Kannonkreuz

The Battle of Bautzen

2011-06-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

The Allied Plan

This was a curious battle, as it was going to be successfully won by the allies by retreating. The basic principle was the withdrawal from the trap created by Ney's force arriving on the Allied right. I was playing Blucher, with David Shepherd as Barclay. In effect the Prussians were facing the 'main body' of the French, whilst the 3rd Army of the West under Barclay found themselves in the path of Ney. Operationally the big challenge was the withdrawal of the three Prussian 'brigades' (in effect divisions) from the cul de sac formed by the Boserwasser and the fishponds along the Kleine Spree. This meant that there were only really two bridges that were available to pull them out over, Klein Bautzen and Preititz.

The overall plan, then, would mean that Barclay and Yorck would have to hold on whilst the bulk of the Prussian army pulled out, and once intact it could take up more credible defensive positions. Tactically the Allies were heavily outnumbered in infantry, but placed their faith in their more numerous cavalry to delay the French while the infantry and artillery made its escape.

The battle

The battle opened with the French attacking the village of Pleiskowitz. This was held by a fairly weak Russian Division, Insov's 9th, but the Russian cavalry, active to the rear of the village, prevented the French from outflanking the place and committed them to some costly frontal assaults. In this fashion Pleiskowitz held on longer than the Allies had any reason to expect, but it was crucial as it prevented the French from taking the bridge at Klein Bautzen. Meanwile the Russians lined the Boserwasser with artillery in the expectation that the area between Klein Bautzen and Preititz would become a killing zone when the French eventually broke through.

Meanwhile the Prussians were moving. Starting with the Brandenburg Reserve Brigade they started pulling out of their position along the road between Doberschutz and Pleiskowitz. The French cavalry had effectively made the bridge at Preititz unsafe, as they had entered along the road south of Malschwitz towards Preititz. Unsafe; basically infantry in march column would be too vulnerable to risk a sudden French breakthrough. So that left one bridge at Klein Bautzen. York, comfortably ensconced in his redoubts had also placed a forward garrison at Kreckwitz, which was a very fortuitous move. This effectively prevented French attacks on his main position and cut off any prospect of the French outflanking his redoubts or passing troops over the Boserwasser.

Further French columns made their appearance. Before Doberschutz the Wurttemberg Division made an appearance. A Further French force, Delmas' Division, began arriving over the Spree having thrown over a pontoon bridge and yet another (Albert's Division) from Sarchen having skirted round the back of Plieskowitz. A luckily drawn 'impassable' card was played by Blucher on one of the Pontoons (it 'collapsed') reducing Delmas' Division to one bridge. Still, the Prussian brigades in the centre began closing up in defensive postures, backed up by the Guard Cavalry.

The most dangerous French column was undoubtedly that of Rochambeau's Division and Chastel's Light Cavalry on the extreme Allied left. Driving for Baruth and Rackel, thinly held by Illowaisky's Cossacks and Lansky's 'mobile corps', with no infantry at all. But, by skilful handling of the cossacks, the French were reduced to a crawl. The Prussians quickly realised that the Russians here had to be reinforced. Whilst the Brandenburg Reserve escaped over the bridge at Klein Bautzen and made for the space east of Preititz to draw up, the Lower Silesian Brigade (next out) was detailed to withdraw to Belgern and occupy the heights there, cutting off any French effort to sever the Allies' line of retreat.

The French were just not able to move fast enough. Two main obstacles confronted them: the ubiquitous Allied cavalry and the 'channelling' effect of the various streams. The French, once they had finally taken Pleiskowitz found themselves funnelled into the killing zone that Barclay had created with his artillery lined up behind the Bosenwasser. The Prussian reserve cavalry got out having lost one regiment to the French, and several infantry battalions as well whilst the survivors of Von Zeithen's Upper Silesian Brigade struggled over the Bosserwasser and formed up behind Yorck around Purschwitz before themselves starting out in the direction of Wurschen.

Aftermath

This had only brought the French up to the Bosserwasser itself, marshy and difficult to cross, it had been identified by the Allies as their main line of defence. But, with a Prussian Brigade comfortable positioned at Belgern, another on its way and the Brandenburg Reserve plugging the hole between Preititz and Belgern the Allies had effectively escaped the trap relatively unscathed. Indeed the French were pretty much intact too, as units of infantry in the open had either formed square when charged or simply dissolved. Most remaining units on the table were pretty much intact.

From the Allied perspective they could probably have comfortably sat behind the Bosserwasser all day, with Yorck withdrawing to a position parallel to Preititz and the Prussians spoiling to put in an attack against the fairly isolated Rochambeau, who was going to prove hard to reinforce.

The Allies had ruthlessly exploited the rule which said that no infantry unit was able to advance against a cavalry unit unless in square. A single regiment could not hold up a brigade, but the Allies had plenty of cavalry to spare, whilst often individual French units not in square or disordered were picked out and dissolved in the face of a charge. This caused considerable irritation to Ney (Steve Clubley) who complained loudly to anyone prepared to listen, and even those that weren't. Not prepared to change a rule in the middle of a game, which would be madness, I still think that there should be a tweak to cover cavalry exhaustion. Whether this is through 'blown' markers or taking longer to recover disorder I do not mind. But it has to be noted that multiple charges by Heavy Cavalry in particular were pretty rare in a battle, they seem to have been a 'one shot' weapon!

For Sale: Bavarian Generals

2011-02-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

For Sale

A few months ago I bought one sample from each of the range of Front Rank's Bavarian Generals. I had hoped that they may prove suitable for my Wurttembergers in some way, and a couple are as ADC figures from the Guard Infantry Regiment. The remaining three I painted up as Bavarians, and if anyone is interested in them drop me a line at melgum30@yahoo.co.uk. I was thinking around £5 sterling each plus whatever the postage costs...

Refight of Fuentes de Onoro

2011-02-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

Fuentes de Onoro

Another holiday in Spain

This is just a brief summary of the latest 200-ers battle, Fuentes de Onoro, that took place on the 20th February. As it was a Peninsular game, and the Peninsular bores me to tears, I was umpiring. In fact, we were so short of players (and one did not turn up on the day either) that I was the only umpire, although two other players were designated player umpires, and one (David) was commanding the British cavalry. He managed to get virtually all of it destroyed within the first 90 minutes of play and reverted to a full umpiring role.

The opposing plans

The British plan was a classic Peninsular one: stand on the defensive. Indeed, given that they were supposed to be covering the siege of Almeida, it made perfect sense in the context of the game. The overall command was taken by Haim, his first time in overall command, and it was a big ask. Basically the French had an overall superiority of 5000 infantry and 2000 cavalry.

The French plan was considerably more complex and comprehensive. The sheaf of orders was considerable, primarily because the French CinC was Peter, an ex-Gunner and staff officer so it was all very Nato-inspired. You can get a flavour of this from his Jena orders back in 1806 that are on this blog for that year. The French plan, in essence, was to use their numerical superiority to 'fix' the British in the centre, while enveloping the flanks. Particularly important was the considerable French advantage in cavalry: 2000 does not sound like that much, but at our ratio that is an extra 40 figures, maybe half a dozen units.

The battle

The battle very quickly broke down into three separate combats. The first was around Fuentes itself, the second in the centre, and the third being the envelopment around the British right flank and the Almeida road.

The Centre battle initially was where the action was. The French looked very threatening as the bulk of 9th Corps plunged quickly towards the isolated 7th Division along with the single division 8th Corps. To stave off this rapid advance the British sacrificed their cavalry, and this bought some time for 7th Division to gradually withdraw, although they lost one isolated battalion and the vast majority of Wellington's slender cavalry force had gone. Meanwhile, the remainder of 7th Division pulled back and anchored itself on 1st Division with the Light Division on its right. Left behind in the woods near Pocovelho were the Brunswick-Oels Jager. With no orders to do anything (even general ones) they confined themselves to roadwatching and hiding in the woods. The Centre then became more static as the French 9th Corps faced off against the British, who put in a couple of sharp charges in line to spoil the French deployments. Despite this neither side looked like making a breakthrough here: although it must be remembered that the French were not tasked to do so.

Then the French triggered their next move: the march of 8th Corps' single division and the Army of the North's cavalry around the British right flank. This was partially disrupted by some irregular Spanish cavalry under Sanchez above the Almeida road, but this was really just an irritant. By launching this left hook the French forced the British to deploy their sole remaining reserve, Pack's Portuguese, to extend their line. Wellington was now committed to his uttermost limit, with no reserves left. Meanwhile the French cavalry superiority now came wholly into its own as Marshal Bessieres led his cavalry along the Almeida road towards Villa Formosa, deep in the British rear and their supply nexus. Along with the cutting of the road to Almeida this would leave one remaining road open to the British.

Over in Fuentes de Onoro the French 6th Corps under Richard Shilvock faced off against Asher Ben-Zion, Haim's son and on his second game. Richard had been told to hold until the British were wholly committed. Once this had happened he launched a division-level attack north of Fuentes de Onoro against a scanty British defence. The British had five battalions tied up in Fuentes itself, which could have been successfully held by two, and as the British started running out of men to stop Richard's attack they eventually started pulling them out. This was helped by a sharp attack that Asher had put in against a French division south of Fuentes which had been very successful. With no pressure on that road at least they could withdraw in safety. Equally, Asher's defence around the walled area immediately to the north of the village was trenchant and held off the French. But Richard's attack on the heights north of the village had swept aside the British, and one French brigade and the 6th corps cavalry plunged towards the last remaining British escape route, cutting it and sealing Wellington in. At this stage the British capitulated. The only non-prisoners were the Brunswick-Oels Jager, who slipped away quietly to join the partisans.

Post battle analysis

This had been a pretty one-sided affair. The overall French superiority of numbers, a highly experienced French CinC versus a tyro British one and a Peninsular battlefield where cavalry were actually useful made it a bit of a walk in the park for the French. The first thing to note, and as I said to Haim, is that a good catastrophe is always instructive and best to get out of the way early. My first time in the big chair was Eylau and I was captured by turn 10. Ideally the British needed at least another division in order to hold their position, and Haim was right when he put his finger on the British lack of cavalry as a main reason for his defeat. But there were others, smaller factors, that contributed too. One was the understandable draw of being bogged down in the tactical, rather than looking 'up from the mud' and seeing the bigger picture. Haim, like many others, was guilty of this, but that is a matter of experience. His decision to defend all of Fuentes how he did with the numbers that he did is also open to question. A more economical defence would have been to abandon most of the town and pull back to the churchyard, and defend the walled area to the north only along the exit side rather than man the garden itself like a redoubt. This could have freed up three or four battalions, enough maybe to stop Richard's attack to the north of the village.

Personally, and I mentioned this to Trevor, the two commanders should have been swapped over, giving the veteran Peter the far harder challenge. But, again, like Hohenlinden everyone ended up doing something, rolling dice and moving troops. This level of activity is good in a big game, where often one sector stays pretty quiet. A comprehensive French victory, and the capture of Wellington and his entire army.

The Art of Command

2011-02-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

The Two Hundreders

I have been thinking for some time about battle management, specifically in relation to the big games that we do. In many ways this is a true life test, involving various levels and types of management that are often confronted in many other environments. So I thought that a short essay describing my thoughts, now I have personally commanded several major battles and participated in more, would act as a good basis for discussion. For the record I have taken the big chair at Eylau (a catastrophe), Sacile (stumbled to victory), Aspern-Essling (a very clear victory), Auerstadt (slightly less of a catastrophe than Eylau) and Hohenlinden (a victory). In other words my efforts have veered between total disaster and outright victory.

The nature of our battles

Ours are not standard wargamers' battles, with maybe one or two players per side at corps level. We undertake very large projects, with between six and ten players per side, sometimes more, fighting very large battles on a large scale. Played with 25/28mm figures, with the figure scale at between 1:40 to 1:60, these are complex undertakings. The very scale of the things goes some way to preclude the 'helicopter General' approach, but we also always have one to three umpires, plus Trevor who builds the terrain and acts as a sort of Ringmaster, keeping us moving and trying to stop things getting bogged down.

Restrictions

Each battle is a stand-alone and is hedged in with restrictions. It is these restrictions that a CinC must first consider when embarking on the battle. These may be related to terrain, weather, formation arrival times or communications to name but four. In other words no CinC confronts some sort of Tabula Rasa when approaching the battle itself. In some cases these restrictions are open to adjustment, as I did at Aspern-Essling based on the terrain, in some cases they have overbalanced the game, as they did at Auerstadt. In other words a balance has to be correctly struck, and, of course, players usually want as few restrictions as possible! But these restrictions have to be incorporated in any initial thoughts about the game and really have to be nailed down before effective planning can take place.

Planning

Players map for Auerstadt

The first rule here is to have one. A bad plan is better than no plan at all. Taking a step back from the situation as it stands will provide certain parameters that give any plan its initial shape or provide a series of options. One of the first issues any general will face is considering his army's attitude: 'will this be an attacking plan, a defensive plan or a combination of the two?' It is very rare, in my experience, for players to adopt a purely defensive stance unless the enemy is compelled to attack. In some games, such as several Peninsular games, this is the case. Far rarer in my traditional stomping ground of central Europe and Italy, but Jena was a case in point. More frequent is the plan that involves attack with pretty much everything. This was the principle I adopted at the recent Hohenlinden game. Here the Austrians had no choice but to attack, given the structure of the battle and the context it should have sat in.

More likely a general chooses to attack along some part of his line and defend somewhere else, maybe adding complications like feints and outflanking moves into the mix. This was my eventual choice at Eylau, opting for a right hook rather than defence all along the line. At Sacile my decision to attack with my right was changed due to the circumstances of the table and I started to back my victorious left: in other words do not let your plan become your gaoler.

Colin Boulain at Austerlitz

So, once you have decided on your overall attitude and taken into account objectives, timetables, the weather and a whole host of other factors you can attempt to draw up a plan that looks workable, but with enough slack in it to deal with unforseeable circumstances. In this plan you will take into account given objectives and the terms of victory. Layered on top of that is the 'art of the possible'; what you actually think is realistic. Orders should be clear and precise leaving no room for doubt. I am still developing my skills here, often using convoluted language and refusing to call a spade anything other than a broad bladed digging implement. They should be despatched, with a map, well in advance of the game to the appropriate subordinates.

Personalities

Aspern-Essling underway

Unlike smaller games, larger ones involve lots of people management. Once you have hit on a plan you consider workable you then need to consider its implementation. As CinC you are not going to be doing this; your subordinates are. In other words this is not a role that lends itself to control freakery. A lot depends on how well you know your subordinates as individuals. In a club you are far more likely to know your opponents than your historical counterparts did, and possibly less likely to know your own subordinates. Still, it is often worthwhile to look at the subordinates that you have been allocated, or have signed up for your side. I am unusual as a player as I do not play French. Even more so in that I am now almost totally socialised into thinking and behaving like an Austrian general! Most players are not that unfortunate.

