Abensberg, 1809 - Napoleonic Battle Report

Brought out my Austrian, Bavarian and French Napoleonic collection today for a game.  It has been some time since the Austrians and Bavarians have seen the light of day as we've been playing mostly Peninsular battles with the French and British.

The battle today was based on the battle of Abensberg which took place on April 20th, 1809.  You can read more about the battle here.  My intention was to create a scenario that saw a lot of troops put into a small area that would force players to make tough decisions.

Abensberg, 1809

Side note --- when I did my Austrian army I included two banners in each unit.  Originally they represented brigades and the logic was that the multiple banners represented the fact that the unit was multiple regiments.  It also looked nice and used all the banners I had bought ... but I'm also fully aware that each regiment only actually carried one of their regimental banners into battle (leaving the other at home).

Austrian Order Of Battle

Commander:  Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller

VI Armeekorps: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller
1 x Jager Companies, 1 x Grenz Infantry, 4 x Line Infantry, 1 x Artillery, 2 x Heavy Cavalry

V Armeekorps: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Archduke Louis
1 x Jager Companies, 1 x Grenz Infantry, 4 x Line Infantry, 1 x Artillery, 1 x Light Cavalry

II Reserve Armeekorps: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michael von Kienmayer
3 x Grenadier, 1 x Heavy Cavalry, 1 x Artillery

French & Bavarian Order Of Battle

Commander:  Napoleon I of France

Provisional Corps: Marshal Jean Lannes
4 x Line Infantry, 1 x Light Infantry, 1 x Artillery
3 x Heavy Cavalry, 1 x Horse Artillery

VII (Bavarian) Corps: Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre
4 x Line Infantry, 1 x Light Infantry, 1 x Artillery

Württemberg (later VIII) Corps: General of Division Dominique Vandamme
3 x Line Infantry, 2 x Light Infantry, 1 x Artillery
2 x Light Cavalry, 1 x Heavy Cavalry

The Game

We strayed away from Black Powder today and used a modified version of the This Hallowed Ground rules we use for ACW.  There are significant changes and we worked out lots of little details here and there but overall the game was great.  We played four turns and there was a minor victory in favor of the French after a bloody battle.  The Austrian left flank broke first which was what tipped the scales.  The Bavarian brigade broke after some unfortunate order results and shooting.  

Pictures below of the battle.

More games coming up over the Christmas break so stay tuned for more battle reports.

Napoleonic French Army

Hello all,

Here is the next installment in my efforts to take pictures of my Napoleonic collection.  This time it is my French army that is supported by a brigade of Bavarians (figured I would toss them in here rather than take separate pictures of them).

In all not too shabby for doing all sorts of fun games :-)  I've covered the range of line cavalry well and have mostly line/light infantry units with a brigade of young and old guard units.

Well, enough talking ... the pictures can do that ...

Looking down the line from the left flank.

Looking down the line from the right flank.

My Bavarian brigade.  I love these guys as they
add some nice colour to the army.

Guard brigade.  When I started this collection
I had a "shed load" of Foundry miniatures - but
I quickly moved to Front Rank Figurines for
the majority of my collection.  The Old Guard
units are Foundry while the rest is Front Rank.

My other brigade of Foundry figures.

Front Rank Figurines used throughout here.

Another Front Rank Figurines brigade.

Cuirassiers by Perry Miniatures.

Dragoons by Perry Miniatures.

Bavarian cavalry.

The last thing I painted for my Napoleonic's was
the La Salle set from Front Rank --- excellent miniatures.

Another angle ... I was happy with
how these guys turned out.

More ...

Almost there ...

Done.

Bavarian division commander.

Brigade command.

Brigade command.

Skirmishers for one of the Front Rank light infantry units.

Skirmishers for one of the Front Rank light infantry units.

I didn't take individual photos of each unit (clearly) --- that would be a lot.  Hopefully this gives you a good idea of how the army looks and what it consists of ... I'll have it out at the upcoming local convention here two weekends from now.

