Now a while back Goldie suggested playing a Big Napoleonic Cavalry Bash..and in particular the Day 1 Leipzig Big Cavalry Bash around Liebertwolkwitz. Somehow this turned into the Ligny refight we had last month. Soo….without further ado…..the delayed Big Cavalry Bash!!

Now the game I staged was LOOSELY based on the actual battle…… in that the terrain was kind of correct…..the formations were…kind of correct…..but for ease of a good game in one evening…I…..went with the feel and flow of the Evening…..

On the night only 4 Gamers made it…so they had a FEW regiments each to play with.

Rob and Robert were French…Goldie and SteveT were the Allies…I made drinks and….kept replacing destroyed formations and on last turn actually got to roll some dice…….which was not a good idea.

So here we are at start of game. It’s the 14th of October 1813 and Murat has sent Divisions of Dragoons supported by light cavalry down the rise towards the Allied lines. The village of Wachau is on the left and Liebertwolkwitz on the right. Guilden-Gossa is in the foreground where the Czar, Emperor and Kaiser are watching the battle.

Looking down the ridge from Mark-Kleenburg(MK) to Wachau(WH) and then Lieberwolkwitz(LZ). Each has 2 units of French infantry in them who are not allowed to move. The only Allied infantry is Wurttembergs 2nd Corps in squares slowing escaping the massed French gun’s(now masked by French cavalry). The only artillery on the table are 2 Russian Guard Horse batteries in front of Gulden-Gossa(GG) which are not allowed to move and only shoot threats to their front.

Here is Murat behind his massed attack.

The Kaiser watching the battle unfold in front of GG.

Turn 1 and Steve assaults with Russian Cuirassiers to the front…Austrian Cuirassier and CLs go in one flank and Russian Hussars the other. French counter charge or turn to face.

Austrian Heavies took some punishment but saw off a unit of Dragoons.

Hmmm…there were 8 French regts there a moment ago! More Allied cavalry roll in from the rear.

One would hazard a guess this French Dragoon unitis…..in a wee bit of trouble.

Yep…they were…have disappeared and now the Cuirassiers have swept forward into the next Dragoon regt.

Nice clear space for more charges has been created.

Oh look…..2 of my Cavalry regts have appeared…..these are my 4th and 6th French Cuirassier regts…..close to 20 years old now……Front Rankers…I tidied them up as were a bit battle weary and rebased them for this game.

On the French right, Robert through forward the Polish Uhlans (which I also had tidied up and rebased for this game!) supported by several squadrons of Empress Dragoons against Prussian Dragoons/Uhlans. French Lancers advance to the ridge line.

Aerial view…. Empress Dragoons is covering the flank and giving support……otherwise is a fairly even fight.

The Empress Dragoons are very pretty.

I do like Uhlans/Lancers.

Combat was…interesting…Robert charged…Goldie countered…..Prussian Dragoons beat Uhlans who popped…Empress Dragoons then decided to withdraw off table…..then the other Polish Uhlans beat up the Prussian Uhlans…who decided to be elsewhere (Goldie’s hand is a giveaway).

And a crowded section of the table…suddenly…looks like this…Cavalry combat is brutal.

Over on otherside of Wachau….. its not looking good for the French.

The Cossacks over by LZ moved towards French lines…so Rob moved light cavalry to counter….and in response Steve…having a GREAT GAME…sent Cuirassiers into an open FLANK. Sigh…FLANKS…will they ever learn.

Recovering French Dragoons watching the carnage in front of them.

Now Steve had moved the Russian Guard Light Cavalry up to support his Cuirassier thrust through the middle…..so Robert sent Polish Uhlans into an exposed FLANK….. Rob then sent Cuirassiers into the front…..and Robert sent my Cuirassiers over there in case needed as well.

Close up below.

BEAUTIFUL.

Much to everyone’s surprise….the Guard Cossacks…..survived….I know….miracle.

Robert resetting his lines.

Steve was like a ‘Pig in mud’…..attack after attack……for the game I reduced cavalry movement to 2 and not 3 moves so attacks and responses would not be so dramatic…and we could fit more cavalry on the table.

Another division of French lights arrive on the table…..

The previous view of Cuirassiers hitting Hussars in the flank was a pre cursor to the destruction of the French cavalry in this sector. They were in that empty bit of field. That included the NEWLY ARRIVED Saxon Cuirassiers!

Huzzah!

On come Imperial Guard Cavalry…4 regts!

Beautiful.

The Allies will be terrified at this line opposite them!

Over MK way…..Robert and Goldie were throwing heavies at each other…..Austrian and Prussian Cuirassiers, supported by Landwehr Cavalry up against French Cuirassiers and Uhlans. Round1 to Goldie who has wiped out a French unit and swung onto the flank…..my 6th could be in trouble…..

But then I noticed they had 3 wounds…so shaken…so cannot perform a ‘Sweeping Advance’….naughty naughty Goldie……tsch tsch

It then got really bad for Goldie….he lost all the combats….and 3 Prussian Kuirassier’s popped and others ran away……I lost count but he may have lost 6 ot 8 Cuirassier regts alone during battle……

Now what’s really embarrassing is that I finally got to roll some dice…last few games I have spent games in woods or trying to cross streams…….unsuccessfully…so French Guard…I MUST be able to beat someone up with them..alas….Russian Cuirassiers are pretty even…Steve rolled good…I rolled…not so good……the Guard Uhlans refused to charge…and that was that…..but I take solace in the combatants were my troops!!

