Vom Kriege Napoleonic Tabletop Wargaming

This is a fictional battle using the Scharnhorst Campaign system to generate the battle. The battle is set in Italy during 1809 between France and Austria. The tabletop rules used are a modified regimental version of Age of Eagles .  The result of the preliminary Scharnhorst campaign game is shown below:

 An after action report on the Battle of Maloyaroslavets 1812 using Age of Eagles rules and this  scenario . The French must expand the bridgehead by taking the heights of Maloyaroslavets. The Russians must hold the line of the Lutza River until Kutuzov can arrive with the main army. The setup at the start of the game with the French at the top and Guilleminot's Division just across the Lutza river ready to enter Maloyaroslavets. The Russians (nearest) start with Dokhturov's two infantry divisions.

 An after action report on the Battle of Mincio River 1814 using Age of Eagles rules and this  scenario . The French must trap and destroy the Austrian army along the banks of the Mincio River while the Austrians are to locate and engage the French rearguard and keep control of all roads leading east to ensure lines of communication are safe. Table setup with the Austrians in a central position and the main French force to the right of the photo and a minor force at the bottom left.

This battle is based on the 'Holding Action' scenario from 'Programmed Wargame Scenarios' by C.S Grant. The battle is set in 1812 with the Russians tasked with delaying the advancing, and so far victorious French forces. The Russians have chosen to fight a holding action using a hilly area to form the basis of the delaying action. The French on the other hand is in the full flush of victory and is pressing down the major route brushing all opposition aside in an endeavour to strike at the heart of the Russian army and country before they have an opportunity to rally and prepare themselves. The Russian setup with a Division on each hill and the central town garrisoned. Jagers occupy the woods north of the stream. The heavy cavalry form the reserve. The French are expected to arrive along the road from the north-west. I'm using the programmed responses for both sides from the 'Programmed Wargame Scenarios' book and modified  Age of Eagles rules . The Russians ...

 An after action report on the Battle of Gordeczna 1812 using Age of Eagles rules and this scenario . The Austrians mut drive Tormassov's Russian army from the field. Take care to minimize any losses to the Austrian corps. The Russians must conduct an orderly rear-guard action. Inflict maximum casualties while trading space for time. Tormassov's Russians are setup on the high ground behind the river. Gorodenzca is at bottom right and Paddubno at middle right. There are three crossings of the river over which the Austrian/Saxon army will attack.

 An Age of Eagles battle using the Ostrolenka 1807 scenario . I've also used the optional features of the scenario. The game setup with the French in control of Ostrolenka and the Russians advancing  behind the sand hills. The Russians start the scenario with a superiority in cavalry and artillery but French reinforcements are on the way.

Battle report for another Programmed Wargame Scenarios battle using the Broken Ground scenario and modified Age of Eagles rules . The map is made up of the following rolled sections.

 This is my first solo battle using Scenario 1 - Hill Line Defence from Programmed Wargame Scenarios (Charles S. Grant). I am also using a scaled down version of Age of Eagles where 1"=60 yards and each infantry stand=180 men. Terrain Setup Rolling for the terrain setup gave the following left, centre and right sections. The table setup is shown above with the hill line at the top half of the table.

Age of Eagles battle report for the Battle of Caldiero 1805 using AoE scenario . The French under Massena are deployed to the right of the photo while the Austrians under Charles have the township of Caldiero in the centre and occupy the Colognola heights to the right of the town.

Age of Eagles battle report using the following AoE Scenario file for the Battle of Vyazma 1812 . Setup for the game above with Eugene's French column at the top of photo marching into Vyazma, and Russian cavalry blocking the road at bottom of photo in preparation for Davout's Corps. 

Age of Eagles Battle report using the following AoE Scenario file for the Battle of Sacile 1809 .  Start of game with the Austrians holding Porcia (Middle-top) and the French advancing from Tamia (bottom left).

