ActionFront - Leipzig Nord -Initial Setup

Battle of the Day

A step by step run through of a test game using my new Computer Moderated Napoleonic system - ActionFront !

This is taken from the Leipzig-Nord scenario, with the French III Corps vs the Prussian III Corps in 1813.

Prussian Brigade begins its deployment for the Battle.

To make it even simpler, will start off with the initial contact between a single maneuvre element from each of these 2 Corps sized units.

On the Prussian side, we have the 5th Brigade, on the French side we have the 11e Division.
....

Lets have a look at the 2 forces involved for the initial contact, and how that translates to the tabletop  :

French Allies - Hesse Darmstadt and Baden , Jena Auerstadt, 1806

Tour de France - Stage 2

Well, its only stage 2 of a very long race .. and already  Im wondering how on earth I am going to get out 1 French-related post per day ... for the next 3-4 weeks.

 Ah wel, lets see how we go.

Last night saw the Tour head through the fortress of Namur, and towards the French border as it heads out of Belgium.

Just over the Rhine are a couple of German states - Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, who formed an alliance with France, and loyally provided some good regiments from Jena in 1806, to Spain, to all the way out to Leipzig in 1813.

Here we have a small battalion sized contingent of Hessians and Badeners to add to the French forces at Jena.

Prussian Army 1813 - New Recruits

Regiment of the Day

Early next year - probably around March 2013 at this stage, I am running a reasonably massive convention / public demo game of "The Battle of the Nations" - Leipzig 1813.

Running at 1:60 scale in 15mm .... so at best we can probably look at fielding around a Corps+ for each of the armies involved (Russia / Prussia / Austria / Other Allied ) ... with at least 1 opposing French Corps on each table as well. Should be massive !

For the Prussians, I am going to concentrate on Kleist's Corps for starters.

On to the miniatures then - here are this week's recruits for Kliest's Corps :

 2nd West Prussian - 1st Battalion.

Each battalion sized unit is anything from 3 bases for some of the more understrength units (such as the Russians and some French) to 6 bases for the larger battalions (some Austrian units for example).

The Prussians are mostly 4 base battalions (12 figs).

More Battalion Sabot Bases

Battalion Scale Sabot Bases

Following on from the previous post, here is a brief selection of some of the other Battalion scale Sabot bases that I have in  mind for running big games.

After many play tests, I am convinced now that using Sabot bases is not only convenient for ease of movement, but it also adds a lot of clarity to the tabletop.

It is definitely something worth playing with.

The rationale of using Sabot bases for each Battalion scale unit are many :

• Speed up moving lots of figures around, whilst holding their formation.
• To denote a sort of 'Zone of Control' for each battalion.  As units start to lose cohesion and take losses, bases from the unit can remain on the table, but off the Battalion base .. so they become stragglers that clutter up the table.  I like having my figure collections nicely organised if possible ... but I find that removing bases during a game and putting them back in the box just creates chaos. This solution of leaving stragglers and wounded on the table solves that issue, and also does away with needing to have tokens on the table to denote cohesion / morale losses as well.
• Battalion bases that are close to each other (or touching) mean that 2 battalions are in close support, and are acting as a single group despite the gaps between the figure bases. 
• More flexible units have larger battalion bases, which gives a larger zone of control.
• Restrictions on the types of formations that the unit can assume are defined by the physical size of the Battalion base.
• Changing the formation within the confines of the Battalion base is a 'free' move as part of standard tactical movement in the game.
• If a formation change requires adding additional Battalion bases to the unit to accomodate the formation, this requires the expense of some 'Command Points' or something similar.
• Also provides a holding spot for labelling each unit !  
• I want to start playing with embeded RFID tags on the unit bases, for use with computerised tracking of the game. Battalion sabots make sense for this.
• In order to build 'Every single unit in every campaign' ... All I really need to do now is build a Battalion base for each unit, and just fill them up with figures on an as-need basis. I don't actually NEED to collect and paint up 3 million figures now if I do it this way :)

So lets have a look at some possible designs of Battalion Sabot bases to reflect different scenarios :

Start with the simple ones ....

3" wide, 2" deep - for a 4 company Prussian Battalion, 1813 Leipzig campaign.

My Prussian Musketeer battalions for this campaign are operating almost exclusively in Battalion masses, 2 companies wide.

