Dresden - 26 & 27 August 1813, refight Friday 17 & 24 January 2025

 The battle of Dresden, 26 & 27 August 1813, is the next scenario that Mike and I have tackled from Dr Mark Smith's "Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles" scenario book.  I had played it once before, a number of years ago, as French and really not done well.  This was Mike's first go at the scenario.

Mark has introduced some interesting elements to this scenario - the French have fortified redoubts to occupy, with half a gun in each.  The incessant rain on the first day of the battle means that the river that splits the French right/Austrian left area of operations becomes impassible, so on the French right flank it is about holding/dominating the two bridging points.

I chose French, Mike opted to be the Austro/Prussian/Russian coalition.

The map:

Set up

The whole battlefield - the Elbe is the wide river, lower left.  The Weisseritz is the medium sized river, this is impassible on day 2 and only has two crossing points.  The bright green rectangle is the Gross Garten.  Shedloads of French troops wait to be released into Dresden from the Eastern bank.

The French left, Dresden and it's suburbs lower left, a thin cordon of defenders in the redoubts.  I deployed a 4 block unit and gun as far forward as possible as a "speed bump".

The French right - a couple of redoubts, otherwise just empty of my defenders!

Turn 2

At the end of turn two the French have re-inforced Dresden.  More re-inforcements wait to cross into the city.

The French left wing, with French troops in the Gross Garten buying time.

The French middle - holding off the Russians in the centre, but only just.

The French right - the Austrian advance has stalled and i diverted my reserves here.  Mike has already had one unit go spent.

Dresden city hall - actually it's for a Franco Prussian game, but it gives a bit of grandeur!

Turn 4

By turn 4 the battle was shaping well for the French as night fell at the end of day 1.  On the left, Dresden is a solid wall of French defenders and Mike halts outside the city limits.

In the middle Mike did take a redoubt, but the French & Allies are now racing to put troops on the hill.

On the right, Mike took up defensive positions, whilst my French controlled both river crossings.

Turn 6

At the end of turn 6, two turns after the night interval, the battle was going well for the French.  On the left the city was well defended, mainly by the Young Guard.  For some reason the Old Guard infantry kept failing their movement rolls!

In the middle a to and fro battle developed for possession of the hill, with both sides attacking and then getting repulsed.  This is where I channelled my reserves and aggressive/killer best troops.

On the right the Austrians could only hold on, so both sides did not do much fighting.  The Austrians started to direct their attention to the upstream bridge.

Turn 8

By the end of turn 8 the French left had advanced to take on the Allied right and was regaining the Gross Garten, putting pressure on the Allied middle and trying to retake the hill.

The French right held the Austrian left and blocked the Allied advance on the upstream bridge.

Turn 9

At the end of turn 9 the French had won a decisive victory.  On the left, they were catching and destroying the retreating Allies.  Dresden is now empty of French defenders!

In the middle the battle for the hill continued as the Allies clung on.

On the right the Austrian left held on, but the troops trying to take the upstream bridge had broken and retreated with heavy losses.

Game end

In this game everything had gone well for the French.  The Austrians had low movement rolls and had not taken any redoubts or suburbs early on.  The French "roadblock" unit in the Gross Garten was destroyed, but contributed to the Allied right's slow progress.  

The French re-inforcements deployed quickly and the French right did really well, stopping the Austrian left and inflicting enough casualties early on to stop the Austrians and make them go defensive.

This secure right flank enabled the French to concentrate on the middle and left sectors, where French quality and quantity stopped the Austrians then drove them back.  The French were able to keep moving and ensure that reserves were fed into the weak-spots in the line.  The battle for the central hill was a real to and fro affair, but by the end of the game this position was in danger of being outflanked.

It was a really enjoyable game, my thanks to Mike as a worthy opponent.

Command & Control - Napoleonic Marshal's Uniforms

 I regularly play BBB in 6mm, in this ruleset Generals are either represented - because their presence could positively influence a battle - or they are not on the battlefield.  As my regular opponent Mike and I work through the excellent "Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles" scenarios, so I need to field an impressive number of Marshals.

In Napoleonic battles the need to be seen and instantly recognised was important, especially for Commanders.  Which is why you get nice bright uniforms and lots of gold bling (this was true of other periods of history as well).  I saw a comment on a Facebook forum asking for information about French Marshals and their ADCs (Aide de Camp - assistants).  So, i did a bit of searching and found that some ADCs were in quite striking uniforms.  Bright, distinct colours were especially important for ADCs, who were used to transmit messages.  Napoleon, when looking at the ADCs from his Marshals, needed to instantly know which ADC to give which set of orders to.

ADC uniforms went through some transitions.  In the Revolutionary period Generals recruited protection escorts, often from hussar regiments, which meant that they have a lot of brightly coloured uniforms.  In the early Empire ADC uniforms were regulated, but Marshals could choose their own colour scheme - so they did!  It all got out of hand, so there was a reversion to less elaborate uniforms again, followed by a slow creep back towards flamboyance.....

If you play BBB your General, with one or two ADCs and an escort, is often almost 1:1 model:real life soldier ratio, unlike your units, who may represent over a thousand actual soldiers with 6 - 8 figures.....

Anyway, on with the pictures:

Overview of Marshals painted & labelled to date:

Davout

As far as I can tell, Davout and his staff wore the standard uniform for Marshals & ADCs.  For the ADC this was dark blue breeches & coat, light blue facings, white brassard on left arm, Bicorne with rank plume for ADC, Dark blue shabraque with yellow trim.  The Davout model is the Baccus figure from the French Generals set - he's going bald and has got glasses.

