28MM NAPOLEONIC: PICTON AT WATERLOO 1815

 Here is a comparison of 3 models of Lt Gen Thomas Picton KCB at Waterloo.

Left to right they are by Perry, Front Rank and Foundry.   The Perry model is based with their Captain Mercer the others are based with ADCs.  Kevin Bowman painted the first 2 sets - all based by myself.

MORE NAPOLEONIC BOOKS FROM N&MP

 The latest bargain Napoleonic arrivals from Naval & Military Press.  The Netherlands Campaign 1813-14 (including the forgotten disaster at Bergen-Op-Zoom) and Moore's Retreat to Corunna.  I will see what Black Powder 2 scenarios I can derive from these.

MORE 28MM NAPOLEONIC FIGURES

Here are some photos of the latest additions to my Black Powder Napoleonic collection.  They are 2 gun Saxon and Spanish 12pdr batteries from Elite Miniatures and the Front Rank Polish General of Division Dabrowski and 2 ADCs.  I really like the Elite gun models and they make up the bulk of my artillery.  Front Rank command figures are so nice and crisp. They were painted by Kevan Bowman then based by me.

The impressive Front Rank Dabrowski and staff

Another view

Saxon 12pdr battery - my first Saxon unit

Spanish 12pdr battery - to give my Spanish some heavy hitting power

MORE NAPOLEONICS

Here are some photos of recent additions to my Black Powder Napoleonic collection.  I bought a collection of French generals and staff on Ebay which I tidied up, matt varnished and rebased.  I based them in 4 senior officer pairs and 4 single ADC figures.  They are intended to be reserve generals for The Great Game of Waterloo in Glasgow.

All Foundry Figures

Foundry figures and possibly on the right a couple of Redoubts

 

BP2 28mm LEIPZIG 16 OCTOBER 1813 Update 4

I was away at the weekend in Methil in Fife for a 2 day large scale 28mm Napoleonic game.  It was played by 10 gamers from our AB1 group plus myself umpiring and was a refight of Leipzig 16^th October 1813.  The game covered the action on the Southern front where the Allied Army of Bohemia faced Napoleon himself.

The rules used were Black Powder 2.  The House Rules employed were basically those being used for The Great Game Waterloo but using our revised turn sequence.  It was fun with lots of troops on the table.  The game was still in the balance at the end but it was certainly going the way of the French.  The allies had lost 5 broken brigades (historic divisions) and the French only 1.

The Allies were played as follows West table John Perkin (Kleist), Centre 1 table Ian Carter (Wittgensein) and Jim Conquer (Eugen of Wurtemburg), Centre 2 table Angus Konstam (Gorchakov), East table Ken Pearce (Klenau).  The French were played by West table Bart Zynda (Poniatowski)), Centre 1 Table Jack Glanville (Victor), Centre 2 table Donald Adamson (Lauriston) and Campbell Hardie (Augerau), East table Chris Stone (McDonald).

Thanks to everyone who provided figures and John Perkin who produced all the unit and commander cards and reviewed my other paperwork.

We fielded 170 infantry battalions of 24 figures, 100 cavalry regiments of 12 figures and 81 batteries each of 2 guns - a total of 5,600 figures and 162 guns.  In all 4,700 figures got onto the table with 900 still in reserve.  You will see that the Allies had quite a numerical advantage at the outset but the French reserves arrived faster.

The battlefield we used consisted of 4 6ft by 12ft tables.  Below there is a layout drawing of the 4 tables showing the numbers of the initial on table units and their immediate reserves. The game was played lengthwise and there was a 5ft gap between each table. The tables did not interact except that units within 2ft of the respective baselines could move to adjoining tables.  Not shown are the roads that ran south to north linking the villages on each table. We learned some lessons on the BP2 rules to be applied to TGG in June.

Drawing of the 4 tables with initial troop deployment.

I have added the Order of Battle with starting positions, Unit Stats and House Rules to my Blog pages on the right of the screen.

Now some photos from the game - the first photos I took made the dustsheets look very white but the colours improved when I moved to a low light setting.  Here is the link to all my photos with descriptions on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskQdgPRM

Russian and Prussian allies close on the defenders of Wachau commanded by the wily Jack (Victor)

Donald (Lauriston )organising the French counterattack south of the Galgenburg

Carabiniers and Cuirassiers engage the Prussians

Klenau's forces massing for another attack

MORE NAPOLEONIC ARTILLERY AND BASING

Here are some photos of the latest addition to my Black Powder Napoleonic collection.  It is a 4 gun Prussian 12pdr battery from Elite Miniatures and were painted by Kevan Bowman then based by me.  I really like the Elite gun models and they make up the bulk of my Prussian, Russian and French artillery.

