The Battle of Landshut - May 2008

The Austrian army are advancing down the Danube valley towards Munich.

The Bavarian army are marching to Landshut where they intend to hold them

Photo 1

Landshut is the four building stand at the cross roads on the left of the photo.

The top road leads to Linz

The bottom road leads to Munich

The left road leads to Ratisbon

The right road leads to Salzburg

The Bavarians (Jan) are defending on the left

The Austrians (Paul) are attacking from the right

Both armies enter their side of the table on move one

The river is fordable to infantry and cavalry, but artillery must use a bridge

Photo 2

The 1^st Austrian Korps have crossed the river Danube and are advancing against the Bavarian right flank, which is anchored on the schloss. Cavalry have forced the supporting infantry into square, and the jagers are about to storm the schloss.

Photo 3

The Austrians have captured the schloss and routed the garrison. They are about to swing right and roll up the whole Bavarian position.

Photo 4

The 2^nd Austrian Korps approach the Bavarian centre, but it is too strongly held for them to attempt to storm the bridge. On the far left the 1^st Korps, who stormed the schloss, are starting to swing right, which will allow 2^nd Korps to take the bridge and push on to Landshut.

Photo 5

The Bavarian centre is under pressure from 1^st Austrian Korps who are approaching from the left. 2^nd Austrian Korps, top of photo, are waiting for their opportunity to storm the bridge.

Photo 6

The Bavarians are attacking on their left. One corps has advanced to the left ofthe river and is approaching the lightly held farm. A second corps is crossing the river in support. 3rd Austrian Korps has deployed well back from the river in a defensive postion to hold their right flank while their main attack is delivered on the opposite flank

Photo 7

The Austrians in the farmhouse are about to be overrun. But they have done their job in delaying the main Bavarian attack. By the time they are established over the river, the Austrians will have taken Landshut and the Bavarians will have to retreat.

Battle of Celle - May 2008

Celle is the town in the middle at the cross roads. The centre road leads to Luneburg at the top of the photo and Brunswick at the bottom. The road left leads to Burgdorf and right to Bergen. Jan commands the Prussians who must hold Celle. Paul commands the French who are attacking from right to left.

This wargame was fought in April 2008. It was another of the 1813 campaign games. Each game was designed to be played in one day. If it was a club game it always finished the same day, though sometimes it would have to be stopped early and winner agreed.

When we played this game we were introducing new rules, so Jan and I played it on our own so that we could just stop and restart if we found one rule was not working.

The campaign background is that the Prussians are retreating to Burgdorf, and have left a rear guard at Celle to delay the French. The French must take the town without delay, or they will lose their touch with the retreating Prussian army.

Table Right. The Prussians have lost the combat on their right flank and are in retreat.

Table Centre. The Prussians have been driven out of Celle and are retreating .

Table Left. The Prussian are holding their left flank, but are under French attack

Table Right. The French have pushed their artillery forward to break the Prussians.

Table Centre. The French have taken Celle and are in pursuit of the retreating Prussians.

Table Left. The Prussians are holding the village, but only just. All out French attack.


Result

The French won, and the Prussian retreat continued.

Battle of Hannover - April 2008

This photo was taken during the early part of the game. Hannover is at the cross roads in the centre. The centre road leads to Magdeburg at the top and Hamburg at the bottom. Road to left leads to Osnabruck, one on the right to Erfurt. Jan commands the French on the left, and Paul the Prussians on the right.

This wargame was fought in April 2008. It was another of the 1813 campaign games. Each game was designed to be played in one day. If it was a club game it always finished the same day, though sometimes it would have to be stopped early and winner agreed.

This particular game was played between Jan and I, so there was no pressure to finish in one day. Indeed we would often have only two or three moves one morning or afternoon, and it could then last for many days.

The campaign background is that the French must hold Hannover to defend the northern approach to France and keep communications with Napoleon. Both French and Prussians are force marching to reach the city first. One French division arrives the night before the battle and starts the game in possession of the city.