On other flank…… Robert had the better of Goldie……but Allies had the overall win.

And that was that……we will probably rerun it when rest of guys are available……will lengthen table…remove woods at end…and add the cavalry Russ/Alan/Keith can bring. As it was there were around 60 or so regts used ….ladz seemed to enjoy game…lots of dice were rolled and hopefully the gamers had some fun.

Til next time…Terry out.

So after the Waterloo refight the question was asked over what would be next big game and Ligny was suggested. The 3 wise men of Robert, Rob and Goldie elected themselves to organise this game.

Now Goldie has moved to a new, much larger abode so he hosted the game in his lounge as no furniture is in it yet so was perfect for a large game. So last Saturday the game was fought on a 15 foot x 6 foot table.

The map for game is below.

The Victory conditions are as below.
Prussia
 Hold at least 3 of the 4 villages, or
 Break the majority of French forces
France
 Capture at least 3 of the 4 villages, or
 Break the majority of Prussian forces or
 Breakthrough Prussian northern side of table.

The players for the French side were Russ, Rob, Steve, Robert and me. On day I swapped over to Prussians as they were down to 3 players and needed 4.

The Special Rules for game were:

Rivers/Streams
 6” movement penalty crossing the La Ligne stream, artillery cannot cross except by way of bridges
 Units are disordered while crossing or in are contact with the river. Disorder automatically
ceases once unit is no longer in contact with the stream
 Units disordered prior to crossing the stream remain disordered after crossing Villages
The villages are sprawling areas of brick buildings and walls, trees, orchards and gardens, rather than single strongpoints. The battles for villages were extremely bloody and saw attack and counter-attack as the two sides would feed troops into the meatgrinder (rather than a prolonged siege of a single strongpoint):
 Villages are impassable to artillery and cavalry except roads.
 Villages use Rules as Written.
 Defenders get a +2 Combat Result.
 Defenders get all HtH combat dice (i.e. usually 6).
 Defenders ignore Withdraw results from Break Tests but become Disordered. (Note: Losers always lose their cover save).
Woods
 As per the Rules as Written
 All Napoleonic infantry who do not have the ‘skirmishers’ special rule can form a skirmish
formation only to go into terrain they could not otherwise enter, and will automatically
revert to line when they leave it
Broken Brigades
A brigade is broken when the number of units destroyed is greater than the remaining unshaken units in the brigade. Any shaken or artillery units in a brigade are ignored in the assessment.

Orbats were:

Prussian Order of Battle
Prussian Korps had dual command, with the senior commander supported by a junior officer from the GeneralStaß. Each Prussian Korps can be commanded by two players – the corps commander and his chief of staff. In game terms they act as two commanders-in-chief for the Korps, with two players.

Commander in Chief – Blucher SR9
I Korps – GenL Zieten SR9 (Ob.Reiche SR8)
1 st Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr- Steinmetz SR8
2 nd Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Pirch II SR8
3 rd Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Jagow SR8
4 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Henckel SR8
I Korps Cavalry Reserve Roder SR8
Uhlan, Dragoon, Landwehr Kav (3 total)
I Korps Artillery Reserve Holzendorff SR8
Artillery Brigade (3) 3 foot batteries
II Korps – GM Pirch I SR8 (Ob. Aster SR8)
5 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Tippelskirch SR8
6 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Krafft SR8
7 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Bause SR8
8 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Bose SR8
II Korps Cavalry Reserve Wahlen-Jurgass SR8
Dragoon, elite Hussar, Landwehr Kav (3 total)
II Korps Artillery Reserve Lehmann SR8
Artillery Brigade (3) 3 foot batteries

French Order of Battle
Commander in Chief – Napoléon SR10
Imperial Guard –
Old Guard (4) Grenadiers & Chasseurs à Pied – Friant SR9
Middle Guard (4) Grenadiers & Chasseurs à Pied – Morand SR9
Young Guard (4) Tirailleurs & Voltigeurs – Duhesme SR8 Aggressive
Guard Heavy Cavalry (2) Grenadiers & Empress Dragoons – Guyot SR8
Guard Artillery (3) 3 12pdr foot batteries batteries – Drouot SR9
III Corps – Vandamme SR9
8 th Inf Division (4+1 foot battery) 1 Légère, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Lefol SR8
10 th Inf Division (4+) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Habert SR8
11 th Inf Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Berthezene SR8
3 rd Light Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chasseurs à Cheval – Domon SR8
7 th Division (4) 2 Légère, 2 Line, 1 6pdr – Girard SR8
IV Corps – Gerard SR8
12 th Inf Division (4+ 1 foot battery) 1 Légère, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Pecheux SR8
13 th Inf Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Vichery SR8
14 th Inf Division (4) 1 Légère, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Hulot SR8
6 th Light Cavalry Division (2) 2 Hussars & Chasseurs – Maurin SR8
IV Cavalry Corps – Milhaud SR8
13 th Reserve Cavalry Division (2) 2 Cuirassiers – Walthier SR8
14 th Reserve Cavalry Division (2) 2 Cuirassiers – Delort SR8
Total
4 Old Guard
4 Middle Guard
4 Young Guard
28 Infantry
2 Guard Horse (Grenadiers & Empress Dragoons)
4 Hussars/Chasseurs a Cheval
4 Cuirassiers
10 artillery

Additional French formations possibly arriving later in the game:(Terry Note…needless to say..THEY ALL ARRIVED)
VI Corps: Lobau with three Inf divisions and a Cav division
19th Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Simmer SR8
20 th Inf Division (4) 1 Legere, 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Jeanin SR8
21 st Inf Division (4) 1 Legere, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Teste SR8
5 th Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chevauleger-lancier – Subervie SR8
I Corps with one Inf division and a Cav division
4 th Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr -Durutte SR8
1 st Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chevauleger-lancier – Jacquinot SR8

First up below is view from Wagnele on right and La Haye on left at the advancing Vandamme.

