General de Brigade

[Eugene1809]

Hello to all,

Thought I would make my first attempt at posting some pictures of a refight some of us at the NWS in Perth, Wetern Australia put on over the holidays for a bit of a lark.

The battle was an encounter of elements of the French 1st Corps and attached army asset supports trying to push through a combined Dutch-Belgian and Brunswick corps with an attachment of British troops within marching distance at the time. Their objective was to capture one of two crossroads on the field enabling them to link up with the rest of the army later in the week. Obviously the allies were there to prevent this from happening and if possible to inflict a crippling blow to this important relief force that Napoleon would require later in the campaign.

French commence to advance acrooss the centre and against the allied left.



Merlens DB cavalry on the allied extreme left flank



View from the Allied left - Packs Brigade




The French plan was to screen the allied left and to hold off the bes ofeir infantry whilst the French centre and left swept hard upon the chatau defended by a small force of Brunswickers.

Von Buttler reviews his brigades dispositions



Brunswick supporting cavalry - it would take several turns before they were able to receive orders to move to the right to support Von Buttler. Rumours of a fallout the previous night between the brigades commander Ranschenpplatt and Von Butler were flying around the table!!



Marcognets French Brigade advances at speed on the allied right



The Prince of Orange looking decidely confident as he continues to win the iniative over his French counter-part. However the dice would turn soon...



Huberts cavalry continue to screen the Allied left. The inability to advance solidly on this flank due to terrain and other deployment issues was to prove decisive.


In the centre Aulards brigade starts his advance against the Dutch-Belgian and Nassau.


Saxe Weimar with justifiably concerned staff!


...however General Perponcher looks decidely calmer.


The DB and Nassau formations stand ready.



On the right flank Brunswick knows that time must be gained as the expected relief and reinforcements have yet to arrive. Looking to his 1st and 2nd Line battalions he sends them forth to stem the tide.



Finally Ranschenpplatt starts to move.


The Duke looks on somewhat ashen- faced.



French ligne from Marcognets Brigade



The French advance continues across the centre and allied right.

On the allied left Packs Brigade continues to slowly traverse the corn fields and village as the brigade skirmish screen is sent scurrying for cover by French Cavalry.



However Merlen sees the significance of the situation and attempts to put pressure on the French screening force from the flank.


Between the Nassau and the Brunswick line Brigade, Olfermanns Light Brigade have been tasked with defending the small copse and providing support to Von Buttler. Here the French prepare to attack.


Schmitz French Brigade prepares to assault the 28th Chasse - Orange.


The 1/28th Chasse-Orange



Bijlandt prepares the 1st DB Brigades position.


Marcognet strikes at the Brunswick advance
battalions...


...however they fight bravely and retreat in reasonable order as they prepare to lay a second line of defence as the Brunswick cavalry arrive.


DISASTER - Ranschenpplatt is killed by speculative long range French artillery fire (though he was reasonably close to musket range of Von Buttler) leaving his cavalry faltering and confused and unable to provide the support Von Buttler has been waiting so desperatley for.


Brunswick Avante Garde


Molls Foot artillery provide support at the crossroads.


On the Allied left the DB cavalry hit hard at the French cavalry and start to make inroads that is until someone rolls a double six...AGAIN!! (onya Marty!)


Across the entire front the French pressure continues to build to a climactic moment. Here the Dutch-Belgians of Bijlandt are forced to take defensive measures...


...whilst the Nassau are hit by French Columns.


On the right the French launch another assault against the brave Brunswickers



And the Veteran Avante Garde are overwhelmed.



As a result of he intense French pressure the Nassau are pushed back...

...however hope reigns supreme as a Squadron of Bruunswick Uhlans, despite being villified and ridiculed from previous battles for their on-table ineptitude, sees a chance to break through the French attack on the chatau and crossroads. A French column having dispatched the Avantegarde tries to reform. They charge, receive fire, Marty rolls another double six and they falter...again!


The Brunswick resisitance is now broken and the French start to sweep down on their tactical objectives.


Despite this Horse artillery prepares a final salvo before retiring to fight another day.