French Centre. The French hold half of Hannover, and the Prussians the other half. Both are determined to hold their own and if possible take the other. The French CinC is just arriving to change the orders from Hold to Attack.

Prussian Centre. Blucher is leading the Prussian attack on Hannover. His presence would indicate that this is the critical attack of the game.

Prussian Left. Prussian infantry hold the hill, cavalry the open ground in front. This is a holding action to protect the main attack on Hannover, which is right of photograph.

French Right. The French hold the farm and are content to keep the Prussians at bay.

French Right. The French move through the woods and approach the T junction.

Prussian Right. The Prussians hold the farm which dominates the T junction. They are moving up to prevent any further French advance.

Battle of Gotha - February 2008

This game was fought on 28 February 2008 as part of a campaign set in Germany in 1813.

The French are advancing towards Halle and the Russians moving to block them.

Gotha is in the centre of the table. The French enter from the bottom of the photograph along the Kassel to Halle road. The Russians enter from the top edge.

The French are holding with their left flank on the hill. The Russians appear happy to sit and observe on the opposite hill.

The main French attack is in the centre atainst Gotha. Cuirassiers support on the left and hussars on the right.

The main Russian attack is on the French right. They have already broken a Saxon division and French hopes are firmly on the shoulders of the reserve division behind the hill.

The result was a convincing Russian victory.

Battle of Cordoba - February 2008

This game was fought on 8 February 2008 as part of the club campaign.

King Joseph is leading the French army south to capture Seville. The Spanish have concentrated at Cordoba to stop them at the river Guadalquivier.

The French enter the table from the right. They crossed the river on all three bridges, but were driven back on their left and centre, with heavy cavalry casualties. They held the right bridge until late afternoon, then were driven back by a Spanish counter attack

The Spanish held their left hill with their weakest division. Artillery drove the Polish back across the river. The two best divisions held the centre, and suffered heavy casualties. They held the bridge and supported the counter attack on their right. It was a poorly coordinated counter attack, but still managed to drive the French back across the river.

Spanish victory with 13 casualty point to 53 French casualty points.

Table setup. French enter from the right, Spanish from the left. The French have to drive the Spanish off the table to win the game. The Spanish only have to hold their side of the river to win.

Spanish Left. This was the weakest division, but their artillery kept the Poles from crossing the only bridge available on this flank.

Spanish Centre. The two best divisions hold the centre. The French have concentrated their artillery either side of the bridge and inflict heavy casualties, but the Spanish hold until nightfall.

Spanish right. The Spanish counter attack. One battalion, on their right, is routed. But the remainder drive the French back over the river.

Its Cats Play

Like most kittens, Buster loves to be the centre of attention. And he particularly like to get involved in our wargames. We don't have a door on our wargames room, so we can't keep him out.

If left alone he steps over the soldiers and does no harm. But if you try to lift him he suddenly becomes all legs and tail, sending everything flying in all directions. Left alone he walks backwards and forwards until he gets bored. Then he casually flicks the dice off the table. He always seems to pick the average dice, of which we only have two, rather than the 6 sided dice of which we have dozens. They make an interesting noise as they bounce off the tiles and end up under the table. And he thinks its great fun to follow me under the table as I try to get them back.

It makes for an interesting, if not a very satisfying, wargame.

Battle of Valladolid - January 2008

This battle was fought on 25 January 2008. It was another of our weekly club games, and was part of a campaign. This game was set in Spain in 1813. Wellington has started his push to drive the French out of Spain. He is approaching Valladolid when he is met by the French who have marched from Burgos.

By now our LFS rules were suffering from being tested each week. They are not designed for my numbers and types of figures, and are best suited for games up to corps size. I had adapted them, and that always leads to more problems than it solves. I was coming to the conclusion that I would have to start work on a new set, designed for what I have and what I want to do.

This photo is sent out before the game, together with an order of battle and game objectives, so that players can plan their game before they arrive to play. The British will enter from the left, the French from the right. There are nine scenic squares on the table and the player who controls the most at the end of 12 moves will win the game.