Players may be good or bad, be aggressive or defensive, thoughtful or rash, willing to exceed their orders or rigidly obey them. Trying to fit round pegs into round holes is quite important and can give your plan a better chance of success. I have never been keen on the long screwdriver, so I like to issue mission or objective related orders and leave it to the players to carry them out. I have seen plans that specify the disposition of individual battalions, robbing players of their initiative, something I categorically refuse to do.

Counter-Intuition

It is important not to get too bound up in this. While it is clearly of value to put yourself in the opposing general's shoes and try to consider what options are open to him, it is an approach that has clear weaknesses. The more options your opponent has the less valuable this exercise will be. If you know where your enemy will be, and that he has a limited range of opportunities, counter-intuition can yield positive dividends. A good example is the plan I wrote for Aspern-Essling; I knew exactly where the French were due to be and that they had three effective options. But at the opposite end of the spectrum would be Hohenlinden; I had no idea where the French were, what freedom of redeployment they had been allowed and what restrictions they were operating under. The only things I did know was that I was looking for 5 divisions and that in order to win they needed to seriously maul me. The only response here, given the other restrictions and expectations, was to draw up a plan that attacked everywhere in the hope that enough attacking formations would succeed to bring victory. Both approaches were successful in their given context. The trap that you must never fall into is to allow this process to paralyse you into 'what if he does this? What if he does that?' and use it as an excuse for inactivity.

Archduke Charles and staff

Objectives and Intelligence

Some battles we play have clearly defined pre-game objectives, such as towns, villages or geographical features. These would have been taken into account when drawing up the battle plan. Beyond this there will be objectives that may reveal themselves during the game, such as enemy lines of communication or objectives which unhinge an enemy position.

As well as what may look like obvious positions for the enemy to be, or head for, the pre-game emails may reveal additional intelligence. This may be incorporated into the plan, or may be unveiled during the 'approach' to the table itself. For Hohenlinden we were all mystified by sounds in the forest, tracks in the snow and various ambuscades along the line of march. Potentially more reliable than counter-intuition, the bumping in to real enemies may build on growing doubts, could be wholly misleading and rob the CinC of common sense in favour of firefighting.

Briefings

Sometimes we hold pre-game briefings. This very much depends on the nature of the game itself. These are very useful insofar as they allow players to clarify their individual orders and understand how they fit into the greater whole. These must not, however, dissolve into a discussion of the validity of the plan itself: this is not a Council of War. You cannot expect to rewrite a whole battle plan in the 5 minutes before a game starts.

In-game intervention

I managed to create a traffic jam at Eylau

You can generally tell how well a game is going, as CinC, dependant on how many orders you issue. If your plan is going smoothly then your need to intervene should be limited. If, however, things start going off the rails then you need to start despatching orders redeploying and realigning as well as using the potential of the CinC to give direct orders to formations. By far the worst defeats I have seen is when the loser moves in an apparent fog of battle, seemingly unaware of an impending catastrophe, intervening far too late or not at all. On the other side is the habit of creating traffic jams, especially at the point of attack. My own personal weakness, demonstrated at Eylau, Sacile and Auerstadt, is the ability to overload an area with troops who simply get in the way of each other. This, in my case, is where I really have to sit on my hands in a big way. The concept of reinforcing victory, not defeat, is a principle that can be taken too far.

So, to sum up:

Be clear about restrictions and on-map objectives
Decide on the overall attitude your force will adopt
Draw up a plan reflecting that attitude
Fill roles as best you can with players that fit the plan
Be counter-intuitive if possible, but do not become its prisoner
Be aware that pre-game intelligence is only a snapshot of the true situation
Use briefings to illuminate the orders and the overall plan
Do not intervene in-game unless you have to

Hohenlinden Battle Report

2011-01-12T02:02:00.000-08:00

The battle of Hohenlinden

I have waited to post this until the photos were available so I apologise if it has taken a little time to put this up. Thanks to Colin and Margaret for these. More are available on out Yahoo Group:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Napoleon200/

Hohenlinden Map

As you can see from my Dispositionskarte posted earlier, I had constructed a plan within the limitations of historical deployments. Reading that document you will also note that there is very little mention of the French, no counter-intuitive analysis as there was for Aspern-Essling. This was quite deliberate. Other than knowing that the French were ‘out there somewhere’ I had no notion of how much they were going to be allowed to alter their deployments so I simply wrote a plan around the basic assumption that they did not exist. This meant that columns may or may not bump into the French anywhere along their line of march at any strength, the corollary being that all columns would advance and that one or two might work their way to their objectives.

As the columns fought what were essentially separate battles I will treat each in separation.

The Right Column: FML Kienmayer

Kienmayer was being played by David Shepherd, one of the best players, if not the best, in the club. This meant I could leave him pretty much to his own devices and, as he was going to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting, it worked out well. Assisted by Charles Moore as Archduke Ferdinand, his column was supposed to take Forstern and draw the French from the centre to allow the other columns to attack. This column was 100% successful in achieving its objectives.

Archduke Ferdinand arrives

Carving through the Division of GdeD Grenier (Brett Smith) and a significant portion of Bastoul’s Division as well (Asher Ben-Zion), displaying a high degree of aggression and assisted by the remarkable success of Esterhazy’s cavalry from Baillet’s Column (see below) the column drove on relentlessly, ending the game comfortably ensconced in Forstern with Ferdinand’s infantry untouched, this was effectively a cavalry engagement. In terms of drawing French troops from the centre there was no central reserve to draw off, only some cavalry which could be redeployed, without totally stripping the defence of Hohenlinden completely. These gestures were pretty futile and by the end of the game the Divisions of Grenier and Bastoul were effectively destroyed.

Centre-Right: Zweibrucken’s Division

Bavarians garrison Mittach

Glt Zweibrucken, commander of the reluctant Bavarians, was played by the charming Rod Sharp, not a great player, but keen and seemingly made of india-rubber. Zweibrucken arrived at Mittach to relieve Baillet, but there was no Baillet to relieve and there was no indication what had happened to him. Looking at his orders Zweibrucken elected to press on towards Hohenlinden, pushing Deroy’s brigade and Dorth’s cavalry to the edge of the treeline to see the spires of Hohenlinden. At this point an Umpire’s Cock Up intervened as Chaim Ben-Zion, playing Ney said ‘hold on, I have units all along that stream’, pointing to an area of the battlefield that the Bavarians could have seen openly 5 turns ago and had been happily marching past. This effect was disastrous for Zweibrucken. If they had been there then he would have been able to form a defensive line against them, instead they were allowed to march into their positions, threatening his LOC. In effect they were caught on the march. With poor training and morale the French carved through them with a light battalion, a battery and a cavalry regiment on the ‘wrong’ side, cut off from their compatriots. Wrede’s brigade smartly occupied Mittach to deny that to the French. Deroy tried to pull his brigade together in the woods as Zweibrucken’s little advance guard looked very isolated before Hohenlinden.

Ney cuts Zweibrucken in half

But, as Rod argued at the wash and brush up, Ney’s attacks worked to our advantage as it drew on Baillet’s infantry to save the Bavarians. By the end of the game Ney was the one looking isolated and the Bavarians were back to being a fighting force.

The Column of FML Baillet de Latour

Baillet was due to be played by Steve Sharp, an experienced and aggressive player, assisted by Seb Twinning. At the last moment this was all altered: Steve was ill and Seb had other commitments on the new date. The new team was Ceasar Slattery as Baillet and a new young player whose name escapes me. Inwardly I groaned. The centre now had no shepherd; instead there were two fairly weak players and a newbie. Luckily, Steve Clubley as umpire, watched this area like a hawk and prevented the worst cock ups. Now I have particular issues with Ceasar: although he has now played in more than half a dozen games he seems to have learned nothing. He is also very needy. Both of these demand constant oversight, but in a battle like this that is impossible. The new lad, who was playing Esterhazy, commenced his wargaming career with the club in great fashion. Carving up the road towards Kienmayer the French had placed a battery covering the bridge, but had crucially placed the supporting infantry battalion to the side, rather than behind it in square. Esterhazy also had the ‘Lucky’ fate card. This combination meant the battery missed and the Kurassier smashed through it into the open spaces beyond, and Esterhazy started to cross swords with the cavalry of Bastoul’s division. He had a great time from then on and contributed significantly to Kienmayer’s breakthrough.

Baillet's column

Baillet, meanwhile, after some prompting, realised he needed to save Zweibrucken from Ney. So his infantry and a couple of cavalry regiments began to attack Ney’s infantry that had caused such devastation to Zweibrucken. As the battle came to a close Ney’s division was not broken, but it was clear that it was going to be in serious trouble very shortly as it was now very much out on a limb. Meanwhile Baillet had pushed some troops to the edge of the woods before Hohenlinden. Before them was pretty much nothing, and if the game had carried on it was clear to me that Ney would have been brushed aside or trapped between Baillet and Kienmayer, leaving it open for both Zweibrucken and Baillet to assault Hohenlinden.

The Centre Column: FML Kollowrat-Krakowsky

This was commanded by me. The issue here became one of timing as I faced off against Grouchy’s Division commanded by a new player (Nick Goddard) but backed up by Colin Boulain who was now in the big chair instead of Chaim. Having sent GM Spannochi’s brigade off on a separate route that arrived on turn 6 were I wanted it. I then waited for 11 more turns before the remainder of the column arrived. So I deployed into line and began to shuffle Spannochi forward. When Beyer’s brigade arrived I deployed them into line too tacked on to Spannochi’s right, anchored on the woods left and right.

Kollowrat's troops commence their attack

I then began a slow, steady attack against Grouchy’s line. The cavalry under Liechtenstein I ordered through the woods to strike behind Grouchy as my infantry pinned him. This was opposed by what French cavalry remained in the centre. It was difficult, emerging from the woods and unable to use weight of numbers, instead having to attrit the French, which would have led to an eventual breakthrough, just not a rapid one!

The Left Column: FML Reisch

Austrians attack Schutzen

The left column under Reisch (Bill Scott) assisted by Simon Brooks as Gyulai, soon found the remaining two French divisions: Decaen and Richepanse. This part of the wood was very dense and the battle here soon bogged down into a war in the woods, complicated fighting that left Richard Shilvock, umpiring, pulling his hair out. I had never really anticipated Reisch being able to join up with Kollowrat as his orders instructed, but he did manage to take Schutzen as a first step. In effect Reisch pinned two French divisions in a close battle that was even more isolated from the rest.

End Result

Baillets troops head for Hohenlinden

I had fully expected to lose this game, expecting the French to bung up the mouseholes with artillery and infantry. Instead they made several errors which contributed to their eventual defeat. The first was I could not discern a French plan. I am still not sure if they had one. Then there were deployment issues. The two reserve cavalry brigades should have been on their left which was more open to face off Kienmayer: they were in the centre and by the time they did get there the Austrians had already defeated the French cavalry in situ, they were too late to affect the actual issue. Ney was probably too far forward. Although the attack on Zweibrucken was successful, and undoubtedly personally satisfying, Ney was in his turn exposed to attack by Baillet. The third, and the one Steve Clubley highlighted, was the position of Decaen’s division. He argued that it should have been in the centre (where, at the end, it had skirted round to, but too late to have any effect). Colin pointed out that he was told if he moved Decaen he may not have arrived at all. My point was he was no real use where he was and not having him would have made no difference to the way the game went, but having him in the centre would: it would have been worth the risk.

Decaen on the road

Qua game: it was excellent. Every player was engaged fighting, no-one was bored or doing nothing all day. We were all busy. Luck was also present, Ceasar and I rolled so many sixes we lost more melees than seemed feasible as we failed to inflict casualties. On the other hand Esterhazy’s card played at the right time was critical in collapsing the French left. In the end all my columns were pretty much intact, in some case untouched. The closest the French came to victory over a formation was against Zweibrucken, but having the woods to flee into and pull himself together in Ney could not destroy him. On the other hand two French divisions had been destroyed: Grenier’s and Bastoul’s and the French left was gaping open. In effect all the Centre had to do was pin the French and allow Kienmayer to roll them up.

Family Photo (Colin was behind the camera)

Hohenlinden Video

2011-01-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

In a new departure we are now able to bring moving pictures...lol

This video was taken by Colin Boulain as a flypast of the battlefield. I will put up a detailed account when the pics are available.

K

The Victory Despatch of Archduke John

2011-01-10T02:48:00.000-08:00

My dear brother

Today the Army of Germany struck a blow against French tyranny.

Taking heart from our earlier victory at Ampfing, your army drove through the heavy Grosshagerwald and inflicted yet another defeat upon the French, crushing a third of their army and leaving the rest retreating in confusion.

Special mention must be made of FML Kienmayer, GM Esterhazy and your dear cousin the Archduke Ferdinand D’Este who, at the age of 19, shows much promise. While the bulk of our army pinned the French in place, our right smashed the French in the open and sent the surviving rabble fleeing for Paris. Guns and colours captured from the enemy are en-route to Vienna as soon as possible.

My dear brother, Germany is ours once again. The French are in retreat for the Rhine and the spirit of 1799 once again animates the army.

John

Hohenlinden Dispositionskarte

2011-01-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

Armee Dispositionskarte

General Opinion

Events in Germany have reached a critical stage. After the victorious campaigns in Germany, Italy and the Low Countries in 1799 the Godless forces of the French Republic have struck back in Italy and in Germany undoing many of our gains. We have also been abandoned by our Russian ally, and the British have once again withdrawn to their island. Austria stands alone with the exception of our Bavarian allies.

Events of 1st and 2nd December

The Army of Germany has scored some notable successes over the past week. Having overwhelmed the French at Ampfing on the 1st of December, the French have been compelled to abandon the town of Haag which we occupied on the 2nd December. It is the considered view of the Archduke and his staff that the French are retreating in some disorder and are concentrated around the town of Hohenlinden.

Overall Army Plan

Oberst Weyrother's plan calls for a concentric attack aimed at striking into the plain of Hohenlinden by four columns. All four columns are to converge upon Hohenlinden, the approach of the left and centre columns hidden on their approach by the Grosshaagerwald. It is also anticipated that the poor weather will help mask the approach of our columns. The overall plan is to draw the French towards the centre and right columns and left flanking columns roll up the enemy flank.

FML Kienmayer

Orders for Kolonne of FML Kienmayer

FML Kienmayer's column is the only column to approach the French in the open. The objective of FML Kienmayer's troops is the storming and occupation of Forstern and denying it to the French. It is anticipated that a serious assault against this position will draw French forces from the centre and right of their position. Cavalry and artillery units of FML Latour's column are anticipated to emerge from the Burgrainer Holz in the vicinity of Wetting, and they are to place themselves under your command as soon as practicable.

