Month: August 2011

Meanwhile at the villages of Aspern and Essling the French are hanging on, Gouvion St Cyr has arrived along with Nansouty’s heavy cavalry division.

French and Allied Cuirassier melee Austrian counterparts

Cuirassier melee for the central ground of the Marchfeld.

The Austrians have now begun their assaults upon the villages in earnest.

St. Cyr's Division moves to support Aspern.

Veterans of St. Cyr’s division move through Aspern to support the fight for the church yard.

I love these two battalions, originally done by Doug Mason, they have been tweaked and pinned in the usual Doug fashion, painted by the man as well, including the flags! Great stuff!

Vets of Molitors division

Veterans of St. Cyr’s division move through Aspern to support the fight for the church yard.

The veterans of Molitors division initially moved through the boggy ground east of Aspern, crossing one of the tributaries from the Danube, unfortunately the terrain gave the French men real trouble, unforming them throughout most of their time here. The skirmisher building full of riflemen and the Hungarian line battalion soon put pay to this though, overnight the veteran battalion had to be withdrawn as it had lost over forty per cent casualties!

The white rings indicate a casualty, we use this method for artillery and cavalry as well, as it reduces the amount of paperwork required, thus speeding up the games.

Bavarian Chevau leger and French Hussars

The light cavalry of Marulaz and Lasalle were thrown out to help screen the arrival of the French reserves.

During the fighting the light cavalry of both armies performed as “battle cavalry”, throwing themselves into the maelstrom!

Lasalles Division

The light cavalry of Lasalle seen from the Austrian side.

Here the Bavarian Chevau Leger and the French 5th Hussars attempt to stem the flow of Austrian’s in the centre!

Reserves manoeuvring into position

Infantry from Hohenzollern’s II Armeekorps advance on Essling.

The fighting in Aspern became intense throughout the afternoon, with the French losing the outskirts of the village to Austrian numbers!

Did the French get their reserves through overnight.

Find out tomorrow!

Well, after nearly two weeks away from the website I’m back, batteries fully charged and ready for an exciting period here at the Wargames Holiday Centre. We have the first of our campaign weeks, the Campaign of 1808/09 in Spain. We’ll also be announcing the winner of our draw from the mailing list which will present one lucky subscriber with a free ticket to the WHC for a weekend.

The village of Essling

The village of Essling with the huge Granary in the centre.

First though we had the battle of Aspern Essling last weekend, the French bridgehead was held one French Corps and a light cavalry division, reinforcements were on their way however in the shape of the cavakry reserve and another infantry corps, along with the Imperial Guard. These were all going to be needed though, as the Austrians under Archduke Charles had brought to bear a huge combined force to smash Napoleon and his army on the banks of the river Danube. Will the French hold out?

The village of Aspern, with the Curch in the middle.

The village of Aspern with the Church yard prominent in the centre.

Here at the Wargames Holiday Centre we manoeuvre our reserves and initially deploy troops on tiles, these are either red or blue backed with the description of the troops they represent on the white side. You will note these from time to time in my photo’s and i just wanted to reming people of why these may be in the photo. Once the tile is visible and within 54″ the figures they represent are put into their place.

Vets defend the church at Aspern

French infantry from Molitors division look to hold the church at Aspern.

To start, the French only have two of the divisions from Massena’s Corps on the field, they also have the support from two light cavalry brigades as well though, Lasalle and Marulaz. The Austrians start arriving immediately and there was no time lost in throwing themselves against the defences of the villages.

Hesse-Homburg

The Austrian staff officer Hesse-Homburg, bringing up some of the Austrian cavalry reserve.

The first village to take an assault was the Aspern one, the Austrians moved into range and took the first volley from the defenders, the wily Austrian commander managed to kill off all the skirmisher formations on the outskirts of the village though and quickly prepared for the assault.
Approaching the Granary

The Austrian troops from Rosenbergs corps approach Essling, some of the fiercest fighting was to take place here over the weekend.

The reserves from Lobau island began to arrive for the French and Legrands division from Massena’s corps hastened to Essling. Napoleon, Bessieres and Lannes all arrived and Napoleon hastened to where he thought the fighting would be immediately, while sending Lannes to command at Essling, Bessieres met up with D’Espagne and led two regiments of Cuirassier forward to thwart the Austrian advance guard in the centre.

Carabinier take on Austrian Cuirassier

French Carabinier (Guard Grenadier heavies, doubling as!) attempt to stem the tide of Austrian cavalry.

The heavy cavalry division of St.Sulpice arrived next. In order to replicate the precarious situation with the bridges over the Danube any succssful roll for the French reserves was met with a roll od one d6 from the Austrians, any sixes sent the French reserve back into the reserve pool, “there goes another floating mill through our bridge!” This didn’t happen on the first day though and Gouvion St.Cyr’s division along with Nansouty’s heavies hastened to the fight.

St Cyr's troops arrive to support Aspern

Hesse Darmstadt and Wurrtemburg troops make up the 32 man veterans for St. Cyr’s divison, part of Massena’s Corps.

All the Austrians were here now though all except the Grenadier divisions, ( the photo above shows them, but this was taken later in the weekend) although these were close.

Just to remind everyone, I will be off for the next two weeks, returning on the weekend of the 29th to host Aspern-Essling 1809.

Tiger I

An ol’ favourite, Tiger I ’43 I believe.

Marlburian French command death.

Marlburian command base

Pic of the Day will return on the 29th August, following which there will be features on Doug Masons recent work, the excellent TQD Castings figures we have used for Arnhem and their Russians for Prokhorovka. I’l also be writing up the day event with the Reigate Wargames club.

See you all on my return.

Thanks,

Mark.

Last pictures before the open weekend. The weekend has display games of Waterloo, D-Day and an ACW battle from the Wilderness campaign.

Another view of Blenheim

Another look at Blenheim from earlier this year at the Wargames Holiday Centre.

Just until I get photoshop installed again, here ae a few more photos from earlier this year, these are Armoured infantry from the WWII collection.

Platoon of Gepanzerte

Gepanzerte from our late war collection.

The fighting from one of our ACW games

Fighting from one of our ACW battles.

I am on holiday for a ouple of weeks now, so the intention is to return on 29th August after the Aspern Essling weekend. There will be a video update for the battle and I will also be running features on the new figures which Doug Mason has recently provided to the WHC and a look at TQD Castings in our recent Arnhem game.

We have the open weekend fast approaching and all the tables have now been laid out. I have display games of WWII D-Day, an ACW battle in the “Wilderness” and the middle of the battle of Waterloo covering 28 feet in length and 6 foot wide.

Air combat

A lone fighter taking on the French air cover.

While we wait for normal service to resume, I have some of the old favourites.

British at Blenheim

Marlburian action at Blenheim earlier this year, here at the W.H.C.

Everyone likes to see pictures of nice looking figures, right?

McLaws Division

McLaws division at Chancellorsville earlier this year, here at the W.H.C.

Union Zouaves

Union Zouaves.

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