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

Hanau, 30 October 1813 - refight 14 February 2025

The next battle in the Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles book is Hanau, with the Austrians and Bavarians taking on the French on October 1813.  The Austro-Bavarian forces are deployed to catch the retreating French army (heading South West to France) - they expect stragglers and small forces, they get Napoleon and the Imperial Guard!

Here's the map:

Set up

Here's the table - starting with the Allied left

The town of Hanau, with forests at the top of the picture

The Allied right - the green strip marks the edge of the forest, not a strip of trees.  The troops in the forest are the French.

Turn 2

The Allied right flank.  

At the top of the photo the Allies have advanced into the wood to contain the French.  This negated the artillery (as you can only see 3" into a wood), so the combat was charging and countercharging, both sides getting disrupted, gaining cover from the woods and not winning hand to hand combat.  

At the bottom of the photo there are two units of Guard infantry who have burst out of the woods, causing redeployment of one Allied unit from the main battle and despatch of another unit to try to stop this!

Allied middle - all quiet at the moment

Turn 3

At the end of turn 3 events had progressed a little.  

At the top of the picture the Allied cavalry have forced the French cavalry to redeploy in the face of the Allied charges.  

The battle in the woods continues in a confused and inconclusive manner.  The Allied artillery, with no target to their front, turn 180 to fire on  the Guard.  

At the bottom of the picture the Guard continues its advance to Hanau.

Turn 4

On the right the battle in woods continued, with the Allied cavalry taking casualties from repeated charges against the French cavalry.  

The main Allied defensive line started to break up - to the left of the photo are disrupted cavalry and infantry, as well as two spent infantry.

At the bottom of the photo the Guard approach Hanau and a further 6 strong unit advances.

In the middle the Allies defend Hanau.

On the left Mike threatened my Cossacks, defending another two important villages, as this flank is wide open....

Turn 6

By turn 6 the Allies were in trouble on the right flank.  At the top of the picture the French cavalry are pushing the Allied cavalry back.  At the bottom of the picture the Bavarians have been pushed out of the woods and the Allied unit guarding the bridge objective (lower right) has been assaulted in the rear,

Here's the zoom shot - Bavarian line is crumbling.

On the left flank it's all wide open - the only factor slowing the French infantry is the speed of their March.

French Turn 7

By the end of Mike's turn 7 the Allied destruction was complete.  At the bottom of the picture I've lost the Bridge and the river.  At the top of the picture my cavalry is getting hammered.  In the middle are lots of Bavarians sporting "spent" counters (which are actually Bavarian blue) getting hammered by the French.

The Bavarians guarding the bridge/village got assaulted and lost - with no where else to go the survivors attempted to swim the river.....

On the Allied left / middle I still held Hanau, with the surrounding fields littered with the wiped out French attackers.

Out of troops and options, I conceded at this point.  

Closing thoughts

My strategy had been to hold the French up for as long as possible in the woods - this was an error on my part, I think.  It did take Mike time to deploy his troops and get momentum, but the woods hampered both sides, so the wood fighting turned into a battle of attrition and he had more troops of better quality.  I also kept the French bottled up so far in the woods that my Allied artillery could not see them - or shoot them.

My cavalry attack in the North did distract Mike and we had a big several turn cavalry scrap - which i eventually lost.

My concentration on keeping most of my troops in the woods meant Mike was able to send troops to threaten Hanau and to roll up my line.

Mike's numbers and quality did tell in the end - by turn 6 I had units at break point and by turn 7 it was all over.

A comprehensive Victory for Mike and an enjoyable game.  It goes quite quickly, we played it in 4 hours (having set up the previous time but allowing 1/2 to 3/4 hour for lunch).

Mike's French, my Allies all Baccus.

Wagram - 5,6 July 1809, refought 20 & 27 Sept 2024

 Mike and I continue to plough through Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles scenario book - this brought us to the battle of Wagram.  In real life Napoleon, having failed to break out at Aspern-Essling, regrouped, built up his forces on the Eastern bank of the Danube and launched a further assault on the Austrians.  The battle was fought on the Marchfeld, a flat plain that was used by the Austrian army for large manoeuvres.  Having been there, it's flat!

Firstly, for the game, here's the map.

The French objectives are the string of villages from Aspern to Rosen.  The village of Deutsch Wagram was where the Arch Duke Charles established his headquarters.  The building still exists and is an excellent museum.   See links to transport here and dioramas here.  I was playing the Austrians and Mike took the French & Allies.

The scenario starts with the Austrians deployed from Gross Enzersdsorf to Markgraf.  The French juggernaut comes on between Gross Enzersdorf and Rutzendorf.

Set up:

End of turn 2  The French advance across the Marchfeld whilst the Austrians, hampered by passivity (-1 on movement) and a lack of suitable generals, move to engage.

End of turn 4  on the left, Davout turns the flank.

Most of the fighting was in the middle, with the French slowly pushing the Austrian defensive line back.  Archduke Charles was under pressure on his right, so tried to deploy his heavy cavalry there.  The Austrian's passivity and lack of Generals meant that the French could move faster and further each go.

Turn 6 by this point, the Austrian left had been compromised and the centre was thinly spread, with a solid wave of French building up.  The Austrians could no longer win, perhaps they could hold on?  Perhaps Archduke John could arrive to save the day?

The pile of Austrian dead on the square hill.  In later years, bits of equipment left behind would go to a museum....

Turn 8  Mike got into his stride now - rolling up my left flank, threatening Wagram itself (bottom left of second picture) and grinding down my centre.

Turn 9 saw the plucky Austrian defenders of Wagram ejected and reduced to spent status.

Turn 10  saw the Austrians still occupying a couple of objectives, but Mike had destroyed a large part of the Austrian army and had gained enough objectives for a win.

The dead pile says it all.

A couple of post battle thoughts:  

• Mike had handled the French well, using his greater chance of moving to stretch my Austrian line.
• The Austrians could not launch (or at least my die throws were not high enough) to decisively break any part of the French line.
• Once Davout had turned my left flank I was fighting on two fronts - which was far from easy.

Once again, a big thank you to Mike - for table, troops and lunch, also a big thank you to Mark for publishing an excellent scenario.

So, that's the Danube Campaign of 1809 wrapped up by the "Ilkley irregulars".  I've not done so well....

But hey, in three year's time it's off to Russia for a Summer holiday and the campaign of 1812, I'll also be the French!!   What could go wrong???

Troops are Baccus 6mm, rules are BBB & the Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles Scenario book.

Wagram Museum part 2 - 1/72 dioramas

 Here's part 2 of my 2018 visit to the battle of Wagram Museum - the dioramas....

Everything is 1/72 scale and units are at 1:1 ratio.  Fantastic!

Below - a gun battery - interesting to see how much room it actually occupied.

Landwehr

Buildings

Hussars!

River Crossing