Orders for Kolonne of FML Baillet de Latour

The Column of FML Baillet de Latour is to advance from its start lines and move via the hamlet of Wilher to the village of Mittach. Here they are to form a defensive line and occupy the town. Upon the arrival of the Bavarian Division to relieve them, the column shall then continue its advance, the majority passing through the Mittacherwald towards the village of Kronacker From this position FML Latour must use his discretion and may either assault Hohenlinden proper in conjunction with the Bavarian Division or assist the column of FML Kienmayer. The brigade of GM Esterhazy and the column artillery, however, will advance along the track through the Burgrainer Holz to emerge before Wetting where the greater open spaces will allow more effective use of the cavalry and guns. They are to be placed under the command of FML Kienmayer as soon as they gain contact with his force.

Orders for Division Zweibrucken

The Column of Glt Zweibrucken will leave its start lines ahead of the Division of FML Kollowrat. The Division will move down the main highway through the Grosshaagerwald until reaching the crossroads. The Division will then take the left hand track which leads towards Mittach. Upon reaching Mittach the division is to relieve the column of FML Baillet de Latour. When FML Latour's forces have cleared the area the Division of Glt Zweibrucken is to advance directly through the Mittacherwald towards Hohenlinden and take up positions on the edge of the treeline. The force is to make contact on its right with the forces of FML Latour which should have occupied Kronacker and on the left with the Division of FML Kollowrat around the village of Birbach.

FML Kollowrat-Krakowsky

Orders for Division Kollowrat-Krakowsky

The Division of FML Kollorat-Krakowsky, accompanied by the Archduke and his staff, will follow the Bavarian Division along the main highway until it reaches the crossroads. Here the force will divide. The Brigade of GM Spannochi will continue along the main highway and continue along this axis to emerge from the Grosshaagerwald and attack in the direction of Krieth-Birbech. The remainder of the division will take the right-hand fork and proceed in the direction of Mittach, but taking the right-hand track halfway along that route which leads to Birbach. This force is to emerge from the treeline and immediately assault Birbach.

Orders for Kolonne of FML Reisch

The Kolonne of FML Reisch will advance through the Grosshagerwald to occupy the village of Schutzen. The force is then to take the track to its right towards Krieth. Here it will link up with the forces of FML Kollowrat-Krakowsky and under the direct command of the Commander in Chief. The forces around Krieth and Birbach will then fall upon the right flank of the enemy which will have been drawn towards the right and centre columns.

Oberst Franz von Weyrother

Next Game: Hohenlinden

2011-01-07T13:39:00.000-08:00

General Moreau at Hohenlinden

The next game is to be the Battle of Hohenlinden on the 9th January 2010. This game was postponed from late December due to the bad weather, with many players coming from places like Salisbury and beyond, it was really the only option Trevor had.

The Historical Battle

The battle, on 3rd December 1800, took place against poor weather on a battlefield in southern Bavaria. It pitched one of the best French generals of his generation, Jean Moreau, against an Austrian command structure that was divided and contradictory. The French army also benefitted from excellent displays of initiative by divisional commanders, whilst their Austrian counterparts fumbled and groped around in the snow and fog.

The snowy forest

The Austrians had taken a real battering throughout 1800. This had caused some confusion as in 1799 they had been extremely successful and were at a loss to explain why 1800 had gone so badly. One historical explanation has been to point the finger at the desertion of the Russians, in a negative and a positive way. Negatively, it is argued that their deserting the second coalition reduced Austrian overall morale and robbed them of numbers of troops. Positively it is argued that the Russians were responsible for the Austrian victories and their absence was the cause of the defeats.

General Moreau

Both seem nonsensical. Most Austrian senior officers looked on their Russian counterparts with disdain, the Russians on the whole being far less professional and certainly did not behave like 'Gentlemen'. Also the burden they imposed logistically, as well as politically, indicates that this withdrawal's impact was relatively neutral operationally. In terms of them being responsible for victories (the positive argument), they were certainly fairly ineffectual in Germany, in Holland they were pretty similar (after drinking the oil from the streetlamps on the Isle of Wight) and everything seems to have been built around Suvurov. Problem here is that Kray defeated the main French Italian army at Magnano before Suvurov arrived and, sent into Switzerland on his own at the end of 1799 he lost his army in the Swiss valleys never to be seen again.


General Kray, good in Italy but a failure in Germany

Arguably the issue was senior leadership. The Austrians simply lacked Divisional and Army commanders that matched the French in ability and operational flexibility. In 1799 they hit on some combinations that clearly worked. In Italy Suvorov/Chasteler/Kray/Bagration were a formidable team that the French were not able to contain. In Germany Archduke Charles and his able Chief of Staff, Schmitt, were equally competent and had proved formidable in 1796 as well.

FzM Lauer

But by 1800 this had all changed. Suvurov and Bagration were out of the equation. Chasteler was recuperating from his wounds and would not be the same energetic figure again. Charles and Schmitt had withdrawn from service. Kray was initially sent to Germany, but proved unequal to the task, whilst Italy saw the Austrian cause go down at Marengo in June. An Armistice, from July to November saw Kray replaced, but the Austrian Chancellor Thugut struggled to find a replacement. He had gone the rounds of the Archdukes, asking Joseph and Charles (who he disliked) both of whom refused. In the end, in a decision that seems like desperation, the command was offered to the 18 year old Archduke John. But John was only to be a cypher. The real command was supposed to be in the hands of FzM Franz Lauer, a thoughtful and cautious staff officer of considerable experience. This might have worked (although a similar arrangement in 1805 with Ferdinand and Mack ended with catastrophe at Ulm) but the Chief of Staff of the Army was none other than Oberst Franz von Weyrother, he of Austerlitz fame. Aggressive, blustering and personally very brave, Weyrother and Lauer were never gong to see eye to eye and the command developed into a competition between these two very different officers for the endorsement of the 18 year old Archduke. Compared to the unified structure of the French, with a clear sighted and very competent General, it was asking for trouble.

Archduke John in later life

Initially Weyrother gained the upper hand with an aggressive plan that saw the Austrians marching off to cut the French lines of communication. After a couple of days it was clear that the Austrian army, plus the weather, made such an approach impossible and Lauer suggested a straightforward attack on Munich. This caught Moreau's forces scattered and unprepared, and the ensuing battle of Ampfing on the 1st December saw the Austrians victorious.

Weyrother then seems to have played on John's youthful aggression, arguing that the French were in retreat and that immediate pursuit would probably bundle them back over the Rhine. The two overrode Lauer, who did not fall for the 'French retreating in disarray' argument for a minute, and Weyrother prepared a plan straight from the late 18th Century rulebook.

The French were assumed (there were a lot of questions going begging with this plan) to be concentrated around Hohenlinden. They were separated from the Austrians by the large and sprawling Ebersberg Forest. The weather was poor, with snow and freezing fog. Not circumstances you would ideally attack in, especially with an army as fragile as the Austrian one of 1800, but Weyrother proposed exactly that.

Late 18th Century doctrine, as practiced by the Austrians, saw a defensive concept based on a cordon and a reserve to move to threatened points. This was not confined to the Austrians, it was a fairly widespread theory and fashionable at the time. The attacking side of the coin was equally fashionable. Gone was the idea of the army moving as a single unit, arranging itself in battle formation on contact and then an engagement. In was the notion of concentric columns advancing towards the enemy independently and coming together to offer battle, ideally with one or more columns outflanking the enemy. This notion was absorbed by late 18th century Austrian staff officers who saw it as the way forward. The problem was that the Austrian army, indeed late 18th century armies in general, were pretty much incapable of rising to the task. An obvious example is Fleurus in 1794, the plan being the brainchild of Mack, which saw a series of concentric columns engage the enemy. The problem became one of command and control. Once battle was joined the army commander, Coburg, was not able to effectively co-ordinate the battle and instead the battle was fought by the individual unit commanders. As the Austrian generals were not known for their initiative but rather tight central control, this was not an approach that played to their strengths.

Austrian Gunner 1800

Nevertheless, despite evidence to the contrary that had built up during the 1st Coalition, Weyrother drew up a plan based on these concepts. A series of columns would pass through the forest like rain through a grate, coming together on the other side to engage the (supposedly) demoralised and disorganised French. The result was catastrophic. The Austrian column commanders plunged into the gloomy, snow-encrusted woods and started to lose their nerve. Column commanders, confronting unexpected circumstances and French troops clearly prepared to fight, began to look to the Army command and each other for support. Not knowing where each other was increased the sense of isolation. Defeat under these circumstances was inevitable.

FML Kienmayer, scapegoated by John

And, naturally, so was the outpouring of recriminations on the Austrian side. The Bavarian General Zweibrucken blamed the Austrians. Archduke John blamed FML Kienmayer (whose column hard arguably performed the best) and Thugut and the Court blamed Lauer, who as Adlatus was in theory responsible for the defeat, despite having advised against the whole enterprise in the first place. Certainly John was beyond blame, being a member of the Imperial House, and Weyrother's teflon coating along with wounds inflicted during the battle effectively insulated him.

Another wintry view of the battle

In other words, those least responsible for the defeat got the blame. A not unusual situation within organisations! Indeed, this willingness to go along with plans that were unrealistic and had disaster written all over them would characterise Austrian planning in 1805 and again in 1809, when a personally reluctant Charles endorsed a campaign whose foundations were shaky from the start.

Sunday

On Sunday I will be playing the 3-headed Austrian command: originally John was to be played by one of the younger lads while I took the role of Lauer. Still, the plan is submitted and all that remains is to see how it plays out. Already there is some off-table action in the woods and the results of that will be revealed to us on the day. Moreau will be played by Chaim Ben-Zion, a rather more stolid character than Moreau was, it is his first time commanding an army from start to finish. The French start the game in the open and concentrated and able to plug up the mouseholes leading out of the forest. Could be interesting. Meanwhile none of the Austrian columns can communicate with each other, again, could be interesting...

Painting and Eye Candy

2011-01-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

Les Blancs RdeLi 68e

Eye Candy

Of course it appears that I have not painted much, this is not true but rather it has taken me until now to get some photos done.

Return of the Tricorns

Camposanto rumbles slowly on and I have managed to complete the 2nd battalions of regiments Lombardia and Diesbach and the first battalion of regiment Schollemberg. I Have not sorted out the colour for the second Lombardia battalion as yet, but here are some pics of the full regiment of Diesbach.

Regiment Diesbach

Meanwhile at Camposanto only one battalion of Schollemberg was present, so I have done it as the first battalion with the appropriate King's Colour as opposed to the regimental one.

Regiment Schollemberg

1792

IR33

I could not resist doing some samples of the new Eureka miniatures 1790's range. Luckily they do not seem to be focussed on Italy in 1796, as my main interest is the Austrian Netherlands 1992-1794, a longer campaign with lots of big and small battles.

Les Blancs

So I painted the French samples asd Les Blancs regiments who were involved in the first catastrophic French invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, and some Hungarian infantry from IR33 that was present at the first battle of the French Revolution

O'Donel Freicorps

The trouble is that the Eureka stuff is very expensive, so I got some samples from Wargames Foundry to paint up as O'Donels Freicorps. Originally raised in 1790 to help carve up Poland this band of cut throats, freebooters and opportunists were in it for what they could get out of it...my sort of people.

K

Diary of General Ramble

2011-01-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

General de Brigade Barbanegre

First of all I feel that I ought to apologise for not having posted much in 2010. Health-wise is has not been a brilliant year, it being hard to focus on my gaming or, indeed, finding joy in it. Depression takes you that way sometimes...

That said we did do some interesting games in 2010, such as Heilsberg, Auerstadt and Bussaco, although I was not personally enthralled with any of them.

Heilsberg, though I was keen on us fighting such an unknown battle, saw me doing very little of interest. I did have the chance to interact and mentor some of the younger players, which I enjoy as well as being very important in terms of growing a second generation. But the French did not attack and all my wing did was stand there.

Towarczy in line

Auerstadt was different in that I was in command and playing Brunswick. I had not been keen on playing this game at all as it seemed ludicrously one-sided historically and to make it even was to indulge in some sort of fantasy: if you want fantasy go buy some elves. In order to make it even the umps decided to include Bernadotte's corps and two Dragoon divisions, along with hemming the Prussians in with C2 rules. The result was that the Prussians lost all their advantages but had a whole host of disadvantages. I tried to make it interesting by retiring to a separate room and commanding by map and courier, only moving on to the table after lunch. This, at least, made it a good experiment.


Prussians in square at Auerstadt

Bussaco I was umpiring, again in a quiet sector of the line. The British commander seemed indifferent to the game and seemed more motivated trying to sell off some figures to the other players. The Brits only sprang to life when he left early and the driving seat was occupied by Chaim Ben-Zion (our very own Moshe Dyan), but it was too late to move troops about to stem the French breakthroughs.

Legere Officer

Games 2011

Legere in column

Hopefully 2011 will be better. The first game on the calendar is to be Hohenlinden. This was going to be in December 2010 but bad weather (very historical) saw it moved into January 2011. As it is an Austrian army I am down to command it. This battle seems based on a late 18th century military handbook with several concentric columns moving independently towards an objective. Unfortunately the columns are moving through a huge snow-encrusted wood with heavy freezing fog and snowstorms in the morning. This makes it almost impossible to co-ordinate the columns, and in game terms once the commanders are issued their orders they plunge into the woods and the army commander trusts it all to fate. It should certainly prove to be interesting.

Prussian Fusiliers, 2nd Westpreuss Regiment

Bautzen also appears on the dance card. Now why start with the second major 1813 battle as opposed to doing Lutzen is a question I have not yet asked, but I am keen not to over complicate matters. I have drawn the role of Blucher (the greatest living German TM) which is a personality so totally at odds with my own I have no idea what to do about it. Peter Burke, now there is a natural Blucher (the greatest living German TM), but not me. This game will also see, hopefully, a new departure. One club member has suggested using a game as a team-building exercise, ideally for a legal company. I suggested Bautzen given the need for the French to co-ordinate their operational moves to trap the allied army against the border of the then neutral Austrian Empire. The idea seems to be to allow the French to be commanded by this team along with a sprinkling of experienced players. The higher you get up the command tree arguably the less you need to know about the nuts and bolts of the rules and the more you use what really amounts to common sense. If it comes off it could be both a good income stream for the club and a source of additional players. What we must ensure is that they feel that they are getting good value for money and have fun.

