WIP - Loot for basing.

Hi again,

I hope everyone is safe & well? Strange times indeed.

With time on our hands we are going to attack the basing mountain in readiness for our next game - Cloppenhammer in 10mm using all the toys.

I'm not normally given to "work in progress" posts but hey, what the hell!

This is Chris's task box. Eight regiments of cavalry, a mix of French & Austrian.

My task box. This looks like three regiments of French dragoons, Westphahian skirmishers, Austrian staff and four batteries of Old Guard artillery, two of foot & two of horse.    

Tony's mountain! Much of this is new; eight battalions of Westphalian infantry, Dutch Old Guard grenadiers, two battalions of Hungarians, French Guard lancers and three regiments of Austrian dragoons. The latter need their coats painting white as a mix up at the painters meant they are in blue coats - pretty but wrong!

There is more to do, notably three further regiments of Old Guard cavalry but these elude me for now!

We have about 25 limbers and teams too but not the bases!!! Frustrating but never mind. Maybe Warbases are still operating, I'll have to check.

The painters have finished 6 battalions of French legere, 4 battalions of Austrian grenadiers, a regiment of Austrian Cuirassiers & two  regiments of Saxon heavy cavalry which I am really excited about as they are my favourites in the Napoleonic period. When normal international postage resumes with some reliance these will turn up and get based too.

Hopefully the boys will send me pictures of their progress so you can see what they're up too.

If the weather holds I could do a photo shoot of my 28mm Peninsular allied collection which has been on hold for years. Much of it is dire need of finishing but might entertain.

Take care of yourselves & your loved ones, very best wishes,

Jeremy 

A game in the making - The Austrian army at Cloppenhammer.

The Austrian army at Cloppenhammer - 1809

In some respects writing the Austrian army orbat is more interesting than the French. There is a greater mix of unit types, troop quality and formation size too. It may not have the varying Nationalities of allies but one can still chuck Hungarians in their blue trousers and border troops too.
The job isn't made any easier as I'm not entirely sure of the exact composition of our collection - sadly it's in isolation therefore beyond my reach! So, there may be a few extra units of line to play with, if so these can be spread about the brigades, possibly beefing up the two Advance Guard brigades? 

This post is also littered with pictures from our Austrian 28mm collection so there's something to look at too. These aren't new shots as I can't get to the models at the moment, it's something anyway.

Austrian 12lb foot battery. Elite Miniatures painted by Peter Morbey (of Elite Minis).

Austrian heavy cavalry staff. Elite Miniatures painted by Tony Laughton.
The guy on the right is actually on a Front Rank horse.

The Austrian army looks like this...

C-in-C - A semi competent Royal, name TBC... 

1st Corps -

1st Division -

Advance Guard brigade - 1 x 48 Grenz, 1 x 32 Jaeger, 1 x 24 Hussars

1st Brigade - 4 x 48 line, 2 x 32 LDW, 6lb foot battery

2nd Division - 

2nd Brigade - 4 x 48 line, 1 x 32 LDW, 6lb foot battery

3rd Brigade - 4 x 48 line, 1 x 32 LDW,  6lb foot battery

Corps Assets -

Cavalry Brigade - 2 x 32 Chevau legere

Artillery - 1 x 12lb foot battery.

2nd Corps -

1st Division - 

Advance Guard Brigade - 1 x 48 Grenz, 2 x 32 Jaeger, 1 x 24 Hussars

1st Brigade - 4 x 28 line, 1 x 32 LDW, 1 x 6lb foot battery

2nd Division - 

2nd Brigade - 4 x 48 line, 1 x 32 LDW, 1 x 6lb foot battery  

3rd Brigade - 4 x 48 line, 1 x 32 LDW, 1 x 6lb foot battery  

Corps Assets - 

Cavalry Brigade - 2 x 32 Chevau legere

Artillery - 1 x 12lb foot battery.

Army Reserve - 

Infantry Division -

Grenadier brigade - 5 x 36 Grenadiers

Grenadier brigade - 5 x 36 Grenadiers

Heavy Cavalry Division -

Heavy cavalry brigade - 3 x 32 Cuirassiers

Heavy cavalry brigade - 3 x 32 Cuirassiers

Cavalry Division -

Light cavalry brigade - 2 x 32 Uhlans, 1 x 32 Hussars

Cavalry brigade - 3 x 32 Dragoons

Assets - 4 x 6lb foot batteries

Once again a fairly tasty army with plenty of variety and hitting power. The big line battalions are very resilient and can dish out some pain. The Advance Guard formations add a bit of flavour and flexibility to each Corps with local cavalry presence.