Now to get these guys packed up and pull out my Austrians :-)

Black Powder Napoleonic Game - Rear Guard at Quatre Bras

Finally got around to playing the Rear Guard at Quatre Bras scenario that I converted for Black Powder from the General de Brigade scenario books.  The scenario is going to need some tweaks, but overall we had a good time playing.  With all the Bolt Action games we had returned to being rusty with the rules, but we quickly got back on track after a couple of turns.

Before I dive into the game, I recently came upon a great resource for Black Powder.  In my efforts to see what others have done with Black Powder for ACW specific rules, I stumbled upon the "Contemptible Little Wargames Club" Black Powder resources: https://sites.google.com/site/contemptables/Home/files

They published extensive modifications to the basic Black Powder rules that add a bunch of "period" flavour into both the ACW and Napoleonic conflicts.  Our plan is to use these moving forward and see how we like them ... I think we'll adopt 95% of the changes they've made as I think the play-ability of the game and clarifications around some of the foggier parts of the rules will be a welcome change.  They also have some excellent QRS (Quick Reference Sheet for the unassimilated) sheets for both periods.  I'd also mention that they are for the most part sticking to the basic Black Powder rules ... although at first glance you'll notice some very big changes ... but give it a chance.

Ok, onto the game.  For the most part we played the scenario as it is detailed here.  The only change I made was that both main French infantry brigades used 3 x line infantry and 1 x light infantry units (instead of the one brigade that called for 2 x line and 2 x light).

The Prussians started with a solid advance, until my dice completely failed me.  I started failing critical order tests and rolled and 4+ occasions, 2-4 on break tests (meaning the units broke - destroyed).  The Prussians lost as two of the three brigades broke (within a turn of each other).  The British brigade came onto the board but it was too little too late.  The first modification to the scenario is to start the British brigade on the board between the Prussian cavalry brigade and central Prussian infantry brigade.

Roy and I will be using our normal Wednesday board game night to now play miniature games ... and if a game takes longer than we have on a Wednesday evening then we'll play it over the course of two Wednesdays if necessary.  We really want to play more games --- one of our summer objectives ... and this is the first step to getting several Bolt Action and Black Powder games played out.

Apologies for the pictures --- I took the ones below on my phone, my camera has pictures ... but my transfer cable broke (new one ordered along with a card reader).  When I get those transferred I'll post them up as well as there is some nice pictures on the Nikon D3200 I have.

I need to work on the terrain for my Napoleonic games ... several improvements are planned ... but I used what I had for this game ... nothing too fancy.

Prussian starting positions.  The British brigade entered on
turn two on the central road.

The French await the Prussian advance.

The Prussian cavalry brigade had the advantage on
the right flank (facing French Lancers and Chasseur a Cheval)
but a miscalculation on my part let the French Lancers get
my Uhlans and after some terrible rolling they broke.  This
made the situation much more even for the right flank a
little would develop before the end.

Central and left flank Prussian brigades deployed.

From the other end.

French brigade - this one would advance and cause
the most trouble, breaking the left flank Prussian
brigade (again, some horrible rolls on my part didn't help).

Overall picture of the table.

The British brigade has entered the table while
the central Prussian brigade is well stuck in - however
failed command rolls have left most of the left Prussian
brigade behind the lines.

The cavalry play cat and mouse ... in and out of melee with
little progress being made on either side.

Yay - the British arrive!  Just in time to fail tons of
command tests for orders ... failing to move very
far at all before the Prussians decided to fold
and call it a day.

Firing line good ... Cuirassiers and Carbiniers
loose on the flank ... beyond the point of
being able to form square in response to a charge > bad.

The Prussian cavalry that allowed the French heavy
cavalry free reign on the Prussian left flank.

Flanks, flanks, and more flanks ... ugh! 

The rest of the left Prussian brigade decide to try and
help out ... but not in time ...

Broken brigades for the Prussians end the game
with a French Victory.

Ending victory points for the French = 14, for the Prussians = 4.5.

More fun to come!