Leipzig, 16-18 October 1813, refought Sunday 5th October

 Mike has been keen to fight Leipzig ever since he got his hands on the BBB Napoleonic Scenarios Book , so the other week 3 of us went to the Mike's games room to fight this, the biggest Napoleonic battle.  

As an indicator of the numbers involved, Mark Smith's scenario uses a ratio of 3000 men/72 guns to a stand in order to fit this massive battle on a 6' x 4' table. 

Firstly, the map.  We had a French Commander and an Allied Commander on both the East & West sides of the table, I was French in the West.  All photos will be from the West.

Set up   The southern half of the table.

The northern half of the table.

Move 2 

On the southern front the Allies discovered that the terrain is not in their favour - the French hold the river crossings and have slowed the Allied right hook through the wood.

On the northern front the French under Ney attacked Blucher and checked his advance.  In the middle the garrison in Lindenau hold out against Gyulai.

Move 4  

By the end of move 4 (end of 16th October) the southern French were doing OK.  The Allied right hook had worked its way through the woods and then got stopped there.  The French still held the river crossings at Kannewitz (middle of picture), Krostewitz & Gulden Gossa (middle right of picture).  So long as they can keep the the Allies bottled up, they are in with a chance.

On the French left & middle it's also OK.  Ney has bottled up Blucher's forces and the defenders of Lindenau hold their own against Gyulai.  As night falls, the French hold the villages and all is well.

Move 6

At the end of move 6 things have taken a turn for the worse in the south.  The Allies have broken out of the woods and crossed the river,  The French still hold Kannewitz, but have lost Lieberwolkerwitz on the hill in the middle of the picture. 

In the north the French are under pressure.  In Lindenau (bottom of picture) Gyulai has managed to get his cannon up and extend his line.  Ney has retreated to cover Leipzig and to use a unit to cover the gap in the French lines, where an Allied hand is pushing assorted troops forward!

Move 8

In the south the French held on to Probstheida village, having evicted the Allies earlier.  The defenders of Kannewitz held out against the Allies, who found it hard to deploy enough troops to assault and push the defenders out.

In the north things went badly for the French.  The centre defensive line was just about holding, but Leipzig itself was now under threat.  More importantly, Gyulai had taken Lindenau, so there was no longer an escape route for any of the French.

It was at this point that the French decided to surrender.  It had taken 4 of us most of the day to game the battle, it had been intense and engaging to the end.

Thanks and thoughts

Firstly, thanks to Mike for hosting four of us and to Chris and Charlie for an excellent game.  It was a fun day, with the game in the balance until the end of move 8.

It's a big game, the French need 51 infantry, 8 cavalry and 7.5 gun stands.  The Allies need 90 infantry, 16 cavalry and 13.5 gun stands.  

It needs at least 4 players.  I had play-tested an earlier version with Mark, the scenario writer, with just two of us.  It took a much longer time to play on that occasion and a lot of maths!  Playing with 4 players speeded up play and made the battle manageable.  6 players would have been easy to accommodate.

So, I hope this inspires you to give the game a go.  Get 3 friends (or 5), lay out the table and go for it!

xxx

Waterloo at Fiasco - Sunday 26th October

FIASCO, hosted by Leeds Wargames club, is our nearest big wargames show.  Having already run Waterloo at Joy of Six (see here) it was a much simpler option to organise than last time.  I had also got a proper French Guard Commander stand painted (see here) and was keen to get him in action.  See here for the map and more details.

This time Mike and I were joined by Ned and Charlie, who took the French.  Neither had played Waterloo before, whilst Mike and I had several games under our belt.  So, how did it go on the day?

Set-up - the picture from the British right.  I apologise in advance for the graininess of some pictures - we didn't stop playing for photos.  The French mass is top middle.  The British hold (from left to right) Papelotte, La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont.  Mont St Jean & Plancenoit are further objectives, as is the destruction of the French Foot Grenadiers & Chasseurs of the Guard

Move 2 By the end of move 2 the French had taken Papelotte and surrounded Hougoumont.  The British right had advanced the Brunswick & Dutch troops.