O'Donel Freicorps

Also on the books are Novi, Fuentes de Onoro and Albuera. I will umpire at the last two as I always umpire in Peninsular games. Novi (I know there are four battles of Novi in 1799, I am assuming this is the one where Suvurov fell asleep) offers me the option of playing one of my Austrian heroes, Paul Kray. Kray had already beaten the French army in Italy at Magnano in 1799 before the overblown Russian general had even arrived. He then went on, alongside Chasteler, to be one of the most successful Austrian figures of the allied war effort in Italy. He was then, of course, a victim of over promotion, being sent to Germany in 1800 to succeed Charles (who had also had a good year) and was defeated by Moreau. So I will be pitching to play him at Novi.

Painting in 2011

1st Silesian Hussar Regiment

There is a painting plan for 2011. Actually it holds up to better scrutiny as a lot is focussed around Bautzen. I am always far better if I am painting to a fixed event, so bringing forward Bautzen meant bringing forward the Prussians. My intention was that, for 1813, I would provide 2nd Prussian Corps and was looking at 2012 as the year I would do this. Bringing forward Bautzen meant completing the regular elements of the Prussians before March-April. That amounted to 12 battalions of infantry and one regiment each of Dragoons, Hussars and Uhlans. So I have already started and some of the results are below. I still lack standards for these, but I will be poking Graeme Black at GMB for these and more.

2nd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry

But it cannot all be Prussians. I would go mad; I always try to mix at least two projects at the same time or it can be a bit monotonous. So I have started seriously on my Wurttembergers. I had thought long and hard about which Confederation country to tackle. Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden and Frankfurt all looked too small, unless I combined all three. But there was the issue of well-designed accurate figures for all of them, and they did not seem to exist. North of the Main that left Saxony and Westphalia, but for a start I did not want to do white again and the quality of the infantry put me off. Bavaria? Well, good figures were available from Front Rank, but everyone does Bavarians as in that cornflower blue uniform and raupenhelm they look natty.

Wurttemberg Colonel Prinz Paul Regiment

So I landed on Wurttemberg. Eight decent infantry regiments, not large and with a raupenhelm and nice facings, form the bulk of the army. There are also four good light infantry battalions, two of which are jager, which seem to have done very well in 1809. Four regiments of light cavalry are also nice to have. There are also two horse and up to two 12lb foot batteries, all with Austrian-style guns. That is the stuff that went on campaign. To add to this are the four guard cavalry squadrons, two guard infantry battalions and the Dragoon regiment.

As you can see I have started with the line infantry, as Pete Morbey at Elite has begun designing the range. Pete tells me that he will be adding to the range in 2011 so by the time I have finished the infantry he may have come up with other stuff I can make a start on. Here, again, GMB will be coming up with the flags.

Lets see how long this plan stands up when it gets to contact with the enemy.

Aspern-Essling: the battle

2010-12-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

The First Day

After an initial briefing of the Austrian team we transferred to the main hall and were able to see for the first time what the French had over the river. I was immediately relieved: the French did not have all three Cuirassier divisions over the river, indeed they looked to have only one and some bits and pieces of light cavalry. Instead they had thrown the main weight of their forces onto their left to garrison Aspern and its environs.

The Austrian plan then unfolded. Hiller and Bellegarde began to ponderously roll onto the table and take up positions before Aspern. The assault on day one began with some hard fighting on Hiller's part as he attempted to approach the walled churchyard and the rougher ground to the south. He had a tough job here as the French defence was heavy and the fighting was intense. Bellegarde, meanwhile, was to attack Aspern's western elevation between the churchyard and the bund. It took him some time to wheel his Korps into position and prepare a division-level attack.

Then Hohenzollern's Kolonne came on to the table and began to cautiously maneouvre into position parallel to the bund whilst using his cavalry as a linking arm between his formation and Bellegarde. As he was undertaking this move the French launched their Cuirassier over the bund against him and, in almost a direct mirror of history, his infantry closed up their files and the cuirassier proved unable to penetrate his masses. As the cuirassier faded back over the bund, Liechtenstein was deploying his cavalry on Hohenzollern's left. A cavalry battle then began to develop as Liechtenstein's reserve covered the left of Hohenzollern's Kolonne and the right wing of IV Kolonne as it advanced against Essling.

What was now clear was that the French had robbed Peter to pay Paul: Essling was lightly defended. The unknown figure of Brett Smith was quite clear that this gift was to be exploited and began a determined and ultimately successful, assault on Essling.

'Who are that lot?'

This was music to my ears as Rosenberg arrived with V Kolonne. Napoleon was clearly not expecting this formation and it was clear that the arrival of Rosenberg had thrown a real spanner into the works of the French plan. It was by now very clear that they had opted for plan C (see my previous post) and V Kolonne was in the way. As Rosenberg's infantry assaulted the walled garden east of Essling his cavalry faced off a growing force of French horse between Essling and the river. IV Kolonne happily transferred all its cavalry to V Kolonne's area too giving Rosenberg four big regiments to slow up the French.

But by this time the day's assault against Aspern had not gone the way of the Austrians: Hiller was stalled and Bellegarde's assault had been repulsed.

But the effect had been to tie down the French and stop them shuffling troops over to Essling. Hohenzollern had seen off the French cuirassier and had started rolling towards the bund. Essling, though, had seen a significant Austrian breakthrough. Brett Smith had gained control of most of the village using a combination of artillery to blast breaches and big Austrian battalions to assault. V Kolonne had not taken the walled garden, but had bounced the French out, so both sides peered at each other over the no-man's land of the place itself.

And what had I done? Very little is the answer. The local column commanders had proved perfectly capable of running their own battles and I pretty much left them to it. Despite the odd hiccup the overall plan was working well. I had every cause to be satisfied with the day's results: Essling had effectively fallen, V Kolonne had stymied the French line of advance and the assault against Hohenzollern had failed. Even though we had not succeeded in taking Aspern, the assaults had tied down the French nicely. The only really significant thing I did was to bring up the Grenadiers behind Hohenzollern towards the end of the day. Overnight I stitched together an ad-hoc division of survivors from Hiller's and Bellegarde's lead assaulting divisions to act as a reserve to the right wing. Otherwise the line was tidied and redied for morning.

Day 2

It became obvious on the morning of day two that the French had decided to try and break through on their right as originally planned. There was really no choice now, as Hohenzollern and Liechtenstein nicely filled the gap between Essling and Aspern and looked like a formidable challenge for any French units electing to struggle over the bund. They had also erected a battery on Lobau to fire on Rosenberg's flank: Guard 12lb were going to be very uncomfortable for him. It was at this point that gamesmanship intervened...

Fate Cards and Supersulk

Now I am not a particularly impatient man, but I do get very irritated indeed by unfairness. When the game started the two commanders were given fate cards at the initial briefings. We were told by the umpire that attended our briefing that they had to be distributed by the CinC to all players before the game started: the CinC could not hold any back. So this is what I did. For day two we got another set of cards to be distributed in the same way. So far so good. But, early on day 2, an umpire spotted that the French CinC was distributing cards at need during the battle: in other words cheating.

The response to this was that the umpire whose idea this was decided to remove the cards from both sides. I was incandescent with anger at this. We, my entire team, were being penalised because the other side had been cheating. I was angry, more angry than I had been in years: only a game I know, but this was more about fairness and justice than actual quibbling over an angle or a dice throw. So, for the next few hours I opted out. When I am angry this is by far the best approach: I took out my little computer notebook and did some work for 3 hours until I calmed down. Liechtenstein ran the battle.

Endgame

Eventually I calmed down and returned to the table. what I saw was hardly displeasing. On the right the French had set fire to Aspern and abandoned it, the flames rather than the French were the obstacle. In the centre Hohenzollern and the remains of the reserve cavalry had closed up to the bund. Essling was now totally in Austrian hands. Rosenberg with V Kolonne had been bent back ninety degrees but was still anchored on Essling to his right. Behind him now was one of the two Grenadier reserve divisions, and he had effectively contained the French assault without collapsing.

Of the French, meanwhile, there was now a stream of infantry heading for the bridge over the Danube. The centre was screened by French cavalry ready to pounce on any Austrian unit trying to cross the bund with the consequent disorder. 'You could win big here, John' one of the umpires said to me, but I am too much of a Habsburg general to want to risk the army in questionable maneouvres, and crossing the bund in the face of cavalry was one of them. In fact I had achieved my own objectives as set out in the Dispositionskarte: a limited but clear victory over the French.

Conclusion

As Richard Shilvock commented after the battle 'It was a good, clear plan and all we had to do was follow it'. This was in response to me thanking the Austrian team for their time and skill. the key command appointments seem to have all worked well: no-one was out of their depth. Tom Burke as Rosenberg had the most difficult job, but my faith in him was well rewarded when his line bent in the face of the main French attack, but did not break. The plan, in that sense, worked pretty much as written. We had not taken Aspern, but would have occupied the smouldering ruins at a later stage.

Meanwhile, freed from having to command troops as at Eylau and Sacile, I was able to concentrate on actually commanding the battle. This was a big relief, especially as the commanders proved more than capable of doing their bit effectively without my intervention. The fact that I could be absent from the field for 3 hours just underlined this. A good game, but with a big speed bump in the middle.

Aspern-Essling: An overview

2010-12-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Introduction

The next big game was going to be Aspern-Essling, a very different kettle of fish from Sacile for a whole host of reasons. It was due to be a two-day event, our first in the group. The upshot of this in my case was I volunteered to sleep in the hall at Liphook to keep an eye in the figures rather than splash out on a vast amount of insurance. With my inflatable mattress and plenty of bedding I was perfectly happy to do this. Besides, as some of the figures were going to be mine it was as much a matter of self-interest than anything.

Pre-game issues

There were, broadly, two of these. The first was the rules for Mass. The French at Sacile had been unhappy about the rules for Mass (column to solid square within a quarter move) but the use of rapidly forming solid squares was going to be critical to Aspern-Essling in my view: ask any French cuirassier...This involved a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with David Shepherd regarding how these rules were going to work. I dug my heels in on this point as I had been using Austrians for over 20 years and felt that I was right, borne out by the evidence.
The second one was with Trevor Maroney over the map. Initially Trevor had the ditch and bund curling around the outer edges of both Aspern and Essling creating a moat around both villages. Not only was this inaccurate according to all of the half dozen maps I had, it was also going to make attacking the villages almost impossible. This involved a flurry of emails including scanned maps plus evidence of my own eyes (I had walked the battlefield myself in 1994) and Trevor finally changed it.

As an aside, during the 1994 visit I had gone to the excellent museum at Deutsch-Wagram but also the Granary at Essling. In here was a large, inaccurate and confusing diorama of the battle under a perspex cover. It was staffed by an Austrian civil servant in his official long green coat. He was, however, not allowed to have the lights on except when people visited the place. Otherwise he was condemned to live a troglodyte existence in the sepulchural gloom of the Granary. Must be one of the worst jobs in the world...

The Austrian Team

I also was quite careful about the Austrian commanders. Approaching the French positions with independent columns meant that more initiative than usual was going to be required from many of the column commanders, whilst as Charles I could not spend my time running around like a wet hen if I actually wanted to control the battle. That meant a careful choice of commanders had to be made.
One of the most critical was the role of Hiller. As his column was going to be first on the scene and be on the extreme right it needed an experienced player, also it would reflect Hiller's garnered experience. This role was admirably filled by Colin Boulain. Colin is a very experienced player (he had been Eugene at Sacile and Napoleon at Friedland for example) and a safe pair of hands. I could trust him not to do anything rash, and have him act as advisor to Bellegarde: their joint task being to reduce and take Aspern. Bellegarde himself was played by Charles Morris, a young player but one who had been gaming since Austerlitz in 2005. I had no qualms about giving him a big corps, particularly as his overall task was quite clear and Colin was on hand to advise.

Reducing Essling fell to IV and V Kolonne. The overall commander of both was Rosenberg-Orsini, in effect the general commanding the left. Rosenberg historically, and in the game, spent his time exclusively with V Kolonne. I desperately wanted this command to go to Tom Burke, son of another club member (Peter Burke who was umpiring) and I had made him promise last time I saw him to take part in the Austrian team. He forgot. So I spent a little while rescuing him from the clutches of the French, eventually getting his dad to intervene and remind him of his undertakings! In the end he had a great game, was tested and came through very well. V Kolonne, meanwhile, went to a player I had not met before; Brett Smith. I would have preferred Bill Scott to fill this role; he had played Frimont at Sacile and was both a known and talented quantity. But he was playing Lannes, which had me concerned that his tactical skill combined with David Ronaldson's attacking energy would be a difficult combination to contain, never mind overcome. In the end I need not have worried, indeed Brett turned out to be a skilful and determined player whose performance was outstanding.

That left the centre, and the third key appointment: the role of Liechtenstein. Not only was he commander of the Reserve, he was also Charles' deputy and one of the few Austrian generals who historically matched Charles for aggression and energy. In the game as it unfolded the role became more critical than it would normally have been. This role was filled by another relatively new player; Richard Shilvock. I had, though, played with Richard before and was comfortable with him as 2IC. Sandwiched inbetween Richard and Charles was III Kolonne under Hohenzollern-Hechiggen. This went to Alex Shepherd. Alex as a player is also young, but because his dad, David, is also a club member (and was also umpiring) he has participated in a lot of games. He had been in charge of a division at Sacile and I wanted him to have a significant command and role at Aspern-Essling. That said I was still unsure that Alex could handle a totally independent command, so III Kolonne would be ideal, as I would also be able to readily intervene.

There were other, more junior, commands played by other players under these column commanders. But I have never been keen on using the long screwdriver, so I left the issuing of orders to junior commands to the column commanders themselves.

Thoughts and planning

Aspern-Essling is a battle 'of a type', and is remarkably similar to Dresden in initial setup: one army is emplaced with its back to a river, the other is approaching it in a series of concentric columns. There is little need for reconnaissance as the attacking army knows exactly where the enemy is. There is little room for manoeuvre either as the structure of the battlefield precludes this.
With these and other thoughts in mind I began to think about planning. One criticism often thrust at Charles is that he was drawn to the villages like magnets, whilst what he should have done was mask the villages and throw a wedge inbetween. I looked at this option and discarded it as being too risky. I did not know what the French were going to be allowed to have over the Danube on the start of the game, but I could not discount the possible presence of three cuirassier divisions under an aggressive commander (Ronaldson) carving up disordered Austrian infantry as they struggled over the bund. Another factor was that shuffling II Kolonne over to the left would take a very long time, more than enough time to allow the French to realise what the intention was and counter it with plenty of artillery and heavy cavalry.

So, it was back to the original plan of attacking the villages. But this had to be married to preventing the French from crossing the bund. That meant that the attacks on the villages had to either carry them, or be threatening enough to draw the French away from the centre. So the following nebulous plan formed: Hiller and Bellegarde would reduce Aspern. Rosenberg would reduce Essling: the assault itself being the job of IV Kolonne whilst V Kolonne worked it's way behind Essling and take the walled garden. The Granary was to be avoided. In the centre the Reserve cavalry would repel French cavalry attacks over the bund, these were anticipated and would be launched to disrupt the movement of III Kolonne. This last formation was to advance steadily to the edge of the bund and bottle the French up behind it. The Grenadiers would stay in reserve around Brietenlee to be called forward as needed.

