Memorial Weekend Napoleonic Gamefest -- The Battle of Aspern Essling
| Hi Everybody,
Memorial weekend we are looking to get on the table the 1809 Napoleonic battle -- the Battle of Aspern-Essling.
This is a BIG battle and it going to take us two days to play it to a conclusion. So the plan is to run it on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend( May 29th and 30th) and make it a big sleep-over/gamefest at Chris Penney place ((this also happens to be Mr Penney's birthday weekend as well!).
I know, it being a holiday weekend, some of us will not be able to take two days out for gaming. But as long as we have a core group that can do both days, there will be enough going on in the game to keep all folks engaged and having fun, even if they can only play on the Saturday or Sunday.
We will be using the Age of Eagles rule set which is a Napoleonic modification of the ACW Fire and Fury rules we used to game Stones River back in January. The learning curve on these rules is quick so don't stress it if you have not played them before.
This game can easily accommodate 10 of us -- we will start up at 9:30 am on Saturday May, 29th.
Please rsvp and let us know if you can make it, either for the whole two day game or just for one of the days.
Thanks everybody!
Billy |
Hi Everybody,
Billy
Attachment: French OOB at Aspern.doc (30.0KB)
Attachment: Austrian OOB at Aspern.doc (32.0KB)
Wow! This sounds like a good time.
I've got a weekend of hobby related activities planned with one of my nephews, age 7, so won't be able to make this kind of event, but some day I'll try to participate in something like this. We got terrain projects to work on, some painting to do, and some gaming, too.
As I previously stated, I unfortunately will not be able to attend.
Hopefully you'll have some pictures to share?
Mike
I talked with the nephew about going to this event just to see it, yet he wasn't thrilled with the idea of such a long ride to and back. Maybe someday, yet hope there are plenty of pictures taken that can be displayed here, so I can show him what he missed.
Ah, hem. Photos? AAR?
I think from what they pulled off, we should check for a pulse first.
Hey All,
We had an interesting game this past weekend -- it turned out to be quite different from the historical result. Historically, Napoleon launches an early morning spoiling attack against the Austrian center, but quickly realizes that not only does his communication bridge keep getting taken out by the Austrians sending fire rafts down the Danube behind him, but the Austrians really have a lot of guys deployed against him on the Marchfeld. So he ends up fighting a vicious and brutal rearguard action and withdraws his Army to the west bank of the Danube.
Our fight went a bit differently! :-)
The French command decided to ignore the threats to their lines of communication at the bridge and launch a full blown attack with their Cavalry Reserve on the Austrian left. I believe “He who dares Wins is the technical term for this strategy. They planned to hold in the center and demonstrate to keep the Austrians honest on their left.
The Austrian plan was to demonstrate on the wings and use their overwhelming number advantage in both troops and artillery to advance on the French center.
Promptly at 6am the French moved to engage on their right to engage the Austrian left while the Austrian center cautiously advanced. Things quickly went downhill for the French forces from there on. The Austrian infantry brigades formed square against the French cavalry while their cannons pounded the French horseman. The Austrian heavy cavalry soon arrived on the scene and sent the French reeling backwards in disarray. In the center the French troops fell back from their positions along the defensive berm and the quick and wily (who would have thought??) Austrians seized the moment and grabbed the berm for themselves.
It was only 9:30am, but the French army was in serious danger of being cut in two. Increasingly frantic French assaults all along the Austrian center ran up against a solid line of Austrian infantry supported by a huge 60 gun Grand Battery just led to the shattering of the Guard Heavy cavalry and finally forced the French to withdraw back towards the Danube. By 11am Essling had fallen, the French cavalry reserve was cut off from the bridges, and the Austrians in full attack mode all along the center line, we decided to call the game.
It was an overwhelming Austrian Victory, no doubt about it. But we have to give the French command credit for trying such a daring plan. While it did not pay off in this instance it did push the very Limits of Glory! J
Overall it was grand time. We gamed for two days, drank too much and feasted quite well – a very proper way to celebrate Mr. Penney’s birthday!
My thanks to everyone who made the trek to come play, and especially to Chris for playing host to us all for the two whole days!
I'll post pics soon!
Billy
Sounds like you all had a great time. Very nice looking field
How do you define "drinking too much"?
Mike
GORGEOUS! I look forward to playing your NAP game next chance I can.
Keep up the good works!
NIVEN
Hmm. Knowing the crowd, I'm guessing the French stepped off at 6am in game time, not our time! Turns are half an hour, correct? How long did it take to play till the 9:30 turn?
Pics look great. Thanks for the AAR and for posting the photos.
Dean
Hello.
Proof once again of my "across the room" rule: You can tell a Napoleonics game from across the room because NOTHING puts a lot of troops on a board like Napoleonics.
Great stuff and sounds like a wonderful time.
Bob Bailey
