Cameron, David and myself had a big Naps game in my loft yesterday. We decided on a battle from 1813 with Russians and Austrians against French. I will add another table eventually as the space on our battlefield was pretty limited.

Cameron studying the battlefield. Cameron supplied some great snacks!

I had a couple of beers while posting so the pics are in no particular order. Basically I pressured and pinned David on the left while waiting for my 2nd brigade to arrive. David sent his light horse straight through the centre in an attempt to split our armies in 2 (forgot to take pics!).

This was another learning curve for us with the latest GdB rules. We started around 12 noon and finished around 9pm with an adobo break (Filipino food) and a couple of other short stops. We definitely were getting the hang of the rules as time went on. I ordered a 2nd rule book last night so fingers crossed we can dump the 2nd editions for good! 

The Allies (Cameron and I) started off with a brigade each of Austrians and Russians and a single cavalry regiment each and David started off with roughly the same. We worked the game out as an encounter and I set it that Cameron and I would have another brigade each coming on later (both grenadiers) and David would have 2 also coming on (1 guard and 1 line). Plus David would have a cuirassier brigade of 2 regiments that should have tipped the cavalry in his favour.

My AB French battalion advancing against me! David advanced really slowly at 1st and didn’t wish to bring on his reserves as he was a little uncertain how to manoeuvre so many battalions at the same time. I knew what he meant as I felt the same myself after such a big break from playing and certainly when we started to play a few years back I felt as though I was dancing with my battalions from formation to formation and struggling with the order restrictions. Still you just have to play to learn and who cares how it ends up as long as you have fun!

Prussian cuirassiers sitting in support at the end of the game. In the centre I think these guys will be very important.

Cameron occupied the farm with a battalion of line awaiting the French attack. This is 1 of the Battalions Cameron picked up from Robert. I was surprised and pleased how smooth the battle for the BUA went.

David slowly starting to pressure our right flank. A single 48 man battalion of Cameron’s Austrians held up the French attack for some time managing to draw in melee with 2 French battalions before a 3rd re enforced the melee!!! Almost all the pics I took of Cameron’s Austrians didn’t come out so I will have to take more pics. Sorry Cameron!

The wood was just a light wood and troops could pass though it at regular pace.

A view from down the barrels of my Russian 12 pounder battery. I seriously need to paint some light Russian guns as well as more cavalry.

My Russian cuirass waiting for David’s cuirass to make their move.

The struggle for the centre, if the French cuirass broke through I think the game was over for the us!?!

My Russians slowly edging towards their destiny!!!

Mai had a wee look at our “to be continued” battlefield. Mai very kindly supplied us with lunch/dinner of fried rice etc. Mai was quite surprised when she seen the table at the end,“Oh wow” was her reaction so it must look pretty good!

The old guard a little bit off from their brigade but soon would be on the right track.

My Russian cuirassiers smashing David’s 1st Cuirassier regiment. I rolled a double 6 (my 1st of the game) at this critical point capturing an eagle and David rolled really low and they routed! I should point out David captured 2 flags in melee during the day. 1 with a gun battery against a full Austrian battalion in column.

David’s 2nd regiment of Cuirassiers smashed through a Prussian horse battery who failed to get off a good shotAll in all a it took us a while to get to grips and I was concerned about the size of the table and that maybe I was being to ambicious with the amount of troops coming into action however it worked pretty well. Cameron won unit of the day with his Prussian dragoons on support orders that thumped, maintained dicipline then thumped 2 French light cavalry regiments before returning to their own lines.At the end of the day David had managed to take the small farm and had badly damaged Camerons 1st Austrian brigade however Cameron’s 2nd Austrian brigade was edging towards the fight (however they will be up against French guard) so 50/50 on that side. In the centre David’s Cuirass had 2 sides of the coin with 1 breaking into a very dangerous position and the other routing. On my side I finally started to break through David’s 1st brigade however he does have a full untouched brigade in support so still a very even battlefield. It was a marathon of a battle and I think the guys enjoyed themselves, I certainly did!