The overall aim was to imprison the French behind the bund and wrest control of the villages from them. This would trap them in a very constrained area where they could be pummelled by artillery.

Counter-Intuition

I had also tried to consider the options open to the French. Looking at things from their perspective there were only really 3 options. The first was to create a 'fortress' from the villages, along the bund and using the walled garden behind Essling as the perimeter. The problem with this was the Austrians could simply roll up the guns wheel to wheel and pound away. Besides, any army with Ronaldson and Scott in it was not going to settle for such a supine option.

The second option was the historical French one, to break out of the constraints of the position by advancing over the bund with cavalry and then as many battalions as they could lay their hands on. In other words an attack in the centre and then pivoting on Aspern whilst the cavalry covered the right.

The third option was a right hook behind Essling towards Gross Enzerdorf and then veering left to roll up Rosenberg whilst lightly holding the centre and retaining the villages.

I was not worried about option one, in fact it would have been as if I had written the French plan myself. Option two would have seen the French in a head on collision with III Kolonne and the reserve cavalry in the open. A potentially risky situation and would throw my plan out of gear, but would offer the option of destroying the French in the open. The winner of such a brawl would be the luckiest general. Option three would allow my plan in the centre to proceed relatively unmolested. But it would give Rosenberg something to think about. It would also be far more awkward to reinforce Rosenberg than it would be any developing situation in the centre.

Such were my thought processes as I prepared to fight the battle. I drew up yet another Dispositionskarte, issued it to my senior staff, and waited for the game weekend.

Aspern-Essling: Dispositionskarte

2010-10-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

Realising, reading back, that I have not included anything about Aspern-Essling I feel that I should as there are lots of pics and material. But, as at Sacile, I tried to issue the usual 'Army Disposition' before the game. This was the alternative to clear orders!

General Opinion

The Imperial Hauptarmee will assemble on the Marchfeld in preparation to repulse any attempt by the French army to cross the Danube. After repulsing the French on the Schwarze Lackenau their crossing points have narrowed. It is the opinion of the Hauptarmee headquarters, given observations from staff officers on the Bisamberg, that the French will next attempt to cross from Lobau island in the vicinity of the villages of Aspern-Essling. It is the intention of the Generalissimus, Erzherzog Karl von Habsburg, to take advantage of the strategic vulnerability of the French army and administer a sharp check to the Corsican ogre as he attempts to cross the Danube. Two Korps of the army will not be present. The V Korps under FZM Furst von Reuss-Plauen will cover the river upstream in the eventuality that the crossing in the Aspern-Essling area is a feint. The III Korps under FZM Kollowrat-Krakowsky is to strike out of Bohemia in the direction of Linz threatening the enemy's lines of communication.

The events of the evening of 20^th April

On the evening of 20^th April our advance guard forces under FML Graf Klenau encountered a French reconaissance in force north of the village of Essling. The French were repulsed with losses and we are confident that they have little idea of the proximity or scale of our army arrayed so closely to them.

The morning of the 21^st April

The french forces have begun crossing the Danube in force. Observations from the Bisamberg highlight two key points. Firstly, the French bridges are not formal pontoons, but instead appear to be somewhat rickety structures that are already showing signs of stress under the pressure of the river which is swollen by snowmelt. Secondly, the French seem to have concentrated on the deployment of a great deal of cavalry to the detriment of infantry. This implies further their ignorance of the proximity of our army. This is to be divided into five attacking columns plus the Reserve Korps.

Army Orders Dawn, 21^stApril

The I Kolonne of FML Hiller

I Kolonne is tasked with assaulting and taking the village of Aspern from the south and west including the Churchyard. The Kolonne is also tasked with outflanking the village to the south and take the Gemeinde Au with its light forces, interdicting French attempts to reinforce Aspern.

You are to co-ordinate your attacks with II Kolonne.

The II Kolonne of General der Kavallrie Graf Bellegarde

II Kolonne is tasked to assault and take the village of Aspern from the north and west. The Churchyard is to act as the dilineating line between I and II Kolonne, and it is to be the responsibility of I Kolonne.

II Kolonne is also to act as the hinge for the wheeling advance of III Kolonne.

The III Kolonne of Feldmarschalleutnant Graf Hohenzollern-Hechiggen

III Kolonne is tasked with a wheeling assault, hinging its right flank on II Kolonne and its left on the Reserve Cavalry. The Kolonne is to advance deliberately to position itself parallel to the ditch inbetween Aspern and Essling.

Once in position III Kolonne is to conduct a solid and predictable advance against French forces arrayed along the ditch. The Kolonne is to carry the ditch in conjunction with II Kolonne assaults on Aspern.

French cavalry attacks will probably attempt to break up this movement. Caution and care is advisable while conducting this maneouvre.

The following two Kolonne form the Left Wing under the overall command of

Feldmarschalleutnant Furst Rosenberg-Orsini

The IV and V Kolonne are tasked with taking the village of Essling. These Kolonne are to be co-ordinated and under the overall command of FML Rosenberg-Orsini.

The IV Kolonne of Feldmarschalleutnant Dedovich

See above, orders to be issued by FML Rosenberg-Orsini

The V Kolonne of Feldmarschalleutnant Furst Hohenlohe

See above, orders to be issued by FML Rosenberg-Orsini

The Army Reserve of General der Kavallrie Furst Johann Liechtenstein

The Army Reserve is to deploy its reserve cavalry to cover the gap between the left flank of III Kolonne and the right flank of IV Kolonne. The first task of the reserve cavalry is to fend off any French cavalry attacks attempting to disrupt the deployments of III and IV Kolonne. In this task you are to co-ordinate with the commanders of III and IV Kolonne.

Once this deployment is achieved you are to act as a screen between III and IV Kolonne, taking advantage of any targets of opportunity that may present themselves.

The Grenadier division is to form an Army Reserve south of the village of Breitenlee.

Army Headquarters

This will commence the battle accompanying III Kolonne headquarters.

Generalmajor Graf Wimpffen

Generalstabschef

Hauptarmee

Befehl ist Befehl!

2010-10-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

The Prussians are coming

Having not posted for a while I have sort of lost track of what pics I have posted and done since early 2010. In wargaming terms, having stumbled to victory at Sacile, I smoothly achieved victory at Aspern Essling which must count as the only game where I have been in the big chair where everything went according to plan.

That was followed by command at Auerstadt where defeat was pretty much guaranteed when the French were not only allowed to deploy Bernadotte’s Corps but also two Dragoon divisions: depriving the Prussians of the cavalry superiority, infantry superiority that, added to the C2 limits I imposed on myself it was an inevitable and comprehensive defeat.

But that meant I had to paint up more 1806 Prussians. In effect I doubled my infantry strength and there were also lots of cavalry units. Below are the Wangenhein Kurassier and the Prittwitz Husaren, both part of Lestocq’s corps that was hanging around in Poland. This force had a terrific amount of cavalry but a very limited number of infantry units. So my Prussian force from 1806 now comprises two infantry brigades with four musketeer and one grenadier battalion each, three battalions of fusiliers plus some jager. The cavalry force is now 11 battalions strong.

For 1813 I want to try for Kleist’s corps and would like to use Calpe miniatures to flesh it out as much as possible. Not having used Calpe before I ordered some samples; Jager and Landwehr cavalry. I have managed to get the Jager finished, the cavalry are just on the stocks right now (along with some Austrian Cuirassier and Jager) and pics will follow.

V Kolonne Line Regiments

2010-01-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

Infantry Regiments of V Kolonne

There were four infantry regiments within V Kolonne making a total of 12 battalions. But although the six Hungarian battalions were very strong, the six Polish battalions were considerably weaker. The painting of these units was very enjoyable; after the sea of white in IV Kolonne having six big Hungarian battalions to do was real fun. I also bought IR44 in shako rather than helmet with an eye to Wagram and then any 1813 games as well.

The Hungarians: IR2 ‘Hiller’ and IR33 ‘Colloredo’

Both IR2 and IR33 were solid Hungarian regiments originally raised in 1741 among the vast expansion of Hungarian troops offered by the Hungarian Diet to the beleaguered Maria Theresa in the War of Austrian Succession. All Hungarian troops were volunteers throughout the wars. Hungary was very similar in its political structure to England. Although there were some large families of magnates like the Esterhazys, Gyulais and so on the true political power lay with the gentry who dominated the Diet and saw themselves as the guardians of Hungary’s political rights. It was this group that blocked any attempt to extend the Landwehr to Hungary, relying on the neo-medieval insurrection as well as preventing any effort to impose any form of conscription in the Hungarian Crown lands.

Of course, the Hungarians were volunteers in the same way as English troops were volunteers: bribing local girls, providing free beer at markets, detachments of smart troops and a band at local fairs, anything to draw in local peasantry and get them to sign up.

IR2 had the somewhat dubious honour of having FML Hiller as their Inhaber. Hiller was unpopular amongst his peers, being considered something of a politician and rather sly. That said Hiller was very popular among the troops under his command. How Hiller, a German commoner, related to and had any influence over his Hungarian regiment is open to question. Inhaber were sources of pensions as well as being able to make promotions and appointments of subalterns.

IR33 was in a more interesting position. Anton Szataray had been colonel of IR33 and his performance in the Balkans in front of the Kaiser gained him an appointment to Generalmajor in 1788. Although defeated at Renchen, he was a key performer at Wurzburg in 1796 and defeated the French at Weisloch in 1799. He was Inhaber of the regiment until 1804, and died 4 years later. His successor, Heironymous Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld, was a very different kettle of fish. Coming from a large military family, he was the nephew of two Austrian generals and had numerous contacts, his father had been Vice Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. In general both the appointments of Colloredo and Hiller marks a move away from appointing Hungarian magnates as Inhabers of Hungarian regiments and appointing whoever to whatever regiment, integrating the Hungarians into the overall structure.

The Poles: IR44 ‘Bellegarde’ and IR46 ‘Chasteler’

Both these regiments, like IR9 and IR55 in IV Kolonne were originally raised in lands that had been lost to the Empire by 1809 and had been transferred to Galicia to recruit among the Poles.

IR44 had originally been Italian, one of only three Italian regiments from the Theresian period, one of which was abolished in 1751, and IR48 became Hungarian in 1798. IR44 soldiered on as Italian until the loss of all Italian territories in 1805. Then, like the Walloons, it was drawing on Polish recruits. It did not do too badly in this regard and maintained its strength in 1809 and 1813, but not at the levels of regiments recruiting in Bohemia or Moravia for example.

IR46 had an equally unusual history. Originally it began as the regiment of the Tyrol, by drawing together all the local militia battalions and regularising them. Although the independent-minded Tyroleans were happy to serve as skirmishers, they were far less keen to serve in the ranks and the regiment recruited heavily in south Germany. Like the Hungarians and Italians the Tyroleans were exempt from conscription. But the loss of the Tyrol to Bavaria meant that the regiment was, again, transferred to Galica. Unlike some regiments, and like IR55, it struggled to get recruits. Again it was abolished after 1809 as part of the requirements of the peace treaty with France.

Enjoy the eye candy

Some Austrian Units

2009-12-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

Before I start describing the run-up to Aspern-Essling I want to put out a bit of eye-candy. I realise that I did pictures of all the units of IV Kolonne previously as they were completed, but that leaves the boys of V Kolonne to do. So first off I decided to do the two cavalry regiments I have not covered previously.

HusR3 ‘Erzherzog Ferdinand Carl d’Este’

Like HusR10 ‘Stipiscz’ in IV Kolonne, HusR3 was a pretty standard regiment of Hussars and is a typical product of the Habsburg army. Although the material was excellent, and the horseflesh itself did not suffer as much over time as that of the heavies, the Austrian cavalry suffered from two principal defects: poor leadership and issues of co-ordination. The senior ranks of cavalry regiments were often filled by socially senior people but these were not usually the most adept or capable. Like other Habsburg regiments, if you want experienced officers you need to look to the Majors, rather than Lt Colonels, Rittmeister or Colonels. Hussar regiments were, and still are, fashionable, and offered considerable scope for small acts of bravery in the ‘Kleiner Krieg’ that was their forte, and in this respect their activities as scouts, conducting ambushes and undertaking raids was always a key element in the Hussar’s makeup.

The Inhaber, Erzherzog Ferdinand D’Este, was not considered a particularly nice person. Quarrie describes him as a ‘brutal and vulgar bully’, and his military talents seem rather minimal. Still, it is quite unfair to be that judgemental due to his performance in 1805, where he was pretty much a figurehead commander and his breakout from Ulm seems to have stemmed from exasperation with Mack’s apparent listlessness. His activity on 1809 is hardly open to too great a critique either. His invasion of Poland with VII Korps went ok, and he did pretty much what was expected of him, defeating the Poles at Raszyn. Again, the peripheral attacks of the Austrians went right, but the main theatre went wrong, and that was where the war was due to be won. D’Este himself was, of course, landless. The D’Este family had been denuded of all their Italian possessions (in his case Modena) so he was kicking his heels in Vienna like lots of his cousins and looking for a role. He does not seem to have held an active command in 1813-14, that war being the preserve of professional generals, not scions of the Imperial house.

ChlR6 ‘Rosenberg-Orsini’

The 6^th Chevaulegers were originally a Dragoon regiment, then became a Light Dragoon Regiment and, finally, Chevauleger. The whole Chevauleger concept grew out of trying to create a ‘German’ light cavalry arm. Something a little more disciplined than the Hussars was certainly a good idea in the mid-18^th Century and the arm became the favoured branch of Joseph II, who is often pictured wearing the green coat of the Chevauleger. Oddly many of the units grew gradually from Cuirassier regiments, who during the late 18^th century often had a ‘Division’ of Chevauleger as part of the regiment. Others were converted towards the end of the SYW or later from Dragoons: DR1, DR7, DR13, DR19 and DR31 were all converted in this way. The only regiment started as chevauleger was ChlR18, which in itself grew out of DR31 before it, too, was converted to chevauleger.

Carneville Freicorps

Although I had done a previous post on Carneville’s Freicorps when I had painted up the infantry, here is a pic that includes a couple of Hussars and the man himself; Simon Graf Carneville. I had puzzled over what on earth this unit could be used for at 1:50 other than looking pretty. Tom Burke, playing Rosenberg, puzzled over this too. In the end I settled on the notion of ‘supports’. The charm for this unit about ‘Art of Command’ rules is that any unit of any size can be counted as a support. What is unarguable is that they turned out well and look pretty...

