Game 60 : Dreden 1813

 

This was the Battle of Dresden, 1813. It took place in a local hotel as this was the "annual" "supagame"that I organise. There were 23 players and the battle lasted for a week. To say we used a lot of figures would be an understatement! I thought I would introduce this battle with some pics of the logistics involved in setting up the game. The terrain takes a solid day to set up and the figures take a full morning to deploy on table.



 

Above shows the tables being set up. They are trestle tables supplied by a local company. The battlefield had three main tables, each 6' by 32.5'. There was a fourth, smaller add on, 6' by 10' in size.

This shows the transport system for the figures. They are all made by my neighbour, who is considerably skilled and resourceful.

The tables are covered with a carpet in a single piece. The carpet is stapled onto the tables. The result is a uniform look and an extremely stable playing surface, as the tables, quite wobbly individually, are like solid 32.5' long solid tables.

I've adopted the same approach for the battle pictures. Some pics to wet the appetite and minimal explanation as the "each pic speaks a thousand words".
The battle itself was after the Armistice in 1813. Dresden was a major supply depot and centre of ops for the French and the Allies were keen to capture it after Austria had entered the campaign. In short the Allies blew it. They arrived in front of the city, dithered when it was weak and then Napoleon turned up with the main army.

The pic above shows the depth of the battlefield. We had plenty of space for the gamers but did run into the inevitable wargaming problem when fighting over the table gaps.

An Austrian Corps advancing in the centre. It gives a feel of the "mass effect" that is generated in this scale.

The above is the Grossgarten, it is a pivotal feature in the Allied line and was taken by the French to split the Allied forces in two. It is enormous!!

This is included simply to show the most beautiful woman in the world in the background. Anne, my wife, makes all these games possible. Without her enthusiasm, to add to mine, and a lot of time helping organise and given she has no interest in playing, I certainly believe I am the luckiest guy in the world. Enough embarrassment for now!!!!

This pic shows the battlefield depth. Nothing but troops visible as you go into the distance. My aim doing the blog this way is to demonstrate what can be done in this smaller scale, using larger units. These large battles will hopefully find themselves in print and published and I hope to be able to make this happen some time next year.

Next up it is back to the Situation room and a Napoleonic battle designed by one of the gamers who regularly attends. It is called "Bratislava" and is based on a scenario where the Austerlitz did not happen as the Allies were not duped into attacking and that the battle occurs later on that winter.

After Bratislava it is likely to be the first Peninsular playtest to see how the games play with British troops as they are organised as companies in two ranks. The British troops themselves will arrive later this year, so I will Hungarians pretending! Why Hungarians, because when deployed in line they will be the same length as a standard British btn. For anyone keen to understand the relevance, Hungarians are 180 men based in 6 companies, each one a 3 rank line. This gives a frontage of 60 men. For guidance, standard French are 36 man frontage. Brit btns will be 120 men in 10 companies, based in 2 rank lines. So the frontage is 60.

Its still all go in the eight year of this project!!! Enjoy.