They will be taking the field first at the AB1 Leipzig refight in Fife at the end of March and later at the massive Waterloo Uncovered game in Glasgow in June.

I have put in photos showing some stages in my basing technique.

The completed unit - 3 12pdrs and a howitzer - without the 2 gun movement trays

Basic  level - model railway ballast with main coat and dry brushed highlights

Javis static grass added

Last stage - 2 sizes of grass tufts added

BP2 28MM PENISULAR GAME

Last Wednesday I put on a 28mm BP2 Napoleonic game at home.  There were 4 players myself and John Perkin played the British commanders and Colin Jack and Donald Adamson commanded the French forces.  The game was a fictional one set during the retreat of Wellington’s army from Burgos. 

The British were a rear-guard force holding a ridge line covering the retreat.  They had 2 infantry brigades each of 3 line battalions, a skirmishing detachment and a field battery.  They also had a brigade of 2 dragoon regiments and a brigade of 2 light dragoon regiments plus a horse battery.   The French had 2 brigades each of 4 line battalions and a foot battery.  They also had a light brigade of 2 light battalions and a skirmishing detachment.  Their cavalry consisted of a brigade of 2 dragoon regiments and a light brigade of a chasseur regiment and a lancer regiment plus horse battery.  One British infantry brigade and 1 French infantry brigade consisted of veteran units.

It proved to be a good game with the dragoons rushing to engage each other on the British left.  This was the highlight of the game.  The British dragoons swept both French units from the field and then fell onto the flank of the French infantry engaging the British line along the ridge line.  They broke a battalion and a sweeping advance destroyed a French battery.  The French light cavalry counter attacked and their lancers drove the dragoons back away from the French infantry.

A good game – overall a draw.  It was the first game using my newly painted Warbases mdf movement trays.

British lines await the French columns

Polish grenadiers surge into a doomed British foot battery

Highland receives the Polish attack

Action along the ridge as the Dragoons prepare to engage on the left wing

MORE NAPOLEONIC REINFORCEMENTS

Here are some photos of recent additions to my Black Powder Napoleonic collection.  The main additions are 5 2 gun batteries for my Austrian army.  They comprise 2 6pdr field batteries, a 12pdr heavy battery, a 6pdr cavalry wurst battery and a 3pdr light battery.  The models are from Eagle Figures and were painted by Kevan Bowman and were based by me.
I also bought 2 painted French Light Infantry battalions on Ebay.  I have rebased them but still have to give the 1^st battalion it’s eagle.  You will see that I have started to get some movement trays for my units.  More about that to follow later.
This Sunday I will be at Vapnartak in York with Falkirk District Wargames Club.  Expect a report from our first show of the year.

28mm BLACK POWDER: LA GANJA DE LA ABUNDANCIA Version 3

Last week I was at the SESWC for the first time in several months.  I was putting on a version of the La Granja de la Abundancia scenario from the Albion triumphant booklet for Black Powder.  As we had 6 players I expanded the forces to better suit that number of players.  Angus Konstam and I supplied the figures and the club provided the terrain.  We decided to give our allied troops an outing so there were no British or French line infantry on the table. The revised OB is at the end of this report after the photos.
The game was settled by the French getting better early command rolls and committing the German  brigade and their cavalry to capturing the central farm.  Having succeeded in that their left wing stayed on the defensive only engaging the British allies with their artillery.

The 2 Portuguese brigades tried to drive to the French baseline village but were held up by the Polish/Neapolitan brigade which made some desperate charges to delay their opponents.  The French allies won the game 9 objective points to 7.  The high objective points value of the central farm does dominate this game.  My next game at the club will hopefully be with BP2.

Angus has a more detailed account of the game play on his blog at

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/the-battle-of-abundancia-1811/

KGL lead the allied advance - slowly!

The vital village held by the German brigade and screened by their cavalry

Polish veteran battalion flanked by the Portuguese

GRANJA DE LA ABUNDANCIA V3 GAME

BRITISH

Lane’s Brigade

3 Battalions Portuguese infantry

RFA Bty

Hoole’s Brigade 

2 Battalions Veteran Portuguese infantry

Battalion Portuguese infantry

RFA Bty

Dale’s Advance Brigade

KGL Rifle detachment

2 Battalions Spanish infantry

Spanish Lt Infantry detachment

Light Cavalry Brigade

KGL Hussar Regiment

Brit Lt Dragoon Regiment

FRENCH

Von Porbeck Brigade

4 Battalions German infantry

Bty Ft Art

Grandjean Brigade

2 Battalion Neapolitan infantry

2 Veteran Polish battalions

Bty Ft Art

Brune’s Cavalry Brigade

2 Chasseur a Cheval Regiments

German Lancer Regiment

Bty HA Art

All Btns were 24 figures, cavalry and light infantry 12 figures, artillery batteries 2 models

