Monday 25 March 2019

Game 73 : Wagram - Large scale!

This game was the Battle of Wagram 1809. It was played at a local hotel in Scarborough where an enormous game is played once a year, over a week. This battle we managed to play twice, a French victory and then turned the game around, more like players switching sides. The idea here is not to go over the actual battle in detail but to use the pics to demonstrate what can be done with 10mm and to also demonstrate how "realistic" it looks with the large formations.


The above pic shows French Reserves deployed at the start of the game. To make the look impressive, all troops are deployed on table. It also saves a lot of time and fuss trying to find troops on trays if hidden movement is used.


This is an even longer shot of the rear table with French Reserves. Table length is 33.5 feet.


The initial Austrian assault on Anderklaa which is on the Austrian right flank. The village will fall to the Austrian Grenadiers, but the whole area will never get cleared of French. As the battle develops the French will attempt to retake the village.


This shows Oudinot's initial advance against Baumersdorf in the centre of the Austrian deployment. After protracted fighting, the area would come under French dominion. But having got the village is one thing, crossing the stream successfully is another question; and battle!


The Austrian Avant Garde, on the Austrian left, launched a surprise attack against the French in the form of Davout and his crack Corps. It would take a long time for the French to stabilise the position and then beat of the Austrian attack.


A close up of the Austrian Hussars in the Avant Garde pushing forward.


An aerial view of the attack on Baumersdorf seen from the Austrian side at the bottom.


This is the Austrian Grenadier assault on Anderklaa. Just a few men committed to the assault!!
The above is a taster of the battle. My intention is to fully describe the battle in another Companion book, hopefully later this year. As always, anyone is welcome to attend the games as are also welcome to try a game at the Situation room. 
If you like beer, curry, large armies, meaningless discussion and a lot of wargames, all encompassed in a convivial setting with good hospitality, then why not pop in and have a look.

The next game will be early Napoleonics, the Battle of Rivoli.


9 comments:

  1. This looks immense and immensely fun!
    We have just spanked the first few grand on 10mm's - basing commences tonight as the painters have delivered several thousand now. Many more to come, you have a lot to answer for Sir!
    I didn't know your place was open to peekers, that sounds tempting!
    Best wishes,
    Jeremy

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    1. Tell me more about your project and which rules (please don't say Black powder). Which figure manufacturer? (if Pendraken it would be useful to know)As for visiting, yes the door is always open and the same goes for actually playing (makes sense to plan in advance for obvious reasons).

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    2. Hi again,
      we are building matching 10mm armies initially for 1809; French & Austrian to knock about on the Danube & in Italy. Most of the foot are Magister Militum, the mounted mostly Old Glory - all are being painted by Barry Hill in the Philippines - to a frankly very high standard - pricing as per your guidelines. We have about 70 battalions, 25 cavalry regiments and supporting batteries with more on the way. Terrain is coming together nicely. We play 1:20 on a 14'6 x 14' table. We used 28mm for years but outgrew the space so went down a scale for big games. Rules in use are Dave Brown's General d'Armee which give a very pleasing period feel & are well supported by the author who we know well from GdA bashes at WHC.
      As we have discussed before I have a large outbuilding 60 x 20 internally BUT my wife & I fall out over holiday lets v games/hobby space so only time will tell...
      Best wishes,
      Jeremy

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  2. Beautiful stuff, as always! /Mattias

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  3. Thanks Mattias. If you ever get over here, you're welcome to call in.

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  4. Looks absolutely brilliant Gerry. The scale is incredible!

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  5. Thanks Carlo. Now working on the Peninsular big time and 1815. The main difference are the Brits and Allies are based in 2 rank lines, not 3 as in the above. The initial games have shown that it works nearly exactly as wanted/wished. I hope to have all the figures painted and ready this year for the forthcoming campaigns..

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