View from St Armand which held 2 Prussian bttns. Note on right a sole Prussian bttn guarding area to La Haye.

Alan’s Prussians linking La Haye to Ligny.

And we have Ligny in the corner with another wood…it also held 2 bttns.

Old Nappy has set up shop in front of St Armand.

Vandamme closes in on Wagnele.

Here’s my 7th Prussian brigade….in woods…..my plan was to rush through the woods…..and beat up Steve quickly so that Nappy would need to despatch troops to this flank….foolish me!!

Turn one and the Prussian plan just fell apart……Pirch(Goldie) sent the Reserve artillery of 3 batteries racing towards La Haye on the right flank…….howeverrrrr….. this left them exposed to a French attack…while in march column…yep…they all died.

Brilliant start…turn one and half our artillery gone. The mantle of never being allowed to command artillery again moved from SteveT to Goldie. Thats a really big gap to run through isn’t it.

Over by Ligny Gerard(SteveT) advances onwards….

Dear oh dear….. Rob had painted up a new unit of French Legere…looked darn good…nice bright yellow……they charged Keiths skirmishing fusiliers….so means pretty even..Rob has slight advantage being the attacker…but the curse of the new unit struck yet again…they lost the combat and popped…..

Pain has arrived…..massed Guard artillery….

And over on French right…some heavies arrive from the Reserve.

Big gap on Nappy’s right….. has someone got lost??

A bit further along….Vandamme is really rolling forward……Prussians are still holding Wagnele.

Close up of attack ..it lasted a couple of rounds…..

Way over on other flank…..Gerard(SteveT) spent the game assaulting this piece of wall…..he never got into the village….took lots of damage and kept coming back for more….my troops can be seen in the woods….

Talk about ‘Gung Ho!’…no preamble…Russell threw the Young Guard straight in!

Vandamme(Rob) has taken Wagnele…1st Objective taken.

Hmmm…the Young Guard seem to be..missing…dear oh dear….Nappy is not going to be happy. Sadly the Cuirassiers didn’t care…..now that really would have been a good result had they failed morale!!

French have taken half of St Armand. Oh look…Lobau has wandered onto the battlefield…what..a …surprise…….

Goldie has managed to get a brigade over to the La Haye/Wagnele sector……actually did some damage…

Lobau(Robert) threw units over stream to support Guard moving out of St Armand……at start of game I said to ‘Watch your FLANKS!’…..Robert had left a beautiful one..Alan ordered Uhlans to charge it…fools blundered and rushed ahead…across stream….(next turn French Cuirassirs charged and wiped them out)……but he did then manage to get the bttn we can see on the left which took out a unit….another pooped…good result..stopped French..briefly….

Oh look… d’Erlon has arrived…..expect Ney and Davout will arrive ….kidding guys…..KIDDING……we all know Davout is in Paris and can’t quite make it.

Sigh…back in the middle….a lot of popping occurred in the Prussian ranks…….

As for my bold flanking manoeuvre……move into woods…fail move orders for 2 turns….French manage to get to stream so never going to cross now…so back out…form up…and then…Blunder back into the woods! LOL. They can now join with my 8th Brigade and cavalry and form a rear guard!

So clear French victory….WELL PLAYED BY THE 4 FRENCH PLAYERS…..the Prussian left flank was intact…but the right was gone burger……quite a good game for those that did something….at least I had a comfy chair and twitter to entertain me…..solace is taken in only suffering 2 casualties all game….wood splinters from the trees…. I really hate woods…next game will have NO TREES ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE….OR DISORDERING STREAMS.

Whisky of the week is still the Wolfburn Fathers Day……really enjoying it……have managed to finish a bottle of Jet Fuel(Infrequent Flyers) I got back in the first Covid Lockdown 2 and a half years ago.

Now Infrequent Flyers was recommended to me by buddy Murray…he who owns the lovely Calpe Prussians I was using in the game. Must admit struggled with it at first…not used to the style…but couple of years of Whisky appreciation and yep…my palate has improved……and was really enjoying it when bottle sadly emptied. So will be getting another one!

So that’s it for now….next game is an 1813 Leipziggy mega cavalry game with a gazillion heavy cavalry…be quick..and bloody…fun fun…

Terry out.

So 3 of the ladz are working on a Ligny refight so this Thursday night we had a refresher game on Prussians v French. Russ/Rob/Graham were French while Alan/Keith and Goldie were Prussians. I was tea lady.

French had 4 brigades of foot, each of 2 legere and 2 ligne with 3 batteries. Then 2 Light Cavalry arrived on turn 2. Prussians had a brigade of 9 bttns and a brigade of 10. There were 9 bttns of Landwehr who are Unreliable(ie need to beat command role to follow an order). They had 2 batteries as well and Goldie had 2 cavalry regts.

The Prussians had a small village on their right and mix of streams…trees and hedges with large farmhouse on the left. Picture below looking down road from village on right at French.

On the Prussian left view of French over stream with woods on left.

Turn 1 and Russ sends his brigade straight into attack on Alan’s defenders.

It didn’t go well…one bttn down in first French attack for Prussians!