Sideways view - along the line of the battle, British to the left, French to the right.

Move 4  On the British right Charlie has successfully stormed and taken Hougoumont.  His left takes on the Brunswick & Dutch troops.  Ned has started to redeploy to face the Prussians.

The start of the Prussian arrival - forcing Ned to start building a defence line!

  

Move 6   By the end of move 6 the British were under threat - Ned had broken through the hedge line and Charlie had made progress against my large units, causing both of them to go spent.  In the middle the French gear up for an assault on La Haye Sainte.  To the left of the British the Prussians move steadily forward, as the French deploy their cavalry reserves to counter this attack.  

Move 8 On the British right my spent troops had retreated to cover.  Charlie had attempted to assault my part of the ridge but without success.  His lefthand troops were also now spent.  In the middle the Guard assaulted La Haye Sainte. 

On the left Mike's British had sent the french back down the hill and his Prussians advanced steadily on Papelotte and Plancenoit.

Move 9  The last move saw the French assault on La Haye Sainte fail, as did the Prussian assault on Plancenoit.  As the Allies held two objectives the battle was deemed a draw.  

Thanks & Thoughts

Thanks to Mike, Ned & Charlie for playing on the day, rolling the dice and engaging in Banter!  Thanks also to the Leeds club for organising FIASCO and hosting us for the day.

Waterloo provides a challenging battle, with tension for the British in holding on to their defensive line, decisions for the French about where and when to attack the British, as well as the crucial decision over when to pivot against the Prussians.

Charlie and Ned both did well as the French, with Charlie taking out Hougoumont and Ned breaking through the hedges.  Charlie then struggled to assault my defenders (hiding behind the hedge) and his left hook got blunted and stopped.

Ned's offensive ran out of steam and then had to be abandoned as the Prussians threatened the French right.

As with all BBB games, most of the players were acting/reacting most of the time and it was tense all the way down to the wire.  On the very last move Mike's Prussians could have taken Plancenoit, which would have given the Allies a win, rather than a draw.

Waterloo will be offered again at the Battleground show, Sat 29th Nov 2025 at Middlesborough Sports Village TS4 3AE.  Doors are open 10-3 and entry is free.  Come along and release your inner Napoleon!

 

Command & Control - Napoleonic Marshal's Uniforms - part 2

 I recently completed the next batch of French Napoleonic Marshals & ADC using Baccus 6mm figures.  See here for part 1.

The six figures are four based as subordinate Marshals for Northern Europe and two Army Commander Marshals for use in Spain.

Northern Europe

Here are the next four Marshals based as subordinate generals for use in North Europe and featured in Mark Smith's Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles scenario book.

Ney fought at several of the battles in the book.  He is usually pictured 1812 or later, when one of his ADCs wore an all red uniform.  I did find a picture of him at Friedland, so that's what I based this model on.  Yes, the next Ney WILL have a red ADC....

Massena fought through the Revolutionary wars, the Consulate and into the days of Empire.  As ADC he has his son, Jaques Prosper Massena, in a dazzling white uniform - this was an early instance of "take your child to work day".  Prosper is a NFR 12 French Elite Light Cavalry Figure with a plume from a repurposed bayonet.  

Soult - fought in major battles in Northern Europe and commanded armies in Spain (see below).  The Marshal figure is as normal and the ADC is the rearing horse ADC from the Baccus French Generals set (slightly flattened).  Soult dressed his ADCs in light blue and yellow with white Pelises. 

Guard Commander - various Marshals commanded the French Guard during its existence, helpfully for the 6mm modeller, it appears that dressing as a mounted Grenadier Officer was a favourite uniform.  

So, the model below represents whichever Marshal was in charge on the day!  The figure is a Horse Grenadier standard bearer (surplus to requirements) with a cord and flounders added to his bearskin and his flagpole fashioned as a sword.  ADC is fairly standard, except for sporting some colourful red trousers.

Spain

There are several BBB scenarios available on the io.group (join and look under "files") and I am looking forward to Mark Smith's next BBB scenario book that will cover the Peninsular battles.  So, some suitable French Marshal's are needed - here's the first two!

