Battle of Friedland 1807

We had planned a big Napoleonic game this week and rather than just create a random scenario we based the battle around the Battle of Friedland. Of course this is pretty impossible in 28mm without almost stretching the limits to breaking point, however we managed to squeeze many of the main elements of the battle into our game. Really of course it was an opportunity to get as main French and Russian figures into the table, in fact currently all of our figures !

Plenty of resources on the internet for the battle

I find these Command and Colours scenarios particularly useful as they have already distilled the battle to its very key elements

The British weather wasn’t good but just about ok to game back out in the ‘shed’ my table maxed out to 13x6

A sight to gladden the heart invincible French Heavy cavalry….spoiler Lol

Massed French Infantry on the left

The Russians in the village of Sortlack

Russian guns over the river with the bulk of their infantry to the right of Freidland

French heavy guns set up on the high ground

To the right French infantry supported by Dragoons

Ney’s troops advancing through Sortlack wood with freshly painted Hussars !

We were using Valour and Fortitude which we have pretty much nailed down now, one observation is it really seems to encourage troops to attack in Line rather than column, ok for the British but doesn’t quite feel right for the French and Russians. Next time we may tweek the rules slightly to encourage a more historical feel ?

The first cavalry clash in the centre the French dragoons getting the worst of it 🙁

Frnech infantry watch on as the dragons are beaten back

On the left the French heavies have caught the Cossacks napping, using the Vive L’Emperor extra boost they charge in, despite all the advantages in combat they are thrown back by very poor dice rolling. Some Russian trickery ?

The infantry advance on the left but slowly

While the cannons let loose

Slightly delayed the final french ‘Brigade’ arrives in the centre heading for Friedland

With the dragoons regrouping the infantry advance through the woods

Staying in column they advance

The Russians have some Lancers and with their own Heavy cavalry blown the infantry advance on the left now slows

Shooting around Sortlack while the main infantry advance up the hill

The Russians dragoons seem reluctant to attack (failing to activate twice I think)

The battle now in full flow

The Russian reserves around Friedland advance to battle

Grenadiers advance towards the village currently held by the Russian Guards

The French crash forward (in line !)

The grenadiers manage a key win in the village against the guards who had been worn down by artillery fire

After a ferocious round of combat the French get the better of the left flank, breaking at least one Russian Brigade

The french have also managed to force the hill on the right although the Russians are still holding out in Sortlack. The ‘fresh’ hussars have not seen combat but admirably held the flank secure.

At this point we called the battle with the French having their noses in front. The Russians have been beaten back and would have little option now but to retreat back through the town, but as often happens it has cost a lot of French blood to secure the victory.

A splendid Napoleonic encounter, I’m enjoying the rules but we may seek to encourage attack formations a little more in the future. Needless to say moving all these Napoleonic figures around for the day was great fun whatever the outcome for my Heavy Cavalry !

Thanks as always , we are away for a couple of days then hopefully a game next week as yet undecided, perhaps a Bolt action encounter in Norway ? As I have some poles who have been waiting for a battle for a while.

Matt

Napoleonic French Hussars galloping into battle….

Just a quick post before I start to get behind again. These chaps were finished over the last couple of days and are galloping to the sound of the guns this morning.

They are based on the 7th Hussars but their uniforms are not for the purists. Perry miniatures whose cavalry I think is absolutely superb to put together and paint. They have created a real headache though as i have now discovered the swords in the upright position don’t quite fit in my normal storage boxes ! this is really annoying. But I think I have a plan…..

These will see action in a couple of hours against the Russians so I’m off to finish setting up 😀

Thanks as always for taking the time to pop in

Matt

Western Desert 1942 and more from this week

Has been a pretty busy week this week lots of hobby time and occasional dashes outside when the rain has stopped. In no particular order……..

Myself and Steve have both been building forces for the western desert 1942 and 1943 and we have been meaning to get them back on the table. Saturday was an opportunity with the weather reasonable enough to setup the bigger shed table to give us as much space as possible. Above the 12x6 foot of desert. No particular historical battle but the Italians would be fighting the British to capture three objectives, the hill in the foreground, the railway station and the small village in the distance.

