Another trip down Route 1866

Last Saturday the Burrow was home to a capacity crowd with nine of us playing another 1866 Austro-Prussian War game using suitably amended Picket’s Charge rules. (Thank you Neil).  Dave, Richard, Ivor and myself were the Prussians while Nigel, Shaun, Mike and John H were the Austrians. Neil adjudicated.

The scenario was simple. One Prussian division with a cavalry brigade attached was deployed on the table. Another infantry division commanded by yours truly and more cavalry would arrive around midday (real time) somewhere along the baseline. ALL the Austrians (a full corps of four brigades plus heavy and light cavalry) were permitted to start on the table. They had to move fast if they were to drive the invaders back (again!) before enemy reinforcements arrived. 

Here are some pictures and a brief narrative of the game, in more or less the right order as I lost track of what was going on in the centre and on the right once my troops arrived.

The Prussian high command. 

The Austrian CinC looking unconcerned at the sight of the Prussians deployed  to their front.

The Prussians refused their left and held the centre weakly with a small North German infantry brigade, the cavalry, and the divisional artillery, while a brigade of solid Prussian infantry held the right.

The Saxon brigade on the Austrian left.

The Prussian right and beyond the thinly held centre

The Austrians massed their infantry in the centre but they were unable to take advantage of their superiority in artillery due to the congestion in front of it. 

Enthusiastic Austrians in storm columns

Two North German battalions facing a brigade of Austrians bearing down on them. No pressure guys!

On the Prussian left my leasing brigade had marched up the road into a maelstrom as they were facing another Austrian infantry brigade and a brigade of light cavalry.

Richard’s cavalry in the centre wisely kept out of the way.

More Austrians….

The Austrians just keep on coming.

The Prussian centre was only held by a thin line of guns.

Mike’s cavalry ready to pounce on my brigade in march column. I wouldn’t have chosen to join the battle in this formation but the scenario rules I created forced me. Doh!

Forwards!

The central Prussian brigade faltered as the enemy pressed home their attack. Thankfully they passed the test and carried on.

Mike threw his cavalry and infantry towards my Prussians. Despite being caught in march column every Austrian attack was bloodily repulsed. That result seemed very wrong but as my units were well supported and I threw much better dice than Mike the Austrians were destroyed or forced to retire beaten.

The right wing of the Prussian army advanced against the Saxons facing them.

Saxons on the Austrian left. 

Storm Columns

The Saxe Altenberg battalion engaged in the centre.

In order to buy some time in the now crumbling centre Richard launched his cavalry against the advancing Austrians. A brave sacrifice indeed.

Austrian artillery. The Austrians weren’t able to make very good use of their artillery as they were crowded out by the massed infantry columns in the centre. Austrian doctrine called for the artillery to be brought into action as soon as possible.

Mike’s Austrians attempted to halt my brigade as it marched up the road. Again march columns prevailed over the assault columns. Mmm?

Another futile charge by the Prussian dragoons in the centre.

The Austrians pressed on in the centre.

Cuirassiers and Uhlans of the Reserve Cavalry made a late entrance to the fight. Too late to influence the outcome.

We called a halt at this point due to running out of time (4pm and we’d been playing for about five hours). The outcome was technically a draw - neither side had achieved their objectives although I suspect that when the remaining Prussian reinforcements arrived they would be able to push the Austrian right wing back; the Austrian and Saxon troops on their left had already been pushed back so the centre was at risk of being enveloped, given time and a few good dice rolls.

A tremendous game I thought which everyone seemed to enjoy. Some useful lessons learnt for next time as well and a very few anomalies need tweaking eg march columns, and maybe the skirmish rules we’ve imported from GdA need a minor adjustment. The poor Austrians don’t get ANY brigade skirmish screen bases as they didn’t use them; the jäger can skirmish but in reality they were used as elite shock troops and frittered away.

This is my last game until I’m back off holiday in India at the end of March. Can I survive Seven weeks without a game or without painting anything? 

Mumbai Saturday Night

Gateway to India

Taj Palace Hotel

 

Vapnatark - York 5 February 2023

I went to the York show on Saturday with John. I didn’t have a shopping list as such but had some cash with me ‘just in case’. There appear to be some very mixed views regarding the event, both damning and praising. Here’s what I thought.

I enjoyed the day overall, mainly due to the numerous conversations had with friends, acquaintances and the occasional complete stranger.

The trade was very well represented and there was no short of things to spend my money on, particularly those things I had no prior intelligence that I needed.

I thought the games were, with a couple of exceptions, quite uninspiring. I didn’t take any photos of the games as a consequence.  The Back of Beyond game was by far my favourite but glaring sunlight ruined the photo opportunity.

We arrived at 10:15 and because of the very long queue didn’t get inside until about 11:00. Why? How come it took so long to get in? Good job it wasn’t raining I guess.  It took the edge off the potential for excitement during the day as after such a long wait I was struggling and in pain, although I had a pleasant chat with Charles Grant in the queue.

