Tuesday 17 May 2022

A small GdA Napoleonic 1809 encounter


The Austrians advance on their right flank against a slower moving French brigade

 Just a quick post to capture the GdA game that Stanley and myself played at the club last week. A small encounter between two opposing divisions making their way towards their mustering points early in the campaign of 1809. Stan took the position of General Sacre Le Bleu ( we laughed all night - you really had to be their) and I was FML Rotten Von Kore.  Ah…it keeps us young!

We went into square early on the refused left flank and it deterred the French light cavalry
For some time, alongside their hesitant rolls. Eventually their Gallic nature would take over!

The advance up the left. Love the old club terrain for these nights as it’s 
durable, practical and saves me dragging down boxes of my own kit.

Stan hadn’t played General D’Armee for a while do it was another chance to reacquaint him with the tiles and continue the resurgence of Napoleonics at the club.

The Austrian Uhlans hit a line and make short work of them

The centre reveals the skirmish battle around the woods the Jagers taking on the French guns

It was a great game as always with Stan. Looking forward to the next one as soon as possible.

Once again it also demonstrates the wisdom of looking towards 15mm figures and games for a Wednesday night at the NWS. It is far easier to bring down a box file full of troops and play an interesting game on a 6 x 4 table than hauling large and heavy boxes of 28mm down the stairs, into the car and towards the hall let me assure you.

There was also a French v Bavarian affair on the next table which looked just as fascinating.  Great to see so many members showing a renewed interest in the best wargaming period of them all.



Thursday 12 May 2022

Marengo “Snappy Nappy” Campaign in a day

The table which would see the major battle of the 
Campaign contested.




We are very fortunate at the Napoleonic Wargaming Society.

We are a club that has the good fortune of having some very dedicated, passionate and enthusiastic members who are more than prepared to go the extra mile and put on events.  Once again, Darren has gone the extra mile for us by organising a most enjoyable campaign centred around the wonderful Marengo Campaign of 1800.

The map provided to the players. Possibly accurate, probably not.


For those not familiar with Snappy Nappy rules, the system is designed for quick battles on the table and large scale manoeuvring on a grand tactical basis. In my opinion this is where the strength of the rules lies. We have been dazzled by Peters wonderful Blunders on the Danube blog where he and his companions play some sensational campaigns so to play our own is a very real enjoyment.

There were five tables set up however none is knew for certain which roads led to which tables and the time taken to travel between them. 

The lull before the storm

Quite a bit going on across the theatre of operations 

General Victor aka Steve contemplates his “Great Escape”

So my role was that of the Austrian Commander in Chief General Michael von Melas.  On the forces of the “White Menace” ( old EEL joke there which I still find amusing) were Dave, Russell, John and Stephen. Opposing us were Mark, Andrew, Curtis, Steve B and Graham.

General Melas main road column 

General Vukossovich aka Russell reviews orders on his phone via text


Our original plan was to send Dave to defend the supply routes to our rest, Stephen to look after Turin and Russell was to protect the route to Brescia. 

I suspected that the main thrust of the French attack would be from Napoleon and General Suchet through the road from Nice.  To counter this we sent John to block the path we my main army preparing to follow him and reinforce the position.

The French construct their pontoon bridge and threaten General Hadick aka Stephens position
Curtis as General Duhesme and Graham aka General Lannes played a tough game

General Kaim aka Dave’s smiling now…whilst Russell receives new orders


Fortifications 

How’s that for a wonderful model 

French forces hit General von Morzin under the guise of John in force 

What a day.

Dave and Russell trapped Steve between their two armies. With orders, all sent via text and hilarious to read back after the game, to ensure he could not escape and destroy him.  Sure enough…with the help of some tactical cards that Darren introduced for some of his own flair in the campaign, he escaped it what would be a fatal blow for the Hapsburgs.  The ability to double move and Napoleon enduring he had them was a critical and strategic triumph.

Stephen defended his position like a demon. General Melas sent additional light cavalry to help shore up his position against two French commands however the clever apportioning of the army pontoon bridging train to this command was to prove a master stroke.

Hussars sent to shore up Stephen

Steven B escapes the net…the bastard!

Napoleon and Suchet work their way to an advantage over the hard pressed Kaiserlicks


In the big showdown, John started well however the French began to wear him down. The advantage of French commanders bring more abundant than the Austrians was telling. I marched  up to restore the odds however this was greatly delayed by the road to the table being congested and halting any early relief.

The battle raged here but, alas, the French force of Steven B that had done so well to extricate itself from Russell and David, managed to cut off our lines and subsequently relieve Genoa.

So that’s how it all went together…if we only knew.


The French had won the day. For another point of view on the game pop over to Marks excellent blog Blog

What a wonderful day and enormous thanks to Darren for his magnificent job in organising the game, the lovely paper city models, terrain and maps and to Mark for his wonderful figures.


Wednesday 4 May 2022

GdA at the Napoleonic Wargaming Society

Not a particularly good photo but proof that I do actually play 15mm as well

Just a very quick post to show a couple of shots of a wargame we played last night at the club.  Chris had played a couple of introductory scenarios that had been linked for dome new players to the NWS and this was the third.  

As you can see we prefer using our 15mm figures on a Wednesday night as there is less yo bring in and carry, we can generally utilise the clubs 1980’s style terrain😉 and a great game can be played on a 6 x 4 table.

In fact right next to us, Guido, Cody, Martin and Angus were playing another 1809 General D’Armee game with Cookie umpiring.

Chris put together a very well balanced scenario


Lots of enjoyment with hall jam packed with games, which is always tremendous.