Note: that Corps 1 & 2 each have a 12lb foot battery as an asset to be used as the General sees fit. This more than makes up for the Advance Guard not having attached artillery, at this stage anyway.

The army reserve is not on par with the Old Guard but still a serious asset and well resourced. 

Austrian jaeger moving through broken ground.
Wargames Foundry models painted in China via ebay. 

Austrian jaeger take pot shots at Frenchies from cover.

Below - Austrian infantry march to the front through countryside in spring... pretty!

Landwehr battalion on the march. Victrix models painted by Barry Hill.
GMB flags.

A beefy 48 strong German line battalion in helmets moves up.
Victrix again, Barry Hill's painting skills and GMB flag as usual.
Snapdragon hedgerow.

The Austrian army begins to deploy for battle - Grim times ahead.

I have a feeling it's my turn to play the Austrians next and I think I am running them solo against Chris & Tony. That means this army is probably what I'll be using. This will require me to wear four hats, one as C-in-C and two as Corps commanders, one as Reserve comander - therein we begin to see the fog of war and lack of effective command structure in comparison to the French Emperor's Head Quarters system.  

I am the problem here!   

Austrian & Hungarian grenadiers in reserve, there are ten battalions of these in the 10mm Austrian army.
Victrix with possibly some Front Rank command figures.
Once again painting by Barry Hill, flags GMB. 

Austrian Uhlans seek out a soft & juicy target.
The lead regiment is Elite Miniatures the rearmost is Wargames Foundry, both by Tony Laughton.

Hungarian Grenz in two lines - each 48 strong. Elite minis painted by Blue Turkey tarted up by me! 

I love this vignette! Various manufacturers; Front Rank enthusiast on rearing horse; Elite minis Grenzers; Warlord falling French officer; "Les monsieurs morte" are Perry plastics. Based by me & Chris - Teamwork man! 

Austrian battalions trudging through a deserted town to a date with destiny at Cloppenhammer - Epic stuff indeed!

Next I need to ponder how these two armies will approach each other on my new spangly map. We may be able to do this in isolation if I'm especially inventive - who knows?

While I ponder I'm basing up some French 10mm units which I will reveal in a subsequent post - Yay shiny new toys for the meat grinder...

Stay safe out there, very best wishes,

Jeremy 

A game in the making - The French Army at Cloppenhammer.

The French army at Cloppenhammer - Austria 1809.

Most of our Napoleonic games see the opposing generals sorting the available models into useful formations as we set up and then these are recorded onto a roster - it works well enough and has served us well so far.

However, I don't find this wholly satisfactory. I reflected on this in the concluding paragraphs of the Prestento/Perrini batrep last year. Our favoured General d'Armee rules don't cater for a Divisional structure in game mechanics although Corps games are covered, this was also covered in the same article. Writing a structured orbat will hopefully go some way to scratching that itch for me.     

The Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte & entourage from my collection.
These are 28mm Perry models painted by Tony Laughton who is largely a "fictitious" Marauder these days.
We miss you old chum.

Here's what I am going with for the French army using all 10mm models available.

Commander in Chief - Napoleon Bonaparte.

I Corps -

Division 1
French brigade - 1 x 36 legere, 4 x 36 line, 12 skirmishers.
French brigade - 1 x 36 legere, 4 x 36 line, 12 skirmishers.
French brigade - 1 x 36 legere, 4 x 36 line, 12 skirmishers.
Divisional artillery - 3 foot batteries.

Division 2
Polish brigade - 4 x 36 line, 8 skirmishers.
Polish brigade - 4 x 36 line, 8 skirmishers.
Polish cavalry brigade - 2 x 24 Uhlans.
Divisional artillery - 1 Polish foot battery.

Corps Assets - Light cavalry brigade - 2 x 24 French Hussars.

II Corps -

Division 1
French brigade - 1 x 36 legere, 4 x 36 line, 12 skirmishers.
French brigade - 1 x 36 legere, 4 x 36 line, 12 skirmishers.
Wurtemburg brigade - 5 x 32 line, 10 skirmishers.
Divisional artillery - 1 Wurtemburg foot battery, 2 French foot batteries.

