The plan had been set, I was going to attempt a tabletop game in connection with each of the coming 200th anniversary Napoleonic battles.
I had done Austerlitz with Kelly Jones in 2005, and that had set me on the path to attempting this.
this attitude would permeate my hobby time for the next decade
there was a good 'core element' to my Napoleonic troops at this point yet few 1806 Prussians ... yet
the first games would have to be using my grass paper mat, early version of base stands and the hills 'on top'
loads of practice runs were done
all to help me teach games better and faster
I was also growing my collection at the same time
many of these early battles have little or no notes
though the future metal base stand system could be seen coming into existence even at this stage the magnets were becoming frustrating
I also knew that I could not do Jena, as I did not have the Emperor (yet), nor the troops to simulate that battle anyway I saw Auerstadt as far more interesting a battle ...
Now, the next game timing issue ... I knew I wanted to do Eylau at the next Dak-Kon convention in 2007 ... and I did not have enough minis to do it ... yet.
I have been into Role-Playing games since at least 1978. And Star Trek fan since I can remember.
It was wonderful to combine them in the early 2000s with a keen Game Master partner (there were 2 GMs) one 'on the planet' the other 'on the ship' (or other place) where the Player Characters could interact with the two of us as part of the story line. We settled on one of the GMs as the Captain of the ship, that way we could somewhat direct the story - though never too much as there was always the 'other GM (me)' to keep the plot moving or to switch up the issue if the Captain GM got too far of track, and likewise the Captain GM could advance the story when the other GM was occupied elsewhere.
the First Officer
the First Officer's Log from the guild website
Eventually, that Captain GM got posted away and we moved up the First Officer to Captain, gaming along a bit more, I think it was maybe 2009 (?) that the SFB game ended (I'm not fully certain as the players might have continued after I departed). We moved in 2005, so it made continuing the game harder over time since I had to travel further to get to any games and many of the players family situations had become more complex. As with all games things, time to focus on them is always at a premium.
I was feeling despondent that my 15mm Rise of Rome game system was either going to have to get sold off or given away, as I could not see them getting onto the tabletop any time soon.
Rather than sell it all in a huff, I decided to run one more tournament, as I had in the late 1990s, and give away an army and a camp, then see if that could generate some interest in doing more.
it was a full 6 player setup
making full use of my 1'x1' terrain tiles in the tournament mode
my best Roman Army ended up in the championship game
though I do not recall if it won or not
DBA did get played a few more times, the boards and armies were eventually sold off, though not for 7-8 years.
I had been gaming for many years before starting the blog, mostly RPGs, however the Napoleonic era had caught my attention, after attempting some ancient Roman stuff (with DBA) and some fantasy things (with HOtT), so in my form I had decided to see if I could find some more players by doing some game promotions.
One of them was at the Courtenay Recreation Center, a day of Napoleonic Games:
there were tabletop miniatures games
and a gigantic Eagle Games board game of Napoleon in Europe
I was able to turn out in my Napoleonic ADC Uniform for the event, and we even did a few pictures outside with it, one that came out nicely.
I was determined to try one last time to get interest into the ancient Romans, with a tournament!
My middle son has been busy using his 3D printer, to create a Titan.
today it got an exercise on the tabletop:
seen in the distance here from the Chaos attacking lines
A local game store hosted an "APOCALYPSE" game and he was most pleased to be able to take part.
set up in progress
continuing setup
I had him pose with it next to a 4 story ruins the upper deck was above the top of the terrain piece
setup mostly finished, you can see how many models were on the board (there was no 9" spaces available)
a detail shot, showing the access in the back
one more of the ruined building next to the Titan
Game ended after 2 turns, my son's Titan, and another, were still in action on the tabletop, having taken out many of the chaos stuff during their actions.
Rumor has it that another "APOCALYPSE" may happen during the summer.
This post took some extra time to prepare, as the first attempt to do a full mosaic map caused my computer to lock up and the files were corrupted.
The closeup of Leipzig, the critical bridge and Lindenau along with the entrenchments and ongoing assault at the end of day one
The North Wing
The West Wing including Leipzig
The South Wing with the Galenburg and Kolmberg Hills
These images are 1/2 scale of the ones that I have on my system.
They are constructed from photos I took at the end of the game action and have stitched together in these mosaic photos. This is where some of the duplication and different angles of view of the terrain comes from. If you watch the later part of the Part two video from the day, you can see me scrambling around the table as the other players were documenting their losses and troop levels.
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
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?
In a uniform from the age of 13 to 30, learned much of 'military life' and after a decade of travel have settled down to start a family. Started with boardgames and RPG's in the 1970's and added tabletop miniatures in the 1990's. Now with a family of three boys, seeking to turn this sometime hobby into more of a lifestyle.
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