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PRATZEN ... DRATZEN! A Napoleonic Game Report.
Fusilier Brian Smaller relates the progress of a huge 'Command Piquet' game using 28mm figures. The dramatic pictures were taken by Fusilier Paul Crouch.
Fusilier Greg Simmonds debuted several bases of Russian
generals in this game. These are beautifully painted mini-dioramas, featuring
various Front Rank and Foundry figures, many of them heavily converted.
Background
The opportunity to play a Napoleonic war game on a 12’ by 6' table
with over a thousand painted figures doesn’t come along every day,
so when Fusilier Greg Simmonds suggested such a game we jumped at the
chance. The players who made it to the battle were Fusiliers Greg Simmonds,
Peter Haldezos, Shane Saunders and of course, myself. The game was played
in Greg’s lounge room, on a table suitably stabilized with six trestles.
Given the weight of metal I think Greg’s field engineering was commendable.
The Scenario
The table was a scaled down section of the field of Austerlitz with, from
the French perspective, a village on the right flank, a plateau in the
centre and large expanses of open fields on the left. As this battle was
a small part of a larger affair, the armies were deployed very close -
in some cases infantry regiments were already in long musket range of
the enemy.
Approximate positions an hour after hostilities commenced.
Note that what appears to be an odd mixed cavalry/infantry formation in
the right foreground is actually two cavalry units in the process of passing
through the lines of an infantry battalion.
The Armies
The Allied army consisted of Greg’s Russians and Peter’s Austrians
and Prussians. The French army consisted of everything I had painted,
so was a bit of a grab bag of units that included two Italian, two Swiss
and a Bavarian battalion. It was supported by a strong relief force of
Fusilier-General Roly’s French, but the story of that command will
be told later in this article.
Unfortunately, all our armies are uniformed for the later Napoleonic Wars, but we did not let that get in the way. Not only were they wearing these later uniforms, but we also rated them for the later Napoleonic Wars. We were therefore using 1813 armies to fight the Austerlitz situation.
Russian general staff direct their formidable infantry
forces forward. Greg's Russians are Foundry and Front Rank figures, many
with head-swaps and changed poses.
The Rules
The rules were Command Piquet which have already been reviewed
on this site. Both Shane and I had played Piquet once or twice
before, but never this variant. Greg and Peter managed to keep us on the
straight and narrow.
The Game
The battle started with an immediate Austrian attack on the small village
that anchored the French right flank. This position of honour was held
by a crack brigade of Swiss with a battalion of Bavarians and a small
Bavarian battery in support. Their mission was to hold until reinforcements
arrived. For the entire duration of the battle the Austrians tried to
break into the village and to cut it off from the French centre but were
repeatedly repulsed.
The Prussians and Austrians march forward, supported
by artillery. These are Peter's Calpe and Front Rank figures with GMB
Design flags.
Austrian infantry attack the village.
Austrian artillery bombards the defenders of the village
with close range artillery fire. More of Peter's Front Rank figures.
In the centre, both sides battled for possession of the high plateau. Massed Russian infantry attacked the French centre but were beaten off by the 12-pounders of the Imperial Guard and repeated charges by the Grenadiers-a-Cheval and Gendarmerie d’Elite. Meanwhile, the French reserves climbed the plateau and took possession of the flat ground overlooking the enemy centre.
Russian infantry advance to the attack. These are some
of Greg's Foundry figures, whilst the flags are by GMB Design.
Grenadiers-a-Cheval and Gendarmerie d’Elite throw
back the Russian advance in the centre.
Italian infantry march forward to consolidate the gains
in the centre. These are Brian's figures, which consist of a mixture of
makes, including Connoisseur, Front Rank and Hotspur.
French reserve divisions advance. Again, these figures
show the wonderful mixture of manufacturers in Brian's French army.
On the left, the French attacked with great élan but despite some initial success with their dragoons and lancers, were stalled when their cavalry brigades were repulsed by concentrated Russian artillery fire and Austrian cavalry charges.
French Lancers charge to force back advancing Russian
infantry.
But Russian artillery and Austrian cavalry are ready
to repulse the French cavalry.
On the extreme left flank only the heroic actions of the 1st Battalion
of 15th Legere managed to salvage what was becoming a serious problem
for the French. A brigade of Austrian Dragoons and Hussars had broken
the French dragoons and sent them scuttling backwards, but the feisty
15th Leger drove off the Austrian cavalry brigade with several well aimed
volleys.
Austrian cavalry ready themselves to charge the French
dragoons, before being themselves being driven off by the fire of a French
light infantry battalion. Front Rank figures.
Late in the day the battle was going well for the French, or so it seemed.
Their line was unbroken and they had possession of the high ground. The
village was still in their hands and the serious position on the left
flank had been stabilised. However, the repeated attacks had degraded
the fighting capability of almost all brigades and looking across the
field of battle the French commanders could see fresh divisions of uncommitted
Russian troops and a huge cavalry reserve that had not yet entered the
fray.
The Russian cavalry reserve awaits orders to advance.
The long hoped for French reserves had taken a wrong turn and in a prelude to the terrible events of 1815, had not marched to the sounds of the guns.
Conclusion
At the time we called a halt, I believe that nothing short of a miracle
would have saved the French army. While most of the French army was intact,
it had fought itself to a standstill. It is almost certain that one more
push by the Allies would have seen the right flank collapse. If only the
reserves had arrived…...
We played about five or so hours at a fairly leisurely pace. I can only talk for myself of course, but I quite like the Command Piquet rules in that they give a fun game with a lot of surprises. What I don't like about them is the all-or-nothing nature of combat. Shooting/Melee either does huge damage or virtually none. Still, you take what you can get, aye?
Fusilers Shane Saunders and Brian Smaller (French),
Greg Simmonds and Peter Haldezos (Allied) holding a mascot in between
them. Not in this photo are Fusiliers Paul Crouch (who took these superb
pictures), and Roly Hermans (who failed to bring his French reinforcements
to the game, but who designed this web-page).
PS: For the eagle-eyes, here's a challenge - in one of the above photos, can you find the Seven Years War figure that had to be pressed into service for our game?!