Massena  In Spain 1810 - 1811, Massena commanded the Army of Portugal against the Duke of Wellington at Bussaco, Almeida and Fuentes d'Onoro.  The model shows him accompanied by Prosper Massena and another ADC.

Massena is in the normal Marshal's uniform with plenty of bling, the ADC is in the standard uniform and Prosper is in his striking white uniform with red horse furniture.

Soult   In Spain 1808 to 1812, then back again for the retreat into France, Soult fought both Sir John Moore and the Duke of Wellington.  Soult wears the usual Marshal's uniform, one ADC (who started life as a French chasseur a cheval officer) wears a yellow dolman and blue trousers, with blue horse furniture.  The hussar figure is actually an Austrian Hussar - blue dolman and trousers, white pelise.

End notes

It has, once again, but great fun researching these figures (thank you Pinterest!) and working out which Baccus figures to use for my little Commanders.  I use Austrian and Russian Command figures, as well as French, to get a bit of variety in their poses.

I hopee that this inspires you to add more colour and bling to your next table top battle.

Ligny & Quatre Bras - 16 June 1815 - refought 23 & 30 May 2025

 Slightly out of chronological order - here's the battles of Ligny & Quatre Bras, 16 June 1815 - refought approximately 210 years later.  Quatre Bras is probably not a battle, at least not in BBB terms, but as it was on the same day and roughly in the same place, combining the two actions adds a level of complexity and interest to the battles.

The Scenario was written by Matt Bradley and is available as a free download in the files section of the BBB Group.  You can find it here - but you may need to log on first!

Here's the map:

Mike took the British and Prussians, I took the French.  Here's the table laid out for the start.  Apologies for the lighting - it was actually a sunny day!

French Left

French Right

Turn 2  On the left, the french push toward Quatre Bras, in the middle the French push across the stream and threaten the Prussian line.

On the right, the French Guard threaten Tongrinelle 

Turn 4 - on the left the French took Quatre Bras, whilst the British used their firepower advantage (pink counters) to drive them back out.  In the centre the French took losses as they assaulted the objective villages.  I had formed my cavalry into one big menacing block....

To the right, the French piled on the pressure, with one unit breaking through to take an objective village.

Turn 5   On the left the French lost Quatre Bras and the centre became a slogging match.

On the right, the Guard drove the Prussians out of Tongrinelle, with Mike's left flank getting hammered.

 

Turn 6  On the left flank the French had been thoroughly hammered by the British, but this turn saw the arrival of French re-inforcements!

In the middle the French continue to hammer away at those objective villages and on the right the Guard prepare to wheel left.

Turn 7 - on the left, the French reinforcements shake out of column (2 x speed on roads) and dep[loy ready to assault.  The big block of French cavalry has slowly been whittled down, but still threatens Blucher's right.

On the right, the Prussians have retreated as more French arrive and the Guard attacks the Prussian left.

Turn 8 - on the left the French advance to the Bridge, the British form up to defend Quatre Bras again.  One sneaky unit of Brits has skirted the forest to take potshots at lurking French cavalry.

On the right the Prussians still hold one objective village as the French close in for the kill.

French 9 on the last French move,  it's a standoff at Quatre Bras and the assault against the last Prussian objective village goes in.

On the right the French hold the objective villages, just in case the Prussians try a last minute assault to regain them.  

Allied 9 - the French have not retaken Quatre Bras, but the Allies have not been able to advance south of the river Thyle with more than 50% of their troops.

In the centre the French hold 4 objectives, with the Prussians holding just one objective village.  There are no more Prussians to the right of this picture!

Conclusions 

It was a really good game, not just because I won.  i managed to get most of the rolls i wanted and drove the British and the Prussians back.  Mike was not as lucky with the dice, but he put up a spirited defence and only gave ground slowly.

Having the Allies and Prussians both on the table made a lot of sense - the French need to contain the British and secure their left flank.

This game allows you to field those shiny Waterloo British uniforms as well as the Prussians, plus the Guard gets to play a pivotal role in it all.

I highly recommend the scenario.

Thanks to Mike, worthy opponent and provider of regular teas and coffees!