Closing out 2012

Wargaming thoughts on the year ending and the year upcoming...

Like most folks, I am taking a few moments to look back on 2012 and look forward to 2013. It is fairly easy for me to summarize 2012 in a word... "fast." This year, from a wargaming perspective, sped by so quickly. I never seemed to be able to find the time to get to all of my projects. Work was busy (thankfully!) and I found the time spent with my 3 year old daughter to be more fun than painting figures. I also realize that this situation isn't likely to change so I will simply scale back my goals and projects for the coming year. I still want to collect 10,000 to 20,000 figures to cover all of the historical gaming eras that I have an interest in, it just may take a bit longer to get them all on the table!!

Playing wargames is the most important thing to me now when I consider my hobby. If you had asked me what my favorite aspect of the hobby was just a few years ago it would have been painting. Now, with my time limited a bit more than in past years, I find the wargame itself to be the most enjoyable feature in wargaming. Nothing like gathering with your friends to play a friendly game and swap a few jokes!

I wish all of you good health, prosperity, and good luck (may you always pass that critical morale test!) in 2013!

Happy New Year!!

A few photos of the Lippendorf game

I finally had the chance to retrieve some of the photos from my camera. These are shots from our most recent Napoleonic game. Most of the photos were very dim and quite worthless. The few worth seeing are shared below...

View of my Prussian foes

French left wing

French right wing

Victorious Russian cavalry pursuing defeated French lancers

French Chasseurs locked in melee with Prussian Landwehr cavalry

French left wing with Russian Dragoons in the background

French artillery and supporting infantry

Lippendorf 1813

Based on the scenario laid out in my previous post, we played out the Engagement at Lippendorf on Saturday Dec. 8th. The battle began at 10am and ended at 2:45pm. Jeff and Mike commanded the Allied force consisting of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians. The Allies had an Austrian commander who was rated Excellent. The 4 brigades of French troops were led by Eddie and I. The French commander was rated Excellent.

On the Allied side, Mike led the Austrian Infantry brigade and the Russian Dragoon Cavalry brigade while Jeff had 2 brigade of Prussians. Since I forgot to get copies of their rosters I am listing an estimated (but reasonably accurate) Allied order of battle...

Allies

Austrian Division Commander (Excellent)

No AdC

 

1st Brigade Prussians
Brigade Skirmish Bn	Line	1st Class SK
Landwehr Bn	Conscript
Landwehr Bn	Conscript
Landwehr Bn	Conscript
Landwehr Bn	Conscript

2nd Brigade Prussians
Light Infantry	Line	1st Class SK
Reserve Infantry	Conscript
Reserve Infantry	Conscript
Hussars	Elite
Landwehr Cavalry	Conscript
4 Sections 6lb Foot Artillery	Line

3rd BrigadeAustrian Infantry
Grenz	Line	1st Class SK
Infantry	Line
Infantry	Line
Infantry	Line
3 Sections 6lb Foot Artillery	Line

4th Brigade Russian Dragoons
Russian Dragoons	Line
Russian Dragoons	Elite

The French brigades were a bit smaller but of, generally, better quality. Eddie had Gonalons' Infantry brigade and Gorgelin's Cavalry brigade. I commanded Grenier's Infantry brigade and Lloris' Chasseur a Cheval Cavalry brigade. Here is our order of battle...

General de Division Vercoutre (Excellent)

1 AdC (Average)

 

1st Brigade GdB Gonalons (Average)
1st Bn  21st Legere	Veteran	1st Class SK
1st Bn 61st Ligne	Veteran
2nd Bn 61st Ligne	Veteran
1st Bn 67th  Ligne	Veteran
2nd Bn 67th  Ligne	Veteran

2nd Brigade GdB Grenier (Average)
2nd Bn  21st Legere	Veteran	1st Class SK
2nd Bn  23rd Legere	Veteran	1st Class SK
1st Bn 51st Ligne	Veteran
2nd Bn 51st Ligne	Veteran
4 Sections 6lb Foot Artillery	Veteran

3rd Brigade GdB Gorgelin (Average)
Lancers	Veteran

4th Brigade GdB Lloris (Average)
7th Chasseurs a Cheval	Veteran
14th Chasseurs a Cheval	Elite

Initial positions and directions of movement

The action opened with a general advance by the Allies while the French troops of Gorgelin, Gonalons, and Grenier dashed forward while the cavalry of Lloris held back. It soon became obvious that Gorgelin's outnumbered Lancers would be forced to engage in a melee with the Russian Dragoons in order to protect the advancing infantry of Gonalons. About the time that Gonalons reached the hill to his front the Russian Cavalry announced a charge. With no real choice, Gorgelin's Cavalry counter-charged. This gave the left flank battalions of Gonalons time to make squares as they cheered on the brave Lancers. The two cavalry brigades crashed together and the weight of numbers quickly told. The Lancers lost the melee, and half of the men in the unit, and retreated towards the rear with the victorious Russians in close pursuit. As Gonalons' troops deployed onto the hill to engage the advancing Austrian Infantry, they could only watch in horror as the Russian Cavalry caught and destroyed the remaining French Lancers. 