Davout wears the standard Marshal Uniform - Blue Coat with lace collar and cuffs, Bicorne with gold lace and white feather trim, white breeches, black boots, gold waist sash and most had the red sash of the "Legion d'honneur" worn over the right shoulder.  Red horse furniture with gold trim.  Figures are both Baccus "French Generals"

Lannes

Lannes wears the standard Marshal uniform and his ADC wears the Hussar uniform - with a blue pelisse, black fur Colpack hat with red bag.  His ADC wears the plume appropriate to his rank.  Figures are "French Generals" for Lannes & "French Elite light cavalry" for the ADC. 

Mortier

Mortier goes further - his ADC is dressed as a Hussar with a yellow Pelisse, Green Shabraque trimmed yellow, yellow/green sabretache and black compact with yellow bag that hangs to the left.  For this model I filed off the existing bag and built up a new one using plastic card.  Figures are "French Generals" for Mortier & "French Elite light cavalry" for the ADC. 

Murat

Murat was one of Napoleon's most flamboyant Marshals.  He redesigned his uniform on several occasions and his favourite colour was pink.  So my model tries to capture this in 1/300 scale.  I added a head to the back of the horse furniture and paper legs and a tail to make a tiger skin.  I painted Murat in his white uniform with pink boots and lashings of bling.  His ADC has a uniform that is mainly pink with a white pelisse.  Figures are Baccus "French Generals" & "Austrian Hussars"

Napoleon

Finally, here is my Napoleon command stand.  I altered the hat to make it more like Napoleon's and his ADCs are two troopers from the Guard Chasseurs, which has long been my favourite unit.  Napoleon is from the "Austrian Generals" set and the Chasseurs are from the "French Elite Light Cavalry" set.

So, with a little bit of converting you can make some really colourful command stands that will, hopefully, add a splash of colour to your war-games table.  I regularly use other nationalities Generals for the French in order to get the look that I want.  I hope that this inspires and encourages you to have a go!

Figures Baccus 6mm, Games Workshop & Revel paints, Warbases circular bases.  Sources were the Funken books and Pinterest - especially the plates by Plumet-Rigo.

  

Aspern Essling, 21-22 May 1809, refought 6 September 2024

 The next BBB Napoleonic battle is Aspern Essling.  Here's how Mike and I got in early September refighting what was, in history, Napoleon's first defeat (according to the Austrians!).  Napoleon has captured Vienna, but the Austrian army is on the other side of the Danube and needs to be brought to battle.  Napoleon has built a bridge over the Danube and has a bridgehead on the far side.  He needs to bring the Austrians to battle and have a dramatic victory, one that would knock the Austrians out of the war.  He is dependent on this bridge, which the Austrians are trying to destroy.  So part of the game depends on how fas Napoleon can get his troops across the battle and into action.

Here is the map:

The French start with almost nothing on the table.  The Austrians have numerical superiority, at least to begin with, but as the troops are passive and with only a CinC and General of the Reserves to move things along, there is a good chance that they take too long to get to the action!

Set up and initial moves:

I've played this game before, so set up as near as I could and pushed into Aspern.  The Austrian infantry to the right on the road have failed to move...

Slow moving Austrian reserve Grenadiers - the orange blobs denote "not passive".

Move 2

On the Austrian right, the French rushed defenders to Aspern and the mighty white Juggernaut moved in.

In Essling, the French took up residence as the advancing Austrians just failed to launch a co-ordinated heavy attack, moving instead in piece-meal fashion.

On the left the biggest unit, Hohenloe's IV Corps, threatened but didn't actually move ar all.

Move 4

On the Austrian right the French were evicted from Aspern and things were going well for the Austrian juggernaut.

In the middle the Austrians closed on Essling, but still at a glacial pace and in an unco-ordinated fashion.

On the Austrian left IV Corps are still not in contact, having failed to move much more than 6 inches in 3 moves.....

A little later...

The Austrians hold on to Aspern, but the extreme right flank in the woods is getting attacked by the French re-inforcements.

In the centre the Austrians fail to close on Essling in force and the French shore up their position.

Move 5

The Austrian centre, troops advancing on Essling

A little later, going in piecemeal doesn't get the critical mass needed to take Essling.  

On the Austrian left, IV Corps proceeds to move at glacial pace...

On the right, the French left hook through the woods develops and the Austrians struggle to counter it.

Turn 6

On the right flank, the Austrians hold against the French left hook through the woods

In the centre the French lose Essling!  However, the Austrians fail to charge home against the mass of French.

On the left IV Corps make sure that they miss the battle by failing to move again.  Their troops are badly needed!

Turn 8

By turn 8 things were not going well for the Austrians.  The French retook Aspern and started to grind the Austrians around Essling down.  The Austrian centre could hang on, but were taking casualties faster than the French, whose reinforcements were getting across the bridge.

IV Corps finally got into action, but it was too late.

ENDEX

On Austrian turn 9 it was clear that it was time for the Austrians to retreat.  Despite having taken Aspen & Essling, neither had been held.  There were simply not enough troops with fight left in them to continue the battle.

Thoughts

Mark has written an excellent scenario which I had played before in Oxford and Leeds 1 & Leeds 2.  So, I thought that a Archduke Charles I knew what I was doing.  Well, even if i did, I didn't get the die rolls needed to close with the French when they were weak.  Mile's excellent left hook stretched my right wing and I gambled by leaving Aspern empty for a move, confident that I could get back.  Yup, that didn't work!  In the middle I couldn't get there fast enough with enough troops.  On the left....  well that assault never really took off at all.

Despite losing it was a great game, well done to Mike for getting a decisive win.  My troops all got an outing and it was nice to field the whole army with more to spare.  

On to Wagram!