Borodino : Falkirk Wargames Club

In November the lads from the Falkirk Wargames Club put on a 3 day re-fight of the Battle of Borodino. I couldn't get the time off work for the whole weekend however I did manage to get over to Al's to see the set up.

I've put together a wee video and a few pics below. 15mm figures using General de Brigade rules.

The figures are from various collections including some of my own.

This was a spectacular looking table with the company of like minded Napoleonic enthusiasts, I am gutted that I couldn't get the weekend off to take part. Such is life!

The Russians setting out a defensive line.

 

Somewhere around 7000 15mm figures were used throughout the weekend and as expected casualties were high, very high!

The great redoubt built by Peter, I now have the inspiration to build my own some time soon. John S. the gabion defences you sold me will come in very handy!

The French camp with Napoleon in the centre with his historically accurate purple jumper.

Some Germanic cavalry, very pretty.

Very sweet little pontoon bridges.

The Russian HQ looks a little concerned at the scale of the French threat.

Kutuzov scouting out the enemy positions.

That's my post for today, short and sweet. The battle was fought to a bloody draw just like the original.

 I have a few other wee bits and pieces on the go so I hope to get a couple of posts up next month.

Happy Wargaming!

Dolitz : Leipzig 1813

I'm glad to say I managed to get a good sized game in at the end of June, the Falkirk lads set up for the Dolitz 1813 scenario from the Leipzig battlefield. I have put a little video together as a run through of the action and i'll pop up a few pics of the action below:

The battlefield was built up from Kalistra hex sections.

The lads getting set up for battle, 2 of the 3 Allied commanders for the day. The 3rd had to be clipped from shot because of a very dodgy T-shirt. 

A table of Napoleonic loveliness. I find it really inspiring seeing everyone's troops laid out on the table. Even without playing it would be a great display.

Helicopter view of the battlefield.

View from young David's command.

Austrians take the 1st of their objectives. We need to add a sizeable Austrian contingent to our collections as they are always 1 of the prettiest armies on the tabletop.

Prussian advance in the centre soon to be given a sharp shock.

The Allied centre starts to struggle under a flank attack from our Poles.

The Prussian centre begins to fold.

and the Poles keep pushing!

On the other end of the table from me the Russians prepare their advance.

Some of my Russians joined with RT's Russians led by Sho Boki command figures.

Again the Allies are blunted by the glorious French and our Allies!

The unused guard

The French claimed victory on the day, we had for the most part held the Allies back and in the centre we had seriously dented the Prussian advance.

As usual a very fun day and a chance to take stock of what is missing from our collections. Next I will post an update on my Saxon light infantry battalion. I wanted to put a post up earlier however I wanted to push on to the end so needed any available time for painting.

All the best and happy wargaming!!!

Lutzen : La Garde au Feu

I should have had this 1 posted up a lot sooner. This was the other game on the go on Easter Sunday and it was also the game I was involved in. Not as colourful looking as the previous game and pretty 1 sided with us (the French) having it almost all our own way. However each game is a learning experience and it was again great to see the troops on the table. I took a lot of pics during our game and have deleted a good number so the post isn't to picture heavy.

Again I included a video for the folks who enjoy that kinda thing and the still pics are below:

Rod was 1 of the Allied commanders on the day seen here scanning the battlefield. Also Rod brought along his Westphalian army for the 1812 campaign to show me. It was absolutely stunning complete with engineer, bridging units plus ambulance. I only had a little while at the end of the game to look through it as I had so much stuff to put away myself. I'll make a point of getting a load of photo's of them at some point in the future.

Rod made a dramatic thrust with his Russian cavalry at the French left flank early on taking John by surprise. I guess he decided that attack was the best form of defence?

He threw his Russian hussar regiment at the advancing French battalions. I would have been cautious and put my troops into square as soon as he got within a threatening distance, John however bravely decided to sand his ground.

Luckily for Rod, John's dice for shooting was pretty low and the hussars actually done really well causing a good bit of confusion amongst the French, however with no real support their exciting bravery didn't amount to much in the end returning to behind their own lines a bit weaker.

My nephew David checking out our battle lines, we by chance were right across from each other after drawing lots to see what table we would be on and what nation we would be in charge of. 

My job for the day was to pin David and Rod in the centre and exploit any weakness, if any should arise. 1 of my 2 batteries that caused quite a lot of damaged to the Prussian lines.

