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).
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