Wagram, July 1809

Hi again,

This game pretty much demonstrates all of the benefits of having a semi-organised club.  I was busy setting up the Ancients game as shown in the two previous posts, and in passing asked what the guys were going to be playing.  Two of the 6x4 foot boards had been propped next to each other, and I could see the teeny shapes 6mm figures poking out of boxes.

"Wagram" came the reply, and even I'd heard of this battle.  Then I saw quite how many boxes of figures there were, and could tell this one was going to be special.  I can't give a blow by blow recount of what happenned, as I was having to sneak away from a game that I was running and playing in to get photos, but it really did look spectacular.  The collections of multiple club members marched into action.  The game itself was played over 4 weeks, each Monday.  The rules used were Shako, although in order to facilitate the massive forces on both sides, the command system was reluctantly stripped down.  I'll show you some of the photos of the first two weeks- and hope to have the rest up for next time!

Some initial setup of the French left.  This was a but a fraction of the forces available.  I liked the paint job and the terrain looked good as well.

And the far rear of the Austrian left.  The Cavalry in the foreground is part of a Division (I think the term is 'Division' anyway) that managed to hold the Austrian centre pretty much alone for the duration of the entire battle.  Frugal use enabled them to see off French cavalry, and maintain sufficient threat to slow or divert any opposing infantry advances.  The pictured area was to become a scene of ferocious fighting.  The pictures below give an idea of what the French were aiming to throw at that flank.

 The battlefield had the French concentrated in the centre of their board edge, certainly compared to the Austrians, who outflanked them on both sides.

Early attacks on the French far left saw some dangerous attacks on the Austrians.

This was still week 1- the fighting between the commanders on that flank battered the troops so much, that their forces spent the entirety of the second games night returning to some semblance of battle order!

The second week saw Austrian cavalry units sally out to chance their arm against the enemy.

...and the French were happy to oblige.

As battle raged at various points across the field, I just tried to get pretty pictures.

One thing even I managed to spot, infrequent as my visits were, was a large force of Austrians appearing on the French right flank.  These vintage figures, I think from Heroics and Ros, must have felt pretty intimidated by the Adler and Bacchus giants they were confronting, but advanced swiftly in an attempt to crash into the French side before organised defence could be mounted.

Meanwhile, the French redoubled their efforts to storm the Austrian centre-left, where I said there was ferocious fighting earlier.  The appearance of the enemy reinforcement almost made them want to clear a path through with more haste.

Some cannon action in that last shot, in support of the bludgeoning advance.
Even though it was depleted, the French still had a formidable reserve, as pictured below.  The Austrian cavalry had forced some of them to form square, however, meaning that even if they had wanted to commit, they would have been taking a great risk.

...and another photo of some pretty models.  Note the commander leading- yes he is apparently on a base, and you can see lots of his friends flat on their sides throughout this report.

Anyway, the French commander clearly thought that the time had come to force a breakthrough on the right, before the Austrian flank march ground through.  The Guard cavalry moved into position.  The Austrian commander, who obviously thought he'd been doing rather well to preserve his position thus far, saw his situation becoming grimmer and grimmer.

I think I'd better leave it there- much more to come.  At this point it wasn't clear at all who would win.  Both sides had suffered immense damage, but clearly felt that the game was there to be won.  Both sides had committed troops, neither being content to just wait for the enemy to come to them.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and come back to see how the battle concluded.

Leigh