Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: ErikG on 20 July 2014, 05:23:54 PM
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With Napoleons armies finally finished we've played our first Napoleonic game, France vs Austria and Russia.
(http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/1_zpsb175a38c.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/1_zpsb175a38c.jpg.html)
(http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/IMG-20140427-WA0096_zps2073f2da.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/IMG-20140427-WA0096_zps2073f2da.jpg.html)
An inspiration to all, the French leader
(http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/01_zps61c69566.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/01_zps61c69566.jpg.html)
Strong and Steadfast, the Russian leader
Up front the strategies were discussed, the Austrian and Russian alliance decided to adapt a defensive formation as the army formed in line. The French placed a corps on both sides, the Guards were kept in reserve, they would enter the field in the centre in the second turn.
(http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/2_zps8bae9896.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/2_zps8bae9896.jpg.html)
The setup before the game
The first turn was for France, on the right flank the corps of Marshal Ney was posted (Sander), and opposite him stood all Cavalry divisions of Liechtenstein (Abe) and Platov (Latok). Ney considered his troops vulnerable against this large amount of Cavalrymen and he decided to place his infantry completely in "square" formation, only the voltigeurs remained in line. The artillery opened fire on the Austrian troops on the other side but did little damage. On the left flank the corps of Davout (Justin) was placed, this was reinforced with the Cavalry of Murat (Erik), the cavalry was reinforced with a unit of elite red Lancers. The intention was to force the flank, to create a hole through which the cavalry could strike. The flank was defended quite well, however, with three infantry units and two artillery batteries.
Davout recognized the strong Russian position and gave his troops the order to move forward but by taking full advantage of the nearby cover. Slowly the infantry moved forward. Davout was surprised by a hell of a racket, he looked over his shoulder and saw to his surprise four Cavalry units storming towards the Russian lines, Murat, swinging his sabre in the air stormed forward with a straight face. The enthusiasm of Murat was great but the charge could not reach the other side.
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Ney (Sander) forms squares
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Davout (Justin) goes forward, in the background Murat (Erik) in an irresponsible attack
Bagration (Alex) gave the order to his troops to open fire and large quantities of muskets fired on Murat and his troops, artillery also opened fire moments later. The Russian soldiers, however, were quickly trained and firing a musket had not been a high priority, the shots inflicted minimal casualties on the Cavalry. The Austrian artillery also did little damage.
With the Russian troops so close Murat charged with his troops towards the enemy, in a panic caused by the aggressive attack from Murat, Bagration gave his troops the order to form square, the command was given too late, while the Russian soldiers tried to adopt the new formation, the French Lancers brought their lances in line and broke the Russian formation open. Not in square and completely surprised the infantrymen were massacred, lances pierced flesh and hooves trampled the wounded. In a matter of seconds the Russian unit was broken, Murat stood between the Lancers and saw a second Russian unit just behind the first, with blood red eyes he pointed his sword towards the second unit and without stopping the Cavalrymen stormed this second unit. This unit was also completely surprised by the aggressive attack, Murat fought his way forward and came face to face with Bagration (Alex), the two generals clashed sabres and a short fight ensued, Murat managed to hit Bagration with his Sabre in his side and Bagration fell to the ground, seriously injured Bagration tried to crawl away but a rearing horse and subsequent crushing under the hooves of the horse by Murat managed to put an end to this illusion. Bagration had fallen and two of its units were destroyed, the third unit was not going to undergo the same fate and the Russians threw their muskets and everything that could slow them down to the side and in a panic they left the battlefield. By now another part of Murat's Cavalry turned towards the Russian artillery, the Russians gave a last salvo of "grapeshot" and thousands of small metal balls brought a French cavalry unit to a halt, however, from behind them a French unit carabineers appeared, the Gunners had no opportunity to flee and the entire unit of artillery men was put to the sword. Davout took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, against all odds the charge by Murat had worked, the whole Russian flank lay open, Davout could not pass up this opportunity, he directly ordered his troops to move forward, Murat had to be supported and the Russians couldn't be allowed to get a chance to recover. The Guard now entered the field and Soult (Erik) brought them to safety behind a forest.
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Murat (Erik) breaks through and destroys the Russian flank
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French Guard under Soult (Erik) enters the field
The Russian generals realized that their line was open and the units on the flank formed column, while the last Russian artillery fired on the French Carabineers (Alex), the Russian infantry turned towards the French. Wurmser to (Joost) decided to reform his infantry, this very old man, however, was not well understood by his troops, ignorant of his actual intentions his units remained in line.
