Battle of Hanau 1813

After three to four weeks of solid painting, myself and Simon were able to finally host the Sunday game at the club. Basing it (loosely) on The Battle of Hanau in 1813, it saw the French forces retreating after Leipzig and attempting to get back to home soil. The Austro-Bavarian army had other plans and stretched itself across their line of retreat in a hope of annihilating them.
One thing I noticed when it was time to set up the game was the volume of figures we were using on such a small area. Despite having a fair size venue, two Divisions of French plus reserves was going to be a squeeze and leave little room for manuever. This prompted the usual observation from folks that such sized battles are probably better fought at 15mm or even 6mm. Nevertheless (like the French) we pushed onwards.
The Italian Brigade rushed forwards towards the right flank of the Austrians and for a time successfully distracted their Cavalry on that side. This gave the French Center and right wing time to spread its units out and deploy some much needed artillery support. The right wing was where the first serious clashes happened with the bold Bavarians sending out their columns to blunt the French advance. Thankfully Lawrence (a new member) wasn't struck by the curse of low-die rolling that older club members are afflicted with, and he made some stunning blows. However, despite this his units were feeling the strain and when more Austrian cavalry came over the horizon (trouncing a unit hanging in the wind) it definitely wasn't looking good. Paul nevertheless asked Lawrence to provide a gap in the lines so his Polish cavalry could speed through. Essentially balancing the odds. The center units at this point had taken some long range battering from the Austrian guns and jaegers, but as the French got near their blood was obviously up and they charged with gusto. Another new guy Keith managed to land the Austrians some hefty punches that sent their columns reeling back - at one point rolling seven 5+6's on eight dice! We left it there with the likelihood of a decent (if hard fought) French victory.