Over on Prussian left Goldie sends his cavalry forward who see off the skirmishing legere. Hordes of French on other side of pond.

Overview on the Prussian left. Goldie had 6 of his 10 bttns being Landwehr… so at times they just won’t move. But they hate the French so get a reroll on a failed to hit in combat…just have to get them in!! I got to use my BIG BRIDGE in a game as well!!!

Graham launched attack on the landwehr in the farmhouse. It didn’t go well…after several rounds of combat the French popped. Some ones thumb got in the picture.

Russ is busy rolling up Alans line.

Graham charged some Chasseurs into the skirmishing Jager who evaded…the cavalry redirected onto the Landwehr who formed square. The cavalry retired…and are missing from this picture as they then got shot to smithereens.

So here is area BEHIND VILLAGE. Alan still holds the far building…..Russ is advancing steadily forward. Following turn Keith loses the closer building….Graham gets a unit into the rear of the Landwehr in picture….Russ has 5 of his 6 units shaken…but shaken is not destroyed so its a clear French victory here.

Over on other flank….a large combat had gone on for a number of rounds.. the Prussian Grenadiers were unable to roll over their opponents…..the Prussian Cavalry wouldn’t take any orders so feeling charitable…lets call it a draw…….

Below is the ongoing combat…Prussian pushing forward but the French do have reserves.

So that was that…. good to get Nap cobwebs out of the way.

Now I celebrated another birthday and after a lovely dinner out with my beloved, my eldest daughter and her lad we visited a whisky bar. The wonderful barmaid suggested I try the tester tray of a Ardbeg, Laphroig, Port Charlotte, Bowmore and a Bunnahahain! How could one refuse! There were even little cards under the glasses telling me all about them.

Feeling quite chipper I then asked the bar lass to get me a bottle down from the VERY top shelf…I could see a Cadenhead bottle…so she rolled out the long ladder..clammered up and returned with a 31 year Cadenhead…. without a seconds thought I ordered a drink(Anita was paying!). So this weeks review is the Cadenhead 31.

The tasting notes are:

Tasting Notes

Nose:

Vanilla ice cream, raisins, pecan pie, peach slices in syrup.

Flavour:

Dark chocolate orange, dense madeira cake, soft spiciness.

Finish:

Creamy. Pistachio ice 

And am sure I could taste every single one of those…truelly I could!!

Now the 5 tasting whiskies were from Islay so were peaty but being at the lower end of the $$$ range were not to robust in flavour or complex. The cost of these 5 combined is less than the Cadenhead! I don’t think I would ever spend that amount on a single bottle(unless win Lotto) but was a wonderful wee drink to end a lovely night(thankfully I had taken the following day off work).

Next Game is an Antietam refight….Goldie tells me I am some bloke called Burnside so best read up on him.

Til next time…Terry out.

So Gamer PaulW has returned from soaking in Whisky by the pool in the tropics for a short visit and requested a game while he was here. So….let’s do Waterloo! Its at this stage I must confess…its not really a battle I have an interest in…..as I prefer to game with Austrian’s and Russian’s…….and the only troops I have for it(apart from French of course) are Dutch. Namely a Brigade of Chasse’s 3rd Netherlands Division and von Tripps Heavy Cavalry Brigade, plus of course a command base of that Military GENIUS the Prince of Orange!

Thankfully I have PaulG’s base cloths he made for our 2015 multi player, some of the hills we made for it and Alan has been making the buildings(Hougoumont, La Hay Sainte and Belle Alliance) on his 3D printer, and PaulW has a Papelotte set sourced from Hovels so we are okay for buildings. Troop wise we are fairly okay, except Alan had to go and sell the Household Cavalry the weekend BEFORE the game to fund new Victrix replacements. Arrgghhhhhhhhh.

So the Saturday just past the Garage Gamers available assembled for a Waterloo refight in my Lounge…as its winter…..and more pleasant in the lounge and I can fit an 18ft by 6 foot table plus the dining room…kitchen and 3 toilets are readily available! The only Gamers missing were Russ who was out of town at a gaming convention and Keith who was ill.

So after spending evenings all week working out sides…troops..scenario and printing sheets for the players we actually started Turn 1 before the start time of 10am. The French players were Rob, PaulW, SteveT, Robert and Graham. The Allies were Moi, Alan, StephenC and PaulG. Rob was Napoleon and Moi was Wellington…and Orange and Uxbridge and….I was very confused and didn’t do much all game needless to say.

So below are the the ladz…from left to right… Robert…Graham….Rob….SteveT…PaulW who has already started on the whisky….Alan…StephenC and PaulG(Goldie). The painters have just finished on the room…no new curtains up yet!

So Turn 1 and Graham leads off the French attack. Now somehow…the French High Command( am sure I had NOTHING to do with it :)) got the force allocation wrong which I did not pick up on. PaulW was meant to be on the French left….with 2 Division’s of infantry and 2 Cavalry Corps seeing he can handle that many troops…and had not had a game for a while. But he was put on the right…so I got him moved to the left…but he somehow lost control of the larger infantry division and the Cuirassiers which I did not notice! Bugger!!

The Allied left anchored on Papelotte……. this is a lovely set from Hovel Models. I made small command cards for each side as I had downsized all the troops so a table top bttn represented arrox. 1700 men, a cavalry regiment 1000 sabres and batteries way down to 5 or 6 a side! A shout out to JaysWargamingMadness for the downsizing idea. The command cards listed the commands/units and any special abilities for the commander. Took these from the Albion Triumphant book.

