The Battle That Never Was

 

I recently planned to do a large Napoleonic battle pitting the might of the Grande Armee against a combined Austro-Prussian force. It was basically an excuse to get as many miniatures on the battlefield as possible and have them knock lumps out of each other. I had set the battle up in my spare room and was ready to go, when news of a family emergency meant that the spare room had to be returned to guest room-mode and so the little men and scenery were packed away and the battle never happened. I did take a few photos of the set-up, so for your delight and delectation I present to you The Battle That Never Was:

The battlefield from above. French are on the right, Prussians lower left and Austrians upper left.

The French left flank - infantry, lancers and artillery of I Corps supported by the Guard Light Cavalry preparing to assault the Prussians in the town beyond them.

The French centre - II Corps supported by Kellerman's cavalry and the Guard reserve artillery gaze across the fields towards the Austrian lines and the redoubt on the hill.

The French right flank is made up of the Young Guard whose objective was the farm held by Austrian Grenzers.

The Austrian redoubt, scratch-built by yours truly. I have more Austrian gun crews than guns, so the cannon in the redoubt are actually British. Were they Austrian the carriages would be painted yellow and would be double bracket rather than have a block trail.

Clarkson's Farm (?) garrisoned by the Grenzers. My buildings come from the excellent book European  

Buildings: 28mm Paper Models for 18th and 19th Century Wargames by Paperboys on Campaign.

The view from the Austrian left flank behind Clarkson's Farm, with light cavalry (actually Strelets Light Brigade, clearly they took a wrong turn for the Crimea) and Grenadiers in support.

A view from behind the Prussian lines, deployed in depth with Jagers in skirmish order at the edge of the woods and cornfield, backed up by artillery, infantry and Landwehr in assault columns, some hussars and on this side of the log bridge (scratch built using wooden kebab skewers) some Kurassiers. 

The Kurassiers again, adding a welcome splash of colour to the generally drab Prussian Army of the Rhine. Beyond them on the far side of the road are the Garde Zu Fuss and Prussian Grenadiers.

The town with Jagers on the outskirts. A Prussian general has taken up position in the churchyard. If I had got to fight the battle I think it would have been a tough nut to crack for the French.

And that's it. The battle never happened. 

Maybe next time!