28MM NAPOLEONIC BLACK POWDER: VITEBSK OCTOBER 1812 V2

On Wednesday I staged a slightly revised version of my Black Powder Napoleonic 1812 fictional Vitebsk game.  The first version is at:  

https://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/28mm-napoleonic-vitebsk-1812.html

This time Donald Adamson and I commanded the Russian force and Tim Watson & Colin Jack commanded the French and Allied force.  The OB strengths remained the same as the first game with the Franco-Bavarians having 3 infantry brigades (Bavarian, French, Polish/Neapolitan) and 2 cavalry brigades facing 4 Russian infantry brigades (2 Line, Grenadier, Opolchenie), a cavalry brigade and a Cossack brigade.  This time the French lancers were upgraded to Guard lancers and 2 of the Polish battalions were replaced by Neapolitan units.

In this version both sides started with their 2 initial brigades deployed on the table.  As before the other troops were fed onto the table one brigade a turn but this time the order of march was determined by the players.  We tried a few ideas from Clash of Eagles - lack of initiative and bigger Russian batteries - but abandoned the poor Russian command rules.  We used our standard alternative move sequence of initiative moves, firing, commanded moves, melees.

This time I had worked out the victory conditions.  If at the end of the game a side held both ends of the 2 bridges it won a decisive victory.  If this condition was not met a victory was determined by which side inflicted the most losses of enemy infantry and cavalry units.

It was a very enjoyable game and by the end of 10 moves the French had lost 7 units to the Russian 2.  However the French won as they held both ends of the 2 bridges.  The French rolled good movement rolls but threw truly abysmal break tests.  The Russians threw repeatedly poor movement dice so advanced very sluggishly.

Russian steamroller engages the Bavarians

Russian right flank held of by the surviving French hussars and a few infantry

French 2nd cavalry brigade arrived - moved smartly to the bank of the stream then never moved again!

End position showing the seriously depleted Franco/Allied infantry line

A FEW NAPOLEONIC REINFORCEMENTS

In the past month I have added more troops to my Napoleonic collection.  They are 2 detachments of 12 French foot dragoons to combat my recent Spanish lights and guerillas.  The figures are by Eagle Miniatures.  They were painted by my friend Kevin Bowman.  

The bases are from Martin at Warbases - they are on 3mm thick 40mm circles.  I use Javis static grass and Silflor tufts on top of model railway ballast.  

Now I have to come up with a scenario to get them all on my table.

Eagle Miniatures French foot dragoons

28MM NAPOLEONIC BLACK POWDER: VITEBSK OCTOBER 1812

On Thursday I played a Black Powder Napoleonic 1812 game against Donald Adamson.  It was a fictional encounter between a Russian force under Wittgenstein and a Franco-Bavarian force under St Cyr on the road to Vitebsk.

The Franco-Bavarians had 3 infantry brigades (Bavarian, French, Polish Veterans) and 2 cavalry brigades facing 4 Russian infantry brigades (2 Line, Grenadier, Opolchenie), a cavalry brigade and a cossack brigade.  The troops were fed onto the table effectively one brigade a turn.  We tried a few ideas from Clash of Eagles -poor Russian command, lack of initiative and bigger Russian batteries.  We used the alternate move sequence of initiative moves, firing, commanded moves, melees.

It was a very enjoyable game and by the end the French had lost 2 units to the Russian 4.  Both sides attempted attacks over the intervening stream.  The rearmost Russian brigade - the Opolchenie never arrived.  The OB follows the photos along with the troop ratings I used..

All my photos are on flickr at https://flic.kr/s/aHskpLHfUR

First Russian failed attack across the stream vs Bavarians

Russian left engages the newly arrived French brigade

Big Russian right wing cavalry melee - The French Lancers won but the Hussars were defeated

Russian volleys crashing out against the French attack - managed to hit despite being poor shots

