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Napoleonic French vs. British in action

Posted on Juni 2, 2012 by SirTobi

Finally! After over a year working on both the British and the French armies for Lasalle now these troops have finally been inaugurated (together with the new gaming mat, that also had yet to see serious action). Today my good friend Bodo came over from Stuttgart, and we spent a very anjoyable afternoon battling for the “crossroads” – the Lasalle scenario that we had chosen by throwing a dice.

As you can see from the picture above, the landscape was a road connecting the long edges of our 1,5m * 2,5m table and two slightly offset roads running from it to both short edges. Where the roads met, four build-up-areas formed a small village. Along one of the roads was a corn field (at the right side of the picture) counting as rough ground, and just outside the picture a little wood. The ploughed fields are just for decoration and were treated as even ground.

The French (played by Bodo) had deployed first and thus had the first move. They started just with their core army, the heavy cavlary was not yet present – and since the cavalry commander sincerily lacked vigor there was a good chance they would not leave their breakfast for some time to come. Consequently, for the French it seemed a wise decision to fortify their position and go for the village.

The British (played by me) were rather more numerous, having both their core army and a strong support of black Brunswickers (at the top of the picture, positioned on the British left).

Thus they decided to attack while the French were waiting for reinforcements, sending six batallions of infantry to the village on the British right and the Brunswickers forward.

After an at first inconclusive artillery duell fought in the centre the French battery was forced to limber, motivating the Brunswickers to attack the French right flank. Meanwhile, in the village a desperate run for the buildings had began, with four French and six British batallions racing for the best starting positions for the coming street-fight.

The limbered French artillery made the best of their forced mobility and swept over the battlefield to recieve the Brunswick attack with a warm wellcome. It was only due to some rather misfortunate dice rolls (probably wet pouder…) that the Brunswick cavalry still had the time to form up…

..and engage (sorry for the blurred picture, my hand was trembling because of the shaking ground, beaten by the thundering hooves of the ferocious Brunswick horses).

The cavalry was recieved by a fierce cannonade that crippled the unit, rendering it useless for the rest of the game. But it had reached its goal, riding over the cannons and sending the French battery to oblivion.

Meanwhile in the village…

…the battalions had come to grips – and rather tight ones at that.

While the first fight saw a French batallion surrendering to the superiour numbers of the British, soon more French joined in, blocking the retreat and thus annihilating one of the British “Buff”-batallions.

Making the best of the lack of French firepower, the British batteries…

…continued to pepper the French centre, preparing the way for the Brunswick infantry which finally engaged the weakened units.

It was then that the lazy French cavalry commander finally swallowed the last frog’s leg and gave the signal for the attack. It could not have been better timed. The arriving heavy cavalry…

…mercilessly clashed on the Brunsickers (who failed in their attempt to form a square) and drove their battered cavalry off and away.

With one of the batallions vanishing in the thunderous attack and another one just holding out with its last will to stand, it started to look rather bleak for the British.

But luckily on their right flank the numbers had finally told and the village was conquered, giving the room for mounting another attack on the centre.

This dealt a heavy blow to French morale, which already had been shaken by the severe losses. The British attack on the left flank came to an end with the Brunswickers all but obliterated by the heavy cavalry in a powerfull cooperation with the battered, but hardy French veteran infantry. But with the British centre nearly untouched…

…this army was far from breaking. The same could not be said for the French, who decided at their first morale test that it would be wiser to fight another day, thus leaving the field to the British.

Certainly the fate of the French was sealed by the late arrival of their reserves. But this was at first not as obvious as it seems in retrospect. In fact the game was full of suspense and could at several points have taken a rather different path. Thus it was highly enjoyable, and I thank Bodo very much for not only letting me win (always a nice gesture when the host is inaugurating a newly painted army) but also for this great game!

For me it once again proved that Lasalle is one of the best wargame-rules around. With its elegant game-flow and its simple but coherent mechanisms it lets you concentrate on the battlefield more than on the rulebook and it produces both credible results and interesting, suspense-packed games. Thus with these two armies now in the field, I’m going to add each a second brigade as reinforcements: Heavy cavalry for the British and elite infantry for the French. But more of this some other time.

