Ready to go...

Units all in place for today's game. The first picture illustrates the measuring stick for artillery. just 2 types….foot and horse. Flick the stick over to reveal the other. Black is canister, red is short range and yellow medium range….with long range beyond.

Commentary on the game will be posted soon.

How important is terrain when trying to add realism?

For some, not very. They would be perfectly happy shuffling around bits of card denoting units rather than focusing on what the whole spectacle looks like. For me, what the game looks like is just as important as the quality of the rules, how well the figures are painted and how genial the players are that turn up. It is all part of one package, and too many Napoleonic gamers turn a blind eye to the scenery. Cost is often cited as one reason. In the UK there are too few businesses devoted to such a past time. Most of the terrain in the following photos have been expertly produced by a chap called Keith based down in Dover. His business (Realistic Modelling Services) will be ceasing soon which is a great shame though he intends to retain the production of his excellently sculpted trees. The pictures do the rest….the 20mm figures will be added to the 17 x 6 table after this weekend.

Russians and Austrians vs French game imminent

10 days to go and amazingly enough the landscape for the next game is already finished. This time we will have a slightly larger game, comprising French vs Austrians and Russians. 20mm as usual. Below are some of the shots of an empty landscape.

Prussians and Austrians vs French and Poles (and Saxons) 1813

The Allied army consisted of one infantry brigade of Hungarians, three Prussian infantry brigades, an Austrian heavy cavalry brigade and a large mixture of Prussian cavalry. Three foot batteries and two horse batteries. The number of model guns for a foot battery has been increased to 3….looks better and represents the larger space occupied by such a unit. Such large games are not limber friendly but this will be sorted eventually.

The French had a similar sized force. The allies decided early to attack on the their right and centre and ignore what was going on the other side of the stream. The French dominated the flank the other side of the stream but this was not the sector where the battle would be won or lost.

The Allies began by launching a massive cavalry assault in the centre and on their right, which succeeded in masking the infantry assault where some units would able to approach the French lines with barely a casualty.

In the end the French Guard could not withstand the Prussian Guard and lost the central hill. The Saxons crumbled quickly. Losses were high on both sides but a draw in the Allies favour was the agreed result.

The table was 12 x 6 foot. Another game is being lined up for the 23rd August which should be a larger affair and on a 17 x 6 table. All the cavalry figures were Art Miniaturen as was the majority of the artillery. Most of the infantry is still Newline Designs. (bar the Austrian Hungarian brigade….which was Art Miniaturen….the best 20mm Napoleonic figures available.)