Dresden deployment…nearly ready to go.

Having the luxury of setting the whole shooting match up in advance is a major plus. Tabbing up each unit is time consuming though. Hopefully the command bases, once covered with their respective command stand, will not detract from the overall effect. Thankfully the movement trays make life so much easier. Looking forward to seeing everyone arrive on Saturday morning. I will be posting a de-brief of the game.

Dresden 1813

SCENARIO:

Based on (very loosely) a small central sector during the battle of Dresden  26^th – 27^th August 1813.

FRENCH: Have been given the task by their Corps commander (Marmont) to prevent superior Allied units taking the 3 villages of Plauen, Bachnitz and Strehlen, which lie to the south of Dresden. He has assured them that reinforcements are to the rear in Dresden and will be available in 24 hours time.

ALLIES: Are to spearhead an assault on 3 villages and attempt to hold these objectives for 48 hours.

How each side handles Day 1 will be crucial to their success or failure on Day 2.

DAY 1. (10 moves)

·      FRENCH OBJECTIVE. To hold as many of the three villages as possible.

French units will deploy first, anywhere up to the centre of the table. Guns may be limbered or unlimbered.

·      ALLIED OBJECTIVE: To take the three villages from French control.

Allied infantry units will start where placed by the umpire. However, once the French positions have been disclosed, Allied cavalry brigades may re-position to anywhere along the baseline.

·      OVER-NIGHT.  French and Allied units will begin day 2 from where they left off on Day 1 except that Allied cavalry brigades may move to new positions up to the middle of the table. This may be limited to units that have NOT been committed / or suffered no casualties the previous day. This might encourage commanders to think about the consequences of rash decisions taken on Day 1.

·      HALF TIME BONUS!

Command ratings: If an Allied/French infantry brigade manages to capture/hold an objective by the end of day 1, the BC and DC will receive +1 to their command rating. Applicable to each objective.  No change if Commander is already rated as +2.

Artillery rounds: Both sides may re-allocate effective artillery rounds between batteries overnight. Also, each village holds a French reserve supply of five effective rounds of artillery. These will be hidden in one building in each village. (Allies will not know which building) At the end of Day 1, whichever force holds that building, will receive those five rounds and may allocate freely, prior to Day 2. If the building is set on fire during the battle forcing the occupants to leave the building, the supply will blow up and neither side will gain from the re-supply.

Disorders: All disorders are removed, before Day 2 begins.

DAY 2. (10 moves)

·      FRENCH REINFORCEMENTS. Considerable French re-enforcements will appear at the beginning of Day 2 with some element of dice luck as to where they appear, either from the front or flanks. (not to the rear of the Allies)

·      FRENCH OBJECTIVE: To take back those villages lost on day 1 and continue to hold any that were held on Day 1.

·      ALLIED OBJECTIVE: To hold those villages won the previous day.

Units in cover: Hills, buildings and woods may hide units. (umpire to monitor) Waterflows (tributaries of the river Elbe) are either classified as “rivers” or “streams”. Units adjacent, will discover which. French forces are already aware which is which.

The winning side will be the force that holds all three villages at the end of Day 2.

Dresden 1813. Central front.

Terrain being prepared for the game on the 4th and 5th June. Just trees and troops to be added. Two ping pong tables (9x5) at both ends with a pair of pre war trestle tables that the village hall threw out for health and safety reasons (too heavy) in the centre (12 x 6). One ends up with a great space of 22 feet long and 6 feet wide, though wider on the flanks, but still accessible...

Napoleonic 20mm 1813 game imminent.

Very loosely based on the battle of Dresden, we will be enjoying a large scale 20mm game on both the 4th and 5th June. Looks like there will be 6 or so players with plenty to command.

Finally finished the Art Miniaturen Austrian Dragoons and Cheveuxleger. Three regiments of each. The Dragoons have either red or dark green facings. The regiment with light blue facings, despite having a white coat, could double up as a Cheveuxleger regiment which is handy. The Cheveuxleger regiments (all with green coats) have green, red, or dark blue facings.

 Prussian limbers to come….painted/primed with the black matt Painters Touch spray can. The resultant finish is satin rather than matt (though the photo makes them appear more gloss) which is perfect for Prussian oil skin covered shakos, leather, reins, helmets and the odd black horse. Idle I know.

Hopefully Art Minituren will produce some French line mounted chasseurs in similar static poses as these Austrians. The most numerous French cavalry is at the moment missing from their website, but would be a welcome addition.

Austrian line infantry. Art Miniaturen.

The Austrian (German) as opposed to Hungarian line infantry have come along nicely. Painted with sky blue facings for all 6 battalions with just one NCO posted to the right hand corner. Have tried to paint the "white" in varying shades but the cross belts etc always in pure white to create the necessary contrast. Flags to come. Total 192 figures. Very tempted to buy another brigade but keen to avoid red facing colours for some reason. Not sure why. Might go for beige, pink or grass green.