And here is Hougoumont which Alan has printed on his 3D printer and painted up. It is smaller than the Hovel’s version which would have been way to big a piece for the game table! Alan the clever sod has made a base mat for it as well as the walls and gardens. It is beautiful. Trees are a recent purchase by Goldie from K&M Trees…..I bought some from them couple of years ago during first lockdown…outstanding service provided by Rebecca again!

So here comes PaulW and his sidekick SteveT around the side of Hmont. They did not actually attack the buildings all game. Mix of Brits and Nassau awaited them.

Close up of the action as skirmishers from both sides shoot it out.

Back on the ridge….the French can be seen advancing…they didn’t do much of this…..except towards La HayeS where the Brunswickers and some rifles were encamped.

Young StephenC has a thingk for Highlanders…has these lovely painted models and also been working on English Civil War ancestors. This is the other side of La HayeS.

More Nassaus in Papelotte and also in trees to its front. Robert’s French advancing in distance.

Back on the French left….somehow my Dutch brigade has arrived early..who would have guessed that would happen! PaulW’s whisky glass in background…..the Whisky of the day will be reviewed at end of report.

I do love a good blunder…Robert gave his battery an order…they got real confused and blundered…they limbered up and raced across the field and unlimbered by troops in woods to front of Papelotte. …and were so exhausted..they……missed!

Back on the French left….PaulW and SteveT march on…clearing all before them.

Meanwhile back over at Papelotte…Goldie charged the battery…destroyed it and retired. Graham replied with Cuirassiers + Kellerman…who added extra attacks.

PaulW is getting the casualty markers out…its getting bloody. The ‘W’ counters tell us in continuing combats… who won the last round.

So back on the right..the Cuirassiers beat up the Allied Cavalry who retired…the Cuirassiers followed on …fought some infantry…didn’t win and retired. So Goldie hit them as below…the Cuirassiers were shaken so could not counter charge…it didn’t go well…and Kellerman died!(apparently his replacements kept dying……as good cavalry commanders should!)

Turn 5 arrives and the Prussian 4th Korps arrives…..Goldie had command of them. The French had been alerted to the arrival and were moving cavalry and Young Guard over to support the flank.

View towards centre where Kellerman is heading for Valhalla…the French did not press the centre of the battlefield which was a wee bit surprising. The Allied lines look impressive…but..a lot of Landwehr there. The French infantry either side of La HayeS advanced…carefully….and were held by Alled shooting…a special star were the Brunswickers who stopped Grahams attempts to advance by disordering fire……and with so many troops trying to get around the far right flank…..the French were stopped in the centre.

Back on the French left…..Allied line is getting pushed off table……..what remains.

On right…. Goldie’s cavalry falls back from destroying the Cuirassiers.

The British in Hougmt have clambered out and shot up a French column in the flank…didn’t do much…..French turned to face and British attacked…still didn’t do much.

Sigh…..it was another of my wonderful suggestions to Alan…..

View from French centre towards La HayeS…the black smudge are Brunswicker’s..who were real stars!

Its heating up over on the left…..Ney has lead a unit into combat…he added extra attacks…he…died a glorious death…like a Dwarf Slayer in Glorious Battle…Gotrek would be proud of him! The Cuirassiers are looking for opportunities….but…its very cluttered.

Prussians are relentless…..Robert’s attempt to stop them on edge of table did not go well….

We had run out of Allied cavalry so I used Austrians……if Sri Lanka ever sorts themselves out will send some Dutch cavalry over to Fernando’s to get painted.

Allied infantry almost gone…but the cavalry had a good flank attack into some French..so some French have joined the casualty list.

Woohoo…..if you roll a 12 to form square….the cavalry complete their charge into you….ouch.

More and more Prussians pour onto table.

Oopsy…what’s that behind the French..is it a small force from Halle! I think it is fair to say this did not go down well with the French.

No matter how often we discuss open flanks…….. this happens…..

The French push around the flank has stalled…..

Sigh…open flanks…..rampaging Cuirassiers hit a Guard unit in the flank…..for 2 turns I had been suggesting moving said unit to change facing and block off rear of Hougmt….. thankfully the Gods of War smiled…somehow the French lost…in 2 Cuirassier combats…SteveT rolled 20 dice …and achieved…2 wounds! Heavy cavalry have now been added to the list of troop types SteveT is NOT ALLOWED TO COMMAND!!

End Game…..the French Guard Cavalry are sitting in rear..Grahams infantry are in trouble…the Brunswickers were amazing….I never had to use the Household or Dutch Heavy cavalry. The French Old Guard never arrived on the table..I hadn’t noticed or would have made sure they did!

On other flank…..British have had minmal damage and Prussians are rumbling forward…so we called it quits.

There is a LOT of Allied troops on this flank.

So at the end of the day…its a crushing Allied Victory. The French plan to attack around Hgmont did not work…..the Allied ridgeline defence was never really tested…and the Prussians were….unrelentless.

So onto the Whisky of the Day….PaulW had procured a bottle of Arran Sherry Cask

The toasting notes are:

Nose: Orange chocolate, with Christmas spices, lots of dried fruit and toasty oak.

Palate: Loads of juicy sherry influence, with chocolate-dipped cherries, raisins and a touch of caramel.

Finish: Oak spice, dark chocolate praline and oak char.

So we tried this wee beauty during the day….Paul then stayed for dinner…we watched the Rugby….why oh why…and then played music….drank whisky(the Arran…..a Bowmore 15 and the last of the Aberlour 14!) and wine and sang til late.