Meanwhile, the Prussian 1st and 2nd Brigades advanced toward farm and the hill. The farm fell into their hands without a fight as they were no French troops available to dispute the advance of the Landwehr. The presence of Lloris' Chasseurs kept the Landwehr rooted in the area of the farm. Grenier's Frenchmen rapidly gained possession of much of the hillock that the Prussian 2nd Brigade was moving towards so the Prussians halted and prepared an attack. What followed was several turns of fire between the skirmish lines. 

Grenier's artillery was forced to re-orient its facing toward the left wing to deal with the Russian Dragoons now lurking to the French left-rear. The skirmishers of Gonalons and Grenier began to inflict harsh casualties on the Allied units while Gonalons' squares kept the lurking Russian Cavalry from exploiting their fortunate position. Soon, under heavy artillery fire and with no place to charge, the Russian Cavalry moved back to its starting point on the Allied right wing. 

Now things really heated up. The French troops of Gonalons and Grenier were able to fully deploy and began to decimate the Austrian Infantry and the Prussian 2nd Brigade's infantry. Mike's unlucky dice saw the much-suffering Austrians began to fail morale and fall back. Grenier's troops were doing well against both Prussian Brigades and it seemed like time to add Lloris' Cavalry into the mix. Lloris led his Chasseurs in a charge against the Prussian Landwehr Cavalry that sat in the area between the 1st and 2nd Prussian Brigades. It looked like an easy victory. It was not. The Chasseurs became locked in melee with the smaller Prussian cavalry unit. Eventually the French numbers and superior morale won out and threw the Prussian horsemen back. Unfortunately for the Chasseurs, the prolonged melee had allowed the Prussian Hussars to move into position and they struck Lloris' men on the very next turn. The Chasseurs lost the melee and retreated away from the Prussian Hussars. 

Soon after those events the battle was over. The Austrian Infantry had been driven back but Gonalons could not finish them off as the Russian Dragoons hovered menacingly on the wings. The Prussian 2nd Brigade's infantry was decimated and had been pushed off of the hill in front of Grenier. The Prussian 1st Brigade firmly held the farm and the Russian Cavalry had undisputed control of the Lippendorf area.

The French had lost a regiment of Lancers, the Chasseurs had suffered @30% losses, and the infantry brigades had lost @10 to 15% casualties. Surprisingly, no French generals were killed even though they constantly led from the front. The Allies lost @ 50% of the Austrian Infantry, lost @40% of the Prussian 2nd Brigades infantry, and suffered little in the other units. Two Allied officers were wounded but soon returned during the battle.

When I get time I will attempt to upload a few photos.

Next Scenario

Our next game will be another a-historical affair. Instead of reproducing an actual battle we are resorting to the "lazy way out" and doing our first points battle. General de Brigade has a table of point values for units and officers to help design a game. I suppose that this idea of point values is a carryover from Games Workshop style games where "points battles" seem to be the norm. Our primary goal was to add the element of surprise since the opposing sides will not have much prior knowledge of the opposing force.

Here is the scenario information that the players will get before the battle:

Encounter near Lippendorf

This fictional meeting engagement is set around the time of the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Our scenario supposes that the French and Allied forces have detached units to seize the area east of Lippendorf to protect their southern flanks. The objective of each side is to secure the hills on each side of the Leipzig Road, the hamlet of Lippendorf, and the Kaltz Farm.

Each side has been allotted @1200 points  to “purchase” units and officers based on the point values noted in the General de Brigade Deluxe edition. The only stipulation is that each side must buy a minimum of 1 infantry unit (of 20+ figures), 1 cavalry unit (of 12+ figures), and 1 artillery battery (of at least 2 sections). Beyond that, any combination of troop types and quality is allowed. The troop rosters will remain hidden until the day of battle. This is our attempt at a bit of “fog of war”.

Objectives:

The side holding the most objectives wins. “Owning and objective” goes to the side that, most recently, has/had a unit move across that point while in GOOD ORDER. Sorry guys, retreating units passing over an objective point will not hold it for your side!

Terrain Notes:

The Hamlet of Lippendorf and Kaltz Farm will hold 1 battalion of 24 figures and counts as COVER -2

The Hills are GOOD TERRAIN and only serve to block line of sight

The Woods are DIFFICULT TERRAIN with a 6 inch visibility limit

The Roads offer x2 speed for units in MARCH COLUMN that spend the entire move on the roads

Scenario Map