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 Legere - 1813

Tour de France - Stage 16

Oh dear ... running well behind schedule now, and only just made it in before the next stage starts.

Here is a single battlalion of French Lights from Lancashire Games .. photographed without the aid of sunlight.

eeeks !

View of the climb up through the "Circle of Death".

Late war French - 1813

Tour de France - Stage 15

2 more battalions of late war French roll off the production line ...

French Division - 1813

Tour de France - Stage 14

Great stage race last night with huge amounts of drama ... sabotage on the course, killer hill climbs at 18%, death defying descents down wet slopes, chaos, drama, and sportsmanship.  Wiggo is a true British champion !

Good stage to pull out some masses now and look at a Division on the table, all based up on battalion sabot bases.

Here is what an 1813 Division roughly looks like at 1:60 scale.  This is modelled on the French 6th Division / II Corps on the Southern front at Leipzig in 1813.

Lucky for me ... the French units are quite 'understrength' for this campaign.

The leading brigade - 3 battalions of Legere with 3 battalions of ligne in the 2nd wave.  3 Battalions in column of divisions on each flank, and 2 batteries in the centre.

Note the lack of cavalry at the Division level.  Not much more at Corps level for this unit either.

Vistula Legion - Leipzig 1813

Tour de France - Stage 4

Continuing on with the painting challenge, I was struggling to get a bit finished last night.

Quite appropriate, as the high pace of the race so far so many riders struggling to hold their line and stay out of trouble at the front of the peleton.

Part of 2 battalions of the Vistula Legion - Leipzig 1813.

Head tube airbrush work on That Rider's bike.

French 7e Legere - Wagram 1809

Tour de France - Day 2

Following on from the prolog with Stage 1 proper, we had an exciting race last night, featuring the yellow jersey making a bold statement up the front of the race .. a few crashes .. and a mad pace all the way to the line.

Right at the end, a young rider from Slovakia .. showing something short of contempt for the rest of the field, almost cruising past Spartacus to take the stage win in the final metres.

So Ill throw in some colourful French Legere to match the feel of that stage.

French 16eme Legere

Regiment of the Day

... and some more French legere for good measure.

5 bases of troops in march attack pose, with 5 matching skirmisher bases - mostly double based Carabiniers.

Saxon Boguslawski Fusilers

Regiment of the Day

A few more Eureka Saxons out the way today ... this one is a small detachment of sharpshooters to provide a token skirmish screen for the main line troops.

Again, I have gone with a distinctive non-regulation jacket colour for these light troops. Same colours as the Saxon artillery uniforms in this case.

And the little green plumes to denote that they are sharpshooters.

15e Legere - Wagram 1809

Regiment of the Day

Today we have the 15th Legere, being the light infantry contingent of the 2nd Division, III Corps - which fought at Wagram in 1809.

Irish Infantry - Bulkeley - Seven Years War

Regiment of the Day

Today we have the Irish (in French Service)

Been looking forward to getting these on the table - a small unit of Irish volunteers under the command of Colonel Bulkeley.

Bavarian 6th Light Infantry - Wagram 1809

Regiment of the Day

Today we look at the highly dependable 6th Light Infantry battalion, attached to Wrede's 2nd Division .. which marched on a long slog to make it to the battle of Wagram in 1809.

13eme Legere

Regiment of the Day

13eme Legere

Battle of Wagram, 1809

III Corps - Davout
Division Morand

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One of the more innovative features of the French army of this period is the extensive use of Light Infantry drilled in skirmisher tactics.

Each Division of the line in the Grande Armee usually includes at least 1 complete regiment of Light Infantry, capable of providing a Division wide skirmisher screen for the main attack columns.



Today we look at the 13eme Legere regiment - a full compliment of 4 bases (battalions) of highly skilled veteran marksmen capable of fighting in open order.