Have a nice evening and a nice Sunday, all the best,
Tobi

 

 

Posted in 28mm Figures, Battle account, British, Brunswick, Finished Units, French, Gaming Mat, Lasalle, Napoleonic, Perry Miniatures, Rulesets, Wargaming in general

Bloody Bedriacum

Posted on Mai 4, 2012 by SirTobi

 

One of the greatest experience in our beautiful hobby is amassing hundreds of painted miniatures and refight a historical battle. This is what we did at the 1st May, which is a bank holiday in Germany. We met at Neils home, who had already prepared the battlefield, and unpacked about 600 28mm figures (of which about two thirds were from my collection and another third from Norberts). Both Norbert and me had been painting and basing feverishly in the last weeks in order to field the required troops. The research has been done by Neil, who used the historical texts of Tacitus as well as the brillant books of Stephen Dando Collins to recreate both the battlefield and the order of battle as exactly as possible.

The historical event we recreated is the Battle of Bedriacum, also called the second battle of Cremona. It was fought during the civil war 69 AD in the year of the four emperors and was the decisive victory for Vespasian over Vitellius, placing the Flavians firmly on the throne.

As the battle is very well documented by Tacitus, I’ll let this great man do the talking and will only comment myself were our battle was different from the historical events. So please Cornelius, if you would be so kind…

Cornelius Tacitus (The histories, book three, 1-35): Luck and loyalty attended the leaders of the Flavian interest as they proceeded to form their plan of campaign. They had met at Poetovio, the winter-quarters of the Thirteenth Legion. There they debated [...]. The keenest advocate of war, Antonius Primus, urged that speed would be helpful to themselves and fatal to Vitellius. [...]  Antonius began his lightning invasion of Italy with the help of detachments from the cohorts and a part of the cavalry. [...] These steps were taken without the knowledge of Vespasian or else against his instructions, for his orders at this time were that the advance was to be halted at Aquileia to allow Mucianus to catch up. [...] The same advice was conveyed in repeated dispatches from Mucianus, who, while ostensibly advocating a bloodless victory, the need for keeping casualties down and so on, was in fact greedy of glory and anxious to monopolize any distinction the campaign afforded. However, the great distances involved meant that official instructions arrived when events had already taken place.

[...] Vitellius had called for reinforcements from Britain, Gaul and Spain. A war of boundless havoc seemed imminent. But Antonius, anticipating this, snatched a timely victory by forcing an engagement. A two days’ march from Verona brought him to Bedriacum with the whole of his army.[...] It was approximately 11 a.m. when a rider galloped up with the news: the enemy were approaching, headed by a small advance party, and movement and tumult could be heard over a wide area.[...]  Four miles from Cremona, the glint of standards marked the approach of the Hurricane and Italian Legions, which had marched out as far as this during the initial success of their cavalry. But when luck turned against them, they did nothing.[...] As the light faded, the Flavian army arrived in full strength. Once they began to march over the heaps of dead and the fresh traces of bloodshed, they thought that the fighting was over and clamoured to press on towards Cremona to receive, or enforce, the surrender of the beaten enemy. [...] At about 8.30 p.m., by which time the Flavians were ready and in position, the Vitellians hurled themselves violently on their foe.

That is the starting point of our battle. Since it was already dark, we simulated the confusion by both giving each army only a confined space to deploy and (in accordance with the night-fight rules in DBMM, the ruleset we used) limiting the visibility to 160 paces (12cm) – making both movement slow and constraining the range of fire for the artillery.

Here is the setup with a little stream(dug for the drainage of the fields) on the Vitellian side and the street to Cremona on the Flavian side.

The battlefield viewed from the Vitellian side

The troops have deployed and prepare for the night battle

The eager generals

The Vitallians cross the drainage canal, but are only able to do so in a small column...

...which is eagerly awaited by the Flavians.

The lines clash and the battle commences.

Tacitus continues: Throughout the night, the fighting was varied, indecisive and bitter, inflicting destruction on either side in turn. Clear heads and strong arms availed nothing, and even eyes were helpless in the dark. On both sides weapons and uniform were identical, frequent challenges and replies disclosed the watchword, and flags were inextricably confused as they were captured by this group or that and carried hither and thither. The formation under heaviest pressure was the Seventh Legion recently raised by Galba. Six centurions of the leading companies were killed, and a few standards lost. Even the eagle was only saved by Atilius Varus’ desperate execution upon the enemy and at the cost, finally, of his own life.