Here is the OB

NEAR VITEBSK   - LATE OCTOBER 1812

MARSHAL GOUVION ST CYR  8

INITIAL TROOPS

19^th/ 20^th BRIGADE BAVARIAN   ON TABLE

3 LINE BTN OF 24 FIGURES
1 LIGHT BTN OF 24 FIGURES
Ft Bty

1^ST LIGHT CAVALRY BRIG   OFF TABLE

2 HUSSAR REGTS OF 12 FIGURES
Hs Bty

REINFORCEMENTS

6^th BRIGADE FRENCH

4 LINE BTN OF 24 FIGURES
Ft Bty

9^th BRIGADE POLISH

LINE BTN OF 24 FIGURES
3 VETERAN BTN of 24 FIGURES
Ft Bty

3rd LT CAV BRIG FRENCH

HUSSAR  REGT OF 12 FIGURES
LANCER REGT OF 12 FIGURES
Hs Bty

LG PYOTR KHRISTIANOVICH WITTGENSTEIN 8

ADVANCED GUARD

1^ST BRIGADE   ON TABLE

4 LINE BTN OF 24 FIGURES
Ft Bty

2^ND BRIGADE    OFF TABLE

4 LINE BTN OF 24 FIGURES
Ft Bty

1^ST CAV BRIGADE  OFF TABLE

2 HUSSAR REGTS OF 12 FIGURES
Hs Art Det

MAIN COLUMN  - REINFORCEMENTS

3^RD BRIGADE

4 GRENADIER BTN OF 24 FIGURES
Ft Bty

3^RD CAV BRIGADE

2 COSSACK SOTNAS OF 12 FIGURES

1^st COMBINED OPOLCHENIYE BRIGADE

4 MILITIA BTN OF 24 FIGURES

ARMY RESERVE ARTILLERY

Ft Bty (Hvy)

Polish brigade preparing to attack over the stream.

FRENCH	Weapon	Type	H_H	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Old Guard Infantry	Musket	Infantry	8	4	3	4	Reliable, Elite 4+, Tough
Young Guard Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	3	Reliable, Elite 5+
Line Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	3
Combined Grenadiers	Musket	Infantry	7	3	4	3	Elite 5+
Guard Heavy Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	10		3	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3, Reliable
Cuirassiers	Sabre	Cavalry	9		3	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3, Reliable
Guard Lancers	Sabre	Cavalry	8		3	3	Marauders; Lancers, Reliable
Dragoons	Sabre	Cavalry	8		4	3	Heavy Cavalry +1
Guard Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	7		3	3	Marauders, Reliable
Lancers	Lance	Cavalry	7		4	3	Marauders; Lancers
Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	6		4	3	Marauders
Dismounted Dragoons	Musket	Infantry	4	2	4	2	Skirmishers
Guard Horse Artillery	Light artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	3	2	Marauders, Reliable, Elite 4+
Guard Foot Artillery	Artillery	40”	1	3-2-1	3	3	Reliable, Elite 4+
Horse Artillery	Light artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	1	Marauders
Foot Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4	2

Infantry are Reliable in Attack Columns and have “must form square” rule.  Other small units reduce Hand to Hand by 2, Shooting by 1 and Stamina by 1.

Elite X+                        Rally of Disorder at start of turn by roll of X+

Heavy Cav +X   Add X to combat result

Lancers             Opponent has -1 cav -2 inf saving throw when lancers charge/countercharge

Levy X+            Need to roll to rally of disorder at end of their turn by rolling X+

Marauders         Ignore distance modifiers for command tests

Reliable            Add 1 to Command tests

Skirmish           Can adopt skirmish formation

RUSSIAN	Weapon	Type	H_H	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Guard Infantry	Musket	Infantry	7	3	3	4	Reliable, Elite 4+, Stoic
Grenadiers	Musket	Infantry	7	3	4	4	Elite 4+, Poor shots, Stoic, Lack Init
Line Infantry/Jaegers	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4	3	Stoic, Poor shots, Lack Init
Opolchenie	Musket	Infantry	5	1/2	5	3	Poor shots, Unreliable, Levy 4+, Lack Init
Jaegers Sk  (Small)	Rifle	Infantry	4	2	4	2	Skirmishers, Poor shots, Lack Init
Cuirassiers	Sabre	Cavalry	9		3	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3
Dragoons	Sabre	Cavalry	8		4	3	Heavy Cavalry +1
Lancers	Lance	Cavalry	7		4	3	Marauders; Lancers
Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	6		4	3	Marauders
Cossacks	Lance	Cavalry	5		5	3	Marauders; Lancers, Unreliable
Hvy Foot Artillery	Artillery	40”	2	4-2-2	4	3
Lt Foot Artillery	Artillery	32”	2	4-2-2	4	3
Horse Artillery	Light artillery	32”	2	4-2-2	4	2	Marauders

All Infantry have “must form square” rule.  Other small units reduce Hand to Hand by 2, Shooting by 1 and Stamina by 1.

Heavy Cav +X   Add X to combat result

Lancers             Opponent has -1 cav -2 inf saving throw when lancers charge/countercharge
Levy X+            Need to roll to rally of disorder at end of their turn by rolling X+
Marauders         Ignore distance modifiers for command tests
Reliable            Add 1 to Command tests
Skirmish           Can adopt skirmish formation
Stoic                Can reroll first break test
Unreliable          Do not move on an equal command roll.  This counts a command pass.
Lack Initiative    Can only charge nearest enemy, change formation or facing under Initiative
Poor shots        -1 factor when shooting