BBB Bash Day IV - Leeds, Saturday 1st July - Update 28th May

 BBB Bash Day in Leeds is less than 5 weeks away.  Two of my regular wargaming friends have played one of the games from the day, Aspern Essling, so they can get back up to speed with the rules.  You can see how the first evening's gaming went here and the second here also here

Here are the details for the day correct to last night!

BBB BASH DAY IV -   The key info in one handy place (27^th May)

 

When:            

Saturday, 1^st July 2023

 

Where:            

Leeds Wargames Club - Hicks Hall, 60 Bankfield Terrace, Burley, Leeds LS4 2JR

Timings on the day:

09.00 - 17.00  (though this may be more like 9.30 to 10.00 to actually get started!)

 

Price £5.00, £2.50 for Leeds club members (as you’ve already paid for the hall).

 

Format:

The format is entirely participation games based on historical battles and using the Bloody Big Battles (BBB) rules. 

For the best chance of playing the game that interests you most, please sign up in advance. We will do our best to accommodate walk-in participants on the day.

 

The Games on Offer:

 

1.     ACW – Chancellorsville – host Chris Pringle (author of the rules, scenario books, etc.)

2.     FPW – Sedan – host Mike Brown

3.     ACW – 2^nd Manassas – host Tim Carne

4.     Austro-Prussian War – Kissengen – host Dave Whaley

5.     Anglo-Sikh War – Gujrat (1849) – host Mark Smith (author of BBB India scenario book)

6.     Zulu War – Nyezane – host Bruce McCallum

7.     Napoleonic 1813 – Lutzen – host Mike Brimacombe

8.     Napoleonic 1809 – Aspern-Essling – host Ned Dye

 

Parking:

It’s a residential area, so free, but there’s a lot of housing, so expect to spend a few minutes finding a space and walking to the club.

 

Tea & coffee will be provided, please bring your own lunch. 

 

Links: 

 

Bloody Big Battles - blog

http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles

 

***Leeds Wargames Club

https://leedswargamesclub.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LeedsWargamesClub/

 

Email – bbb.bashday@gmail.com

 

Colin & Chris

Bleeding Big Bash Day Team

 Please email me if you have any questions, comments or if anything is incorrect!

BBB Bash Day IV - practice at Leeds club - moves 5 to end of game

 Another busy night in Leeds on Wednesday - we finished the Aspern-Essling playtest for BBB Bash Day on 1st July.

The French failed to get re-inforcements and the Austrians had all their troops on table, so both sides had to use what they had.  Here are the photos from early on - both sides had a huge scrap for possession of Essling - which the French retained.

Here's the view from my side of the battlefield - I had taken Aspern (as the Austrians) but failed to make further gains.....

A great couple of evenings gaming.  By turn 7 both sides were holding on, but without the ability to go over to the offensive.  The Austrian assault on Essling had failed but the French could not counter-attack, so we declared a draw at the end of turn 8.  

My thanks to my regular opponents Mike & Ned, my newbie fellow Austrians Stephen (day 1) and Colin (day 2).  

Everything supplied by me.  The eagle eyed will see that the Danube has grown as we used my "big river" terrain from S&A scenics.

BBB Bash Day IV - practice at Leeds club - Aspern-Essling (Austria 1809) moves 1 - 4

 It's just under 6 weeks to Bash Day.  

As part of the preparation, my regular opponents Mike, Ned and I have been playing Aspern-Essling (French v. Austrians, 1809), partly to familiarise Ned with the scenario, partly as a refresher of the BBB rules as both Mike & Ned have kindly offered to host games. 

In summary, Aspern-Essling is Napoleon's hasty river crossing of the Danube, relying on a single makeshift bridge to get his army to grips with the Austrians.  The Austrians start with a considerable superiority in numbers, but a slow command and control system means units tend to move slowly, or not at all.  As time rolls on the French get re-inforcements (whose composition and timing is affected by Austrian attempts to destroy the bridge) but will these be enough to swing the tide of battle?

Here are some photos I took at the end of Wednesday - 3 turns of day 1, the night move and turn 4 (1st of day 2) completed.  The Austrians went in hard - well, as hard as you can with passive troops and no generals.  The French defended well and re-inforcements have crossed the Danube to get into the fight.

The Austrian Assault on Aspern (the tall grey building in the centre).  