A Great Day!!

Til next time….Terry out!!

Garage Gamer SteveT was having one of those birthdays that feature a ‘0’ so he decided to host a Game in his Garage. Steve has written the report and I have added pictures.

Enjoy.

Battle of Bautzen Report by Steven Thompson

Why host a big Game?

There was two key reasons why I wanted to host a big game for the Garage Gamers using my own old school 20mm Napoleonic armies. I wanted to celebrate a major upcoming birthday milestone (how the hell did that happen – one year at a time I guess) but more importantly I wanted to do it to thank Terry Swain and the other Garage Gamers for allowing me to participate in their garage gaming nights.

I was very much a solo gamer before Terry invited me to the Garage Gamers nights. It is the best thing that has happen to me in the hobby as I have enjoyed playing with beautifully painted 28mm armies, experienced a wide range of periods that have included ancients (elephants!), ACW, WW2 Sea battles (battleships!), Napoleonic sailing ships (which brings out the kid in us all) and recently Flames of War modern battles.

The forward to the Black Powder rulebook says it best, ”let us remember that ideal accompaniment to the journey [in our hobby] maybe found in good brandy, fine cigars, and the companion of like-minded enthusiasts.”

We may not be big on cigars but we do like fine brandy & whiskey and I cannot think of a finer bunch of like-minded enthusiasts to share the hobby with than my fellow Garage Gamers.   

Planning a Scenario

I have long been fascinated by the 1813 campaign which featured a number of epic battles which are rich in the element of “what if” scenarios. Bautzen is one of these, and I was interested when reading Michael Leggiere history of the 1813 Spring Campaign about the debate in the Allied HQ for a counter offensive against the initial three French Corps that crossed the River Spree on the first day of battle.

My Bautzen game was more in the spirit of the battle rather than a historically accurate refight. I wanted to use the terrain boards from the epic Wagram battle at Call to Arms in 2019 as I have fond memories of that game and the boards lovingly built by Paul Weakly deserve to be used. 

This still allowed me to retain the key elements of a Bautzen game, Allies in strong defensive position on heights, a number of fiercely contested villages as the French launched pinning attacks before the arrival of the sledge hammer flank attack. The layout of the terrain boards also allowed the Allies the opportunity to use their advantage in cavalry to inflict a punishing attack on the initial French deployment.

I added a bit whimsy to my scenario by making the Czar as a very distracted CnC for the Allies as Terry had wanted to spend part of the day drinking whisky while listening to 70/80’s Lps on my  stereo. However this did remove the best player on the Allied side from the game at important moments. 

In planning any good scenario game you should try for an even match in player abilities and temperament and this was where I came a bit unstuck due to unexpected late withdraws. I had Paul Goldsmith commanding the Austrian Bde (I know but I did say it was in the spirit of Bautzen!) and a Heavy Cavalry Bde as he knows how to get the best out of those big battalions in white and is an aggressive cavalry commander. Rob Parks who was to command the French VI Corps and I Reserve Cavalry was a good match against the Allied commanders he was likely to face in the opening stages of the battle.

However due to illness neither could attend which meant I overloaded poor Keith Gates with the Austrian Bde when he enough on his hands being Blucher. Rob’s unavailability meant that Keith & Stephen Clarke had to face Russel Briant in command of 3 French Corps from move one.

Russell is a player I have huge respect for as he sees the angles in BP rules for flank attacks just quicker than anyone else. When playing him you are constantly under the threat of your units being overwhelmed by a never-ending wave of flank attacks and playing with French he rarely fails any command rolls so these attacks come at a speed that is difficult to defend against. He only failed one command roll all game.

I also learnt a lesson about not laying the units on the table at 2am as you will make deployment mistakes which allows one side an unfair advantage which was never your intention.

How did it Play?

We managed to get six full moves completed by 4pm. Robert Nippert had the heavy lifting role of storming the heights defended by Alan Hollows entrenched Russian & Austrian Bdes.

Robert is an experienced French player and due to my early morning placement blunder he quickly crossed the River Spree, stormed the village at the foot of the heights and pushed a Russian Bde back into the woods at the top of the heights. However he could not sustain his position and his Bde representing Oudinots XII Corps settled for retaining control of the village.

His second Bde representing McDonalds XI Corps also managed to make it to the top of heights, storming a redoubt before facing fierce cavalry and infantry counter attacks which drove his units back down to the river line. Fighting in this zone of the battlefield settled ended in a stand-off but Robert had achieved his objectives of pining Alan’s Bdes in place and seizing the village.

The key battle was in the centre between Russell, commanding the French IV & VI Corps, I Reserve Cav Corps and the Guard and Keith and Stephen with Bluchers I Prussian Corps, & 3^rd Army of the West.  Keith took my “what if” scenario to heart and advanced boldly forward to attack the French VI Corps but did not use the heavy cavalry Bde to provide flank support.

Russell took one look at the open flank and reoriented the Swiss Bde he was planning on using to attack the town of Bautzen, to slam into Keiths advancing Prussian Bdes. The poor Prussian Bde was hit by the 2^nd Bde of VI Corps to its front and the Swiss Bde to its flanks and eventually destroyed.

Stephen moved this Bdes into the gap and launched a series of attacks against Russell’s advancing French. This involved a series of heavy cavalry battles which despite losing some units Russell managed to prevail, destroying the Allied heavy cavalry Bde. The end of the days play saw Stephen and Keith cobbling together a make shift defensive line as Russell was bringing up his guard units to deliver the coup de grace.

