Last weekend was June 18, known in wargaming circles as Waterloo day. A group of us celebrated the day with a Napoleonic wargame, featuring no British, and astonishingly, no French. Yes, it was an Austro-Saxon force fighting the Russians near a little town called Gorodechno. This battle was fought along Napoleon's southern flank in his invasion of Russia.
Here is a map of the battle.
Three of us were Russian while the others all took Austro-Saxon commands. The initial setup looked like this.
The Russians lined up on ridges facing Austrians and Saxons doing the same. The rules used are a homebrew set but fast playing and fun IMO, I'm not usually one to enjoy homebrew sets, but after a couple goes with them I do like them. The Russians were to hold the main east/west ridge for 10 turns then scoot off to the east (far end of the table). Most of the battle was static for a good portion for the Russians. About half my command faced off against the Austrians across the river, the other half facing the forces coming to take the main ridge.
The east end saw a huge swirling cavalry melee, going back and forth the whole game. The ridgeline just pounded away at the advancing Saxons for the required 10 turns. The Austrians across the river just fired artillery at me, to good effect.
The advance on the ridge.
Unfortunately for the Russians, though we held the ridgeline for the required time, the cavalry battle sealed the Russian escape route, and their fate. While we had some cavalry, it would not be enough to reopen the escape route. Overall a really fun game done in 4 hours . I had thought I took better pics that this. I guess I was too caught up in the action. Thanks for stopping by!
Better luck next time
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