Wagram - Battle Report. 28mm Napoleonics

On October 24th last, Quorn Wargames put on the Battle of Wagram (Napoleon rules). Fought around the town of the same name, each army had marched through fog to their positions unaware (initially) of where the enemy lay. As a French player I was told by Gary (the C in C) that "saxons were in the village" and that we were to support an attack by another French division on a village perched atop the heights on the right flank. When the fog lifted however, it revealed a different story! In fact the saxons had vacated the town hastily pursued by the Austrians.

Rather than a defensive tactic, the Austrian players made a much more aggressive play and came straight at us. As Gary desperately ran around changing orders I watched in horror as my division drifted off to the right and a large gap started to open up in our lines. Thankfully I was given what I needed and changed direction to meet the looming attack (whilst hoping that a couple of Bavarian regiments under the command of Ian on my left, would give me some relief). I blasted a good few of the Austrians with my 12lb cannons, but couldn't cover myself quick enough to stop a cavalry charge on the other side which decimated the artillery. This kept me in square for most of the ensuing game unfortunately. Shot ragged by Austrian Jaegers, and seeing them wheeling up their guns to finish me off I was lucky enough to see the Bavarians start to push them away.

Meanwhile on the right flank there appeared to be a huge cavalry clash as our dashing horsemen controlled by Darren hammered the enemy lines. After some spectacular charges the Austrians fell back and left the way open to capture the heights. On our left flank however it appeared slow going as our Frenchies struggled forward under two batteries of Austrian guns, whilst ours didn't get the necessary die rolls to maximize their effectiveness.

Then to our consternation a division of Landwehr with lancers in support appeared behind our lines. The latter of which engaged our own cavalry in that section from behind.

When we decided to finish the day it was still too close to call. We had the heights whilst the enemy had the town. Their right flank had completely collapsed, but our left was in serious trouble and could easily face the same fate.

The photos above are from the day, and also show some of the miniatures used (the Landwehr look particularly nice I think).

French vs Austrians Battle Report

Another evening of Napoleonics. This time French vs Austrians. In the middle picture you can see the small town held by the Austrians (mainly Landwehr) and some Jaegers thrown out in front. We had sizeable French force with a cavalry brigade in reserve. Although looking quite unbalanced, the Austrians had the chance to field their own much larger reserves at any time - and likely as not to appear behind us!

The first couple of turns saw the French wheel up their artillery in the center and start blattering away. One battery aimed at the barricade on the main street and another firing canister to scare away the Jaegers skirmishing to the left. A large hill to the right had an Austrian battery and some cavalry perched on top. As the French columns pushed forwards they were saved by some unlucky shooting/poor dice rolls whilst the French cavalry managed to receive their opposites charge and push them back over the other side of the hill. The French center (covered by artillery) made a rush into the village as the Landwehr vacated their barricade. Surprisingly however, they reformed and charged back in causing some serious casualties and pushing us back. Luckily the French left had by now circled the town and was likely to rectify the situation keeping the buildings firmly in our grasp.

More consternation was provoked when the Austrian reserves turned up behind us to our left-rear. The cannons that had originally faced the village were redeployed to face this new threat in double quick time, and our reserves of cavalry who had been hovering around for just such an eventuality managed to charge in with half their force (the other half standing around scratching themselves due to a failed command roll!). The end result was the Austrian artillery taking flight and leaving their infantry feeling the pressure of two batteries aimed at them and two brigades of cavalry turning their way. Not good.

We used the 'Napoleon' ruleset. The figures were mainly Perrys and Foundry. I took some pics of Simons nicely painted Austrians which I've also included here.

ACW - Chickamauga Photos.

Last Wednesday was the first time I'd ever wargamed the American Civil War. We used the 'Johnny Reb' rules which I found quite easy to pick up as we went along. The combat was fast...and extremely bloody. I guess that's also an accurate historical reflection. Firepower being the key thing here. The top photo shows Chris' Union men lurking in the woodline to meet our Confederate forces advancing up the road. I was a bit concerned about our starting point because it looked like we were going to be boxed-in from the outset. Our objective being a small crossroads just beyond, I could see Chris holding us quite easily. The second turn only seemed to confirm that as he blasted my artillery train and killed my horses before I could unlimber in the position I wanted. At the same time our left flank was raked with fire inflicting serious casualties. However, we managed to press the centre of his line and also caught a couple of his units with flank fire who were hanging a bit too far forward. The guns, even though stuck a distance back, managed to open up on the treeline and support our units moving forward who also unleashed their first fire at close range (giving us some nice bonus points). It ended with the Union army losing a third of their number and falling back.

Figures are by Battle Honors and Old Glory.