The info on FB about the traders and games was pretty lame and not much help as some of the traders were unknown to me.

Nobody I asked knew where the disabled toilets were - not good! I, and anyone else with a roll at or or on a scooter couldn’t get through the doors of the normal loos. The same issues arose in the cafe where it was impossible for me to negotiate the queue and to get round the crowded tables. There were also cars and vans in the (few) disabled spaces not displaying blue badges which is a pet hate of mine.

My obviously very personal assessment of the show would be that it ‘requires improvement’ . It’s only an hour from home so I expect I will go again next year, but to be honest I won’t loose sleep over not going.

My swag?  I collected some figures off Barry that he’d done for me, bought some shrubs from the Tree Fellas and some plastic ACW artillery as I have a use for the guns and limbers, oh and a couple of scout carriers off EWM for the BEF project.

I have a game planned for this coming Saturday which will be last until early April when we’re back from India.

Prussian Commanders 1866 plus an inappropriate picture from France 1940

Spurred on by the 1866 game last week and by a desire to get all the unfinished stuff off the painting station I knocked off some more Prussian commanders as I am actually short of three or four for the figures I already have or are in said unfinished pile. These are all Perry or North Star and I’m happy with them. Some should see action in a little over a week’s time.

I also finished this little vignette for my 1/72 scale France 1940 project.

“Get your kicks from Route 1866!”

This post is a bit late but last Saturday the guys were here at the Burrow to play an 1866 game using modified Picket’s Charge (largely done by Neil with a bit of input fr4om me). John, Neil and Paul (seen below) were the Prussians, while Conrad, Nigel and Mike played the Austro-Saxons but without wearing spiked hats!

The scenario was a fictional mash up of the frontier battles at the start of the war, with the Prussians needing to quickly debouch from the mountains (just off table to the left in the photo below) and push any Austrian resistance out of the way. Neil kept us right with the rules which was of great assistance in keeping the game moving.

Here then is a brief narrative and some photos to show how the game played out. Enjoy!

The Prussian triumvirate looking suitably pumped before the game.......

The battlefield.

Nigel commanded a brigade of Austrian light cavalry over on the Austrian left. They looked splendid but apart from their attached horse artillery took no part in the battle other than being a target for Prussian gunners. 

The Prussians have advanced rapidly in the centre and are moving up the hill in the teeth of six batteries of the Austrian corps reserve artillery (including a rocket), a tactic that did not work out too well.....

Paul's Prussians on their left made a more stately advance towards the  thinly held Austrian right.

Prussians on the attack.

Neil’s divisional artillery was held up on the road and unable to deploy until quite late in the game. I really must think about limbers for these armies.

Undaunted by the Austrian artillery, the Prussians continued their attack in the centre.

Although the Prussian assault in the centre was bloodily repulsed the Austrian artillery took heavy losses and several batteries were withdrawn rather than risk them being destroyed. They were replaced by fresh batteries from the Saxon division as seen here. Quite a realistic bit of damage limitation.

The central Prussian attack, now with artillery support.

On their right flank the  Austrians were attempting to enfilade Paul’s attack

The Austrians advanced against the Prussians facing them on their left, but were soon forced to pull back out of the killing zone that was the field, and shelter behind the hedgerow.

 Prussian dragoons crossing the stream behind elements of Johns advancing division.

A Saxon brigade held the hill in the Austrian centre, supporting the corps reserve artillery.

Paul chose to use his cavalry brigade to buy some time for his beleaguered and battered infantry on the left. They charged the Austrian right wing. Guess what happened……

A battalion of infantry from Anhalt.

Fierce fighting in the centre.

Exhausted cat

War sure ain't no picnic, except here it is....

The Prussian attack was seriously blunted so by the time we had to cease fire it was clear that the Austrians had achieved their objective of halting the enemy invasion. Of course, they'd only won a short reprieve but it was enough. 

The rules and amendments worked nicely, with maybe a few more tweaks needed, and we shall be looking at how to best reproduce skirmish screens as they don't really figure in PC but are an important part of GdA. Of course, the Austrians were not known for their skirmishing compared go the Prussians who would keep feeding more men into their skirmish line to overwhelm the enemy by fire.

We also had to remember to space out the artillery batteries as while I only have a single gun and crew representing a battery, the rules suggest three models. Now, trebling the number of guns and crews for four armies (these two and the French and Piedmontese) is not going to happen but I have  an idea using some sabot bases which I shall try out.

The return to the Six Weeks War has got me enthused into finishing off what figures I have left to do, so I am busy with them now; a few (six) Austrian battalions, a hussar regiment and for the Prussians, the troops of the Oldenberg/Hanseatic Brigade.

I am planning to have a game during the week and then next Sunday it is Vapnatark, the York show.