Aspern-Essling via Bloody Big Battles

On August 17 we played about half the Aspern Essling scenario from the new scenario book “Napoleon’s Bloody Big Battles”. It was a gas. Then we had to head to Maine early the next day, returning yesterday. The game is still on the table, must get the lads back into their barracks.

 

The French have seized a foothold on the north bank of the Danube. Archduke Charles’ Austrians are mobilizing to eradicate the foothold. Meanwhile, upstream, a whole Korps is busy shoving trees, barges and anything that floats into the Danube current to break the downstream pontoon bridge, so the French player rolls to see if any reinforcements can cross each turn. My original plan was to umpire a game between Jay and Andrew. Jay is usually a defensive player, while Andrew is quite aggressive. Jay had the notion that he should attack as Charles and Andrew defend as Napoleon, switching their usual stances. Andrew had to take his daughter to an event and would be late, so I started off with the French. The photos below tell the tale. Red arrows indicate attacks, yellow arrows show retreats. Each time a base is removed by combat, we leave a casualty figure. When enough fighting has gone on in a town, we take the top Paper Terrain building off and leave the wrecked version. Aspern is an example. Smoke markers show who has fired and look good in the photos. Yellow discs show disrupted units, empty .22 shells low on ammo.

The early seizure of Aspern masked the large Austrian artillery park. Only a few of them managed to get some shots off into the center.

The objective star in Aspern should be flipped to the red (Austrian) side.

The following photo is in error: the assault went to two ties. On the third try, one Austrian unit became spent. I thought the French unit was veteran and not spent, and won the fight by 2. After taking the photo, I noticed the French unit was trained, therefore spent, and therefore the third iteration of the assault was another tie! The French lost a base and the remaining one headed for the hills, leaving the Austrians with the position and the task of burying all the dead.

During the night most of Lannes’ Corps got across. Andrew arrived and was given command of the Austrian right and center. An attack out of Aspern drew most of Lanne’s troops into that fight, leaving the garrison of Essling out on a limb. Jay had to leave. Andrew got command of all the Austrians, just in time to launch an assault on Essling.

French infantry defeated the Austrians in front of Aspern, exploiting into the town, destroying the spent unit within.

 

Another assault went to two ties. The casualties piled up in heaps. The French infantry never got into the flood control berm between the towns. Real life intruded and we had to stop the game. It was officially a tie, though five Austrian units (including two of grenadiers) in the center faced a single French veteran unit. All were disrupted and most of the whitecoats were low on ammo. But if most of them rallied and went forward on the next turn… The French toehold on Essling looked forlorn. Meanwhile, Gemende Au and Aspern were firmly back in French hands. All agreed the game was a howl, and the situation unlike anything we’ve played before. Kudos to the designer. We must get this on the table again when schedules are not as tight.

The Butcher's bill: 9 French infantry bases (+1 ran off), 1 cavalry and 1 artillery, 10 Austrian infantry (+2 ran off). 

 

This report suffers from being a week late. Some details have vanished. I did annotate the photos before heading north. 

Edit: the troops are back in their barracks. Here's a shot of where the losses occurred. 

A Couple Stonewall Battalion Packs

Noticing that one of my boxes of French Napoleonic troops had space to cram some more bases in, I ordered a couple painted Stonewall Battalion packs. Their bases needed green paint but that's it. Glued them onto their Wargames Accessories metal bases with some terrain. Once the postman delivered my Maverick flags, on they went and I spent time getting them to ripple and billow just so. As the glue dried my wife came in. Knowing I'd been waiting for the flags, she said "Is the bird supposed to be upside down?" Argh! No, and it turned out the Wurttemberg flag was upside down too. Some water applied, some fiddly wrestling and they were right side up. But my lovely ripples were no more. The flags were a little the worse for wear. Oh well.

Anyway, here are a couple Stonewall battalion packs. First, the 5th Duchy of Warsaw Infantry Regiment.  

Next up, the Wurttemebrg Infantry Regiment 2 Prinz Wilhelm.

I am pretty sure the figures are what used to be called Fantassin and are now Warmodeling, unless they have changed names again.

A French battalion 1809+ in 15mm

I wanted to    illustrate    approximately    what    the footprint   of an 1809 French battalion of 6 companies looked like. One reason was that some of the Fencibles aren’t as hard-core Napoleonic buffs as I am. Another is  that Fencible Carl   recently recruited a   new cadet, 7+ pounds.    When she’s old enough to not swallow the dice… Besides,  what’s  the point  of having toys if  you  don’t  play with them?

 

The figures are Hinchcliffe true 15mm figures from the late 1970s. They have since been eclipsed by lots of newer figures, usually larger. But I can’t put more than 48 of the new ones from the same vendor with similar poses on the table, having acquired them at different times by whim. I have nearly 200 of the old guys, all advancing and thought that would look better for an example of what the actual formations look like. They haven’t seen the table in years. Columns are shallower than they appear in our games.

First, a 1-1 French infantry company in 3 ranks.

 

I don’t have enough of them to do a full battalion, so after this each figure represents 3 troops. They are in 2 ranks because that’s closer to the actual footprint. In all cases, if the frontage was doubled and a third rank added, you’d have the approximate footprint of a 550+ strong battalion. The column of divisions could form line by having the 1^st company deploy to the right of the 2^nd company and the grenadiers to the right of the 1^st company. Meanwhile the 4^th company would deploy to the left of the 3^rd company and the voltigeurs to the left of the 4^th company. During most of the 18^th century, the four divisions of those early battalions would march in order 1^st in front, followed by 2 through 4 behind. To form line, each division would wheel to the left. Later, it was still the fastest way to form a line, provided the enemy was in that direction. It happens that Frederick’s Prussians formed to the left at Leuthen, as did Packenham’s British veterans at Salamanca. Both made rapid attacks. While units could form line in other than senior company to the right, etc., company officers were most used to being in the correct order. The British had a term for being in line in the wrong order; the battalion was said to be “clubbed”. Some units complained of this at Albuera, due to overly rapid deployment. This may have been part of the reason that three of Colborne’s battalions didn’t get into square when attacked by the Vistula Legion lancers. Enough nattering, a battalion in attack column (at half interval).

 

It is thought that with well-trained troops, the intent was to deploy into line before getting into musket range. The column was much easier to move than a long line. But if the battalion got into range while still in column, deploying under fire would be a most difficult proposition, especially if the enemy was active.

Last, squares. With enough advance notice the lines would have twice as many ranks as usual. A great target for artillery but nearly impenetrable against cavalry, if the infantry kept their heads.

Edit: the 1809 regulations called for 6 companies per battalion. According to Chandler, the 1805 regulations called for 8 fusilier companies and 1 grenadier company. Wikipedia says 1804 regulations converted the 2nd company to Voltigeurs. The 1805 column of attack would be 4 divisions deep.

Edit 2: During the 1832 Black Hawk War, young Abraham Lincoln was elected captain of a militia company. Faced with getting his company through a fence gate, he pondered the proper commands and finally settled on the following. He ordered the company to fall out and then fall in on the other side of the fence.