British Valentines attempt a right flank movement

A battery of 25pounders

British infantry head for the village but the leading trucks are immediate hit at long range throwing the infantry out and pinning them down

In the centre, British Cruiser tanks take immediate fire and get the worse of the fight

Italian tanks cross the railway supported by Semovente assault guns they have weak armour but are armed with powerful guns

The Italians are supported by a German recon unit, and the Italian infantry has made a dash for the railway station, there they come under heavy fire and are heavily pinned down

The Italians push forward, fair to say both sides suffered from some incredible poor dice rolling, both sides on one turn unable to even roll a four with multiple attempts

British heavy Matilda’s move up behind the infantry to assault the village

The valentines are making slow going on the right flank !

Very pleased with the aesthetics of these 15mm tanks in the desert

More Italian infantry approaches the station

The British now attempt a left flank attack as well with a squadron of grants.

British infantry is diverted towards the railway in trucks but these too are knocked out leaving the infantry to struggle across the desert under fire 

Eventually far to much smoke on the British side as the Italians tanks get the better of the combat, the British Bishops eventually knock out Italian antitank guns by the railway station

Perhaps the high (humorous) point of the battle came when one Italian tank squadron managed to roll two blunder double sixes on two consecutive turns causing them to flee the field. Losing my normal decorum the British commander may have let out a small cheer 🙂

Finally the Valentines have made it round the flank but it is really a couple of turns too late

In the centre the tank is tank combat is continuing, but the British are still struggling to make any hits count

The Italian/German air cover attempts to hit the British artillery

Finally the flanks starts to hot up but too late, and even now they struggle to make a decisive break through

In the last throws of the battle the German recon team captures the hill

The railway station is contested 

The village is also contested, but to be fair the Italians have used their numerical superiority to get infantry into both built up areas

The two remaining Grants on the left are now also starting to push forward but it is too late.

All in all the Italians have clearly won the contest the British were really struggling to contest their early capture of the two built up areas. The dice rolling on both sides meant the contest was less decisive than expected. This is the first time we have played with the collection on this scale and we learnt something’s for next time. With fairly balanced forces and open terrain you inevitably get a fairly static battle both sides exchanging long range fire. We decided one option for the future is to amend the rules to make it harder to hit moving targets this would encourage a more mobile battle. It was however, fun to get the collection on the table.

Some painting from this week…

The 8th Army were painted up just in time for the battle, these are forged in battle figures, they are really nice to paint but as the focus is on tanks I’m not sure I would want/need any more ?

A final few Tallarn command figures, these chap came with a broken sword but luckily it matched well with a plastic sword in my bits box

The Imperial standard bearer to match in with other figures in the Tallarn force

This week also saw the next in our Konigsberg Chain of Command Campaign. 

This time the Germans are attacking across a very crowded battlefield with woods and buidlings. The challenge is the Russians don’t need to attack but merely have to defend, so despite loses from pervious battles the Germans have to attack

We tried a mortar battery but really this caused as many problems for the Germans as for the Russian defenders

The Germans give it their best with their pushing forward through the trees on both flanks, but they can’t quite get to grips with the Russian defenders, who concentrate their fire on anybody putting their head out !

Eventually the PzIV makes it through the woods pushing the defenders back but it gets into a deadly duel with a Russian T34.

A critical failed dice roll (story of the week) failing to get a 7 with two dice to hit the advancing T34 the PzIV is knocked out ! The Germans dug in for another couple of turns but really the battle was over, with a fourth campaign battle to take place before possible reinforcements they need to at least try and limit their casualties. A challenging game for the Germans attacking is proving very difficult in CoC !

Finally another outdoor shop from earlier in the week

The weather was very changeable though with blustery showers 😅

That’s it for this week, I have been busy painting more french cavalry for a Napoleonic game hopefully on Wednesday

Thanks as always for checking by 👍 Matt