Due to the large scale of the campaign, and need to compress as much mass as possible on a given frontage, this formation allowed easy control of the very large and not very well drilled armies.

They rarely changed from this formation (as far as I know).

This Battalion base allows for the following Formations : 

• 2 x2 companies in closed attack column (as shown here).  
• 2x2 companies with a space between the lines for supporting waves of 2 company wide columns.  
• 4 company square fits nicely on this base. 
• Throw 1 company of troops out front of the Battalion base, to denote the 3rd rank deployed as a semi-skirmish order screen.  
• Sideways orientation - 1 company wide column, 4 companies deep. 
• Add a spare base next to this base and re-arrange as a single line of 4 companies .. a 'complex' move for this unit, so that requires some command point cost.

Prussian Army of the Revolutionary Period

Regiment of the Day

IR 49 - Von Muffling
IR 32 - Hohenlohe

As luck would have it, I managed to score a couple of small batches of extra Prussians for the early Napoleonic campaigns. Can never have too many early war Prussians !

For the actual Jena/Auerstadt campaign in 15/18mm, nothing comes close to ABs in terms of figures. They are spot on, and a joy to paint.

Prior to Jena / Auerstadt, there is the French Revolutionary period, with a great variety of very intriguing little mini-campaigns of the First and Second Coalitions. For the Prussian involvement during these earlier campaigns, the cut of the uniforms was quite different to those used by the army at Jena / Auerstadt.

So, I grabbed a few Revolutionary period Prussians with a view to covering this gap, and a at pinch ... maybe fielding some of them in the older cut of uniform for the Jena Auerstadt campaign.

They also make a great subject for trying out some new ideas on basing, sabot bases, and 1:60 Battalion organisation.

Introducing ....
Revolutionary Period Prussian Infantry

1 Battalion, IR 49 of the Prussian Army, 1792-1801. Figures by Lancashire Games.

Prussian Leib Garde - Dresden 1813

Regiment of the Day

Last varnish experiment before settling on a 'standard' way to apply the varnish.

Some Prussian Garde in full gloss finish. Looks anything but 'realistic', but I do like the way it makes these special troops stand out !!

A few bases of Garde Grenadiers  and supporting Garde Jaeger. (white plumes for the Guard - line Grenadiers have the black plumes I believe).

Whilst on the subject of massive plumes, note that the officer is white over black with silver shako fittings, and NCOs are black tip over white with gold shako fittings.  Privates are all white with white shako fittings, and a silver Garde star.

I don't really know whether that is 100% correct for the given campaign .. any comments on that ?

Jaegers operating in pairs, as they should.  From what I can tell, the only difference (worth painting at this scale) is that the Garde Jaegers have the little 'Lintzen' stripes on the collar and cuffs.   Probably a bit of extra lanyard as well for the marksman award.

If you can dig up a more recent East German DDR braided lanyard - they are almost identical to the 1813 model.

Extreme gloss finish for the Gardesmen - slightly OTT perhaps, but they do stand out on the table.

Prussian Reserve Infantry Regiment 11

Regiment of the Day

More varnish experiments - this time going real heavy on the gloss coat, wait for a few days, and then a light matte coat to bring it back to matte.

A week later - no frosting !  It works, Yay !

I like the unit too - these reserve regiments look quite 'modern' for the period, very warlike actually.

The usual mix of whatever dirty colours are currently sitting on the palette when it comes to painting the pants for the reserve units.

Battle of Jenastaedt 1813 - The Assault

Battle of the Day

... continued from Part 4

Events in the early afternoon, around half past one :

The Russian engagement on the left has all but fallen into chaos.

A fierce engagement has cost them their remaining infantry regiment, whilst the forward most regiment has now lost contact with the commander as it proceeds to loot and destroy Jenastaedt itself.

Battle of Jenastaedt 1813 - The Bombardment

Battle of the Day

.. continued from Part 3

General Allied situation at 1040 hrs :

Over on the Russian left flank, the Russian artillery is now finally in effective range, and begins to pour fire into the remaining French artillery. In an artillery duel at around 800 metres, with twice as many guns, the Russians should wear the French down here in short time.

Meanwhile each Russian infantry brigade begins the slow work of rallying and getting their lines back into fighting order.

Battle of Jenastaedt 1813 - The Firefight

Battle of the Day

... continued from Part 2

The main French forces are now engaged in the pinning attack. Lets see if the attackers can hold it together, as the hammer of 1st Corps begins its general advance to assault the pinned French units.


