1813 Battle

Cameron, David and myself had a big Naps game in my loft yesterday. We decided on a battle from 1813 with Russians and Austrians against French. I will add another table eventually as the space on our battlefield was pretty limited.

Cameron studying the battlefield. Cameron supplied some great snacks!

 

I had a couple of beers while posting so the pics are in no particular order. Basically I pressured and pinned David on the left while waiting for my 2nd brigade to arrive. David sent his light horse straight through the centre in an attempt to split our armies in 2 (forgot to take pics!).

 

This was another learning curve for us with the latest GdB rules. We started around 12 noon and finished around 9pm with an adobo break (Filipino food) and a couple of other short stops. We definitely were getting the hang of the rules as time went on. I ordered a 2nd rule book last night so fingers crossed we can dump the 2nd editions for good!
  

The Allies (Cameron and I) started off with a brigade each of Austrians and Russians and a single cavalry regiment each and David started off with roughly the same. We worked the game out as an encounter and I set it that Cameron and I would have another brigade each coming on later (both grenadiers) and David would have 2 also coming on (1 guard and 1 line). Plus David would have a cuirassier brigade of 2 regiments that should have tipped the cavalry in his favour.
 

My AB French battalion advancing against me! David advanced really slowly at 1st and didn't wish to bring on his reserves as he was a little uncertain how to manoeuvre so many battalions at the same time. I knew what he meant as I felt the same myself after such a big break from playing and certainly when we started to play a few years back I felt as though I was dancing with my battalions from formation to formation and struggling with the order restrictions. Still you just have to play to learn and who cares how it ends up as long as you have fun!
 

Prussian cuirassiers sitting in support at the end of the game. In the centre I think these guys will be very important. 
   

Cameron occupied the farm with a battalion of line awaiting the French attack. This is 1 of the Battalions Cameron picked up from Robert. I was surprised and pleased how smooth the battle for the BUA went.
  

David slowly starting to pressure our right flank. A single 48 man battalion of Cameron's Austrians held up the French attack for some time managing to draw in melee with 2 French battalions before a 3rd re enforced the melee!!! Almost all the pics I took of Cameron's Austrians didn't come out so I will have to take more pics. Sorry Cameron!

 

The wood was just a light wood and troops could pass though it at regular pace.
   

A view from down the barrels of my Russian 12 pounder battery. I seriously need to paint some light Russian guns as well as more cavalry.
 

My Russian cuirass waiting for David's cuirass to make their move.
 

The struggle for the centre, if the French cuirass broke through I think the game was over for the us!?!
   

My Russians slowly edging towards their destiny!!!
   

Mai had a wee look at our "to be continued" battlefield. Mai very kindly supplied us with lunch/dinner of fried rice etc. Mai was quite surprised when she seen the table at the end, "Oh wow" was her reaction so it must look pretty good!
  

The old guard a little bit off from their brigade but soon would be on the right track.
 

My Russian cuirassiers smashing David's 1st Cuirassier regiment. I rolled a double 6 (my 1st of the game) at this critical point capturing an eagle and David rolled really low and they routed! I should point out David captured 2 flags in melee during the day. 1 with a gun battery against a full Austrian battalion in column.
 

David's 2nd regiment of Cuirassiers smashed through a Prussian horse battery who failed to get off a good shot
 
 All in all a it took us a while to get to grips and I was concerned about the size of the table and that maybe I was being to ambicious with the amount of troops coming into action however it worked pretty well. Cameron won unit of the day with his Prussian dragoons on support orders that thumped, maintained dicipline then thumped 2 French light cavalry regiments before returning to their own lines.

At the end of the day David had managed to take the small farm and had badly damaged Camerons 1st Austrian brigade however Cameron's 2nd Austrian brigade was edging towards the fight (however they will be up against French guard) so 50/50 on that side. In the centre David's Cuirass had 2 sides of the coin with 1 breaking into a very dangerous position and the other routing. On my side I finally started to break through David's 1st brigade however he does have a full untouched brigade in support so still a very even battlefield. It was a marathon of a battle and I think the guys enjoyed themselves, I certainly did!

Austrian Main Command

I am glad to say I have now finished my Austrian main command base. I have had them finished for a few days now but work my shifts didn't give me the chance to take any pics (plus I was looking at my new toys!).
 