They compare well with their Hungarian compatriots:

Favourite shot for 2015:

Franznap and French artillery limbers

It is often a dilemma as to whether to use artillery limbers or leave them from the battlefield. Bearing in mind the space used by a battery and that the depth was often greater than the width it seems logical that limbers ought to be a feature, even if just to make the game look more realistic. The reluctance is often based on the fact that it can clutter up the table and also the tedium in painting so many horses etc. But I decided to buy some Franznap 20mm French artillery limbers with some engineers wagons as well. 6 horses for the foot batteries and just 4 for the horse artillery. The width of each, if placed sideways behind the battery, fits nicely to the 3 gun batteries for foot and the 2 gun batteries for horse. Some of the limbers have no riders so I can place Guard/Polish or Saxon riders (detachable) as needed. Admittedly the Bavarian limber won't be the correct shade of duck blue but that can't be helped.

The engineer riders have been painted with dark brown trousers and blue jackets like the others. I believe the engineers had greyer coats earlier in the period….pre 1810 say. Not 100% sure on this.

Franznap produces very fine and detailed miniatures. The rope cabling was particularly fragile and gluing these prior to painting was a painful experience. A couple broke with the minimum of bending into place so reluctantly I have had to leave many of the linking ropes dangling into thin air. Putting them precisely where they ought to be will be a bridge too far for the pewter to withstand. Definitely better viewed from a distance!

I am sure there is a way of fixing this correctly but I just don't have the patience or the skill.

The sculpting of the figures (getting on the horse and twisting round figures) are particularly good.

They look pretty ok though. I'm not in the same league as some professional miniature painters and never will be...Art Miniaturen will be providing the Austrian, Prussian and Russian limbers in due course. Will be interesting to see how they compare. Franznap vs Art Miniaturen.

15mm Napoleonic game

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be hosted by Rob in Ealing in west London for a game in his custom built "war room". Myself and Alan were given the French, Phil and Brian took control of the Prussians while Rob and Noel had the British.

Phil has an impressive 10,000 strong collection of 15mm Napoleonics and another 10,000 unpainted.

The French were given the middle of the table and the Allies were to attack from either side. A classic ham sandwich. The French decided to defend their left flank against the British, using the 3 reserve foot batteries to help, and attack the Prussians with 2/3rds of their force, including all the heavy cavalry, on the right flank. The Old Guard infantry and Guard cavalry would sit in the middle as a reserve but the Young Guard would be detached to assist in the assault on the Prussians.

Using a version of the Shako rules it was not made particularly clear by the umpire (who was wearing the additional hat of the British!!) how the initiative rule would be implemented. The French won the initiative and allowed the Allies to move first, the French playing last. But this state of affairs was to be repeated every move and so the Allies gained +1 in every melee for the whole game. Hmm….had we known!

The French attack the Prussians: (A French dragoon division of 8 regts held up well against the Prussian cavalry but were to end up being wiped out until French heavy cavalry was diverted to assist from the northern flank)

The French infantry assault in the centre initially did well but foundered in the wood. The French division in the foreground lost one unit and failed a subsequent morale test which sent the whole division packing. Fresh units never fired a shot! This was where the French should be winning….

The French Guard cavalry, HA and 4 battalions of Old Guard with two foot batteries sat patiently in the middle waiting to see where and when they might be best employed.

The British attack on the french left was speared headed by average troops which was perhaps their undoing. The French deployed a strong defensive position using the wood, hills and village to maximum effect. Breaking this down would never be an easy task.

Four French foot batteries occupied the middle ground, persuading the British to focus their attacks on the flanks.

Close up of the French Guard reserve:

The French left flank vs the Brits:

The French right flank vs the Prussians:

In the end the French finally broke the Prussians but this was only achieved late into the game. This allowed most of the French heavy cavalry and one division of infantry to move back across the table to assist the effort against the British. Only the cavalry would actually get their in time to make a difference. 

The French Guard cavalry were deployed to assist the southern flank against the British. The Old Guard infantry and two foot batteries were sent north against the British also, just as a French infantry division was about to crumble. 

The British attack in the south made heavy weather of driving the French light infantry out of the wood and one British division of average troops were routed in a similar fashion to the unfortunate French infantry division against the Prussians. One down and the rest fled. Just as the British were making gains in the north, they came up against the French Old Guard infantry and artillery which managed to send another British division back to the rear. 

Overall a French victory. Had the British led with their best troops it might well have been a different story. Equally, had the French known about the initiative effects clearly, the same could be said.

Great fun and Rob's gaming room is an excellent venue.