Neerwinden Play-test part 2

 Last night saw the next three turns (3,4 & 5) as Mike, ably partnered by Ned, continue the Austrian defence against my Revolutionary French.

I spent move 3 re-arranging my French into 2x2 unit blocks to give depth & firepower.  Ned's attack on my left flank saw a big cavalry punch up, drawing troops from further down the line to re-inforce the left and leave a thinner place.  Ned duly punched a hole in this with his 5 unit veteran Grenadiers.  

In the middle, my assaults across the stream made progress, but at some cost.  My fragile raw French were fine, so long as the Austrians missed, but tended to evaporate in firefights far too easily.

My right wing got bogged down on the stream and struggled to wipe out the Austrians on the other side.  

At the end of turn 5 we decided to play at least one more turn, reset and then swap sides for a further play-test in just under two weeks.

Eye candy!

Turn 4 photos:

French to the left, Austrians to the right.  Austrians surge across the stream!

The opposite end.  French on the right, Austrians to the left.

The photos below are all at the end of turn 4.

The Austrian Grenadiers, with cavalry support, cross the stream whilst the French, top right, try to take the hill.

The battle in the middle, the French have crossed the stream and are heading for the main Austrian forces.

A close up of the push to Neerwinden (Grey roofed building in the centre of the picture).

The French assault on the central hill crosses the stream and occupies the village!  Not, unfortunately, one of the "objective" villages.....

Ned's Grenadiers cross the stream, supported by more infantry to their left and a 12pdr battery on the hill.

Some close-ups:

Grenadiers - note the coloured patches on the rear of the bearskins.

Heavy Cavalry supporting the line to the North of Neerwinden.  Note the General, bravely commanding from the rear!

Turn 5 Overview

I hope that this has whetted your appetite for this period of history.  We plan to finish the game next week and then start the replay the week after.  Stay tuned for more updates!

 

Neerwinden - 18 March 1793 - refight November 2022

 It has been quite a while since I posted, so here's an update.

I've been concentrating on getting a reasonable Austrian army (1792-98) ready for the French revolutionary wars.  I've also created my first BBB scenario - Neerwinden - 18 March 1793.  This was the Austrian successful attempt to stop the French invading Holland...   well, for a while, anyway!

Neerwinden pits two almost equal sides on fairly flat terrain - so the trained Austrians with linear tactics will be pitted against the raw revolutionary "l'ordre mixte".  Enthusiasm vs. professionalism.

The scenario is pretty much as per the BBB rules, the only changes made are:

1. The Austrians can only form lines or columns - the only way to get depth is to put two lines of troops together.

2. Both sides, apart from skirmishers, are rated EB (Early Breechloader) rather than SM (Smoothbore Musket) for firepower.  This is to represent the large amount of battalion guns present - these were light artillery (3 or 4 lb guns) attached to battalions in ones and twos.

We set up on Wednesday and have played two turns.  Mike, my regular opponent, took the Austrians and I decided to be the French.  Mike has to deploy first, which he did along the Little Geete stream.  

I formed into visually spectacular blocks and attempted to ford the stream.

OK, on with the eye candy!  All photos are mid game, so not tidied up for a photo shoot.

Set up.  The scenario map:

On table.

Looking North East

Looking South West

Turn 2 (as far as we got):

Looking NE - the French advance across the Little Geete stream.  Or not!

The French right wing and reserves - having problems crossing the stream.  Yellow counters = disrupted.  White counters = Victory point locations.

Gen Louis of Chartres pushes forward in the middle.

Austrian Cuirassiers & Chevaux Legere.  The purple & green counters show the Austrians as both aggressive & "K" - an OWS house rule that adds a further 1 in the assault (normally either armoured cavalry or lancers).  Two flag bases mark the Cuirassiers as Veteran.  Scary! (if you are French).

Austrian Dragoons and Cheveaux Legere - this time the Cheveaux Legere have white jackets.

The sneaky Austrians (Mike) have crossed the little Geete and are threatening the French right.  The Lancer & Hussar uniforms of 1793 are near enough to those of 1809 (at least in 6mm scale) that I used my 1809 cavalry.

Austrian grenadiers of the Archduke Charles' Advance Guard under the gaze of Cleyfert, the Austrian CinC.

More Austrian grenadiers, this time from the Reserves, defending the left flank.

The Austrians under pressure - but after the hand to hand the unsupported French line has been repulsed by infantry and a 4 unit block of Austrian Cuirassiers.  The Cuirassiers nearest the camera are Carabiniers, so get a yellow trim to their tricornes.

Detail of those hats...

Wednesday will see another few turns and another photo report.  It has been really satisfying to get the scenario drafted and being played out on a table!  😀

Credits:

Figures - Baccus (SYW & AWI figures with some minor modifications)

Bases - Warbases

Terrain cloth, roads & hills - Leeds Wargames club

Streams - S&A Scenics

Houses - scratch built by me.

Sarah W - drawing the map, encouragement & cups of tea!