Terry deployed the Russian Guard and Reserve Cuirassier Bdes to face Ney’s flank attack which finally arrived in turn four. We ended playing a game divorced from the rest of the action which more resembled an Age of Marlborough game as we both deployed our units in line to blast away at each other as Terry used his cavalry to try and take out my artillery. 

We are planning to rerun the game in the summer when everyone is fit and healthy and it will give me a chance to tweak the scenario to make it flow a little better so we can fit more turns in a day’s playing which is always the challenge for big Napoleonic games. 

But as for my two personal objectives it was very much mission accomplished!

Steven Thompson

So that is Steve’s report! I must thank him for his hospitality…fully stocked fridge…hot tea..and his lovely wife Clare provided a sumptuous feast for lunch! I personally enjoyed the bottle of Monkey Shoulder Whiskey while I listened to music before my occasional visists to the Game room…. this was the role as per the scenario instructions! PERFECT! As Steve said…he plans to replay game in summer when hopeful everyone is free of Covid.

So the Whiskey of the Week has to be Monkey Shoulder.

Review is:

Color: Dirty gold.

On the nose: A faint mix of honey and chili flakes make up the top notes, accompanied by sliced white bread. The base notes are all about malt: porridge, oat cookies, and the slightest touch of starch. Then, it transitions into old bananas, apple skins, and cotton candy powder. These aromas blend too soon until only the malt notes remain dominant.

In the mouth: The core of malt remains but with added light citrus peel and toasted rice. The fruity aromas are less distinct, giving way to wood spice, old gumamela flowers, and Manila paper. The texture is thin. It has a medium-length finish, beginning with powdered nuts and weak Victorian perfume before trailing away with toasted wood and old flowers.

Must say that is one of most ridiculous tastings have read…its a blended whiskey…was quite pleasant and on a cold day….warmed me up nicely….what more can one ask for! Thank you SteveT!!

Til next time..Terry out.

p.s Garage been out of commission for a month….we have been replacing furniture so old stuff was in garage until all sold…then popped down to the Winter playground of Queenstown to visit one of my daughters who is working there at moment. Normal gaming resumes next week.

So 2 weeks prior to Game 1 posted….Alan, Rob, Robert and I visited the Hutt Club taking along some Naps for a game.

I had an idea for a game…….got there and changed the set up. Stoopid. I told ladz after game when I have one of those ideas…you know to tell me its stoopid before we start!

So rather than playing across the table…we played down it….and I increased the number of units for each side as well. I must fight the desire for ever larger games!!

Below we have Bavarians and Russians at one end. Alan had bought along his newly painted Victrix Bavarians. Being not allowed into his office for a couple of years due to earthquake damage and the plague that goes on and on and… has really allowed Al to focus on painting armies…darn that man!

And at the other end of the table we have the Frenchie’s with Robert having those on the left and Rob on the right!

Shot through my Russkie’s to Roberts French at the far end. It was a rush to reach the centre of table where woods and village was!

Alans newly to Battle Bavarians. As ever..wonderful paint job.

Now these are Perry plastic Bavarians. The enlightened among you will know the Perry’s do not(well yet anyway) make plastic Bavarian cavalry…this is Alan playing with heads…adding shabraque extensions etc to make units up. He’s just embarassing.

So the issue with my really bright idea is now apparent…wall to wall troops…in depth with no space for manoeuvre. A slug fest.

Robert was really aggressive….Russians eat up aggressive….especially aggressive columns charging their large batteries…yum yum.

What a mess.

So the game ended in a fairly bloody draw…..

Now one of the nice chaps have met at the Hutt Club is doing some 3D printing and I have purchased the 3 buildings below which are Team Yankee scale 15mm building and will fit in perfectly with the pre painted building have bought from Battlefront. He is also doing various tanks etc which look quite good.

So that was the 2nd visit to the Hutt club…. finding with upgraded motorways now open its only a 15 minutes drive!

Til next time…..Terry out.

Been bit slack in writing up games….

In no particular order.

Game 1: Battle of Saltanovka

So another game played at the Hutt Club. Previous visit had taken Naps along for a game and 2 of the regulars in Reg and Doug expressed a desire to get their Russians out on the battlefield so I rounded up Rob and Goldie to play them while I helped with rules for Reg and Doug. Chose our old favourite in Saltanovka but we reduced the orbat by roughly 40%.

Below is a picture of ladz… from left Rob, Doug, Reg and Goldie.

So the Russians are on the left and the French on the right. You probably have already figured that out! Doug had the Russian right flank opposite Rob in Saltanovka and Reg was on left opposite Goldie in Fatova. Russians deploy up to 8 inches on table and have first move. The rounding down on orbats gave each Russian player a brigade of 2 Jager and a brigade of 4 Musketeers with 2 batteries attached. On turn 4 a brigade of 2 heavy cavalry would arrive. The French players had a brigade of 4 battalions plus a battery each. On turn 2 another brigade of 4 battalions would arrive. On turn 3 they get a brigade of 2 heavy cavalry. The French start positions were holding the 2 villages.

Goldie’s force with battalion in line on left behind field fortification with a battalion in each of the houses and then a 4th in reserve. The battery is set up to shoot down the road. Reg’s force in distance.

Here we have Doug advancing on Saltanovka. Note the lovely 5 gun battery on a gorgy terrain piece on the left. It fired as a standard 3 gun battery but was so lovely we made sure it was on table! Rob has battery in advance behind cover with bttn’s in buildings and 2 in reserve.

