Napoleonic armies ready to go.

Trying to create evenly matched sides is a little tricky, especially where the larger Austrian battalions are involved.

Hopefully there will be one large Austrian Div (3 brigades) and three smaller Prussian Divisions (each of 2 brigades) The French will have a similar number of brigades in total, including a Polish Div (2 brigades), a Bavarian Div (2 brigades), two brigades of YG, one brigade of OG, and two French line brigades. The French (largely because of the Poles) will be of better quality so I have given the Allies an extra Prussian light cavalry brigade and an extra Prussian foot battery. Any excuse to get more limbers on the table.

Game commences Sunday.

Bav Div

The Jorg Schilling OG figures sit well with other 1/72 scale figures.

Virtually all the cavalry are Art Miniaturen.

The Art Miniaturen Austrian Div. Three brigades of German line,
Hungarian line and Hungarian Grenadiers. Facings for each brigade were
 painted the same. I think too many sub units of varying facings breaks up "the look".

Art Miniaturen Austrian cavalry as either dragoons or cheveuxleger.

Austrian artillery limbers with whips and traces. The traces on the inside
line were less easy to fix, so I glued one line of horses, to the base, at a time. 

The inside line of traces are now fitted for the Prussian artillery as well.

I have substituted the standard Austrian horse artillery limber
 for the Franznap Austrian version. Something different. 

Franznap horses but Hat riders with converted heads for Guard riders.
Plastic and metal can mix! Less keen on the brittle traces.

Franznap French limbers with riders.

Napoleonic game due on the 18th September.

Some of the terrain so far…

I think the scenario will involve an initial skirmish already in progress on move 1 comprising a brigade on each side, with re-enforcements arriving quickly. Either centred around the village or farm complex.

All the buildings (except the church which is a 1/72 scale plastic model from Faller and sits brilliantly with the other models) and windmill were bought from those chaps in Germany who did the Crobern 1813 expo. They sold these delightful models for a while but I don't think you can get them anymore, which is a pity.

Hay stacks were home made.

The usual door mat! (cut up)

The farm complex will be one objective.

Control of the bridge will be another objective.

Some hedges will be added to the village which will be another objective, but I am keen not to limit movement too much.

The Prussian and Austrian limbers from Art Miniaturen are more or less finished so likely to feature rather than the Russians, whose horses and riders have yet to be done. The traces on the Austrian limbers took 4 hours to do! (only 6 limbers)

Looks like we will have 7 or 8 attendees which is good news.

More photos to follow.

Newline and Art Miniaturen compared.

Forget for a moment that the Newline figures are not particularly well painted and that I should have perhaps focused more on the horses, but the picture below demonstrates some of the basic differences between the Newline and Art Miniaturen figures.

The top row are Newline Austrian riders for the artillery limbers. The middle row are Art Miniaturen Austrian riders for the artillery limbers while the last row are Austrian riders for the artillery caissons/baggage/wagons etc. (post 1812 as I think they had darker uniforms prior to this point)

The Art Miniaturen figures are slightly larger but on a large table not drastically noticeable. The Newline pose variation is limited, while the Art M variations are excellent. This added to the addition of the riders' whips make the Art M figures a cut above Newline.

In fact the main problem between the two manufacturers is the quality of the horses which I referred to earlier. The Newline horses have limited poses and are ponies rather than horses. When these are finished I will try and make this point more clearly demonstrated.

Napoleonic Peninsula 15mm game

Rob hosted an excellent 15mm Napoleonic Peninsula game at the weekend in London. We used a modified version of the shako rule set. Phil supplied the figures. He has 15,000 painted and another 15,000 to be painted.

This was a 3 days battle. Pictures for day 1 and day 2 below. I have no idea what happened on day 3!

Two Spanish Corps were to defend 3 villages against 3 French Corps. The Spanish were pre-deployed while the French had three narrow ravines to enter through which made initial deployment difficult.

Spanish troops waiting for the French to arrive.

The stream protecting the Spanish left flank. 

Spanish right flank.

The French game plan was to use the cavalry they had available to their greatest advantage, in the centre/right. The French left and centre was wooded and offered less opportunity to attack across a broad front. 

Initial French deployment of their artillery was a disaster when we found out that artillery could not fire over the heads of their own men unless from hill to hill. Several batteries simply had to limber up and move on.

Spanish cavalry threatened the French right flank and brought the French assault on the right hand village to a halt. French light cavalry were forced to sally past a battery of Spanish guns to head off this threat. The first two French line lancer regiments were so decimated by artillery fire and musketry from the village that by the time they met the Spanish cavalry in melee they were in no condition to fight and were subsequently routed. 

The French Dragoon Div swings into the centre and clears
the way for the French assault in the middle.

French Dragoons.

French left….better organised!

French centre left. These brigades had plenty of light infantry
 but clearing the forward woods was not an easy task.

French re-enforcements (another Corps) on the right flank came on,
but clearing the Spanish of the stream would only
 be achieved once artillery was brought into play.

Spanish cavalry continue to pose a threat. This brigade performed well beyond
 the call of duty and was a thorn in the side for the French commander.

French cavalry break into the open in the centre
 and effectively split the Spanish in two.

French progress on the left was hindered by the lack of cavalry. Plenty of infantry
 but without the Dragoon Div (pinched to spearhead the assault in the centre)
to  cover their advance, this was going to be difficult.

The British finally appeared on the Spanish right rear but by then the Spanish centre had already been smashed and the Spanish left was being sandwiched between the French assault in the centre and the French Corps which was now making progress across the stream.

Spanish fall back from the stream as the French infantry prepare to cross.

French infantry begin to cross the stream, supported by two batteries of artillery.

One unit of Spanish held the village on their left flank until close of play
 on Day 2 but it would not be long before that unit would be surrounded. 

The right hand Spanish Corps flees the battle but British infantry try to plug the gap. British cavalry can be seen heading round the rear of the village where they were met and pushed back by French Dragoons.

Cat and mouse action on the French left with Spanish cavalry.
British infantry move to restore order.

By the end of Day 2, half the Spanish ceased to exist. British re-enforcements were able to hold the line on the Spanish right but the Spanish in that sector had already been able to largely hold their own. The problem lay in the centre and the Spanish Corps now cut off and slowly being reduced in size and capability. 

The French ought to have done better against the Spanish. Had the British come on earlier and appeared in the sector where they were most needed (in the middle) then the Allies may well have produced a win. But since I was not present on day 3 I have no idea whether the French did indeed win or if more British were to appear and save the day.