Battle Report: Black Powder - Showdown in Spain, October 1808

A while back I got to play some Black Powder again, this time with 15mm miniatures, not with my armies, but funnily enough with some miniatures painted by me.
I got to control the French forces, with some support of some Spanish troops and on the other side a thin red line of British troops.
On the French side I got to control two brigades of infantry, each with three battalions and one with two artillery batteries and the other had a large battalion. To this a brigade of horse, one hussar and one dragoon regiments. The British also had two brigades of infantry, each with two small and one large battalion and an attached artillery battery. To this was a horse brigade of two regiments of hussars.

Initial set up can be seen here, the aim was to take control of the buildings on the battlefield, the center cluster was worth one point as was the ruined church and large house on the flanks.

The luck of the dice gave the British the first turn. And got going on the British left flank, moving all the way up to the objective house, while things was a bit slower in the center where failed orders only resulted in a small forward movement, and the cavalry refused to move at all.

For the French it was mostly the same, on the right the infantry got moving as in the center, but not quite as long as the British, the cavalry slowly moved forward, eying the competition on the other side.

The next turn started on the British right, where they got into lines around the house with the intent on boxing the French in, but things did not quite go to plan and one unit was stuck marching into position, still in column! The French took advantage of this and sent one battalion to assault it while the rest resumed its advance straight to the house.

In the center both sides tried to get in order for an assault on the village, but both was reluctant to get anything done.

The cavalry was also a bit reluctant, both sides commander tried to get some charges in, but no one heeded their wishes.

The next turn started badly for the British, as the battalion caught in column got run down, and the victorious French got in the side of the next battalion, they did have some success in getting hits in on the other two battalions that tried to deploy in line to handle the last battalion.

The center was still and nothing much was happening on either side.

The same with the cavalry, they still was just eyeing each other, but all in all not doing a single thing.

But on the following turn things got going.

The cavalry finally stormed into a wild melee fight, where both sides took casualties, but the French was in a little better shape than the English before all regiments fell back.

In the center the British moved up in line to the village, and the French columns stormed the line, the fight was inconclusive and both sides took casualties as the fight continued.

On the right the English fell back in hand to hand, and all French formed lines and poured fire into the remaining British, destroying the artillery and mauling the infantry.


On the next turn noting much was happening, the fight in the center continued with a small edge going to the French, on the right the lines was still firing into each other and on the left the cavalry was trying to regain some order for another charge.

The following turn saw the end of the battle, as on the left the cavalry got in a another charge, this time with some serious consequences for both sides, as the fight with the dragoons ended up in both units destroying themselves and the other the French fell back in disorder but also shook the British, breaking that brigade.

In the center the large British battalion broke and the victorious French got into the next one in line, both in the side and front, also breaking this.

On the right the large British battalion broke under the intense bombardment, breaking the brigade here as well and taking the entire army with them in their flight.

The French did also get dangerously close to breaking, and another turn of British bombardment would probably have broken them as well.

So concluded another great BP game. And big plans are in the making for more and more armies to get bought and painted during the fall. And I hope we will have a big fight or two before the end of the year.

100 figure challange

It's been a while since I wrote anything here, so it's high time to do something about that.

Two months ago I was at a gaming convention, and as usual I got a few more miniatures, and when I got home I thought about what I could do to lessen the mountain a bit. So I set myself this goal, paint a 100 28mm figures (or it's equivalent) before I can buy another new mini.

So said and done, on the 9th of May I announced the challenge in a local gaming group facebook page and of I went.

And now after almost 2 months I'm done, and here is the miniatures that got painted during the time (basing was not included in the challenge)

I started strong and got this gun and crew completed after just a few days

Completed the last few things on these US marines and got them based to, just as I was doing other things

Then I got into some more napoleonics, and over the next few weeks got two battalions of french, one of british line and a highlander battalion done.

Then I have to say I got a little burned out on doing napoleonics, so I got a few marines that I have laying around and just tried some different colours, just too see how they are to paint, so I did a Imperial Fist marine in yellow, and a Ultramarine in blue.

The just to continue I did some of the miniatures I had over from my last 40k army that I never got around to painting, so I completed a recon squad here first

Followed just the next night with some tactical marines

And then I painted some old, old, OLD marines, the first one in plastic that GW released, known as RTB01 or the original beekie marines. I've had this box with a few of them in storage for some thing like 20 years and not dared put paint to them, Well thats over now ...

And lastly I did a battalion of 15mm french. I counted two of them as one 28... Perhaps a bit cheating, but I needed to get done some time... =)

So thats my last few months, I hope someone else can do a challenge like this, it's a good feeling when you are done!

Battle Report: Black Powder - Followup in Bavaria, April 1809

After the last game we got another game played just after the first. This time the Austrians have begun to fall back, and as they reach their own lines, reinforcements arrive to take over and stop the persuing French army.

This game used the same basic units and brigades as the last, but added another cavalry brigade of two regiments of light cavalry to each army. These are in reserve and can be ordered in at any point on the players own table edge at the start of turn 2.

During the deployment the Austrians was in march columns to quickly get into the fields and not repeat the inability to move and get the army into the field.

The French had a more conventional deployment, deploying in attack columns across the field.

The austrian took the first turn, and advances with most of the army in line, only the left flank moved a bit further to take on what look like a weakness in the French line.

The French replied by moving forward in force on the Austrian right, but the left got a bit hesitant as the Austrian bore down on them and stayed put.

On the next turn not much happened on the Austrian side, but the French got things going and advances and got into lines before the Austrians, and fire crashed into the lines, spreading disorder and confusion along the lines

The rude awakening from the French got parts of the Austrians going forward getting their own fire on the French, also creating disorder.

On the right a regiment of Hussars entered the field and threatening a flanking battalion, but not quite getting far enough to engage them.

On the left the cannon speaks.

The French redressed their lines, bringing reinforcements on the partsof the battlefield where the Austrians are week, bringing some more muskets on target.

The light infantry threatening the flanks, bringing much concern to the men in white.

On the flank the French formed line to try to drive of the cavalry with firepower.

It did not go the way they hoped, and after a charge where they could not form square in time, the unit is left wavering but still standing, while the cavalry has to lick its own wounds.

On the other flank the fire from the cannon and accompanying infantry drives of the first of the French, and in the centre the Austrians wheels up to block the french light infantry from hitting the lines in the sides. 

The French do however know how to repay the destruction, and on the left no less than two battalions are routed from the field, leaving a huge hole in the line.

The Austrian grenadiers advances to plug the hole and another regiment of hussars comes to the rescue, charging in and driving away another battalion of French, and in the process breaking the brigade holding that flank.

On the right there is a shootout where the Austrians now can bring huge amounts of fire to bear. And the fire is enough to drive away two battalions, even though they are still in the field.

The cavalry are still molesting the infantry on the extreme flank, but this time they can organise into square and even if the hussars could complete the charge, no real damage was done. 

On the next turn the French cavalry finally showed it's face, having been away for most of the battle, the first regiment charged the Austrian hussars, and after a long battle the hussars got out on top, and with that broke the morale of the whole French army, making them withdraw and leaving the field in favor of the Austrians.

This was another good battle, that was right on the edge to the last, the French was in that last turn only one or two casualties from breaking the Austrians, and the same was true the other way as there was a lot of casualties spread along all lines.