Snapshot of the casualty markers we use. We try and have one for each unit as it helps us keep a track of casualties in a large bttle of this size. We always seem to need more of them than the French however.



All in all it was a great game and certainly the largest game the five of us have played using GdB so far. Despite the 38 degres Celsius heat, we thouroughly enjoyed the game despite the very HOT dice rolling from D'Erlon! Thanks to Steve for hosting us and to Phil, Marty, Andy and Andrew.

The allies failed to use their best infantry decisively and as a result Packs British troops were engaged in a fairly one - sided firefight with French Horse artillery and came out the worse for the encounter. The inability to change orders for Ranschenpplatt until it was too late and the decision not to use Bijlandt more aggressively against the cavalry of Hubert and the outlying elements of Aulards brigade were important.

The French were decisive with their movements and despite some good fortune deserved their victory.

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers

Carlo

[Keithandor]

Fantastic .
Here I am with my single battalion in 28mm done

[paulalba]

Hi Carlo,
Really inspiring post and love the painting of all the units.

I'm trying to stick to 15mm Prussians but seeing these big guys I'm tempted to get my 28mm figs out of the loft and finish of some battalions!

regards
Paul P
Scotland

[Eugene de B]

Carlo,

A great battle report, with some outstanding pictures. It is always a pleasure to see some great art work on quality miniatures, on what is also a very impressive table layout.

A credit to you all.

Eugene

[RAMCSEARCH]

Inspirational work. Beautifully painted figures and a great battle report.
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Simon W

[colinjallen]

Cracking stuff! Superb pictures of beautiful figures.

[MARK S]

Carlo,

Top quality figures, beatifully painted and in large units. Great photos and enjoyable action report, you've really set the bar high for 2009.

I find posts with pictures of 15mm figures a bit of a yawn but but love to see posts like this!!

Would you mind giving us a total of the number of units and figures involved?

Thanks very much for sharing.

[Greystreak]

Excellent report, well shared! Always a treat to see so many well-painted high quality figures on nice terrain, but more importantly, in action!

Thanks for sharing, Carlo; a cracking start to the New Year!
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Bryce Allen

[BillyS]

Hi Guys truly excellent post just the type of thing that inspires young gamers to join our ranks.

thanks for sharing.
the only down side is you live too far from Scotland for us to get together for a game.

all the best

Billy
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"Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement" WINSTON CHURCHILL

[Maturin]

Well Done Carlo,
Some superb figures and a well presented report!
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Maturin

[Orange]

Very nice indeed!

O

[msk]

Lovely looking game Carlo. Plus it's really nice to see your take on the casualty markers.

[Eugene1809]

Hi to all,

Fisrtly any thanks for the kind and encouraging words from so many members of the forum.

It is greatly appreciated by myself and the boys and will certainly encourage us to keep capturing similar games in future.

In answer to a few questions posed, the game had 1440 foot figures (712 French and 728 allied) , 180 cavalry (96 French and 84 allied), 36 guns (15 French and 21 allied) and 144 crew and quite a few personalities etc. It was played on a table 16 feet long by six feet wide.

Martin, thanks for the comments on the casualty bases. As you know, I am an avid visitor to your site and when yourself and Peter H in NZ started talking about these bases I was very intrigued. Chaps at the club had already made a sort of "game spinner" with a figure on the top of two discs fastened by a low profile screw which then had numbers painted on teh bottom disc and a viewing window to depict casualty numbers. It serves the purpose and is still used but it did not quite do it for me.

Intially I attempted to keep numbers off and paint white dots on rocks on every edge but it was less than succesfull. The white discs and hand painted numerals just work so much better and by only having every second edge numbered, I think it still looks aesthetically fine.

A small variation is to include some largr bases for cavalry and artillery casualties so as to make use of the wonderful figure sculpts out at the moment, particularly from the Perry Twins.

Included a couple of additional shots of these markers.







Cheers and thanks again.

Carlo

[MPHILLIPS]

All of the above, and a double WOW! That really is GdB gaming in the Grand Manner. Really god to see and look forward to seeing more.
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http://peelerswargamespage.blogspot.com/

[Ordnanceboard]

Superb, am now very jealous