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.

Sunday Game

Sunday’s regular game was a large Napoleonic game. It was set in 1813 with an Austro-Prussian force facing off against  Franco-Bavarian force in the broad open fields southeast of Leipzig. The French have been ordered to push through and the Allied troops ordered not only to stop them but to push them back on Leipzig.

The forces involved were two Austrian infantry divisions, each of twelve battalions, a Prussian infantry division of twelve battalions, an artillery reserve and a Prussian cavalry division, three Austrian  cavalry brigades and a Russian cuirassier brigade. Opposing them were two French infantry divisions, one of twelve and one of seventeen battalions, a Bavarian infantry division of ten battalions, two French cuirassier divisions (six regiments), a dragoon division, a light cavalry division (eight regiments  between the two last divisions) and an artillery reserve. Both sides had a mix of unit sizes, the French having the larger number of small units, and a proportion of raw troops.

There wasn’t much subtlety to the set up with both sides setting up simultaneously on opposite sides of the table and it was always going to be a slogging match. The Franco-Austrians deployed with a French infantry division on the right, flanked on the right by a cuirassier division and on the left by the dragoon division. To the left of the dragoons was the larger French infantry division, then the second cuirassier  division, the light cavalry division, while the Bavarians closed out the line.

On the opposite side the Prussians stood opposite the Bavarians while the centre and left of the Allied line was held by the Austrians.

Battle commenced around 10:30AM an ended around 3:30PM and raged all along the line before we French were compelled to turn back towards Leipzig. Here are a few scenes from the battle (I didn’t take  huge number of shots if the game, but I did note that our Austrian opponent who presents the Bydand blog was taking quite a few and doubtless will present a view from his side of the table). So in a rather random order here is my completely unbiased view of the affair.

The Austrian left wing, just before their battalion in the top centre was routed.

The French infantry in the centre, supported by the dragoons...curiously this division was not destined  to be heavily engaged in this battle.

The French right preparing to receive the onslaught.

The Austrian Cuirassiers advancing. This was their first time on the table...sadly their time on the table wasn’t destined to be a lengthy one as all three regiments met their destruction on this field. 

The Bavarians on the left of the line.

Another fine view of the Bavarians, those most honorable of French allies, facing the Prussian horde.

The Austrians squares...three regiments of cuirassiers are out of shot to the left.

The French 2nd Cuirassier Division with the light cavalry beyond them, waiting for the opportunity to attack...sadly they would wait all day for an opportunity that never came.

The initial deployment of the French Dragoons

A view of the Austrian extreme left 

The French Dragoons start their advance

The French cuirassiers and carabiners still waiting for an opportunity to attack.

The Austrian cuirassiers preparing to attack

  

The Austrian left centre preparing to advance while the dragoons and cuirassiers fight it out top right

The Prussians prepare to advance

The end of the dragoons...trapped in a forward position after routing two Austrian battalions and then mercilessly slaughtered in a maelstrom of converging musketry.

I do realise that I haven’t posted much of late. This shouldn’t be taken as a slackening off my hobby efforts, although global supply chain issues have delayed some deliveries. To the contrary I have been very busy preparing terrain and armies for a game later in the year. In fact this project has seen 173 foot and 17 mounted figures painted and 43 pieces of terrain built to date with more than double that number of figures (and a dozen or so terrain pieces) to be completed. Because the era and the armies of the game will remain undeclared until the evening before play, I have not presented anything to do with that project on these pages in case the various members of the group put two and two together and come up with the right answer. Be assured that in the fullness of time all will be revealed.