The Victory Despatch of Archduke John

2009-12-19T05:15:00.000-08:00

My dear brother

Today the Army of Inner Austria struck the first blow against French tyranny. In battle against the Italian and French forces under the Viceroy of Italy our brave regiments proved that the French can be beaten decisively and convincingly on ground of their own choosing.

The troops of His Excellency, our dear brother and Kaiser, threw French troops out of a series of defensive positions and contained their aggressive but ultimately futile attacks. I particularly draw attention to the role played by FML Frimont de Palota, whose bravery and tactical skill destroyed one French division and drove off another. Your Excellency's own regiment, IR3, covered itself with glory in a determined assault against the French.

French arrogance has today been humbled by the calm determination of our troops. Our enterprise can only go from strength to strength in light of this terrific victory.

John

The Battle of Sacile: A Gamer's Perspective

2009-12-19T04:06:00.000-08:00

The Table

I have decided to write two battle summaries, one by myself as a gamer, the other the victory despatch of Archduke John. My POV as a gamer will of course be coloured and biased, I was the Austrian CinC after all...Also, importantly, the Umpires had introduced the concept of victory conditions based on occupation of villages.

Initial moves.

Austrian infantry advance over a bridge

For me things began to go wrong before the game started. The right-hook I had planned was clearly going to be in trouble as the French had advanced the division of Grenier far beyond their original positions. The result was that any Austrian right hook was going to be constrained by lack of space: although we would ordinarily place extra tables to extend the space if fighting was going to take place, the wall of the hall was not going to allow this. So far ahead were the French that the Grenier player also complained that he had been placed too far ahead.

Another little niggle was that the umpires had got confused between Ignaz and Albrecht Guylai when it came to assigning players. The upshot was that the player commanding the Corps, Ignaz, was an inexperienced lad who I had wanted to play Albrecht. This would not have been a problem had he not been asked to make a series of decisions about the approach of IX Korps which saw him fatally split the formation over a linear obstacle. I swapped the players over, but the damage had been done. Here too, my own opaque orders in the Armeedispositionskarte played a role.

On the Left.

Austrians advance on Pieve

I had intended to hold on the left, but Frimont decided that there were opportunities to be exploited. Starting with his own division he gradually drew on the division of Albrecht Gyulai starting with the brigade of Colloredo-Mansfeld. Heavy fighting took place around the village of Talponedo with the Austrian troops gradually breaking and routing Severoli's Italians and pushing back Seras' infantry, continuing their advance on Pieve. VIII Korps had succeeded in wresting a key objective from the French and was pushing forward, but the terrain was difficult and the advance was slow.

The Centre.

The Austrian centre

In the centre Albrecht Guylai was first of all to take the village of Ronche, on the road from Rovereto to Fontanfredda. This was rapidly accomplished by the infantry of GM Berelat, who quickly advanced down the road and settled in, much to the discomfiture of the French around Fontanfredda who saw Ronche as a key objective they needed to gain. The place became even more important once the French lost Talponedo. Berelat's infantry drew up before Fontanfredda on the left of Ronche, whilst on the right FML Reisner's Grand Battery deployed with a view, in my mind, to pummelling Fontanfredda. This never happened. It became clear that even large batteries, some 12lb, were not going to scratch the place, a factor which led to some hasty rules re-writing at the next rules session. French efforts to eject Berelat's men continued through much of the day, and at one stage the Austrians were thrown out of Ronche, only to re-occupy it within a few moves from the disordered French. These attacks on Ronche weakened the French defenders of Fontanfredda which made the place look vulnerable to assault.

The Right.

The Austrian Reserve

The left wing was where the French redeemed themselves. With Besanez' infantry and the corps artillery on one side of a stream and Reichenberg's forces on the other things did not look great, especially as the Austrian deployment was so badly constrained by space. On the immediate right the Austrians began lining the stream with guns and infantry from Marziani's brigade as Grenier and all the French cavalry devastated Reichenberg. Archduke John led an attack by IR3 against Fontanfredda, which should have succeeded, but an umpire decision which totally contradicted the rules allowed the French defenders to instantaneously form from skirmish order to line behind a stone wall and repel them. If they had stayed in skirmish order (as the rules say) they would have been ejected. But you do not argue with umpires, their decisions overrule the book...

Meanwhile Reichenberg and Volkmann were effectively destroyed. Lack of space was the main reason as units pushed back disordered others in a hideous traffic jam. I was a little peeved at this, but short of demolishing a wall to make room for more tables the battle had to be fought on the table as designed.

Conclusion.

Gajoli begins moving to the left

It was at this stage I made a critical error. I was now faced with a situation where my expected attack by IX Korps had stalled but VIII Korps was doing well, so I switched the emphasis to Frimont's attack. In so doing I robbed Albrecht Gyulai of his only uncommitted brigade, that of Gajoli, and sent it to get in Frimont's way instead. The result was the centre was now held by a thin and debilitated cordon of troops under Berelat. The French pushed a hussar unit down the road past Ronche and split the army in half. This, I reflected, would teach me about keeping reserves in the right place. That said it was not disastrous. Although Grenier was still pushing on his moves were taking him away from the villages that were victory points. The French in and around Fontanfredda were equally exhausted and Ronche was once again in Austrian hands. Also, looking at it, Gajoli was just a few moves from the centre, as was the Grenadier brigade of Altensteig. Any French moves along the Ronche-Rovereto road would have been caught in a pincer of two uncommitted and Fresh brigades. Meanwhile, Frimont with the troops he had would have gradually ground down Seras' French and reached the bridge leading to Sacile with all arms, rather that a tiresome but not really threatening French hussar regiment.

Victory.

Severoli routing

Victory was awarded to the Austrians. Although the attack by Grenier had wrecked IX Korps light forces the drive had taken large numbers of French troops away from the VP rich area. Meanwhile the Austrians had taken Ronche and Talponeda putting them ahead in the VP stakes. I also learned some valuable lessons here: more clarity in my initial orders alongside a greater awareness of reserves and not being stampeded into using them too soon and for the wrong reasons.

Orders of battle for Sacile

2009-12-08T03:54:00.000-08:00

Before giving an account of the game, here is an order of battle to allow a better idea of what I am going to be rambling about...

Army of Inner Austria

Armee Kommandant:
General der Kavallrie Erzherzog Johann

Generalstabschef:
Oberst Laval Graf Nugent von Westenrath

Artilleriedirektor:
GM Anton Freiherr von Reisner

VIII Korps: FML Johann Marquis de Chasteler
Generalstabschef: Oberstleutnant Ignaz Reinisch
Artilleriedirektor: Major Johann Freiherr von Fasching

Division: FML Albrecht Graf Guylai

Brigade: GM Heironymous Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld
IR27 'Graf Strassoldo' 3 Battalions
IR61 'St Julien' 3 Battalions
Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Brigade: GM Peter Chevalier Marechal de Berelat
IR26 'Graf Hohenlohe-Bartenstein' 3 Battalions
IR16 'Graf Lusignan' 3 Battalions
Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Brigade: GM Anton von Gajoli
IR53 'Johann Jellacic' 1st and 2nd Battalions
IR62 'Franz Jellacic' 3 Battalions
Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Division: FML Johann Maria Frimont de Palota

Brigade: GM Joseph von Wetzel
GzIR10 '1st Banal' 2 Battalions
9th Jager 1 Battalion
ChlR2 'Graf Hohenzollern' 8 Squadrons
Cavalry Battery 6 6lb

Brigade: GM Josef Freiherr von Schmidt
HusR5 'Ott' 6 Squadrons
Cavalry Battery 6 6lb

Corps Artillery
Position Battery 4 6lb, 2 Howitzers
Position Battery 4 6lb, 2 Howitzers
Position Battery 4 12lb, 2 Howitzers
Brigade Battery 8 3lb
Position Battery 4 12lb, 2 Howitzers
(Transferred from IX Korps)
Position Battery 4 6lb, 2 Howitzers
(Transferred from IX Korps)
Position Battery 4 6lb, 2 Howitzer
(Transferred from IX Korps)

IX Korps: FML Ignaz Graf Guylai
Generalstabschef: Oberstleutnant Karl Habermann
Artilleriedirektor: Oberstleutnant Johann Freiherr von Calot

Division: FML Franz Gorup von Besanez

Brigade: GM Vitalis von Kleinmayer
IR43 'Simbschen' 3 Battalions
IR13 'Reisky' 3 Battalions
Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Brigade: GM Franz von Marziani
IR52 'Erzherzog Franz Karl' 3 Battalions
IR19 'Alvintzy' 3 Battalions
Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Division: FML Christian Freiherr Wolfskeel von Reichenberg
Brigade: GM Ignaz Freiherr von Splenyi
HusR9 'Frimont' 8 Squadrons
HusR2 'Erzherzog Josef' 6 Squadrons
Cavalry Battery 6 6lb

Brigade: GM J0hann Kalnassy von Kalnass (Transferred from Besanez’ Division)
GzIR3 'Oguliner' 2 Battalions
GzIR4 'Szluiner' 2 Battalions
Grenz Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Corps Artillery
Brigade Battery 8 6lb
Grenz Brigade Battery 8 3lb

Armee Avantgarde: Oberstleutnant Volkmann

DR5 'Savoyen' 6 Squadrons
GzIR11 '2nd Banal' 2 Battalions
HusR5 'Ott' 2 Squadrons
HusR2 'Erzherzog Josef' 2 Squadrons
IR53 'J Jellacic' 3rd Battalion (4 coys only)

Army Reserve: Under Archduke John

Brigade: GM Josef Freiherr Hager von Altensteig
Salomon Grenadiers 1 Battalion (6 coys)
Janusch Grenadiers 1 Battalion (6 coys)
Chimani Grenadiers 1 Battalion (4 coys)
Muhlen Grenadiers 1 Battalion (4 coys)
DR2 'Hohenlohe' 6 Squadrons
Cavalry Battery 6 6lb
Brigade Battery 8 3lb

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Armee d'Italie

Prince Eugene de Beauharnais

Etat Major:
General de Division Charpentier

Commander in Chief Artillery:
General de Division Comte Sorbier

Division: GdeD Seras

Brigade: GdeB Garreau
35e Ligne 4 Battalions
53e Ligne 4 Battalions

Brigade: GdeB Roussel
106e Ligne 4 Battalions

Divisional Artillery
Comp a Pied 4 8lb, 2 Howitzers
Comp a Pied 4 4lb, 2 Howitzers
Division: GdeD Severoli

Brigade: GdeB Bonfanti
1st Italian Line Regiment 4 Battalions
2nd Italian Line Regiment 1 Battalion

Brigade: GdeB Peyri
7th Italian Line 3 Battalions
Dalmatian Regiment 2 Battalions
1st Italian Chasseur a Cheval 1 Squadron

Divisional Artillery
Italian Comp a Pied 4 6lb, 2 Howitzers
Italian Comp a Pied 4 6lb, 2 Howitzers
Division: GdeD Grenier

Brigade: GdeB Abbe
1eme Legere 4th Battalion
1eme Ligne 4 Battalions
Napoleone Dragoons (Italian) 1 Squadron

Brigade: GdeB Teste
52e Ligne 4 Battalions
102e Ligne 4 Battalions

Divisional Artillery
Comp a Pied 4 8lb, 2 Howitzers
Comp a Pied 4 4lb, 2 Howitzers

Division: GdeD Broussier

Brigade: GdeB Dessaix
9e Ligne 4 Battalions
24e Dragoons 1 Squadron

Brigade: GdeB Dutruy
84e Ligne 4 Battalions
92e Ligne 4 Battalions

Divisional Artillery
Comp a Pied 4 8lb, 2 Howitzers
Comp a Pied 4 4lb, 2 Howitzers

Division: GdeD Barbou

Brigade: GdeB Moreau
8e Legere 3rd and 4th Battalions
18e Legere 3rd and 4th Battalions
5e Ligne 3rd and 4th Battalions
11e Ligne 4th Battalion

Divisional Artillery
Comp a Pied 4 8lb, 2 Howitzers
Comp a Pied 4 4lb, 2 Howitzers
Cavalry Division: GdeD Sahuc

Brigade: GdeB Pages
6e Hussards 4 Squadrons
6e Chasseur a Cheval 4 Squadrons
8e Chasseur a Cheval 4 Squadrons
25e Chasseur a Cheval 4 Squadrons

Army Artillery
Comp a Pied 6 12lb, 2 Howitzers

Orders For Sacile

2009-12-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

The battlefield

Instead of issuing orders I decided to produce instead a long-winded Army Disposition in traditional Austrian Style. So here is the one for Sacile...

Armee Dispositionskarte

General Opinion

The Army of Inner Austria will continue to advance in order to establish itself along the river Tagliamento. There the army will halt and form a defensive cordon and await events in Bavaria. Every effort will be made to stimulate uprisings among the local population against the French and their puppet Kingdom if Italy. Rumblings of this are already evident in the Tyrol, where local disturbances are already taking place against their hated Bavarian overlords.

The events at Pordenone 15^th April

On the 15^th April, our Avantgarde force under FML Frimont clashed with a French force at the village of Pordenone. After a brief action our forces surrounded the village, drove off the French cavalry and took all the infantry prisoner, including the Eagle and the Colonel. Our forces continued their advance and FML Frimont occupied the villages of Palse, Porcia and Talponedo, Also, a second light force under Oberstleutnant Volkmann, was despatched to cover the right of the army. Two infantry companies of this force occupied Castello d'Aviano with its important bridge over the Torrente Artagna.

The evening of the 15^th April and dawn of the 16^th April

As the Avantgarde forces of FML Frimont and Oberstleutnant Volkmann took up their advanced positions the remainder of the army laagered around Pordenone. Our cavalry scouts have assessed enemy strength at five divisions of infantry and some light cavalry. The overnight heavy rains did not unduly disturb our forces. The forces of FML Wolfskeel will march out overnight to Rovereto, ready to commence their march at dawn towards Fontanfredda.

Army Orders Dawn, 16^th April

The VIII Korps of FML Chasteler

The forces of FML Chasteler are directed to defend the villages of Porcia and Talponedo to their utmost ability. The village of Palse is considered to be an advanced post that can be abandoned under pressure. The Korps is also directed to occupy the village of Ronche.

In addition to his existing forces, FML Chasteler will be supported by GM von Reisner who will take command of VIII Korps artillery and add the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Position batteries from IX Korps and pace himself under the command of FML Chasteler. This force is intended to allow VIII Korps to reduce the village of Fontanfredda in preparation for assault by IX Korps.

The general role of VIII Korps is to absorb and repulse any French attacks from either Sacile or up road towards Palse.

IX Korps of FML I. Guylai

The IX Korps of FML Guylai is to leave Pordenone in the direction of Rovereto. This force is then to turn in the direction of Fontanfredda along the road from Rovereto. This force is to take position before Fontanfredda with its left wing on Ronche which is to be occupied by FML Chasteler.