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Murat reformed his cavalry and charged the remaining Russian artillery, they fired a last unsuccessful salvo at the unstoppable cavalry but with these Russians to body and head became separated. The infantry behind the artillery also had to suffer greatly, even though they put up a brave fight and many French Cavalrymen were killed, this unit was also driven back. Meanwhile Davout (Justin) had divided his corps, Chouard's brigade now moved to support Murat, Bessieres moved the other way with his units and opened fire on the Pavlov grenadiers that stood nearby.
Soult (Erik) and his guards watched from behind to Grove, they did not feel obliged to provide assistance and so they devoured a baguette with brie. Ney remained on the right flank in a defensive formation.
(http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/6_zpsbb2d02c9.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/6_zpsbb2d02c9.jpg.html)
(http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/8_zps10e5d05c.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/8_zps10e5d05c.jpg.html)
Davout (Justin) approaches in support of Murat
Platov (Latok) decided it had been enough, for a long time now the Russian Cavalry had stood silent, helpless because of the French squares of Ney's corps (Sander). Now Cuirassiers and Cossacks moved towards the French lines and while the French opened fire the Russian cavalry moved unhindered in front of the French lines.
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Platov (Latok) attacks
Ney (Sander) ordered his cavalry unit of Hussars to charge the Russian Cuirassiers and a short fight ensued, the French Hussars broke and fled, the first French unit was broken. On the left flank the troops of Chouard (Justin) now charged the Russian units of Barclay de Tolly (Alex), the Cavalry of Murat was heavily battered, his horses were exhausted. Murat brought his cavalry in formation for one last time and heavily fatigued as they were they set in a last charge, the Russians were driven back and a unit of Russians was destroyed. Murat and his troops no longer had the strenght to pursue.
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The Russians launched an unexpected aggressive attack and Barclay de Tolly (Alex) moved a unit forward, Murat's unit barely had sufficient power to turn and face the charging unit, a heavy fight followed. Murat saw a hole emerge in his formation but instead of closing the hole with his troops he did this himself, cutting and slashing he brought the Russian advance to a halt. Three bayonets dug into his horse and his faithful companion fell to the ground. Murat felt a stunning pain and with a swoop he managed to behead the Russian soldier that had drilled a bayonet into his body. Badly injured his troops pulled him back, for him the battle was over but his cavalry stood their ground.
Platov's (Latok) Russian cavalry stormed a French unit of artillery, the French went off in a panic chased by bloodthirsty Cossacks, Platov had destroyed a second Frenchunit but despite these minor Russian successes the battle turned steadily in favour of the French.
Wurmser remained unsuccessful in getting his orders through and no matter what he did he couldn't make his orders understandable for his troops.
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Heavy fighting on the left flank
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Ney (Sander) Halik (Abe) Liechtenstein (Abe) and Platov (Latok)
Davout (Justin) decided to complete his victory and the last units of Barclay de Tolly (Alex) were eliminated, his troops also managed to disable a unit Pavlov grenadiers. In the Centre Soult and the Guard decided to open up a bottle of wine to wash away the baguette and on the right flank Ney (Sander), Platov (Latok), Hadik and Liechtenstein (Abe) held each other at bay.
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Davout (Justin) destroys the last units of Barcley de Tolly (Alex)
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Soult (Erik) and the guard
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Wurmser managed to convince Uvarov to charge the French artillery with his last unit of Pavlov grenadiers. The Russian Guards marched towards the French artillery, the French voltigeurs opened fire from the Woods, and dozens of Russians fell to the ground. The French artillery waited until the last minute and with the Russians a few meters away the guns opened up with shrapnel, the front rows were whiped out but the survivors marched on. The French Gunners drew their swords and kept the Pavlov Grenadiers at bay.
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Horse artillery moves forward
Besiers (Justin) launched an attack on the Pavlov (Alex) Grenadiers and weakened as they were they managed to hold while casualties mounted. Davout and Chouard (Justin) relentlessly kept up the attack on the flank and while Wurmser, whose troops still had not taken a single step during the battle, grumbled about the annoying "humidity", his troops were attacked in the Flank by Chouard. The Austrians were steadily driven back. Soult (Erik) decided it had been enough, they put the food away and a unit old guard infantry now stormed towards the Austrian troops of Mack (Joost), these troops held their ground, the Guard was brought to a halt. On the right flank Ney (Sander) now slowly moved forward, he was limited in his action by the pressure that was put on him by Hadik and Liechtenstein (Abe).