Looks kinda quiet at the start, eventually I would be up against both Prussians and Russians.

The table starting to take shape. You can see the French guard massed for an assault down the right. After the game we had a chat about it and the overall opinion was the best that the Allies could hope for was a draw with a loss being the most likely if the French side used their troops well.

Our right flank was to be the killer blow with the guard cavalry and infantry making a push at the Allied left in an aim to swing round and rolling them up.

This is what its all about! we sitting for hours of an evening painting our wee men!! Stunning figures on display on both tables!!! I don't know who supplied the majority of the French but the Polish uhlans at the rear left are young Davids.

Unfortunately my Prussians would be on the receiving end of the main French advance . . .

My Leib hussars putting up a brave defence against overwhelming odds.

The gang in action debating orders at this point I think. The old chestnut of if you put your brigade on orders to assault an objective or an enemy brigade and another enemy brigade moves in front of that objective are you entitled to assault that new threat or do you have to change your order to do so? If you have ever played Russians you will know that changing your orders isn't as easy as it sounds especially if your CnC is not close by!

Rod begins to bring up Russian grenadiers into the battle (It's nice to see these guys getting a run out as they were painted so long ago and very rarely see any action). As the French guard smashed through the Allied left flank Rod made a play for 1 of the towns held by us and for a while it was looking as though he may just do it, however like most battles the offensive ran out of steam from not having enough troops to execute and reinforce the assault.

The only Allied cavalry on the right. Some very nice Ahtyrka hussars. I have a couple of regiments of Russian hussars to paint up myself however as always the problem is time. I could have done with starting my collection 20 years ago!

Our table mid way through the game looking pretty nice if I don't say so myself.

This has to be 1 of the only times my Prussian guard have been in action as Prussian guard. In the end the French right battered through the Allied left and took the remaining town held by my Pavlov grenadiers and things were looking very good for Napoleon in Saxony once again.

The 2 tables on the day: Nice to see such a good turn out, the Falkirk lads put on a good gaming experience!

It's not so great being on either side of a 1 sided game (I know many who would disagree) however being part of the day was a lot of fun and both games gave a great learning experience. Obviously for myself seeing my own troops (plus terrain) on the tables was a great inspiration as I was able to see the areas in my collection where I have gaps. It's tough as with a limited time to paint you have to make the decision which gaps to fill 1st! I would very much like to push on with my Saxons for 1812-1813 however I can see how close I am to ticking off some Prussian OOB's and then you have the Russians, French, Bavarians, Austrians and Poles. Ahh it's all good clean fun . . .

I hope you have enjoyed the battles and I'll try and get another post of painted troops up soon.
Happy Wargaming!!!

Lutzen : The Prussian Charge

On 27th March 2016, Easter Sunday my nephew David and myself were lucky enough to be invited along to the Falkirk Wargames Club held in Grangemouth to take part in a day of Napoleonic gaming. There were 2 battles on the go at once, 2 tables of 1813 Napoleonic goodness.

Below is a short YouTube video from Table No.1

Or if your not keen on videos I've also included a good number of pictures below.

A view from the French positions at the start of the game.

The famous photographer Peter watching the initial Prussian advance.

Good to see my Silesians in action. Games like this are a great way to see what you still need to paint to complete your collection and surprisingly for my Prussians I'm not so very far off.

Also my recently finished Saxon terrain got a look in on both tables.

Alisdair and Karl the Prussian commanders discuss tactics.

My Old Glory 1st West Prussians getting in on the action. These are some of my earliest figures from when I picked up on Naps again a few years back and I'm still really fond of them.

Some French looking to be on their way out the back of a village.

Some of the Falkirk gang on Table No.1

Blucher leading the troops into battle, it's great to see him finally getting a proper run out!!!

Silesian hussars getting hit by a mystery enemy hussar unit?

Another mystery enemy unit???

The Prussians pushing on through.

An overview of the action as it unfolds.

The French under pressure.

A pretty impressive Prussian steamroller.

Is there anything more impressive than the Prussian army of 1813???

The guys looking over the end table.

At the end of the game everything had ground to a halt.

The final result, a very hard fought draw.

So that was game No.1 and hopefully over the next week or 2 I'll get a chance to put pictures up from game No.2 that I took part in.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures,
Happy Wargaming!!!