Division 2
Westphalian brigade - 4 x 36 line, 8 skirmishers.
Westphalian brigade - 4 x 36 line, 8 skirmishers.
Light cavalry brigade - 2 x 24 hussars.
Divisional artillery - 2 Westphalian foot batteries.

Corps Assets - Light cavalry brigade - 3 x 24 French Chasseurs.

Heavy cavalry Corps -
French brigade - 2 x 32 cuirassiers, 1 x 32 carabiniers.
French brigade - 3 x 32 dragoons.
Allied brigade - 2 x 32 Saxon Cuirassiers, 1 x 32 Polish Cuirassiers.

Corps assets - 3 x horse batteries.

Old Guard Corps -
Old Guard infantry brigade - 2 x 40 Grenadiers a pied, 2 x 40 Chasseurs a pied, 1 x 40 Dutch Guard.
Old Guard cavalry brigade - 1 x 32 Grenadiers a cheval, 1 x 32 Dutch lancers.
Old Guard cavalry brigade - 1 x 32 chasseurs a cheval, 1 x 32 Polish lancers.
Old Guard artillery - 2 x 12lb foot batteries, 2 x horse batteries.

That's what the French get to play with. This includes everything we have including some which is still to be based and some models still with Barry's painters (no pressure mate ;).

French & their Allies storm a village at bayonet point.

French heavy cavalry brigade - Two regiments of dragoons & a horse battery. 

Polish foot battery opens up on approaching Austrians.

The idea is that each player has a Corps and one of the reserve corps when released by Napoleon. (Obviously if it's just one player he can do as he damn well wishes!)

The structure, in game terms, looks about right. Taking either Corps I or II for a spin on the table top will give anyone lots of power & some interesting options for attack or defense. Add in either reserve Corps & the work load doubles up along with the pressure - that tests the general and that's when mistakes are made and that is where battles are won or lost; which is why we play.

This is worth saying again as it is so important to our games...

"the work load doubles up along with the pressure - that tests the general and that's when mistakes are made and that's where battles are won or lost; which is why we play." 

It's a beautiful thing.   

Chasseurs de Corse.

Westphalians & Italian grenadiers.

Polish infantry from Murawski painted by Barry Hill - GMB flag.

That's your lot for today, tomorrow I'll do the Austrians who are a very different proposition.

I would appreciate any feedback or input on this project, rewrite the orbat if you fancy it.
Stay well out there, very best wishes,

Jeremy 



 

The Battle of Cloppenhammer - A game in the making.

With a bundle of time on my hands I have begun planning our next big Napoleonic bash. I rather saw this coming so the last time we three Marauders met I ran out a brief questionnaire about what the boys wanted from a big game. The expectations of spending five weeks or more on a single gaming experience sets high expectations and deserves to be planned in more depth than I can usually devote to scenario writing.

This post & the following posts will cover, in no particular order, my thought process in creating a scenario and when some semblance of normality returns I'll report on the game as it unfolds.

Step 1.  - Create a map.

Note that this is my Step 1 - where I started, you may well have a better point of germination!
Youtube is a brilliant resource for we wargamers. I found a magical fountain of fantasy map creation for D&D players primarily, many of these are tutorials on drawing them, I tried and was sadly disappointed with my efforts! Digging further I found a review of various FREE map making tools. Now, I am a 52 year old luddite so this was a bit scary. Enter my 20 year old daughter who is a gifted illustrator - with her help I managed to create to map below in about 45 minutes. Check it out by searching for Inkarnate free maps making etc. (Links never work here!).

The area of operations around Cloppenhammer.

We'll use this map to jockey for position with various French & Austrian Corps to bring about a battle and battlefield. My chums are busy coming up with nearly believable names for the villages, I made up the names of the four towns & river - something I am strangely fond of! This represents a fictional area of campaign in Austria 1809.

I'll expand on the use of this map nearer the time we use it. Next up I'll give you a run down of the two armies in some detail with a rationale where I have one.   

I also plan to get some uncharacteristic WIP posts up of the growing 10mm collection & any other semi random Napoleonic gubbins.

Any questions just ask. Very best wishes to you all, stay safe,

Jeremy