A bit along in the game….. Doug has taken out the French battery and the cavalry for both sides is on the table. Goldie has moved the bttn from beside Fatova to woods further back due to artillery fire.

French reserve infantry are advancing around French right flank.

Woohoo! I do love heavy cavalry charging each other! Rob’s cavalry brigade has charged the Jager skirmishers who evaded out of the way opening up a charge on the Russian Kuirassier’s who counter charged. It got quite bloody… Rob’s Kuirassier’s imploded…Doug did a sweeping advance into the 2nd unit of Kuirassier’s…resulting in both units becoming shaken…but Doug’s won the combat. Rob’s 2nd unit was now shaken and so was removed from table as brigade now broken.

Now on the other flank… Reg has been throwing some truely appalling dice….and Goldie was getting stuck in and avoiding the Russian artillery…..

A bit further along and end of game time…and…well….its all a bit confusing…units have charged all over the place…combats have carried on..Reg has made some amazing dice rolls to hang in there…..but in the end…Goldie got there

On the other flank…was last turn so I encouraged Doug to charge in and see what would happen…good practice… sigh…..several bttns popped…….taking buildings can be very hard…even when you shake units with artillery first!

So that was a learning game for Reg and Doug.

Hopefully they will want to play again!!

And its Whisky of the Month time!!(Month as with Weakley overseas…..far less Whisky being consumed!!)

So I received an advice from my favourite online supplier to tell me that the Talisker Dark Storm was back in stock. However as I excitedly logged on to buy…found already sold out…..like…not happy (picture a very sad emoji). So I looked around and saw the GlenDronach Port Wood was in stock so decided to give it a trial.

The marketing spin says:

Glendronach 10yo Port Bottling Note

Following on from its Peated Port Wood Finish, GlenDronach have released another sumptuous single malt that has enjoyed a rest in Port casks. This particular expression is a 10 year old whisky, initally aged in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks before being finished in Port pipes from Portugal’s Douro valley.

The tasting notes say:

Nose: Huge helpings of dried fruit, mixed with aromatic oak and strawberry jam.

Palate: Brandied cherries, blackcurrant and chocolate digestive biscuits.

Finish: Honey, biscotti, raisin and orange zest.

Terry says….liked sound of it…..but…..bit of a let down…..perhaps being harsh as have had the GlenDronach 15 and 21’s and perhaps expected more from this…could be the finish in the Port casks….am not a Port drinker….will put aside for partner to drink..she enjoys a port!

Til next time.

Seeing as the Borodino game boards are stored in the garage, I decided to use 3 of them for a game. For a change… the French would be defending and the Russians attacking! I set the game up for 6 players but alas only 4 of played on a lovely evening.

The terrain boards were the Great Redoubt down to the Fleches but without the southern woods instead I left it open and deployed cavalry brigades on the now open flank.

The French had 5 x4 bttn’s of infantry with a 2 regt light cavalry brigade on the right flank, and a 2 regt light brigade and 3 regt Dragoon brigade on the left. Their was a horse battery on each flank and 5 batteries. 2 batteries and 2 extra legere bttn’s were in reserve for the French commander to deploy when he arrived.

The Russians had 2 standard infantry divisions each of a 4 bttn Jager brigade and 2 x 4 bttn’s Musketeer brigades plus 2 large batteries. They had a light cavalry regt on the left and on the right a 2 regt light brigade and a 2 regt Dragoon brigade. I also gave them a 2 regt brigade of Uhlan’s in the centre. They also had a horse battery.

Rob was first to arrive and he chose to be French so he commanded the French. Alan walked in next just ahead of Goldie so Alan was Russian commander and Goldie 2nd French player. I then played as the 2nd Russian player. Rob took the French right v Alan and I faced off against Goldie.

The French got to fire… the Russians then got first move. Below the view from the Great Redoubt.

My Russian Hussars on the right flank! Love these guys.

Alan on the left sends his skirmish line up with the Musketeers moving up in support.

This is a few turns on….I forgot to take photos as was having to much fun. I do love Russian cavalry!! So I have lost a unit of Hussars….and surviving shaken unit is in top right corner….having cleared out the French light brigade. Both my Dragoon regts are gone….. ran off table…shaken so can’t come back! There is a shaken French Dragoon regt in the lower right corner. Goldie and I traded a number of cavalry charges…in last one I thought I had him….but I threw REAL BAD…Goldie threw REAL GOOD. The remaining 2 French Dragoon regts are on the table but not in good shape either.

On the other side of table they were getting into it!

A bit further along and is end of game time. In the centre skirmish lines and batteries traded shots and skirmish units retired and were replaced by fresh units.

On the right … well…I had a lot of fun…..my horse battery blew the French dragoons that were in the corner away…..my Uhlan’s and Goldie’s other Dragoons got into it…his Dragoons are no where to be seen anymore…..Uhlan’s followed up into infantry who popped and I had moved horse battery up to obliterate a shaken column…..Goldie shot up and destroyed the shaken Hussar unit in corner……but enough damage had been done to Goldie’s flank that it was a Russian victory on this flank.

On the other flank Alan was making good headway and was attacking the Redoubt itself! It looks in the balance here but feel Alan has his nose in front.

So that was a fun game…. I do love cavalry charges.

Next game is Black Sea’s sailing ships which will be at Alans place as a change. Rob has painted his first ship up.. the ‘Victory’ so will report how he does!

Til next time..Terry out.