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The French shouted to the Grenadiers that they should surrender themselves, this the Platov grenadiers refused, beset from all sides the French bayonets pierced the Russians and the Russian Guard was exterminated. Chouard (Justin) could now continue the fight with all of his units against Wurmser. And while Wurmsers troops were massacered Wurmser turned and ran. In full Gallop his horse brought Wurmser to safety, followed by Tsar Alexander II and Kutusov who, except for a few heavily maimed Cossacks had no more units in the field. Liechtenstein (Abe) realised that the flank of the French Guard was vulnerable and a unit of Cuirassiers attacked the French Guards in the flank, the French Guard was quickly driven back
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The French Guard reformed and multiple Guard units stormed towards the troops of Mack who bravely resisted but could not hold their ground against the high quality of the Guard, the Austrians were driven back. Davout reorganised his troops, the French Cavalry also moved slowly forward, the whole left flank was firmly in French hands.
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The fight in the centre, the Guard is stands firm.
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On the French right flank the fight continued, Hadik (Abe) looked through his binoculars to the other side of the battlefield and felt reassured that he still saw a large troop concentration, however, it didn't take him long before he realized that they were only French troops and that they were now slowly coming his way. The only possibility that Austria had to win was to break the French right flank open and to stop them before Davout and his troops could arrive. Platov (Latok) sent his last healthy unit Cossacks into the flank of the guard, due to the high discipline, these troops formed a square quickly and efficiently, this caused the cavalry attack to come to a halt. The French Guard fought back hard and Austria was pushed back still further. Hadik ordered his troops to charge the troops of Ney (Sander) but Ney's troops held and were ready to counterattack. (http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/erik1121977/27_zps88d4ec9d.jpg) (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/erik1121977/media/27_zps88d4ec9d.jpg.html)
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The Austrian Archduke Charles realised further fighting was pointless and after another Austrian unit inglorious fell he gave the order to pull back.
The Alliance had failed, Napoleon remained unbeaten and a new major victory could be attributed to his already excellent reputation.
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I can appreciate the work going into fielding all those splendid big units, but I cannot help but think that the battlefield looks too small. Doesn't look like there's much space for actual maneuvering?
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Epic.
Also, don't think that's Morrissey.
(http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/artists/304x304/morrissey.jpg)
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It is true, we have a limited space to play (my garage) so the table unfortunately can't be wider )otherwise we can't move around it. Still it is a little over 4 foot deep (130cm)
We did reduce the movement rates and weapons range by 1/3 and that partially compensates for the lack of depth. In truth, it has never hindered us durig our games
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It is true, we have a limited space to play (my garage) so the table unfortunately can't be wider )otherwise we can't move around it.
We did reduce the movement rates and weapons range by 1/3 and that partially compensates for the lack of depth. In truth, it has never hindered us durig our games
OK, better game on a narrow table than not game at all!
What rules are used, please (you may have mentioned it, but it's a very long post ;) )?
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We've used Black Powder
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I too thought the battlefield too small with no room to manoeuvre, bit like one of our old Airfix games from the early seventies, with two evenly matched lines facing one another. Then I read about Murat's charge... now that's wot I call a manoeuvre!
:o
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Murat was a beast.
Good reading. :D
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Bonjour,
Great looking game and nicely painted figures.
Congestion on the battlefield is always a problem especially if limbers are used but I use them too!
I also use 28mm Napoleonics as they do really look the best.
Thanks for posting the pictures.
Cheers,
Paul
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Fantastic looking armies - wish I had the discipline to produce such results
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Thanks for the reply guys. I'll post some other battles that we've played that I've posted on another forum some time ago (I'll have to translate them to English first so that will take some time), they are from many different periods.
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Now that's a battle! Thank you for sharing. I'm inspired to have one of my own.
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Very impressive.
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Yes, an impressive array of figures there!
Good to see limbers and caissons on the table as well.
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Wow! Am I jealous or what? A great display with lots of figures - just what the doctor ordered. Gives us something to aim at.
Best Wishes DaveL
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Front Rank must love you guys! :-* I love their figures too.
Very impressive.
Pete