New Year's Eve and Day Weekend of games!

 Friday night we started off in the Napoleonic spirit with a 5 player game of Napoleon in Europe.

It worked out mostly like a game of the War of Spanish Succession; this time the Spanish crown managed to expand their control of western Europe rather than have it eroded.

Eagle Games monster game of Napoleon in Europe
the table this is on is 6'x4'

This came about because the random selection method we used caused there to be no France and no Prussia (a very different Europe than 1800 - thus more like 1700)

Russian forces in Crimea

I ended up with the Ottoman Turks ... though in an even steven game this is not much of a hindrance.

for clarity sake we changed the 'tan' Ottoman
pieces for the light blue "French ally" ones

 

Rather than worry about breaking into the Balkans or doing direct attacks on Russia or Austria, I chose to mess with the strange alliance of the Spanish and English.

game end I was making efforts to gain a
foothold directly on the Iberian Peninsula

The Ottomans had already invaded Ireland!

Crazy fun and great way to start the weekend with some game action related to the big picture in Europe.

Plan was for the boys to do some 40K on Saturday morning, then would come the battle of the Bridgehead - for SHAKO II a follow on battle to the game on Dec 4, then some other board or card game to go into the new year (ended up with Poker).

Then on Sunday in the new year we had set to do some Pirates! action, as one of the boys saw my pirates set up in the display case and always wanted to get his own ... now planning on more Pirates! actions in the future.

I have managed to do some more work on the 15mm ACW armies, this time some Confederates.

a sneak peek at the work in progress

The other games images from Saturday and Sunday will be coming, I'm having to stop this posting here as I must be driving early in the morning.

Happy New Year everyone!

Amazing Documentary about the 1812 Russia Campaign

 Napoleon's Downfall:

Really great coverage of the whole campaign.

Library games day - tabletop with Eagle Games

This past Saturday marked the final tabletop games day until the Autumn, probably September.

I took it as an opportunity to showcase some of the games that I have available for play.

only a sample of the games that could be brought out to the library games days

I had advertised that the Conquest of the Empire game was going to be the feature for the day.

As it was we had five fairly active players, sadly my middle son ended up with the unenviable position of being on the Italian peninsula having to face me and another older boy as adversaries.  My son did not 'reach out' for help in dealing with either of the sides (which could have pulled us back from a confrontation)  so my son ended up having to make other choices.

the digital world could not be contained

at the start of the conflict, we are all equal ...

The game was clearly going to end with Hispania as the leader, no final winner set, just not a clear way to stop me as Hispania.

Then a game of Napoleon In Europe was set out and a fast 'even Steven' game was run.

the gigantic map is always appreciated

deployment

just a little 'even Steven' followed by battles and territory grabs

This then ended the tabletop fun at the Library for the 2015-16 season, our first.

I am hopeful that many players will return and that we may see more in the Autumn of 2016.

Orders

It is not known when the final decision was taken, but on May 13 the Emperor wrote to Marshal Davout, minister of war, demanding road reports, canal and river breadths, pontoon and wagon availabilities, and the earliest date by which the bridging trains could be concentrated between Avesnes and Laon.  Under conditions of the greatest secrecy, the preliminary orders were issued during the early days of June, and teh first carefully concealed troop movements toward the Belgian frontier began soon afterward.

~ The Campaigns of Napoleon, D. Chandler, p. 1017

The Central Position

One further consideration settled the matter in favor of an immediate offensive.  The political divergences between England and Prussia were common knowledge, and French intelligence sources soon revealed that this had led to important military repercussions.  Instead of sharing a single system of communications, each of the two armies in the Netherlands had set up a separate series, Wellington's stretching away from Brussels through Ninove and Alost to Ostend and La Manche, Blucher's away from Liege into Central Germany.  A sudden blow against the "hinge" linking the concentration areas of the two armies might well force one or both to retire along their diverging lines of communication.  This would cause an increasing interval to develop between the Allied armies and provide Napoleon with the opportunity of catching and defeating each in turn with local superiority of numbers, using the famed mobility of the French army to cover the intervening distances.  Tn the simplest terms this was the essence of the French plan for the campaign in the Netherlands, based on the strategy of "the central position."  While this blow was being mounted, Generals Rapp, Lamarque, Lecourbe, Suchet, Brune, Clausel and Decaen would be entrusted with holding the frontiers and suppressing any pro-Bourbonist internal revolts (one was already taing place in La Vendee).

