Tuesday 23 November 2021

1809 action at Essling

Austrian Musketeers line the woods between the two villages awaiting the assault

Many years ago on the General De Brigade forum a couple of highly regarded Wargamers put together a scenario based on St Hillaire attacks on the Austrians at Essling.  Cookie and I played it out in 28mm and had a whale of a time back in the Italian Club days of the club.

With the lads keen to play General D’Armee more I decided to put together a modified version for a quick game at the club.


Austrian positions on the Old School club terrain

Austrian Chevaulegers - in this scenario their abilities to manoeuvre were limited

Rear view

How good does my measuring stick look fellow Kaiserlicks?

I do like this battery

Holding fast

The French commence the assault on the Austrian left

Another view of the Austrian right. They would see very little action as the French
Opposite struggled to move forward with limited ADC availability 

I have always  enjoyed the club ever/stream sections

It was a great game and without hoping into too detailed a breakdown the Austrians failed to stop the French crossing the stream and taking one of the two towns. It was a great game and very enjoyable.

Thursday 11 November 2021

General D’Armee 15mm at the NWS

 

The Austrian Korps Command watches on…well the wrong way…as the battle rages on

We played another 15mm General D’Armee Napoleonic wargame at the club on Wednesday night as part of the learning of the rules for some new players and a chance to get more familiar with the intricate aspects of charges etc. for myself. It’s a constant education for this old grognard😉.

Very proud of my converted Impetus Austrian measuring stick!

Guidos brigade battling Chris’s superbly painted French


I painted 99% of these AB Austrians over 30 years ago. Trying to give them a bit
of a sprucing up with some washes etc. They could have fought a fraction harder

Lots of action happening in this shot

Peter, Big Chris, Daryl and myself are very much enjoying putting down roughly a division aside plus two yo three regiments of cavalry to fight out done detailed aspects.  All of us are bringing our own figures which is great in itself and though we are keeping the terrain reasonably “old school circa 1970’s” that’s simply for maximising playing time at the moment.


Another game next week should continue the fun!

Friday 5 November 2021

GdA - The village garrison and experimenting with battalion guns

The stream is lined by several Prussian Musketeer and Fusilier battalions

The initial dispositions for the Prussians will allow them to garrison the hamlet either side of the stream as well as up to the northern stream banks.  As you can see that is exactly what the Prussians have decided to do.

Saxon Musketeers and battalion gun from the brush of the very clever John D

The view  from the hamlet 

The garrison looks to provide the French with a stumbling obstacle

The Prussian lines in the centre of their position

Prussian Fusiliers with jagers skirmishing to their front along the streams banks 

Love the Hovels buildings and they remind me so much of the superb photos of 
Peter Morebys collection photographed in the early Wargames Illustrated 

Prussian Musketeer battalion and regimental artillery from the brush of the very
talented Mr Mark Allen who also did those wonderful flags.

The view from the Prussian lines

For the very good General D’Armee rules Dave Brown has allowances in the Optional section for early armies to have regimental or battalion guns. I’m allowing the Prussian-Saxon force to have two just yo see how they go.

Friday 29 October 2021

Some special General D’Armee rules for the 1806 Clash


General Boucher contemplates tactical doctrine prior to engaging the French


The last post had done great comments that are all very much appreciated and helped emphasise to myself the Napoleonic knowledge of the followers of the blog. The effective use of skirmishers and linear tactics of the Prussians was raised very well by Rob which got me thinking on how to be absolutely sure it’s reflected accurately in the wargame setting.


As always, when in even the slightest doubt I contact Doctor Dave Brown and he always comes through.

Thoughts on linear tactics etc were that all manoeuvre is in line however attacks on built up areas and redoubts are allowed to be executed in column.  Everything else, in lines as the historical doctrine.

His thoughts on the skirmishers were as follows:

“Stick with the basic rule that all poorer skirmishing nations lose one skirmish base from the brigade screen. 

So, a four battalion brigade only produces 3 bases and so on.

For the Prussians this is made up of the schutzen platoons and 3rd rankers.

You could be very harsh on the Saxons and reduce them by 2 bases per brigade screen as I'm not sure how prolific they were at using 3rd rankers.

If you did go down this route I'd suggest ignore a Falter result for a dispersal of a two base skirmish "screen".




So there we have it. A great result in terms of feedback from the rules creator and some excellent correspondence from my fellow gamers. 

Now let’s roll a few dice! 

Monday 25 October 2021

Prussian Army 1806 ready for action

Elite Miniatures 1806 Prussian Musketeers with Jagers in support

We have a battle between the Early Prussians and Saxons taking on the French in Prussian 1806 on the table ready to rumble over the next few weeks. As most followers of the blog realise, I do love the 1805-07 period, and any chance to get these lads out is a bonus.


Saxon artillery with Saxon Musketeers in the background supported by Prussians

Quite a few photos already taken which I’ll share in the coming posts. 

Wednesday 20 October 2021

1813 Empire V action at the NWS

Action towards the end of the day

Steve and I have both been looking towards the next Saturday gaming day at the Napoleonic Wargaming Society so we could have a more leisurely and larger game of Empire V as we continue to enjoy the “Old School” games we loved do much in the 1980’s and 90’s.























In the end it was a very close run thing. The Austrian Korps was unable to crack through however did do well. The French Light cavalry brigade on the left flank performed sterling service routing two battalions of line. Two batteries of guns as well as two under strength Austrian Hussar regiments.

Always great fun playing Steve and getting the old Minifig 15mm boys out for a game!