Leipzig October 16 1813 (simulation) in 15mm

 Using Napoleon's Battles rules (with a turn/time modification - each 'turn' would equal one (1) hour).

The Nanaimo Historical Miniatures group, with helpers from Victoria, Campbell River, the Vancouver region of the lower mainland in British Columbia played out the first day of LEIPZIG battle from the Napoleonic era.

photo by Alexander

For those following this blog some of this is going to be review, the preparations for this game began last year (indeed the idea is at least three years old), with terrain works being done by Cod Sticker, with the main map elements being completed in February.

I had begun my supports works in March, as we had moved and it took some time to have all the boxes sorted...

My biggest contributions turned out to be the control board, a few buildings, a re-purpose of the metal markers - made for ACW, and these last minute add-on casualty counters and disorder/rout markers.

photo by Brian

 

photo by Alexander

photo by Brian
(featuring the casualty marker in action)
a 'frog' arrived during the game in the River

The terrain by Cod was simply amazing, and his efforts really pay off with the many views of the swamps on the west side of Leipzig.

photo by Gerald
showing just Leipzig and the
amazing terrain map by Cod

photo by Gerald
again detail view of the swampy area

photo by Alexander
now with the trees and most of the French
forces on the map

photo by Alexander
the Cod Sticker

Okay so enough with the set up photos, here's a time lapse getting into a bit of the troop deployment, which was just started as I arrived and before I could get the time lapse camera set up.

That was Friday, next morning was going to bring the battle game itself, the big one: LEIPZIG

 

photo by Brian

we took a moment to toast the day
the fallen
and good fun with good fellows

the last-minute deployment completion by
one of the Allied Command Team

safety briefing

situation briefing
Malcolm was Napoleon in this game

a briefing about the clock and scoreboard
then GAME ON!

in the south a massive artillery exchange began

to the west, in the south, a column of Austrians
had begun to arrive ...

across the center, looking south, the Imperial Guard
Young Guard formations had been dispatched south
though they would take two hours to arrive

similar view as the Imperial Guard Cavalry has prepared
to depart to the North West of the field

meanwhile in the far north MacDonald had arrived
and begun moving west
the French were going to assault Blucher 

meanwhile on the north slope of Galenburg Hill
French forces had now massed up in preparation to
face soon to arrive Austrians

Liebertwolkwitz was now aflame

fun thing I learned about the name
Liebertwolkwitz

there was also some fun made of the fires ... 
(remember everyone nothing was really burned)
(all the pieces went back to the owners)

as was the small village in the
Polish sector, near the river

the Kolmburg Hill was about to flood with Austrian reinforcements 

players could catch up on the written history
while awaiting action

the south east sector was the most active today

the western sector was about to get more excitement
than they would like ...

the Austrian forces arriving on Kolmberg Hill

in the south west, the Young Guard start to arrive

Kolmberg Hill now taken by Austrians in the east

MacDonald and the Guard Cavalry press on to the
North West sector

in the far west, now more Austrians
were arriving - blocking the French
easy escape ...

this moment drew in many cameras

the entrenchments model was now deployed
(earlier in the day - I missed the moment)

Then came lunch break

at this moment, only the Old Guard remained
in the center of the field 

the artillery barrage continued
in the south 

another village on fire

Liebertwolkwitz continued to burn

though pushed back, French still hold
Galenburg Hill

scoreboard as of 13h00
(game time)

With some players leaving, due to other commitments,
we decided to present a couple of awards 
(exactly what they looked like)

The game then resumed

MacDonald was almost to the location in the north

across the south a stalemate had happened

in the North, Blucher had started to arrive
finding many more French than he expected!

 

massed French columns press north and west on the roads

while in the West, near Lindenau, Austrian Jaeger
battalions press over the river and into the swampy
ground ...

all while the French Imperial Guard Cavalry
pressed on north west to bolster MacDonald facing Blucher

MacDonald's columns marching

in the south, more exchanges had worn down
French units, still no major losses on either side
also no key terrain changed hands ...

Blucher had arrived!
(right edge of board)

Bonaparte was also nearby, in direct conference
with MacDonald

casualties mount in the Jaegers crossing into swampy ground

across the north, the lines were now engaged

Imperial Guard remained stationary in the central
region of the field as Bonaparte had gone to the north

It was at about this point we broke for the first day of game, returning 
Sunday morning to finish the titanic struggle of day one Leipzig.

panorama, north east corner

panorama, north west corner

panorama, south west corner

panorama, south east corner

looking south, Donnewitz to the right
(with French Garrison), Imperial Guard to the left
south line of contact across the top of the image

Galenburg Hill and Liebertwolkwitz burning

view from the east across the north wing

the south east corner, Kolmberg Hill to the left
Galenburg Hill to the top right

Lindenau starts to face more Austrians at closer range ...

North Wing forms two French Lines
(though more Prussians are expected ...)

tables in the north are merged together
to better show troop relationship
for artillery fire
The Imperial Guard Cavalry are in the foreground

south wing, Galenburg Hill to the top center
Kolmberg Hill to the left of image

whole field view, from North (bottom) to South (top)
Blucher is busy in the foreground
Austrians on the right side of the river
Allied high command to the far south and east of the field
(top of image from left to right)

COMMAND DECISION

Napoleon Bonaparte, seeing that the situation in the south

was just holding on to the point value locations and that
another salvo or two of artillery, combined with a
good cavalry charge at the end of the day, could do a lot of damage

to the forces under Murat, and that the north wing would take some

time to prepare for an attack the next day, decided to use the 

"initiative" marker that was under his control, and
shorten the day by one full turn, which ended the

day of battle at 3:30 pm 15h00

the initiative card would be in the hands
of Allied High Command for the opening 
of action on the 17th October 

 Thus began the documentation of all forces and map mosaic construction for the accurate
placement of forces for a 17th October game day
(when or if this will happen is yet to be determined)

good simple overview of north positions
(I can be seen documenting the map at this point)

Mockern under stress in the North

In no particular order I would like to thank Alexander, Brian, Nate, Rick and Gerald for their permission to use the photos they took of various points of action during the three days of work to put on this great event!

To close out here are a few other game player photos from over the three days.

how the center of the board was reached
at times ...

we then wrapped up with a final crew photo
at the end of Sunday action

Cleanup then commenced, I will leave the time-lapse to cover that.

the storage system of Cod Sticker was needing a bit more detail:

Cod has used this system on the road before

while assisting I managed a cut (tossed keys)
they say that no project is great unless you
bleed for it ...

bleeding for a cause

there was so much more terrain
that a trailer was needed for transport

terrain stored outside awaiting movement
into trailer

All in all an amazing three days, worthy of the tale and certainly the largest single action that our humble little group here on Vancouver Island has ever put together!

Now that the map is made and most of the minis exist, we have the details for October 17th (our version), will there be a repeat?