Saturday, March 3, 2012

General de Brigade Game: Eckmuhl, 1809

Today I hosted a miniatures game for the first time since June. In fact, I have not played a miniatures game since October! We fought though the first scenario from the first General de Brigade scenario book, Ste. Hiliare's attack at Eckmuhl.

Initial Deployment

Davout ordered the three French brigades of Ste. Hiliare's division (bottom of picture) to capture these two Austrian held villages and the wooded ridge beyond.


Flank Guard

An elite battalion of grenadiers, dug in on a hill, protected the Austrian right.


Blue Moon Austrians

This battle would be the baptism of fire for my new Blue Moon Austrians. This battalion fought decently.


Austrian Commanders

Jon commanded the Austrian right. My father, John, commanded the Austrian left. He had not played a miniatures game before and wanted to see what all of the buzz was about. I commanded a brigade on the French left. Kevin took overall command of the French and commanded two brigades on the right. We ended up splitting command of the French battery.


French Attack Begins

I moved my four battalions as quickly as I could to assault the Austrian right. Each time I attacked, the Austrians beat me back. I went in five times before finally securing a toehold in the village. In the process I took over 25% casualties. This was bloody work!


Attack on the Austrian Left

Kevin used his two brigades to assault the other Austrian village. He had miserable luck at the beginning, rolling snake eyes four times! Kevin did succeed in wiping out an Austrian battery, but he never got into the village. The elite 10th Legere and 57th Ligne took heavy casualties and never pushed the Austrians back.


Austrian Second Line

As pressure increased on the villages, Jon and John broke out their troops which had been hidden in the woods, four huge battalions of fresh infantry and a strong cavalry regiment.


Austrian Cavalry Charge

Jon used his cavalry to charge my French brigade, wiping out a French battalion that they caught in line. Unfortunately, the cavalry got caught between two French battalions, failed a morale roll, and were wiped out.


End Game

Here were the troop positions at the end of turn 15. With only five more turns to go, it was apparent that neither side would achieve their objectives. The French held one village and were poised to seize the ridge line on the Austrian right. The Austrians held one village and had too much strength on the ridge to be moved completely off. Two Austrian brigades were entirely destroyed, but the French lost more troops overall. We called the game a draw.

I was very rusty with the rules. The last time I played them was a year and a half ago, and the last time before that was probably five years previously. I enjoy these rules a lot, but there are a lot of little things to remember. With more experience, I am sure they will move more smoothly. As it was, we played the game to a conclusion in four and a half hours.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like great fun.
    I was especially interested to read it as I'm starting to collect my next army: Austrians (the new 28mm Perry line), and was dragging all my 1809 books out earlier today.
    Looked over my Wagram scenario to make sure that I'll order the correct units for both sides.

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  2. By the way, Scott, LOVE the Blue Moon 18mm Austrians. They look great, and the paint jobs are amazing. Most wargamers would be thrilled to have their 28mm figures look as good.

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  3. Great looking troops and battle and how lucky were you that you got to play with your dad! This makes me want to get into the gunpower era.

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  4. Scott, how couldn't you tell us how Dad took his first wargame?! Was he impressed I hope?

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  5. My dad loved the game. I think we can recruit him into the group.

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  6. Interesting you are in my oid neck of the woods I played my first CLS Napoleonics game with friends at The University of Idaho in Mosco Idaho. One of my gaming buddies lives in St Maries and has over 13,000 figures. Its great to see Napoleonic gamers in North Idaho. I have not been back in years but Idaho has always been a special place in my heart. If you can get your Dad playing then that makes it really special.
    My blog is volleyfirewargames.
    Cheers
    David

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  7. David, I think I have met that guy from St. Maries. When were you at UofI? I was there from 96-99.

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