Last Game of the Year

On Sunday we played the final group game of the year. I organised a Napoleonic game based loosely around the Austrian invasion of Bavaria in 1809 - very loose really since the armies were a mix of 1809 and 1813 uniforms, but it made for a game that didn't involve the French and allowed a number of units that rarely escape their boxes to get on the table.

I set up a faulty open table with rolling terrain, a few small woods, a couple of small farms and a village. I wanted an encounter action that developed naturally rather than just have both armies simply march onto the table from the edge. So the game would start with a small advanced guard from each side arriving on the table, just three or four light units. They would jockey for position for three turns, after which the main bodies would arrive. All the troops of each side would arrive on the one central road on their table edge and could then use the march move idea that I introduced to our gaming back in October (link) and have fine tuned since.

The Austrians arrived first and their advanced guard consisted of a hussar regiment, a jäger battalion, a grenz battalion and a horse battery.

They quickly secured a knoll on the right centre of the table.

The Bavarians countered with a brigade of chevaux legere and a horse battery, securing their left near the village.

The boys on the wurst wagon were singing Christmas carols "... 🎶The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay, And the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day...🎶"

On turn four the Bavarians arrived, throwing one division to the left and one to the right.

"Standhaft bleiben, Männer, vorwärts!"

Next the Austrians poured onto the field with one division securing the knoll and facing off against the Bavarian cavalry. The second division sent two brigades to the left to dominate a significant hill in the center, while one brigade shifted even further left to try to flank the Bavarians. 

The Austrian cavalry at first moved two brigades to the right to cover the deployment of the infantry from the threat of the Bavarian cavalry.

But as soon as the infantry deployed the Austrian troopers were redeployed to the left, where the open terrain was better suited to cavalry operations.

When the jockeying finished the Austrians on the left struck first. Three battalions stormed forward and struck two Bavarian battalions. The Bavarians broke and the Austrians broke through on to a battalion of Bavarian jägers.

However, the jägers held and then drove off the Austrians. The Austrian cavalry then surged forward, smashing the jägers, now disordered after their combat, and driving back a regiment of Bavarian horse.

Action then moved to the centre where six Austrian battalions, two of grenadiers, three line and one landwehr. The grenadiers were met by a wall of Bavarian gunfire and musketry and forced to retire, but the other four battalions surged forward. Despite the Austrians pressing home the assault the Bavarian line held.

The Austrian centre fell apart. Only the landwehr battalion held the line, the remainder quitting the field. They managed to move a couple of battalions from the right to plug the gap, but only two battalions and two batteries from the artillery reserve held the line. A small brigade of cavalry was also available but things were looking grim.

Unknown to the Austrian, the Bavarians were in poor shape themselves and with a strong force of Austrian cavalry overlapping their right were not keen to press the issue.

Action then moved to the Austrian right. Here the Austrisns held a precarious position on the knoll. The Bavarians launched a couple of disconnected attacks that were easily repulsed. In desperation the Grenz battalion charged to stabilise the position.

The Grenz attack failed to drive the enemy and the fight continued. Eventually the Grenz got the upper hand a drove the Bavarians back. The Austrians then attacked other Bavarian units on this flank and met with success. Suddenly things were looking bad for the Bavarians and several battalions quit the field.

The Austrian guns were then free to open on the Bavarian cavalry that were threatening their flank and began to knock it about.

It is here that the battle ended. Both sides were exhausted, but the Bavarians had been forced back.

So ended my game number 43 for the year, my highest ever game count.

Here are a number of 'leftover' images that I couldn't find a home for in the description. Again thanks to John for many of these images. Sharp observers will note the inclusion of figures by Perry, Minifigs, Hinchliffe, Old Glory and I think even a few Hinton Hunt, showing the fantastic legacy of our group.