I'm still not a 100% on all the uniforms however I muddled through and I'm pretty happy how they finished. There are shades on the white that have not came out in the pics. The tufts and flowers work pretty well although I wouldn't use them on the battalion bases as there just isn't enough room (IMHO).
 

Phil I am sorry to show yet another Frenchman lying dead on the ground, I have taken steps to even things out on a couple of future French command bases (watch this space!)
  

I'm trying to work out who this guy will be? an Archie Duke? or Bianchini? For the moment it will just be a generic Austrians CnC.
  

Took this pic to show the layout of the figures, they all have the ADC as their main point of focus and the CnC's horse is reacting a little were as the others are better trained.
  

And just to show there is shading on the figures!
  

My 3 commands for our combined Austrian armies.
  

And my progress so far with my Austrians. A long way to go but you've got to start somewhere.
 

I'm not sure what I am going to paint next? I have 4 Russian commands that need minor converting and would be ready to paint, I have a Russian light battery that I am dying to do and many, many more . . . 

Also my buddy Cameron has now started uploading pics of his own growing 15mm Austrian army, you can see his progress here:
http://braidwoodwargame.blogspot.co.uk/
 
Well done Andy Murray, US Open Tennis Champion 2012!!!

Borodino plus New Toys!

This weekend has been a great weekend for me in terms of wargaming and I would like to share it. After this post my wee painted men may appear a little bland in comparison!!!

I consider myself very lucky at the moment in regards to wargaming:
  1) I have my brother and nephew 30 minutes up the road who share the same hobby interests as myself, 2) I have my friend Cameron maybe 2 stone throws away who also loves wargaming and has just embraced 15mm Naps, 3) 30mins in the other direction my friend Robert is starting to host large 15mm Naps battles that I have the chance to join.
 

Robert text me earlier in the week to say that he and Billy would be playing a game of Naps, wasn't sure what at the time but probably late Russians against French. I asked if I could join them and Robert said no problem. I then managed to mess my shifts up at work meaning that the wife and I would miss each other until pretty much Saturday afternoon and seeing as this is our only weekend together in 3 it wasn't clever. I let Robert know I would be down for a few hours to watch but wouldn't be able to play and to be honest it was probably for the best as to my shame I only now have been getting stuck into the latest GdB rules (Yes this is probably punishable by death in some countries but I did have it out on loan to Cameron to give him a head start before he bought his own copy).
  

Anyway as you can see Robert put on a superb Borodino game (I believe it is 1 from the GdB scenario book?). The Table looked to be perfectly sized for movement and the troops on display were superb!
  

I apologise for the crappy pics but I just don't seem to have the knack at the moment with my wee camera. The Redoubt: the French objective for the day to take it and hold it.
  

Some of Billy's cracking AB French artillery, I really like the way the guns are done with a white undercoat and a light olive wash.
 

Billy's right marching off to try and outflank the Russian left. AB French Legere
  

Robert deployed the Russian 12lb battery to the left of the redoubt and the light battery inside. Pretty interesting tactic.
   

The Russian cavlry brigades coming on later in the game.
  

Billy's right pincher.
  

it was pretty balanced here until the Russian cavalry started to appear.
   

Some AB French eye candy.
  

What can I say about the day? Robert and Billy were great and as usual put up with my many questions on the new rules and were also very encouraging for myself about joining them for a game. The game itself, well as you would expect has totally inspired me. When I walked out to my car all I could think about was getting more Russians and French painted and what I would need to finish to be able to play this scenario with my own troops (I was surprised not that much to be honest, The Davids have covered the French already!). The next time I get the chance and I'm not on shift I will be joining in!!!
  

And here is another great bit of news, I purchased a large amount of AB's for myself from Darren down in England (really nice bloke). He gave up 15mm Naps a few years back for 28's and sold them figures at a good price for us both. So I now have plenty of Prussians to paint!!
 

I won't be counting them, all I can say is it took me 4 hours to sort them out into units along with my other troops, so much for chipping away at the lead mountain. The great thing is I still love painting my 15mm Naps and I am sure with time myself and the Davids will get through them all!!!

Happy figure painting and wargaming to everyone!