Decided to get out the 15mm Napoleonic’s
for a Black Powder Game.
The forces represent part of the
Russian First and Third Army Corps and the Second Cavalry Corps plus a few
other units whilst the opposition is made up of the Grand Army Austrian Auxiliary
Corps, Saxon 21st Division and the 19th Bavarian Division
and various supporting Austrian, Saxon and Bavarian cavalry brigades
The fictional Town of Omsk is held
by the Bavarians, with Little Omsk and the right flank held by the
Saxon’s. The Austrians hold the left
flank with a Grenadier Brigade supporting the Bavarians.
Bob commanded the Russians and I
managed the Allied forces. Although
outnumbered the Russians aim is to take either Omsk or Little Omsk.
The Russians have deployed with a
massed cavalry presence of their right flank (9 regiments), 2 Divisions of
infantry (10 Regiments) in the centre facing Omsk and 2 Brigades of cavalry,
the Grenadier Brigade and a Brigade of Infantry (6 regiments) supported by 2
Brigades of Dragoons (4 regiments) on the left.
This is supported by 8 guns and 3 units of Horse Artillery.
The Russians launched an advance on
all fronts. The Russian cavalry moved 3
moves threatening the Austrian infantry who in turn form square. The supporting Hussar Brigade moves forward
to support them.
In the centre the Russian 4th
Division made up of 3 Brigades advances towards Omsk supported by the 17th
Division made up of two Brigades made a rapid advance bringing them under the musketry
of the Bavarians and Austrians and the massed Austrian artillery.
The leading Russian Brigade made up
of Jagers is stopped by the Allied forces
However, to my surprise one of the
supporting Russian Brigades launches a charge against the Austrian massed
guns. Fear not 4 guns firing at closing
range with all the bonus can’t be under any threat! Little did I know!!. My firing was appalling. The Russian charge surged on. In the ensuing melee my gunner having been
unable to fire properly found the ability to fight. They held the Russians.
The next move however the gunner
were beaten but one forced to retire.
The Russians meanwhile were attacked by one of the Austrian units and
they in turn broke, but the damage had been down. The guns were silenced and a large gap had
developed in the Allied front.
On the left the Russian Grenadiers
and infantry supported by their cavalry moved slowly towards Little Omsk.
Sensing the moment the Russian
Cavalry on the right move forward with the leading Brigade of Cossacks and
Hussars charging my Hussars. My Hussars
roll six dice without a single hit and are thrown back by the Hussars and
Cossacks
.
In the meantime the Bavarians in
Omsk and the attacking Russian are engaged in an exchange of musketry.
On the left little is happening the
Saxon’s move forward to take up position behind a wall along the road. Whilst
the Saxon Garde Cavalry advance to threaten the Russian advance.
You may well ask what the massed Russian
artillery was up to during the game. On
two occasions when Bob tried to bring them forward, they suffered Blunder
Tests. Unfortunately, these only
resulted in their advance either one move to the left or one to the right, but
enough in both cases to disrupt them and take targets out of their sights.
The Russian leading cavalry brigade comes under fire
from the Austrian squares and are disordered and stop and then get a Retire
order. However, the sheer mass of
advancing Russian cavalry regiments left them nowhere to go and they merely
stop all the other cavalry from moving.
Another bold attack by Bob's Russians
sees one of their regiments charge an Austrian infantry column. 
Amazingly the column holds and after
a couple of rounds the Russians are broken.
Bob's Russian Garde Cuirassiers were able to move and hit the already weakened Austrian Hussars breaking them
Whilst all this was happening, Bob brought forward his Horse
artillery who opened fire on one of the Austrian squares causing it to break.
In the centre one of the Jager regiments
breaks and flees.
My attempt to get my Bavarian
Cavalry Brigade into action ends in disaster with a double 6 Blunder resulting
in them leaving the table.
At this point we had been playing
for a couple of hours and it was clear that the Russians could take neither of
their key objectives. Whilst the
Russians had plenty of cavalry, they didn’t have enough infantry to take on the
allies.
The figures are predominately Warrior Miniatures with some Minifigs Russian Infantry. The Town of Omsk consists of scratch built Russian Buildings by Jack Alexander. The Church with the green roof is a supposedly 20mm plastic kit of an American 24 hour chapel which I got off of eBay.