The village of Fontanfredda is assumed to have been heavily bombarded by the artillery of FML Chasteler. If it has not time may be taken to allow this to satisfactorily occur. FML Guylai is then directed to commence an assault either side of Fontanfredda with the aim of surrounding the place. The village is only to be directly assaulted if casualties are not expected to be prohibitive.

FML Guylai is to take the Avantgarde forces of Oberstleutnant Volkmann under command as soon as contact is made. This force is directed to cover your right flank.

You are directed to surrender your three Position batteries in Korps Reserve to GM Reisner.

The Brigade of GM von Altensteig is to remain under the hand of GdeK Erzherzog Johann as army reserve.

The forces of GM Kalnassy and GM Splenyi di Mikaldy are to be despatched OVERNIGHT to Rovereto, ahead of the main body of troops under FML Besanez. For this purpose the brigade of GM Kalnassy is to be transferred to the divisional command of FML Wolfskeel who will command the force dedicated to the overnight occupation of Rovereto.

The Avantgarde of Oberstleutnant Volkmann

This force is to advance in an arc covering the front Vignovo-Fontanfredda. This force is to have multiple roles, namely:

To defeat any French cavalry that appears
To unterdict any French troop movements along the Vignovo-Fontanfredda road
To protect the right wing of IX Korps that will be advancing from Rovereto in the direction of Fontanfredda.
If possible, occupy Vignovo and push forces down the Vignovo-Sacile road cutting the French LoC.

The force is to come under the command of FML I. Guylai once contact between these forces are made.

General Observations

The French are considerably weaker in cavalry than we are, in both quantity and quality. Use this advantage well, but do not let this situation lull you into risky actions.
The majority of our batteries are of 3lb in calibre. These are designed to support infantry attacks and can be prolonged a considerable distance. Do not get bogged down statically with these guns but use their maneouverability.
The third battalions of our line infantry regiments are not particularly reliable, so where possible use these units as supports to other, more experienced, battalions.
Our large battalions offer a good prospect of attritional advantage over those of the French. Again, use this advantage wisely.

Morning Conference

A morning conference of senior officers will take place at the army headquarters in Pordenone at 6am. At this conference updates of French positions will be assesssed and any amendments to these orders will be given verbally at that conference.

Oberst Laval Graf Nugent von Westmeath

Generalstabschef

Armee von Inneroesterreich

John and Nugent discuss the coming engagement

My 1809

2009-12-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

The big year

I have always been an Austrophile. Anyone who has ever read anything I have written about the period will be pretty aware of this. I started my hobby with a 15mm Austrian army and never really looked back. The army itself is pretty average. There are benefits: big infantry battalions, good quality cavalry and reasonable artillery. There are also disadvantages: a very average officer corps, a rather ponderous approach to warfare and army preservation taking precedence over the risks needed to win. On the whole, as an army, nothing will really save you from your mistakes (no show pony leaders, masses of guns or terminally stubborn infantry) but it will not simply crumble no matter what you do.

So I was looking forward to 2009. As a key player in the 200-ers I was looking forward to Austria standing alone and some good 1809 battles. In the end we did three: Sacile, Aspern-Essling and Wagram. Sadly, due to a bereavement, I was unable to make Wagram, where I was due to command. But I commanded and led the whitecoats to victory at both Sacile and Aspern-Essling. I was also looking forward to taking further steps to hammer the 'allied team', especially the younger lads in that group, into a good fighting organisation.

In terms of the scenarios Sacile was my idea. Not a Danubian battle, but a fairly even one in terms of numbers and troop quality with the usual difficulties of terrain that you find in Italy. Although small by the usual 200-er battles in Europe, it is as large as most battles in the Peninsular. It was also going to be a good test-bed for 1809 rules in general, particularly like things for masses, that we had grafted on to Art of Command. I would also get to play my much-maligned namesake: Archduke John.

Aspern-Essling was always going to be a different kettle of fish. Admittedly it was always going to be a tough call for the French, and a decisive French victory was only going to happen if the Austrians were incompetently handled. The French were going to be allowed to change what started over the river and the bridges over the Danube went up and down like a whore's knickers whilst the Austrians were constrained to historical arrival times and entry points.

I will say very little about Wagram as I was not there.

I had also been painting like mad for two years or more, churning out Austrians. The end result was that I had completed all of IV and V Kolonne by the time Aspern-Essling arrived. I was also happy that these Kolonne fell into the hands of two very good players: Tom Burke and Brett Smith. But more of the actual team when it comes to describing the battle. I will include a post before Aspern-Essling with photos of each of the units and generals to give everyone some eye-candy.

The other point to make is that I was already looking to 1813 even as 1809 began. Of course some of the infantry in 1813 would be in helmet, but troops I ordered for Wagram (which never got fielded) all ended up in shako. Not one to plan small, I am now looking at 4 years to do as much of Wittgenstein's Advance Guard as possible: starting with Austrian IV Armee Abteilung and II Prussian Korps. The latter can mostly be made from the excellent Calpe range. But I also have Spanish to complete, some French to polish off and a slow-burning Wurttemberg project. I have also recently been appointed Brunswick for our refight of Auerstadt and want to do the 27 Prussian squadrons from our upcoming battle of Heilbronn (5 done so far...)

K

The Vimeiro Refight

2008-09-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

Now, I know as much about the Peninsular War as I know about the back end of the moon. I have never been really interested in playing either the French or the Brits and when I have played Peninsular games I have always pitched for Spanish, Portuguese or KGL commands. Besides, in my book there just is not enough cavalry…

So when it came to the 200-ers refight of Vimiero yesterday I had asked to umpire, as I will happily do for all Peninsular games. This was going to be a new experience for me, as I had not umpired for many years and not with these rules. Art of Command has been continually tweaked anyhow, and in this case we had introduced different methods of handling cavalry, and the charge sequence that I had wanted.

I knew very little about the original battle so I was not going to be too influenced by historical operations.

The Battle

Now, in the first case there will be pictures of this game on the 200-ers website. In the meantime you will have to make do with whatever I can find. Anyhow, the battle was Wellesley’s first engagement in the Peninsular, and we had asked one of our younger players (the Young Guard) to take on the role. Playing Junot was my mate and sparring partner David Ronaldson. As I said to him he was the perfect choice; aggressive and half mad. We had also slightly changed to battle in that Junot was allowed to abandon Lisbon and bring the Division that was there up to join the battle.

This, in a way, was not necessary. The British plan was essentially that of static defence, with a creeping paralysis setting in as the battle progressed, with units only being sent to threatened sectors far too late in the day. The French, on the other hand, had a very maneouverist plan, with Junot prepared to change the emphasis of his attack as the battle progressed. Unsurprisingly it was a very convincing French victory.

Umpiring and the rules

As the game progressed I confess that I found it harder and harder to bite my tongue. The experienced player who was supposed to be playing Murray, Wellington’s QMG, was also playing Hill, and was so fucussed on his own crumbling position that there was no-one who was taking a weather view of the battle. This, I think, was very clear where one British division on the far left could have easily given up a couple of battalions and possibly its battery to reinforce a threatened sector.

But there was also the issue of the rules. Basically we had dealt with the issue of heavy cavalry being used as panzer divisions only to uncover another; the overwhelming power of skirmishers. The British had concentrated the majority of their light troops in a light brigade and this was holding the town of Vimeiro. The rest of the divisions were left with very little light infantry, a few rifle companies and their battalion screens. The French, on the other hand, had plenty of Legere all over the place, and the overall combat results reflected this. In front of Vimeiro, where the British had a superiority of light infantry, the French attack stalled, and then routed, leaving the British in posession of the town. Elsewhere the situation was reversed with the French not having to commit close order troops and instead just skirmished the poorly screened British lines to death. Where the French did commit two columns against the British, they found the one totally fresh line to do it with and the results were very predictable: the French got shot up and retired to their start lines.

What to do?

So this is the next area to consider. What to do about skirmishers. What sort of outcome should they be able to create? Personally I feel this should be few casualties and lots of harassment, and here I think the disorder issue comes in handy.

My initial thought is that for every six, or part of six, skirmishers you simply roll a d6 and get a result. 1-3 nothing, 4-5 one disorder level (or force a redeployment if artillery), 6 a casualty. Against a screened target, target in cover, deployed artillery and so on you need to roll a 6 on a D6 first, and if you get one then roll again for a result. It is pretty easy to divide up the firers and roll a D6 for each. Basically against a screened target you have a 1 in 36 chance of causing a casualty, and a 1 in 18 chance of creating some disorder. Whatever the die roll, only one casualty can be taken by each target per turn and the maximum disorder you can create is ‘Disordered’. Skirmishers themselves can be shot at in the normal way, with possibly an increased minus for firing at them to make firepower casualties a remote possibility.

Battalion screens should be able to screen the battalion. As it stands the battalion light company cannot screen it’s parent line, which seems absurd. So any battalion screen should be able to screen its parent, and only its parent, entirely.

Those are my thoughts so far, I'll keep thinking...

Begorrah’ed

2008-08-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

It’s honking…

Here are my first set of Wild Geese, in this case the first battalion of the Irish Regiment of Irlanda. I have not painted a 25mm unit in red before but I must say that I am very happy with the wat that these have turned out.

The unit was part of the first draft sent to Italy which landed at Ortobello in 1741. Irlanda boasted 1,037 men on disembarkation and, along with the Walloon and Swiss, the desertion rate remained fairly low. Conversely the Italian and Spanish units suffered terribly from this, as presumably the men could slip into the civilian population far easier.

How many of the men were actually first generation Irish is hard to say. Certainly of the officers I would have anticipated a high number of Catholic Gentry, denied service in the British army due to their religion, looking to exercise their traditional employment elsewhere. You can find Irish officers serving in Europe in virtually all armies, but clearly France and Austria soaked up many.

But of the rank and file things are far muddier. Although there was no real bar to service placed by the Brits, there were lots of people fishing in the Irish labour pool. For a start there was British army recruitment, they were on the ground and closer. The French, too, had several Irish units on establishment so the Spanish did face considerable competition. I cannot imagine anything more than a small minority of Irish peasantry fired by anti-British feeling to serve with the Bourbons, so I suspect it came down to bounties.

Of course there were second-generation Irish in Spain, scions of the original Wild Geese of the old Pretender, yet there were far less of these in Spain than there were in France. On top of these ‘Irish’ you could add British deserters/prisoners who enlisted during the WAS, but the beneficiary from these can only have been regiment Ultonia (which was not in Savoy either, so was it before Gibraltar?), but Irlanda and Hibernia, isolated in Italy, could not possibly have had this as a source.

So, what? A rag-bag of Germans, Swiss, French and whoever else could be swept up to join some second-generation Irish and whoever the recruiters managed to inveigle into the ranks from Ireland proper.

In terms of painting, well, the red is actually Revell’s Karminrot, with the Blue coming from a navy blue provided by my local art shop, the gaiter colour being Revell Beige and the leatherwork being Revell Braun. It is actually a pleasure to paint something where white is a very small part of the whole, unlike Napoleonics where white breeches and crossbelting are very much the norm.

Next on the stocks are the second battalions of the Lombardia Regiment and the Sardinian Swiss Regiment Diesbach. Also up are some proper Spanish battalion pieces, so pics of them shortly. In the meantime I dedicate this unit to WildGeese on TMP.

Andere Andere…

2008-08-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Dons have landed

So here is the first Spanish unit of my Camposanto project. This has been quite a slow-burner whilst I have concentrated on completing IV Kolonne at Aspern-Essling but I managed to get these over the finishing line yesterday evening.

These are the boys from the first battalion of the Lombardia Regiment. It is a classic Spanish National Regiment and, despite its name, is not one of the regiments raised in Italy.

The figures are Front Rank SYW French. As such I chose to accept some minor inaccuracies and a UK based company I have an established relationship with rather than the more accurate but US-based and more questionable castings of the London War Room. So, as can be seen from the rear view the hatmen have swords, which the Spaniards did not have, and are wearing the cartouche box at the hip rather than as a belly box, which was far more frequent. That said, other than the club nerd type (who would declare the figures totally unplayable) I think they look close enough and good enough to pass muster.

I have done this battalion at 16 figures strong plus the battalion gun section.As the Spanish battalions varied in size on landing I am approximating this to number of figures. So the Guards battalions (all 12 of them….) are only going to be 12 castings strong, whereas the second battalion of IR Besseler will be 24 strong.

Lombardia as a regiment landed in Italy with two battalions on the 8^th November 1741 with some 1,067 effectives. It was part of the first of two tranches of men sent to Italy, in this case 19 battalions of Infantry and 12 companies of Horse. A second tranche put ashore on the 13^th January 1742 composed of 15 battalions of Infantry and another 12 companies of Horse and this was the total number of troops sent by Spain to central Italy.

The Spanish that were sent over clearly lacked heavy guns with only battalion pieces issued. Ostensibly this was not a problem as the Spanish could call on Farnese-rules Naples and their ally Modena to supply troops too. Unfortunately for the Spanish Modena was quickly overwhelmed by a massive Piedmontese offensive before they arrived so only stragglers were forthcoming from that quarter. Naples proved a broken reed too: the Royal Navy simply sailed into Naples harbour and threatened to turn the place to rubble if Naples aided the Spaniards. This threat kept the Neapolitans at bay for two years.

So the Spanish were on their own, and with the RN dominating the sealanes they had no new drafts of men sent over from Spain. The result was that the battalions withered as the stresses of campaign took their toll. More Spanish to come soon.

Prize Swiss

2008-08-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Neuchatel

To start with lets explain the brief hiatus: I am currently looking to get back into the job market after 18 months of freelancing so I have been very focussed on that aspect of my life and the painting has fallen by the wayside a bit. But here are two recently completed units to cast your eyes over.

The Battalion de Neuchatel that I have painted here is actually not for me but is a prize to be given out at our Vimiero refight due to take place on the 31^st August. I am umpiring, so there is no danger of me winning my own figures, and there are suggestions that it will be the prize for the ‘player’s player’, a new one on me but apparently a revival of an old practice in the 200-ers.

I chose Neuchatel because it is unusual, can stand alone as one battalion and I guess that many people do not have it. Unlike modern illustrations, which show almost neon yellow I chose a more realistic darker yellow, actually the Revell Ochre colour, as the jacket shade. This, to me, gives them a more solid and less Disney-esque look but is still yellow enough to support their nickname of ‘The Canaries’. What I am lacking, of course, is a colour. GMB flags has just got back to me (Graeme has been holidaying in France for a fortnight, apparently) so it will be there by the time it is given away.

If this goes down well I will do more of them as prizes. There are lots of quirky and interesting units out there that can serve as stand alone prizes: the Grand Duchess Pavlovna battalion, Lobkowitz Jager, some of the more chocolate box Confederation units. See how it goes.

