Sunday, 29 January 2017

The Battle of Kirchdorf 1809, A Napoleonic Batrep



Finally, I played my first game of the 2017!
For a change it wasn't Postie reffing the game nor were they his figures. Ian's been collecting his 25mm Napoleonics for quite a few years now and this was only their second ever outing. And the last game Ian reffed was back in 2011, a WWII bash, see that here.
Ian's using General de Brigade as rules, they're a bit complicated and a tad long winded, but it was his first proper go at reffing the rules so we'll all hopefully get to learn the rules over time.
There were only 2 Rejects playing, Surj picked the French outta the hat, while I was in
charge of the Austrians.


We had to set on maps blind to what the other was doing. We were given info that some terrain
needed to be captured for points at he end of the game.
The left of the field, I guess both the hills were worth points?
Surj placed all his Horse this side up against my 2 Cuirassiers.


On the right, was a bridge, which I was told to capture and in the left of the pic in the centre of the 
table was a crossroads. I placed my Austrain Grenadiers here, in Hold orders, something
I would later regret!


Surj's overloaded right flank.


My plan was to hold all my infantry first, then move forward and attack next to the 
bridge, while my left flank horse would engage anything on the opposite hill.
Surj on the other hand was only going to attack on his overloaded side.


The Swiss and French in defensive formation.


Now this is where the game went tits up for me. After seeing Surj's setup
I realised I needed to push my right forward now, and also release my other cavalry brigade 
to cross the river and attack the French flank.
I could only test to change 1 order, which I failed miserably!


We both had engage orders with our horse and moved forward to attack.


My 9 pounders on the hill.


The first Cavalry engagement went Surj's way. One of my Cuirassiers failed their morale test
to countercharge and fled, leaving these two above to fight it out.


After failing my change order test once again, I was allowed a free order change, only because Ian felt sorry for me! I turned my artillery to fire on the opposite hill, and moved my infantry on top of the hill.


Meanwhile on the opposite flank, my troops stood motionless unable to change their orders.


Here's where the battle was won and lost.


Surj charged, my Jagers moved back behind the line unit.


Next turn I failed the order move again, but was allowed to change orders
anyway. The Grenadiers were given a assault order and pushed forward.


Looking a bit dodgy!


Oh dear, Surj threw a double 6 in melee and knocked 13 figures from my unit which
then routed.


I carried on moving forward but the game was already lost on the left flank.


So the game was called a victory for the French.


Conclusion
My dice throwing ability was really crap.
While my set up was ok, giving my foot hold orders really lost me the game, I couldn't change them, if Surj and Ian didn't let me change my orders when they did, the game would have been over earlier.
It was difficult giving your troop orders on the map before you'd seen the enemy dispostion, something that Ian will change for the next game.
And it was great seeing 25mm Naps at Reject HQ!

56 comments:

  1. Ian has a lot of figures.
    Planning a battle without knowing the position would be difficult. Hopefully you do better in the next game. And hopefully that's not over five years from now.

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    1. Cheers Alex. That was only a 5th of Ian's figures. We'd need a table the dize of a football pitch to get them all out!

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  2. Excellent looking game Ray!! Hats off to Ian for such nice armies! While I understand 15mm and smaller are perhaps more practical for Naps, but my gosh 28mm just gives an a awesome spectacle if your lucky enough to have enough troops and table space! I've been debating starting Naps for years and am leaning 28mm which isn't surprising since it's my favorite scale.

    I see your rolling was again letting you down, but I bet your cannons were still hitting!;-)

    Christopher

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    1. 15mm's still the way to ho Chris. My artillety did nothing for the whole game. Infact with my 3 batteries in the middle I threw a double 1, which halves their effect for the rest of the game. I did this on turn 2? Just not my day......

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  3. A splendid batrep with spectacular Austrian lines...Superb!

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  4. Impressive looking game indeed !!!

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  5. Wow! What an amazing looking game Ray.

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    1. It did look rather nice. Sgame most of the troops didn't do anything in the game though.

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  6. I was there at the first outing of these figures, good game but the dice gods were laughing at you!

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  7. ow man,these massed ranks look splendid! I can't remember when I fought a game like this!

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    1. You're always welcome to visit Reject HQ for a fame Sander?

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  8. Nice pics ray! :)

    So, Big Lee's dice have improved dramatically and your dice have become crap? Something very strange going on there... ;)

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  9. Nice looking battle Ray. Too bad on the die rolls. It does happen some days.

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    1. Seems to happaning a bit too often at the mo though Rod gggrrr!

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  10. Pity I missed the game, if only so I could have watched you loose to Surj...Oh the shame! Lol

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  11. That looks like it would have been a joy to play - except for those weighted dice you were using obviously.

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  12. Stunning collection and beautiful game photos, Ray! Too bad about the dice, though. With your dice rolling ability (or handicap), you and I would be evenly matched in a game.

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  13. Really nice figures Ian has but too large for my modest table

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    1. Too large for our table, that was only a 5th of his armies.

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  14. fantastic looking game, shame about the orders

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  15. Awesome looking game there Ray!

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  16. '25mm Naps at Reject HQ'
    you napped for 25 minutes during the game? :)

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  17. Cracking good stuff

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  18. A fine looking game there! A shame the dice gods deserted you so callously, happens to us all!

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    1. They not only deserted me, they gave me a right good kicking!

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  19. Great looking game! Nappies look great in 28mm!

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  20. Glad you got to play your first game of the year. Here's to many more.

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  21. Nice looking game, it inspires me to get the French and Spanish out.

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  22. No, no photos of them so far. I'll take some soon.

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  23. No, no photos of them so far. I'll take some soon.

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    1. I shall look forward to seeing them then OB.

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  24. Looks like you've inherited my dice rolling malaise Ray. Where was the rest of the crew?

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    1. Does indeed John, my dice rolling was pretty awful. Not sure where the others all were. Made a change to play 1 on 1 though.

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  25. Such a spectacular table! You have angered the Dice Gods for sure. On the upside, you helped end the game a bit early allowing more drinking and chats? Next time!

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