Austrian troops (lines at bottom of picture) have been delayed by die rolls low enough to halt or cause retreats.....  The French defensive ring looks a tough nut to crack!

Austrians to the left, French to the right.  The black strip is a dried up gully between Aspern & Essling which gave troops in it a cover advantage.  The grey felt square is Essling, currently stoutly defended by the French.

Looking down the Front lines - the Austrians in a big ring as they come from all points of the compass!

Austrian Grenadier columns head to the fray....

The Austrians nearer to Aspern.  Austrian HQ & supply wagon in the foreground

Baccus figures, 1/300, based for BBB.  Here's the link to the 2020 epic refight of Aspern-Essling in Oxford....  Aspern-Essling at OWS

Leipzig 16-19 October 1813 - Birthday refight 21-24 April 2023

 As part of my recent birthday celebrations my friend Mark laid on one of the big Napoleonic Battles - Leipzig.  The real battle was fought over 4 days, our refight also accommodated other birthday related activities, so it lasted 4 days as well.

Wikipedia tells me it was the largest European Battle before WW1, so it's a must for any gamer interested in the Napoleonic wars.

Mark set up his games table and I took the Allies.  I had a number of strategic towns and villages to capture in addition to Leipzig.  There was a scenario option to threaten the French escape route over the causeway at Lindenau , which I took.

I don't have the BBB scenario map, so here's the map from Wikipedia to give some idea of the scale of the battle and the forces involved.

I opted to be aggressive on day 1, which had mixed results - Gyulai spent the day sparring with Bertrand for Lindenau, Blucher got half his army to move forward, Schwarzenberg tried to assault over the river and got rebuffed.

Day 1 pictures here:

Slightly out of focus - the battle for Lindenau.....

Schwarzenberg- held at the river line, with large numbers of troops but too small a deployment area to make their numbers tell.

 Schwarzenberg's left, with the 7 strong Silesian Landwehr in the middle attacking the aggressive Poles in the village on the river....

End of day 1 here:

Schwarzenberg slipped troops into the wood to threaten the French left.  Mark "that's an impassible river"  Colin "not according to the map - the river starts in the wood"  Mark "bring me the head of the imperial cartographer...."

Schwarzenberg's left - in the centre the 7 strong Silesians have evicted the Poles and crossed the river, but in the centre the French still hold the river line. 

A view of Schwarzenberg's gains and losses.  The French still hold the river line in the middle, but with the Allies in the woods to their left and the Silesians across the river to their right, it may be time to withdraw....

Meanwhile, Blucher's army has assaulted the French frontally (mainly shooting rather than assault) which has enabled a mixed infantry & cavalry force to arc left and get over the river line.  In the top centre of the picture Mark has sent his reserve cavalry to counter this threat.

Overall, as the sun set on the first day of the battle, the Allies had much to be pleased about.  The French river line defence was broken in three places, the Emperor has had to commit all three Guard units already.  In the distance more Allied troops can be seen.....

In the scenario the second day is a night move, as both sides in reality had some minor skirmishes as they consolidated the gains made / shored up the gaps in the line.  Mark duly readied the Grand Armee for day three......

Day three dawned with the French in new positions, hoping that shorter defence lines will counterbalance the huge numbers of Allied troops advancing from all points of the compass.

Bernadotte arrives

To the left, the French hold the hill.  The raw Allied troops occupying the lower left village have opted to "stoutly defend" rather than charge the Middle Guard and 4 batteries on the hill.  This increased their chances of getting a medal at the end of the campaign considerably.

Schwarzenberg gets more troops.  Mark is stockpiling disrupted markers in the middle of the battlefield....

The Lindenau refight starts again.  The blue and white buildings are Leipzig, now full of French defenders.

Finally, Blucher - whose army is now facing an undefended river.....

Day three saw the Allies advance to within musket range of Leipzig, which triggered a die roll to see if the French engineers, worried about the pressure on Lindenau, blow the road on the causeway over the marsh.  

The Allies assault Leipzig

The winning dice!

We fought the battle over 4 real days, it was a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate my birthday.  

We agreed that there were a lot of troops to manage - with only two players we spent a lot of time moving around the battlefield.  It would be an ideal battle for 4 or 6 players - it would probably have gone a little faster.

BBB worked well - there were a number of hand to hand battles that were closely fought, no results were wildly unrealistic.  

I would definitely play it again!