3VPs).

More Hessians this time hanging back a bit.

The table at the end of play, I managed to just pull off a victory on points.

Here the Comte de Marsin pushes forward with a regiment of infantry but a bit late to affect the outcome of the battle.

Next up will be a few more Austrians then things will definitely be going in a Prussian direction.

Aspern-Essling at Nigel's

Yesterday I took a trip across the border to join Tony and Goya at Nigel's sumptuous wargame room in the heart of the rolling Cumbrian hills. Nigel had devised a scenario based on the battle of Aspern-Essling that gave him the chance to put virtually his entire Austrian army collection on the table, which he said was a long held ambition.

I commanded the Austrian left with Tony taking the right, Goya had the French left while our host took the French right. By the time the game ended the table was positively groaning with the weight of toy soldiers. What follows is not a blow by blow account but I hope gives a good flavour of the game:

Starting positions: French on the left, Austrians on the right. The edge of Essling is represented by the wall (bottom left) with Aspern at the far end of the table. There is a bridge at the centre of the French baseline to represent the pontoons to Lobau Island from which direction their reserve will enter play. 

The French are ensconced behind the Essling brickyard walls ready to take pot shots at my men as they advance. I kept clear of the place expecting that the position would be a hard one to crack and it wasn't until towards the end of the game I realised Nigel's rules gave me an even chance of ousting them!

Austrian (or are they Irish?) Chevaux-legere - a very smart looking unit indeed.

Our plan was simply to press forward and converge our infantry towards the enemy centre and the bridge as we would win if we occupied it at the end of play. This forward movement also had the advantage that it limited the space for the French to deploy their reserves.

The trouble was that French reinforcements were already starting to arrive. Each turn they had to roll a D6 to see if the pontoons were swept away (on a roll of 1) but sadly they never were.

Nigel's cavalry are in units of 18 figures so here are 36 (yes 36!) Hinton Hunt Chasseur-a-cheval.

These smart looking Hungarians were under Tony's command.

Austrian Hussars - you can never have too many Austrian Hussars.

As the battle developed I attempted to get into character as Archduke Charles but wasn't sure about the Austrian accent. Fortunatley Goya was on hand to explain that it sounded something like a cross between Somerset dialect and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This led to lots of jokes about combine harvesters and scrumpy cider etc (Alright my luvver, I'll be back!).

Look at this - two regiments of Austrian Kurassiers hurrah! Imagine our disappointment to find that the scenario designer (who was suspiciously French) had rated them as Militia - boo!

All our men are crowding towards the bridge - our final reserve to appear was this splendid division of Grenadiers.

Tony and Goya fought this cavalry action for what seemed like the entire battle.

Looking a bit Charles Grant-ish I think. There were a heck of a lot of figures on the table now.

So near and yet so far - the Austrians attack the bridge but are repulsed (this unit was made up of figures originally in the collection of Don W and now absorbed into Nigel's forces). We managed 7 turns but things were still in the balance when we ran out of time.

Team photo - Austrian high command.

It was a real humdinger of a game and, although not fought to a conclusion, it felt like one would not be far off, so much so that Nigel has determined to finish it off solo.

It's always wonderful to get to play with Nigel's toys so a big thanks to him for the invite and also to my fellow generals for an enjoyable and memorable game. Also a very special thank you to the Archduchess for her hospitality, plum crumble mmmm...

********** UPDATE **********

Chasteler's 27th storm across the pontoon bridge!

Nigel finished playing the game and I think we can say it was a victory for the Austrians!