Tuesday 9 August 2011

1809 Napoleonic Battle Report Part 2.

The last part of the battle report with the French having some good luck with the dice and the Austrians on the back foot but the dice and luck are fickle bitches. Ray found his camera and paperwork and should be posting today.

Battle of Pisek 8th July 1809.

Saxon grenadiers arrive as reinforcements but would never taste battle but they influenced other units, if you know their on the way you can be a bit more bold nearer the front.

A French juggernaut slips through a gap and punches forward.

My elite battalions assault the heights with a skirmish line for protection.

The Austrians come off the hill and a firefight ensues.

Sneaky Austrian skirmishers assault a Saxon medium gun battery from the woods.

Windswept picture again.

Mike's Saxons assault the Austrian lines.

My reinforcements, French cuirassiers and carabiniers and lots of them.

A better view of their position on the battlefield.

Then the Austrians get their combined elite grenadiers.....


....and their elite cuirassiers.

The dice and luck have sent my elite 25th Legere fleeing and disordered but still fighting.

The hill is still in Austrian hands and the grenadiers approach.

So I go for it with everything available and try to take the hill.....

....but the Austrians have the initiative and fire first........

.......things go badly for the French and they are driven back disordered, (when one disordered unit goes back it disorders everything it goes back through)


Not a disaster just a nuisance.

I unleash the cavalry but night and darkness conclude the action with the French and Saxons getting a minor victory on points (those poor Austrian generals, 1 less Austrian general killed would have meant a draw!).

This melee went on for 3 turns with Mike only having one dice against Surjit's many and holding and once nearly winning (yellow markers are disordered).

The victors rejoice.

Mike is made an honorary Reject (Dutch Chapter).

The Austrians had 23 infantry battalions (364 figures), 5 cavalry brigades (60 figures) and 5 artillery batteries (30 guns).

The French and Saxons had 24 battalions (384 figures), 6 cavalry brigades (72 figures) and 6 batteries of artillery (36 guns), a little extra but we needed them as we did all the attacking.

The battle and game were one of attrition with no one gaining a foothold to finish the other one off or get enough points to declare the major victory, damn dice gods!

A good day it was, good food, good company (Mike's a nice guy, our age(old), Ray is always a git), learned some Dutch swear words which I have been practising on Ray and a good game and no women  until Postie's missus came home and gave out about the mess the chef made!

46 comments:

  1. Just an update but Ray is having a moment and a bit of a panic as he can't get the pictures off his camera, so I've loaned him mine for his memory card and a cable but he's still ungrateful and saying I'm not getting it back, nothing changes here at the sanatorium.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely battle report. Easy to follow and pictures matched the action...rather like some of the magazines a certain person I know reads.

    Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A good looking report. Hope Ray can pull the photos off his camera; must be frustrating or confusing...or both. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Justin@ For him it's both I'm afraid.

    ReplyDelete
  5. In picture 11..... Is that Ray meassuring the length of his......Charge?

    Oh dreams can be so sweet.... ;-)

    Good report and loads of pictures, well done. And congrats to the mighty victors!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm sure you'll be able to put the Dutch expletives to good use. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the victory shot Fran. Great report and photos.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As said in your previous post, an awesome day and the little ceremony at the end was just fantastic. It will get a prominent place in the cabinet! I will post my report end of next week when i'm back in Holland. Thx, Michael

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nicely illustrated after the battle report. Great looking collection of figures.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Excellent batrep and well complemented by the photos. Congrats to all involved.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Vive l'empereur! Those French columns advancing on the hill are a thing of beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looks very cool, anyway I would have wanted to see closeup of each army.

    ReplyDelete
  13. so where's the Napoleon? :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Many thanks for putting this up. Seeing massed Napoleonics gets me enthused everytime.

    Cheers
    SG

    ReplyDelete
  15. The cottony cannon fire was an awesome touch.

    And be glad I'm not in your circle. What's a streaker doing on the battlefield???

    ReplyDelete
  16. @DEZMOND: 120 miles away causing more mayhem according to Postie.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Victory!! Your battles always seem epic as hell! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great report and pictures. I've promised my group a WW II game and they're holding me to it, but after that, back to Napoleonics!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Is that "smoke" from gunfire in the fourth picture? If so, I love it! If not, who has an injury?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Nice pics and report!-well done those Austrians!

    ReplyDelete
  21. look at the size of that ruling fist of victory. and in unrelated news i think i have family that dates back to the napoleonic wars

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Angry: Denoting smoke from musket fire.
    @Bart: I thought I saw a bit of French in you, especially the beard.

    ReplyDelete
  23. looks like you had some epic fun!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Very nice Battle Report. looked like you all had a blast

    ReplyDelete
  25. T'was a great game!!!
    @ Lord Siwoc - It's no dream!!! But don't speak to the Mrs, she tells lies!
    I finally managed to get my report up, so if you want to see the game from the losers point of veiw here's a link:
    http://oneloverray.blogspot.com/2011/08/napoleonic-battle-of-pisek-1809.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. Damn!! that should be
    http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/2011/08/napoleonic-battle-of-pisek-1809.html

    ReplyDelete
  27. Nice move on Austria. Let's see how you handle prussia. BTW...looks like such a fun group.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Very nice..very nice. You fellows know how to party.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Congrats on the minor victory. Hopefully next time you can crush them.

    ReplyDelete
  30. So wait, there was no TKO? No "technical victory?"

    ReplyDelete
  31. Great report and great wargaming group, guys. You play with your house-written rules, right? Any plans to publish them?

    ReplyDelete
  32. I love the special effects you use with the cotton. Great job as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  33. that whole ordeal looks epic. And congrats on your victory!

    ReplyDelete
  34. look at all those men in uniform. mmmmmmmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Great looking game and report yet again!

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  36. Class!!! Great report Angry L!!!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Dude that's pretty friggin awesome...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Great report and a very nice looking game!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Way to smash those Austrians, congratulations to the triumphant victors and a special one to Mike for becoming a Reject.

    Also brought further glory to France, which was another one of the objectives, so good work, if a bit bloody.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Very nice, awesome in fact.
    Although some seem overcome by the romance of the period...lookin at Ray...

    ReplyDelete
  41. Lurk: Are you picking on Ray, or as I now call him, Special Agent Ray.

    Ray: I got your little message about the burnt bones.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Another entertaining post (as usual).

    ReplyDelete
  43. Great batrep and glad to hear that Mike won!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Great stuff! Looks like you guys had tons of fun.

    ReplyDelete