Tuesday 26 September 2017

Leipzig on the Lawn


Der Tag has come and gone and what an splendid day it was!  11 players, 2,000+ 54mm toy soldiers and even the weather co-operated.  My heartfelt thanks to all those who participated, lent toys or helped with domestic logistics.

The cast list was as follows - click on the names for details of their other crimes.
Umpires - PW and myself
Combat photographer - Bob Cordery
The French
The Corsican Ogre - David Crook
Murat - Eric Kemp 
Ney - Mike Lewis
The Allies
Schwarzenberg - Brian Carrick
Blucher - Russell King
Bernadotte - Conrad Kinch
Barclay de Tolly - Mike Snape
Wittgenstein - Jack Wright

What follows are purely my photos - taken between umpiring and other essential tasks such as chatting to players.  See also the blog posts from Bob here and Brian here.
 As usual, clicking to increase the image size will save your eyesight.
Prussian cavalry & Jagers.  Given that I had only 6 Prussian cavalry for the 2015 Waterloo game, this force - mostly from ebay purchases is quite impressive!
 The city of Leipzig
  It's a law that at least one village in any Napoleonic game is made of of Belgian farm buildings...
 Eric's rather nicer French cavalry.  Generally acclaimed as the best painted figures of the game.
  The Russians plod forward. 
 Leipzig featured a rather splendid cathedral 
 Russian infantry and cavalry advance
 While the Russians were heavily engaged, the Austrians appeared and formed a big square.
 More Austrians.  The dark bases are my chaps, Brian brought the others. 
 The thin blue line?
 A slightly thicker blue line faces off the Austrians.
 The Russians forces included these newly arrived (from eBay) Grenadiers. 
Note the British Rocket Troop top right.
 Lots of Russian cavalry.



 The Rocket troop feel victim to a stray French artillery round - and that was Britain out of Europe
 Russians and French fighting in a village.  These are plastic model railway buildings by Faller and similar - picked up while on holiday for a handsome 3 Euro each.
 French cavalry (right) trying to sweep round the flank...
 ...and Russian cavalry preparing to stop them.
 The resulting melee saw the Russians gain the upper hand, with the surviving French being forced back on Leipzig.
 As the Russian steamroller gathered pace the French were forced into some innovative formations.
 Back came the French cavalry for another go, this time with artillery support.
 Party popper shrapnel in action
 It emptied a couple of saddles.
 By now Marshal Murat was overseeing things at the front.


 A French square being assaulted by Russians.  Lots of Russians.
 As is historically appropriate the Russians seemed to have ever more troops.
 Murat dodging grapeshot.
 The main Russian column heading for Leipzig.
By now the Emperor had boarded his coach and was heading for Dresden.  French rear echelon units were also moving out.
Finally, I'll borrow one of Bob's photos.  While the Russians had been heavily engaged from the start and the Austrians kept Ney at bay, it was of course some cheeky Prussians who sneaked through the crumbling walls of Leipzig and claimed the city as their own.  
As the umpires announced the game's end, nearby church bells began to ring- what a moment!

18 comments:

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

Tim,

Between us we seem to have managed to produce a very good visual record of the battle.

I look forward to seeing all the photos in due course.

All the best,

Bob

private w. said...

Amazing! So many great pictures to enjoy, but the one of the cavalry clash - Wow! - that is going to happily haunt me as I search out more 1/32 horse for my collection! I love the rocket battery too! Nicely done. Thanks for sharing these photos!

Tim Gow said...

Bob Cordery
Indeed. There seems to be very little duplication.

Tim Gow said...

Private W
The Rocket Troop had its own post a couple of years ago when I built it. Glad you enjoyed the photos - it was a great game.

Pete. said...

Stirring stuff Tim.


Cheers,


Pete.

Peter Douglas said...

Great looking event Tim. Well done sir!
How big a playing surface did you use? Which park did you take over?
Cheers, Peter

Martin Rapier said...

Fantastic stuff Tim. Murat looks particularly grand.

Tim Gow said...

Pete
Some of the players were quite emotional at times.

Tim Gow said...

Peter Douglas
I'd say the (very private) playing area was about 20 metres across. Not your usual 6x4 foot....

Tim Gow said...

Martin Rapier
Murat was alway known as a snappy dresser.

Conrad Kinch said...

It was a magnificent game and very well done to you both.

Doing for the Imperial Guard will remain a career highlight.

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Magnificent! But in this case it IS war(gaming).

Marc the plastics fan said...

Magnificent and reminds me to get painting my own 54s. I stopped due to the lack of cavalry *and everything else after a while) so it is nice to see gamers mad enough like you (and me) to keep the 54mm flag flying. If you ever need more players just let me know :-)

David Crook said...

Hi Tim,

Many congrats to you and PW for a spectacular day - it was enormous fun. The eventual demise of Murat was fairly comprehensive and the rough handling of the Swedes by the Old Guard was a thing of beauty and a joy forever....(despite Bernadotte's opinion to the contrary...).

All the best,

DC

Tim Gow said...

Conrad Kinch
That's not a bad claim to fame!

Tim Gow said...

Ross Mac
Quite right. You really need to join us for the next one!

Tim Gow said...

Marc the plastics fan
If you join the Funny Little Wars Yahoo Group then you'll be 'in the loop' for future game news.

Tim Gow said...

David Crook
There was always going to be trouble when Bernadotte got to grips with his former comrades. Unfinished business I suspect.