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
No comments:
Post a Comment