Thursday, September 7, 2017

Napoleonic Scenario: Battle of Aspern-Essling, May 21-22, 1809

The battle of Aspern-Essling to me is a classic French/Austrian Napoleonic engagement.  Playing this battle in 28mm is a very challenging feat given the size of the forces involved.  When I looked at this scenario I considered pairing it down to just the fighting around Aspern - focusing on Massena and Hiller - but I decided to inside try to encapsulate the majority of the engagement.

This of course meant I had to compress the battlefield and forces into something that would be abstractly representative of the force composition while still providing a fun and balanced game.

The scenario map is below along with a terrain key.  I'm using three fur mats to build out this table - the "top" part of the map is two 4 by 6 foot mats and the "bottom" is a single 4 by 4 foot mat.  For the pontoon bridges I using the excellent Perry Miniatures sets (FN182, FN183, and FN184).  I wanted to include the river and bridges for extra visual possibility - and to add some variation into the scenario.

Scenario Map

I've included the map below that shows the deployment areas for each formation.


Austrian Order of Battle

C-in-C Charles

I Korps - Bellegarde
  • 3 x Line Infantry (Large)
  • 1 x Jager Companies
  • 1 x Foot Artillery Battery (Large + Howitzer)

II Korps - Hohenzollern
  • 3 x Line Infantry (Large)
  • 1 x Jager Companies
  • 1 x Foot Artillery Battery (Howitzer)

IV Korps - Rosenburg
  • 1 x Grenz Infantry
  • 1 x Landwehr Infantry
  • 1 x Jager Companies
  • 1 x Horse Artillery (Howitzer)
  • 1 x Uhlans (Large)
  • 1 x Hussars (Large)

VI Korps - Hiller
  • 3 x Line Infantry (Large)
  • 1 x Jager Companies
  • 1 x Foot Artillery Battery (Large + Howitzer)

Reserve Korps - Liechtenstein
  • 2 x Cuirassier (Large)
  • 2 x Dragoon (Large)
  • 1 x Horse Artillery (Howitzer)

French Order of Battle

C-in-C Napoleon

IV Corps - Massena
  • 3 x Light Infantry (Elite)
  • 4 x Line Infantry (Elite)
  • 1 x Foot Artillery (Howitzer)

II Corps - Lannes
  • 3 x Light Infantry
  • 4 x Line Infantry
  • 1 x Foot Artillery (Howitzer)

Cavalry Corps - Bessieres
  • 4 x Cuirassiers
  • 1 x Horse Artillery (Howitzer)

Light Cavalry Division - LaSalle
  • 1 x Hussar
  • 1 x Lancer

Position Battery (Redoubt)
  • 1 x Foot Artillery (Howitzer) (Independent Unit)

While I use the term "corps" above --- those formations will really act as brigades within the rules system - just one of the necessities when compressing a large battle down into something playable and achievable in 28mm.

There you have it ... the start of what I think will be a very fun and visually pleasing game.  I have essentially everything I need to do the scenario.  I've contracted the excellent David Skibicki to do the fur mats for me.  I'm likely going to have my 3D guy do a 28mm model for the famous granary in Aspern.  I have some minor stuff I need to do with my Austrian army (some basing and adjusting of some units).

12 comments:

  1. Rad I'm excited to see what you come up with as I have been plodding on the same battle for a bit!

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    1. Thanks! Took a lot of thought to get it scaled down ... so many troops!

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  2. Nice look forward to seeing it all in action! :)

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  3. I take it that this is all your own work and not something off the shelf? If so, congratulations. Nice work. Our group is set to work its way through 1809 in 15mm...once I get my new glasses

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    1. Yes sir ... wasn't really much out there to leverage and most is for 6mm ... so I broke out my Osprey book and had at it :-)

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  4. Jay what a great idea, reminds of the Bath Tub Barbarossa idea way back when. This will be a sweet gaming event!

    Cheers
    Kevin

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  5. This is amazing looking forward to how this all come uot thanks for sharing!

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  6. Jay, you projects are always awesome. I look forward to helping this come to an awesome game. Plus, I get to research and learn a lot historical stuff. I have minors in Southern U.S., U.S., Chinese, Japanese, and Soviet History. So it is good to learn about other historical battles.

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    1. Awesome, thanks David!! I didn't know that - that is damn cool! Check out the Waterloo scenario --- that is my next project for you ... needs six 4x6 mats and a 2x6 mat ... that is gonna be a big one :-)

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