September 2011 - Page 3 of 3 - War Games Holiday Centre

Aspern-Essling was certainly one of those games of ebb and flow, the French were repulsing the attacks until the Granary and the Church fell, then the Guard and reserve arrived, throwing the Austrians back,

Austrian infantry from the Elite Miniatures range.

The Young Guard attempted to take Aspern initially

Young Guard from Curial’s division hang on to the outskirts of Aspern.

The Middle Guard are from the Elite Miniatures range, while the Young Guard Tirailleur’s are from the Connoisseur range. Great looking figures.

The centre was held by the cavalry divisions predominantly, here Lasalles Light cavalry support the remains of Boudet’s division.

The majority of our figures for the Napoleonic range are from the Connoisseur, Bicorne or Elite miniatures ranges.

Even here the French were sorely pressed, if it had not been for the Cuirassier, all would have been lost.

The imposing, flamboyant general in the centre has been converted and painted by Doug Mason, he represents Bessieres bringing forward the division of Nansouty!

We have the Camapign in the Peninsular next week, so the majority of the updates will be via the video links.

Austrian infantry in column of attack, approching Essling.

These figures are from our Elite miniatures collection, painted and tweaked by Doug Mason.

One of the many melee’s outside Essling.

These are the same battalions from the previous picture, now embroiled in a life or death struggle with their French counterparts.

The Grenadiers of d’Aspre’s division, storm into the village of Essling.

These chaps are more of the Elite miniatures range, they are a very nice figure, painted and based by Dave Dochert, from One man and his Brushes fame.

In the centre the cavalry melee’s were just as desperate, the Guard Cavalry presented and conducted themselves well.

Empress Dragoons thunder into the plucky Austrian Hussars.

This particular melee started well, although the supporting squadrons for the French were pinned, so this fine regiment was eventually cut down by the Austrian light cavalry! The Dragoons were painted by Doug Mason and are Elite Miniatures, while the Austrian Hussars are Connoisseur Figures and were painted by Mark Allen I believe!

More tomorrow.

Well as you all know we had a right ol’ dong dong here at the Wargames Holiday Centre last week. The Austrians giving the French a good thrashing!

I took lots of images through the weekend and thought it worth continuing the presentation of these for your delictation.

Austrian Cuirassier, painted and tweaked by the master himself, Mr Doug Mason.

These are from the Elite miniatures range, a lovely model! They really give the feel of “heavy cavalry”!

Austrian Infantry, painted and based by Chris Cornwell.

These are the infantry that Chris has been covering on his blog, using the Army Painter soft tone I believe, the finish is really nice, I also like the matt finish, it lends a softer tone to the paint job, pardon the pun!! The figures are again from the Elite Miniatures collection.

Sadly for us, Chris has been inundated with work so the updates have been sorely missed. That said Chris tells me that he hopes to get back into the swing of the updates very soon. I think you’ll find the blog very interesting reading to date anyway.

More tomorrow.

Overnight both sides had received reserves. The Grenadier battalions from the Austrian reserve had arrived, while on the French side the Guard and three divisions from Lannes Corps, St.Hilaire, Claparede and Tharreau. All were rushed into the front line.

Troops from Tharreau’s division move to Essling.

The three divisions from Lannes Corps moved to support Essling, St.Hilaire’s veteran division holding the village initially, with Claparede in support. Tharreau moved just to the North east of the village. All these were supported by the Heavy Cavalry division of St. Sulpice.

Claparede’s troops move in to support the fighting in Essling.

The Fighting around Essling intensified with the Granary changing hands multiple times, with the Austrians getting the upper hand. The reserves got drawn into a fight with an Austrian division from Rosenberg’s IV Corps.

Austrian troops advancing with cavalry support to engage the supporting division of Claparede.

In the Centre the cavalry melee intensified with the Guard squadrons being thrown into the maelstrom! The Austrians still stood firm, allowing the Austrians to press their advantage in Essling.

Austrian Uhlans from the elite miniatures range, painted by Chris Cornwell move toward the environs of Essling.

The fighting on the second day had begun around 04.00 am. so with 30 minutes representing a turn by 10.30 am the French were under real pressure in Essling and Aspern had predominantly been captured, with the Guard falling back toward the Danube.

Austrian Hussars from the elite miniatures range, painted and “tweaked” by Doug Mason move toward the environs of Essling.

The battle moved to a more desperate fight around Aspern, the troops from St.Cyr, stormed into the Church yard once more, while the Guard fell further back, giving ground gradually, the Austrians hot on their heels!
Essling was re-captured and lost again, St Hilaire’s veterans losing many men in order to hold this side of the beachhead!

The troops from St. Hilaire’s division as they approached Essling, the calm before the storm.

Eventually the Austrians wrested control of the villages from the French, the Imperial Guard were in full retreat, the only thing saving the French from a huge defeat was the fact that most of their cavalry was still holding in the Centre and would cover the retreat. Napoleon, however had been shown the true might of the Austrian Empire! Wagram, well that was to come and could be another entirely different game, we’ll see in the New Year.

More next week.

Overnight the divisions of Lannes Corps arrived, along with the French Guard, the combatants fell back and bedded down for the night, in the villages of Apsern and Essling, this was within pistol shot of each other.

Young Guard from Curial’s division fight for the village of Apsern.

The Austrians renewed their assault on the villages, in force.

The assault on Aspern is renewed.

In the centre across the Marchfeld the Austrians deployed their forces in depth in attempt to contain the French.

Ausrian forces deployed in depth to contain the French.

The Imperial Guard deployed just south of Aspern along with the Young Guard, while Lannes Corps deployed in and around Essling, allowing Legrand and Boudet’s divisions (Massena’s Corps) to fill some of the Centre.
The reserve Cavalry Corps deployed across the remaining gap between the two villages, that was seven regiments of Cuirassier and Carabinier on the table!
In front of them the Austrian Corps Liechtenstein and Hohenzolllern deployed in the centre with the support of Hesse-Homburg.

Hohenzollern and Hesse-Homburg forces deployed to hold back the French Heavy Cavalry.

The Guard attempted to re-capture the outskirts of Aspern but ran into trouble when the supporting troops were enfiladed by Austrian rifle armed skirmishers, the resulting melee and morale checks saw a large part of the Young Guard falling back, pinning the columns of Dorsenne’s Old Guard.

Dorsenne’s Old Guard moving to support the Young Guard.

It was just after the initial routs from the Young Guard that a squadron of Hussars appeared through a gap in the hedge between the buildings in Aspern and charged into the confused mass, over two hundred figures were removed as a result, crushing the Guard formations.

The resulting confusion was enormous.

What was happening over at Essling? Find out tomorrow.