Sunday, August 23, 2015

3mm Pico Armor French Heavy Cavalry Division

Putting the finishing touches on my French Heavy Cavalry Division, then on to the British Light Division for the Peninsula.

One Step closer.  Darn, forgot to paint Nansouty.  I'll have to start that tomorrow.



Heavy Cavalry Division - Cuirassiers and Carabiniers
The General takes the field

Saturday, August 22, 2015

"Battle of the Bogey Inn" - Corps In Conflict, 3mm Pico Armor Napoleonics, Crisis at Aderklaa (Wagram) July 6, 1809

Sand volleyball tournaments gave us a chance to meet at the Bogey Inn and use the back patio to shake the bugs out of the Corps In Conflict rules.  Weapons of choice were 3mm Pico Armor Napoleonics. We played the scenario - Crisis at Aderklaa (Wagram) July 6, 1809, which features the action around the French left at Wagram between the Austrian 1st Corps and elements of Massena’s Corps.

The game begins with the Austrians holding the heights around the village of Aderklaa and the French receiving direct orders from the Emperor to take it.



We played this scenario several times.  My first attempt was a full scale frontal assault on the village proper which ground to a halt eventually after my troops were exhausted.




The second attempt, I made a pinning attack on the left and tried to take the heights from the right flank.  I still didn't have enough reserves to pull this off.  Interestingly the small woods in the left center of the heights was the scene of the bloodiest fighting in every scenario.



Mark finally took the French and did a real Patton esque flanking movement with all the cavalry at his disposal and was able to penetrate the Austrian perimeter on the heights.

All in all the rules really had the feel of a Napoleonic battle.  Nothing broke quickly but got ground down and any assault needed fed with fresh troops to succeed.  The use of combined arms was key. Artillery needs to be engaged at the front to soften up areas for assaults.  We decided to use unit identification tags that included all you needed for calculating combat results.  This made the game really move quickly.  



Added a Guinness to give you an idea of scale.


Stay tuned for more as the French and Austrians continue their struggle.  Lots more stuff on the painting table.