Events on the Allied Left up to 1000 hrs :

For almost an hour, the Russians engage les Invalides on the left flank, maintaining contact with the French and drawing them into an extended firefight.

At the start the French were reeling from the attack ....

Battle of Jenastaedt 1813 - The Advance to Contact !

Battle of the Day

Continued from Part 1

At 0600hrs, the battle begins ...

All goes well for the advance. By 0630hrs the French have been spotted, and both the Russian and Prussian Divisions successfully roll to upgrade their orders from 'Probe' to 'Engage'.

Note that that in front of each unit is their current order - a yellow token representing the Probe order, and behind the unit is the next order in the queue - an orange arrow representing the Engage order.

At the end of the NEXT turn, the order is advanced on the queue, and each Division will begin a more aggressive Engagement action.

Battle of Jenastaedt 1813 - Inital Deployment

Battle of the Day

Just setup for the next battle, in this one I want to test out my new Command and Control HouseRules to allow my Allied forces to engage in a limited pinning attack on the main French position

All going well, the pinning attack in the centre should not be too bloodily contested,  so the lower quality Russo-Prussian mob in the middle should survive the action without running off the table in panic.

Hopefully the French will also get delayed long enough to allow the main hammer blow to fall. (Austrian 1st Corps on the right wing)

Geographical situation prior to the action.

The City of Jenastaedt sits on a juntion of a major river, and is surrounded to the North by rolling hills, some woodlands, and a number of farmyards and villages.

Being a large well stocked city on a bridgehead, Jenastaedt is strategically important in the campaign.

The French currently hold Jenastaedt, and Allied scouts have setup camp to the NorthEast.

Prussian IR 2 - Von Kanitz - Seven Years War

Regiment of the Day

Today we have another Seven Years War unit - Prussian IR 2, Von Kanitz.

Prussia - IR 1 - Seven Years War 1756

Regiment of the Day

Something a little different today - some 7YW figures in 15mm ! This is my first attempt at 7YW or 18th Century in general, so I hope you enjoy them !

This unit represents an average sized line regiment of 4 bases, for use with my imagi-nation campaign.

The uniform is closely modeled on the Prussian Infantrie Regt Nr. 1 - Winterfeld.

Prussian 9th Brigade - Dresden 1813

Brigade of the Day

Today we put together all those little 1813 Prussian Regiments we have so far, and have a look at Klux's 9th Brigade all formed up and ready to fight.

Prussian Neumark Dragoons - Dresden 1813

Regiment of the Day

Today we look at the Neumark Dragoons, which formed part of 9th Brigade under Von Kleist's Corps at the battle of Dresden, 1813.

"Here, I must give the greatest credit to the Lithuanian Dragoons, incl. the Volunteer Jager Squadron, who had performed to the highest standards during the entire campaign ... for the way in which they carried out the next manouevre could not have been done better on the parade ground. I had them turn right about by troops, right wheel in squadrons and charged the [French] battalion in echelon ... We had to jump both the ditches which lined the road ... The French were in column and hurrying towards Wiederitzsch ... we got among them and there followed a great bloodbath ..." - Wilhelm Ludwig Victor Graf von Donnersmark

Prussian Silesian Schutzen - Dresden 1813

Regiment of the Day

Today we look at a unit of Prussian light infantry, that fight as part of 9th Brigade, with von Keist's Corps at Dresden ... AND ... experiment with my new all-weather, all-hours-of-the-day photo booth setup.

1st West Prussian - Dresden 1813

Regiment of the Day

Today we look at the impressive 1st West Prussian Infantrie Regiment, who fought with the 9th Brigade under Von Kleist's Corps at the battle of Dresden, 1813.

Prussian 3rd Division, von Schmettau - Jena Auerstadt 1806

Corps of the Day

Today we travel back in time to the town of Auerstadt, 1806 ... and put together all of the forces of von Schmettau's ill fated 3rd Division.

Lets see how these units form together as a combined arms force under the command of GM von Schmettau.

Prussian IR 35 Prinz Heinrich - Jena Auerstadt 1806

Regiment of the Day

Today we have the impeccable Prussian Infantrie Regiment Nr 35, Prinz Heinrich, which fought as part of von Schmettau's 3rd Division at Jena Auerstadt in 1806.