And now for something completely different.

No, not a man with 3 buttocks…in fact not that different at all. I have been painting up some oddments to sell on ebay every now and again. One small selection I am offloading are my Flintloque stuff, and here is the latest sample. There is something very appropriate about the Russians being represented by the undead: ‘they just keep coming’ but with little imagination or flexibility. So here is a pic of my first tranche of forces of the Witch King, basically regulars and artillery. I have another lot of 12 Werewolf Jager and some mounted and dismounted cossacks plus a Lich to run it all. Probably get round to that sometime…

Enjoy

From the Workbench: Appendix

2008-06-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

End of the month

Although there is over a week to go before the end of the month This sort of wraps it up for June. I am away for the rest of the month as ‘respite care’ for my frail gran up in Yorkshire to allow my aunt and uncle to have a worry free week’s holiday. So this is the last painting post I will manage in June, although there will probably be another discussing the results of this Sunday’s Art of Command rules meeting in Salisbury.
Anyhow, wheel on the eye-candy…

IR55 “Reuss zu Greiz”

The Inhaber of this regiment was Feldmarschalleutnant Heinrich XIII, Furst zu Reuss-Greiz, from the Royal House of Reuss where everyone was called Henry. Notwithstanding the obvious confusion this would cause at a family reunion, the princes of Reuss were also part of the Confederation of the Rhine and contributed troops to the Grande Armee. But, as was the case with several German countries, the transient nature of politics was not going to get in the way of long term relationships. Also of importance was that many minor German Royals served in the armies of their larger neighbours. The most famous are probably the Leichtenstens and Hohenzollern-Hechiggen, but the Reusses were equally keen to serve in the Habsburg Army, Reuss-Greiz was joined by Reuss-Plauen who was Inhaber of IR17 (Henry again of course, this time number XV) both FML in 1809.

IR55 started life as a Walloon regiment, but the loss of the Austrian Netherlands meant that all of these units were given Polish recruitment areas to replace the lost Belgian ones. In the case of IR55 this does not seem to have worked out to well, the regiment having a mere 692 effectives in the field at Aspern-Essling, and the drafts after that battle and returning injured only brought it up to 1,056, in neither case was this very strong for a two battalion Austrian regiment. Another clue that all was not well is the consistent absence of a third battalion. This implies a shortage of manpower even before the war began, and during the campaign events in Poland would have made matters very hard indeed. It comes as no surprise to me, then, that IR55 was chosen as one of the regiments to be disbanded after the Wagram campaign was over. It remained so until after 1815.

At Aspern-Essling, though, the regiment did manage to attack Essling successfully, getting a toehold in the Churchyard on the 21st, only to be thrown out again by a French counterattack. This is generally the pattern of fighting in both villages, and we must make sure that any rules we use reflect this. At Wagram the regiment was in 5th Korps which lived out the battle on the Bisamberg and was never committed. Although only a souped-up division in reality any refight we do of Wagram should give Charles the option of committing it behind Klenau and Kollowrat, 13 battalions, 8 squadrons and 5 batteries are not to be sniffed at.

The regiment had two commanders in 1809, the first was an Oberst von Koller who had commanded since 1805, the second was an Oberst von Gober. I cannot work out when the change actually took place but I would not be surprised if it was after Aspern-Essling. Certainly Koller was promoted to GM and awarded the Ritterkreuz of the MTO again sometime 1809-1810 but the actual date is unclear. Like Oberst Frelich of HusR10, awards handed out for Aspern-Essling seem to have lacked the usual Austrian commitment to bureaucracy.

In terms of painting, as the regiment was so weak, I have elected only to do one battalion (18 figures) although I have figures for two. The second battalion may transmute into 2/IR50 ‘Stain’ as I want this regiment for Wagram as part of 6th Korps.

Carneville Freicorps

My first unit of VI Kolonne is the diminutive Carneville Freicorps. Part of the brigade of Simon Graf Carneville this is the classic light infantry officer that Austria tended to attract. Carneville had been leading light troops ever since he raised his first freicorps in 1792 from émigrés in the Austrian Netherlands. This unit fought throughout the war of the first coalition before becoming part of the 11th Light Battalion in 1798 led by the man himself initially, but he was promoted to GM July of that year. He then seems to have plateaued, as he is still at GM rank in 1809, indeed stays there until he dies in 1816.

His only benefit, therefore, may have been as a leader of freicorps and light troops but unsuited to higher command. Certainly other officers of a similar stamp went further, his divisional commander at Aspern-Essling was a fellow freicorps leader and light battalion commander, Prinz Victor Rohan. Something was clearly holding him back.

The unit itself is small, but pretty. I used Front Rank firing and loading Hungarian infantry to represent them, the poses are not only suitable for skirmishers they hide the unusual half lapels they seem to have had. The two Hussars were painted up from a few leftovers from HusR10, and also look very good. Whether the hussars in particular will be of any use is open to question. My first choice would be as recce, but at Aspern Essling we sort of know where the enemy is. Chopping up enemy skirmishers? Doubt they will deploy many. I guess it is just ‘looking pretty’ then. The infantry are of more use, especially in the swampy area nerer the river on the left of VI Kolonne.

Also a milestone: first VI Kolonne unit..yeah!

1st Russo-German Legion Horse Battery

I have actually had this painted for some weeks, but have kept it quiet as it is a surprise present. Our host at Salisbury is David from the Nap200-ers and this is a gift for his son, Alex. This is not just a whim. When we refought Eylau and I got captured early on, much of the ‘blame’ can be laid at Alex’ door. Inexperienced and out of his depth he had been put in charge of the whole Russian left flank. Attacked by the French cavalry in an outflanking move he went to pieces in the face of a very bad situation. In fact he owed this to his performance at our previous battle, Jena, where he had commanded a small division and done some useful work. It just goes to show that one good performance does not make a good wargamer, and I noticed that at Friedland he was in the centre were his dad could keep an eye on him.

Anyhow I was very gruff and short with the poor lad. OK I had been captured and his mis-execution of my plan led to catastrophe, but you should never, ever, ever do anything to discourage young people from taking up the hobby, and being anything less than encouraging to young players is so uncharacteristic of me I must put it down to stress. So the RGL Horse Battery is by way of an apology to the lad. Although David has thousands of figures himself, there is nothing like owning your own kit and using it in battle. I just hope he becomes more comfortable around me in the future.

K

From the Workbench

2008-06-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

Progress

This week I finally finished two significant units from IV Kolonne: HusR10 ‘Stipiscz’ and IR22 ‘Coburg’. These are significant milestones and I am very happy to be past them. Already underway is IR55, which only fielded less than 700 at Aspern-Essling, so although I have figures for two full battalions I am only looking at doing one for the time being. I will get round to doing the second battalion when things are a little less focussed on A-E and Wagram, also on the stocks is ChlR6 ‘Rosenberg’. In fact, for IV Kolonne, that only leaves the 3 battalions of IR9 ‘Reuss-Greiz’, 6 guys from ChlR6 and two 6lb cannon plus my figure for GM Neustadter. Our next battle, Vimeiro, is on 8th August and I would really like to have all of IV Kolonne finished by then.

IR22 ‘Prinz zu Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld’

Even more so than IR8, IR22 is a pretty average German infantry regiment. The Inhaber of this regiment was General der Kavallerie Prinz Friedrich-Josias zu Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld. This gentleman was a General of considerable experience, having led the Austrian army in the Austrian Netherlands in 1793 and 1794. Very much an 18th Century figure he was still wedded to the campaigning principles of cordon and siege. Still, both Mozart and Haydn composed music in his honour.

The Regiment was German in style, originally recruited from Illyria, but by 1809 had become a Moravian-based regiment. As a whole the unit put some 2,500 men into the field at Aspern-Essling, giving fairly strong individual battalion strengths, presumably helped by the units close proximity to its depot in Moravia. At Wagram it is still able to put over 2,100 men into the field. The facings were Imperial Yellow, with pewter buttons. The Colonel-commandants for the regiment in 1809 were initially Oberst Wenzel, Graf Vetter von Lilienberg (whose relative, Major Graf Vetter, was commander of the 2nd Moravian Volunteers) giving way to Oberst von Watzl, who commanded the regiment through to 1813.

HusR10 ‘Joseph Freiherr Stipiscz von Ternova’

HusR10 is a good representation of what was an excellent mounted arm, namely the Hussars of the KK Armee. All cavalry unit raised in Hungary were hussars and for the Hungarian gentry they were a very prestigious posting to be sent to. Stipiscz himself had been awarded the Knights Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa in 1794 when he was colonel of ChlR7 ‘Graf Kinsky’ from 1794 to 1797 and rose up the chain of command, eventually ending up as a General of Cavalry. However, this eminent solder had to make way as Inhaber in 1814 for Frederick William III of Prussia. He remained, however, second Inhaber and for practical purposes his duties probably did not change that much.

HusR10 is a very pretty unit, light blue overall with the grass green shako. It had at one time been commanded by that stalwart of avant-garde commands, the Freiherr von Kienmayer, and the 1813 brigade commander the Freiherr von Mecsery. In 1809 at Aspern-Essling it was part of FML Klenau’s Armee Avantgarde which formed part of IV Kolonne. It’s colonel, Oberst Franz Freiherr von Frelich (later GM) commanded a brigade made up of his own Hussar regiment and IR3 ‘Erzherzog Karl’. It fielded 861 men at Aspern who, on day two of the battle, were one of the regiments that repulsed the charge by Lasalle’s cavalry.

At Wagram the unit was part of Nordmann’s Avantgarde and had received new drafts of men, now fielding 968 troopers. On the extreme left of the Austrian line they crossed sabres with the cavalry of Montbrun’s light cavalry brigade, although other sources place this unit with the main Austrian attack against Grouchy and Pajol. At Wagram Frelich was already a newly-promoted Generalmajor and the new colonel-commandant was Anton Gundaker Graf von Stahremberg, who would retain command until 1811. Frelich was also awarded the Ritterkreuz of the Maria Theresa order, presumably for his performance against Lasalle at Aspern-Essling, but it is unclear whether he was officially awarded it in 1809 or 1810. In 1812 he goes into Russia with Schwarzenberg commanding a brigade of Hussars, but I cannot find any trace of him in 1813 and`1814, maybe due to ill health brought on by the retreat.

Things will take a bit of a break from Sunday for a week or so as I am away for a bit, but there may be more eye-candy before then, if only a little.

K

The Diary of General Ramble

2008-06-11T02:03:00.000-07:00

Back to the Future

I have been pondering what to do with the Austrians. My instinct is to look forward to 1813 and get as much in shako as possible, but then you look at it and other than Dresden and Leipzig there were not many smaller engagements you could use them for. It is not like the Russians or Prussians where you can look at 1813 and do a lot. So I have been looking in more detail at the 1799/1800 Italian campaign instead. There are quite a lot of do-able battles, the sides are tactically even and there are plenty of maps. French in Bicorne will be a better fit for my 1806 Prussians as well.

So that means getting as much as possible in helmet. I know that in reality the troops in Italy continued to wear the old Kaskett rather than the Raupenhelm but this is no more oxymoronic than having all my 1809 stuff in Shako. Certain things will 'have to do'. The shakoes on the Hussars are bell-topped rather than the more cylindrical peaked Klobuk and the cavalry helmets will have higher Raupes and so on plus the gunners will be in bicorne rather than helmet or corsehut (for the most part at least) but this really is nitpicking. This is, after all, primarily an 1809 army that I am looking at stretching backwards rather than forwards. Given the infantry is the same and most of the cavalry will serve there only need be a few additions or replacements, such as different Grenzer, Light Infantry Battalions and theD' Aspre Jager. These can all be 'filled in' after the Wagram refight.

The French will, more-or-less, be started from scratch. Not much in my current French force will reasonably serve with the exception of the artillery equipment but the French do field some interesting units: the Helvetique and Polish Legions, Piedmontese Infantry and so on. The charm is that there is not a great deal of French cavalry making it cheaper than doing the equivalent period in Germany.

The loose cannons are the Russians, not many of them, only cossacks as mounted troops, and no idea about artillery at all (will SYW pattern guns do?). But who is going to resist all those Grenadiers in Mitres and powdered queues? Although a lot is said about the Russians in terms of publicity, mostly because of the larger-than-life figure of Suvurov, it was the Austrians who provided the bulk of the troops and did the bulk of the fighting.

Samples from Wurttemberg

One of the things I did this month was order some samples of Wurttembergers from the Connoisseur/Bicorne range. These are much less bulky than the FR stuff I am doing now but are 28mm and will fit in. The overall design ethos is different too, with less crisp detail and more 'rough' sculpting. But I am satisfied with the figures as they have painted up so far. The fact that they are all in overalls with rolled g/c means they are far simpler to paint than anything I am used to, even the French in campaign dress. Meanwhile the artillery uniform is really cool and stands out nicely. So, now that I have finished my 1809-14 French (in terms of buying if not painting) then this looks like the next 'pro-French' project. It is not one, though, that will seriously start until after the Wagram refight. Until then it will be a tide of Kaiserlicks.

K

Commissioned

2008-06-10T01:45:00.000-07:00

Ole, Senor and Costa Brava....

Just a short post with a bit of eye candy. These are two Spanish cavalry regiments that I have painted up for my fellow 200-er, Trevor. Trevor builds all the terrain and organises the scenario for whatever battle we are going to fight. It does not sound much but his sculpting of the individual battlefields is painstaking and detailed and takes considerable time and effort. Like many 200-ers he is ex-military and this whole project can be dated back to his time in Germany, presumably with BAOR.

Line Cavalry Regiment 'Infanta'

The regiments are the Spanish Line Cavalry Regiment 'Infanta' and the Guard Hussar Regiment of King Joseph. Like all other Spanish cavalry regiments they match their prettiness with their dubious military ability. I suspect Joseph's Hussars in particular had a cossack-pesqu reputation based on random executions and looting, but the Peninsular is not really my field.

King Joseph's Guard Hussars

The figures, as you can see, are Minifigs. For someone used to painting Front Rank and Elite they were a major shock; true 25mm. Detail was lacking in most cases, the sculptor himself seemed to be in two minds as to whether he should indulge in any at all, the lines being so faint in many cases. I did put them next to my Front Rank Stipiscz Hussars that I am still painting and the difference was acute. But Trevor has a very large wargames figure collection dating back to the 70's and it is all Minifig, and anything else would stand out like a sore thumb so there is no real choice here. Indeed I can compare the figures today, but back then there clearly was no choice and technology when it came to figure design and manufacture has moved ahead light years.

And this completes my first painting commission for many years. Hopefully there will be more, as this has paid for some Grenz and some Chevauleger from Front Rank for the ongoing 1809 project. More of that in another post.

K