~ The Campaigns of Napoleon, D. Chandler, p. 1017

Courses of action ... 1815

Strategic Situation

Napoleon had to choose between two courses of action.  On the assumption that the enemy could not approach the defenses of Paris in strength before mid-August, the Emperor might employ the further two-month lull to raise and train more forces, and eventually mass the bulk of his army in the vicinity of the capital between the Rivers Seine and Marne -- but this time with at least 200,000 men at his disposal as compared with only 90,000 the previous year.  If this defensive strategy was adopted, by early August the French army could be disposed as follows to meet the anticipated two-pronged Allied attack:  116,000 troops in the immediate vicinity of Paris and 25,000 more at Lyons, supported by two further field armies -- 240,000 in the north, 60,000 in the south.  As the allies would be compelled to station at least 200,000 men as garrison and line communications troops, this would leave 350,000 to march on Paris and perhaps 80,000 to threated Lyons.

These Calculations might be a shade optimistic, but as a defensive strategy might have produced at least a temporary parity of numbers -- at the cost of the inevitable abandonment of large areas of French territory.

The alternative course of action was an immediate offensive against the Allied forces in the Netherlands.  This plan presented both difficulties and advantages.  The main problem was clearly one of numbers, for by June Napoleon could expect to have only 125,000 soldiers available for an offensive on the northern frontier, as against possibly 209,000 Allies led by the ablest generals of the Coalition.  Nevertheless, the possible effects of a sudden success in this theater appeared dazzling.  A crushing victory might at one blow rally French opinion firmly behind the Emperor and shake the Coalition's will to victory.  The defeat of the Anglo-Dutch army would almost certainly be followed by a pro-French revolution in Belgium -- providing a useful source of recruits -- while the collapse of Wellington's military reputation might well bring down Lord Liverpool's Tory ministry in England; and Whig government would be prone to make peace.  Besides the political advantages, the clearing of the northeast frontier would leave the Emperor free to mass his forces against the oncoming Austrians and Russians in teh vicinity of Vosges.  In the opinion of Napoleon and his staff this audacious plan was far more in keeping with the French national temperament.

~ The Campaigns of Napoleon, D. Chandler, p.1016

Strategic Situation

1815 Scenario IX from Napoleon in Europe by Eagle Games

The strategical situation facing France was indeed threatening.  In due course the Allies would mobilize btween 800,000 and one million men, and Napoleon could at best hope to muster half that figure.  Furthermore the eastern frontiers of France stretched from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, and the enemy had freedom to choose his point of assault.  This advantage was fully appreciated by the Allies, who planned to attack wit five separate armies, hoping to compel the French to disperse their small forces.  Wellington with 110,00 Allied troops was to attack from Brussels, his left covered by Field Marshal Blucher's 117,000 Prussians advancing on Namur from their base area around Liege.  At the same time, Schwartzenberg's Austrians, 210,000 strong, would attack the upper reaches of the Rhine from the Black Forest, and General Friemont with 75,000 more Austrians and Italians would advance onto the Riviera and threaten Lyons.  Last to arrive on the scene of operations, Barclay de Tolly's army of 150,000 Russians were expected to place themselves in the central Rhine area, serving as a strategic reserve or mass de manoeuvre for the other four armies.  When all these forces were assembled, a simultaneous drive on Paris and Lyons would grind down the French forces by sheer weight of numbers between converging armies.

On paper this scheme looked extremely impressive, but in late May the only Allied forces actually in the field were those of Wellington and Blucher, and it would be at least July before the Austrians reached the Rhine, while the Russians would be later still.  Time was clearly the vital factor to both sides.  In a conference with Wellington at Tirlemont on May 3, Blucher pressed for an immediate offensive by the 210,000 men already available in the Netherlands, but he was persuaded to await the arrival of his other allies.

~ D. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napolon, p. 1015

Napoleon in Europe - 1805 return

Every once in a while I get a wonderful request from one of my sons to play a favored game of mine.

the 1805 scenario features France and Spain vs. the 3rd Coalition of England, Russia and Austria

Napoleon In Europe, by Eagle Games.

the board is TRULY massive - more than covering the entire dining room table

It is a mammoth board, with 20mm scale miniatures of the troops, that I have added the ships to in order to bring the whole surface of the map to life.

by October 1805, the north coast of Spain had been invaded and French shipping was trapped in port

early on the French side had convinced the Ottomans to join in their cause and the Russians came to aid the Austrians on the Hungarian plains

While we only played a few hours and a number of distracting work phone calls pulled me away at times I was still pleased with the interaction and connection I was able to have with my son.

the Russians were going to be busy with the Turks ...

It is always great to spend quality time with my sons.