The chaos of battle

Antonius stiffened the wavering line by bringing up the pretorians. After relieving the Seventh, they drove the enemy back, only to be driven back themselves.

In the Flavian centre, the pretorians advance in column. On their right flank, a ficious fight in the forrest begins.

The reason for this was that the Vitellians had concentrated their artillery upon the highway so as to command an unobstructed field of fire over the open ground. Their shooting had at first been sporadic, and the shots had struck the vine-props without hurting the enemy. The Sixteenth Legion had an enormous field-piece which hurled massive stones.

Top right you can see the Vitallian artillery that mauled the Flavian Centre

These were now mowing down the opposing front-line, and would have inflicted extensive havoc but for an act of heroism on the part of two soldiers. They concealed their identity by catching up shields from the fallen, and severed the tackle by which the engine was operated. They were killed immediately and so their names have perished, but that the deed was done is beyond question.

We actually replicated this event by smuggling a Psiloi behind enemy lines, and this “commando” was actually able to destroy an artillery!

There is hard fighting on both flanks and a stand-off in the centre

Neither side had had the advantage until, in the middle of the night, the moon rose, displaying— and deceiving— the combatants. But the light favoured the Flavians, being behind them; on their side the shadows of horses and men were exaggerated, and the enemy fire fell short though the gunlayers imagined that they were on target. But the Vitellians were brilliantly illuminated by the light shining full in their faces, and so without realizing it provided an easy mark for an enemy aiming from what were virtually concealed positions.

With the rising of the moon, we had better visibility. Yet it did not change much, the hand to hand fighting was already going on. On the left Flavian flank the Vitellians didn’t have enough time to bring all their troops over the sewer, their lines were thinned, wavered and eventually collapsed.

Antonius on his white horse is present to encourage his troops, the Vitellians on the Flavian left break ...

... which allows the Flavians to turn the Vitellian Flank in the centre ...

... while the fighting on the right (top of the picture) is rather balanced.

Antonius and his men could now recognize each other. So he seized the chance of spurring them on, some by taunts and appeals to their pride, many by praise and encouragement, all by hope and promises. Why, he asked the Pannonian legions, had they taken up arms in their resentment? [...] Then he spoke with greater sharpness to the pretorian guards. ‘As for you,’ he said, ‘you are finished as soldiers unless you beat the enemy. What other emperor and what other camp is there to which you can transfer? There, among the foe, are the standards and equipment which are really yours, and for the beaten the sentence is death.

Thus encouraged, the pretorians renew their effort

Everywhere there were cries of enthusiasm, and as the sun rose, the Third greeted it with cheers in accordance with Syrian custom. This led to a vague rumour (perhaps intentionally spread by the Flavian commander) that Mucianus had arrived and that the cries were greetings exchanged by the two armies. The men moved forward under the impression that they had been reinforced by fresh troops, the Vitellian line being now thinner than before, as one might expect of a force which in the absence of all leadership bunched and spread according to individual impulse or panic. When Antonius sensed that the enemy were reeling, he proceeded to throw them into confusion by the use of massed columns of troops. The loosely-knit ranks broke, and could not be closed again owing to the obstacles presented by vehicles and guns. Down the long straight road, drawing away from each other in the fervour of pursuit, charged the victors.

A parting shot...

This really was the final highlight of the battle: After a given time we announced that now the sun had risen and that the third legion had started their sun-preyer that was interpreted by the Vitellians as reinforcements. To simulate this, we gave the Vitallians two additional ME casualities, which actually made the army break. Thus it was a really historical ending, even if some of our generals could not give up their loyalities, reflecting it even in their choice of beverages…

Norbert as a true "Vietllian commander"

All in all, it was a great success. Neil and his wife Amanda were perfect hosts as always (many thanks!), for Norbert and me it was great to see our long prepared troops finally in action and our co-generals Arnim, Florian, Thomas and Kai were very pleased to play with 28mm figures, which all the same proved to be quite a challange since they normally play in 15mm and had thus to switch their planning to these rather different ranges and appearances. DBMM proved the right rulesystem for this battle, and we were very surprised that in spite of the massed troops and the slower movement the battle was over in less than three hours. This gave us the oppertunity to play another, more generic battle with the same armies, which also was very enjoyable. What a great day!

 

Posted in Battle account, DBMM, Wargames Foundry, Wargaming in general

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