During the retreat from Moscow, Victor was ordered to take the bridges over the Lukomlia River to ensure safe passage for the main French army to the south. Wittgenstein must hold the bridges and capture Smoliani to deny the French a line of march to the south (Senno). Note: I didn't have enough Russian or French units for this scenario and have substituted the Opolchenie with Austrian figures. I'm also using Bavarians to cover the Berg and Baden brigades.

Below is the Austrian setup for the Battle of Elchingen . The Austrian commander Riesch must attempt to hold the two villages and the Abbey. The Austrian 2nd Division deploys with its right flank on the village of Ober-Elchingen and the rest of the Division defending the ridge joining the two villages. A grenadier battalion defends the Abbey. The Austrian 1st Division will arrive to provide support some time after turn 3.

Setup for a random battle between French and Austrian forces. The objective is the town in the centre of the battlefield. The Austrians (bottom of photo) have a start position closer to the centre, while the French (top of photo) will have to advance into a deployed position. The better defensive position for the Austrians is offset by the stronger French leadership, the Guard reserve and horse artillery attached to the Cavalry Divisions. The battlefield is criss-crossed by fordable rivers with 4 bridges providing crossings for artillery. 

Archduke John's Austrian forces joined with the Hungarian Insurrection forces (militia) at Raab. He intended to cross to the north bank of the Danube and move northwest through Bratislava (Pressburg) to unite with the main army, which was commanded by his brother Archduke Charles, Generalissimo of the Austrian armies. Napoleon ordered Eugène to pursue and destroy John's army. The Franco-Italian troops caught up with the Austrians in mid-June and forced John to give battle. Though John's 35,000-man army was only a little less numerous than Eugène's 40,000 soldiers, the quality of his soldiers was markedly inferior. Many thousands of the Habsburg troops were poorly trained Austrian landwehr (19,000 men) and Hungarian insurrection militia (16,000 men). The archduke knew this and planned to fight a defensive battle in a strong position.

This is my first try-out for the new Austrian army on the new wargame mat. I've selected the Battle of Caldiero scenario . On receiving word of Napoleon's victory at Ulm, Massena ordered an immediate offensive, despite being outnumbered.   Archduke Charles planned to withdraw to Austrian soil, but Massena's crossing of the Adige forced the Charles to check the French advance, offering his army time and space to withdraw safely. Thus, the two sides met in the thick fog of October 30, spread out across a wide, hilly front. Both Massena and Charles had deployed considerable forces on the far bank of the Adige River with the hope of turning their opponent's flank. Their main armies met along main Verona road passing through the town of Caldiero.

I've nearly finished painting up around 400 x 15mm Warrior Miniature Austrians over this COVID period. Hussars, cuirassiers and generals will round out the complete army. The photos are taken on a new printed fleece wargame mat with a subtle 70mm hex grid.

I'd just finished priming some 15mm Warrior Miniature Austrian Uhlans, and realised that the figures would look much better with the lance pennants trailing behind the figure. The pennant is cast in line with the figure to suit the limitations of the cast. I wondered what would happen if I twisted the pennant and lance 90 degrees. I had been reluctant to do this as I thought the lance would invariably break. Well, I took a pair of pliers and slowly twisted one pennant. The lead appeared to twist nicely and at 90 degrees still appeared to be fairly solid. I'm sure you can't do this more than once but I'm very happy with the outcome. Here is a photo of three figures. The one on the let is the casting as it comes. The other two have the pennant twisted at 90 degrees. You can even see the casting line on the lance and how it has uniformly twisted.

Just finished painting 9 batteries of Napoleonic Austrian artillery. These are 15mm Warrior Miniatures. I again used a black undercoat technique on both the figures and the guns. It certainly sped the painting up and I love how forgiving it is as you don't have to paint right to the edges. The Warrior Miniature figures don't have the nicely raised features of Essex so I found the white straps a bit of a challenge. Lots of tidying up had to be done to get to something satisfactory for the tabletop.

Just finished painting 48 Austrian Jagers in a single week. A record time (for me). Working from home has allowed me to paint while I'm listening in to Skype meetings! Couldn't do that in the office. These are 15mm Warrior Miniatures.