Friday, October 29, 2021

Battle of Gorodetschna - Black Powder Gaming

Hosted another Black Powder Napoleonic game today - this time using the Russians and Austrians I painted up earlier this year - and still needing to get them bloodied. This battle was during the Russian Campaign and one of few times Austrians and Russians traded blows in the Napoleonic era. The battle included Saxons, but since I don't have any at the time, used some French, Polish and Neuchatel as proxies.

Prior to the battle - Russians on the left and Austro-Saxons one the right. Austrian artillery yet to arrive as they were provided from my buddy's collection.

Russian left - a cavalry brigade of lancers, hussars (armed with lances) and skirmishing jaegers; an infantry brigade with 3 regiments to their left. I did use a unit of French hussars and Polish lancers as proxies here as well.

Russian center - the high ground with 3 gun batteries in earthworks; a brigade of 3 grenadier regiments and army general. The victory conditions were for the Russians to hold onto the hill with more unshaken Russian units than the enemy. The Austro-Saxons would win if they captured the hill with more unshaken Austro-Saxon units than the Russians. Alternative victory would be destroying over half of the enemy forces.
Russian left - a brigade of 4 infantry regiments.
Austrian left and center (prior to arrival of artillery batteries) - a cavalry brigade with Austrian dragoons and cuirassiers, and Saxon Garde du Corps and chevau-leger (the last two actually Spanish dragoons and French chasseurs respectively, as proxies). On their right two brigades of Austrian infantry with 3 regiments each.
Saxon infantry brigade with 4 regiments on the right flank - again using proxies. Maybe someday I'll use some Perry French and paint them up as Saxons...maybe.
As for the game itself; well, it didn't go down historically - the Austro-Saxon army failed to dislodge the Russians from their high ground. In fact, due to brash tactics the Austrian dragoons and two Saxon infantry brigades were destroyed by turn 3. The Austrian cavalry made the mistake of charging the Russian right without infantry or artillery support. They were stopped by not only the Russian lancers and hussars, but also from the Russian jaegers taking shots at them from the marsh around the river. Cavalry could not enter the marsh area.
The Saxons were decimated in hand to hand fighting on their own right. More from unlucky die rolls than tactical errors.
Artillery on both sides were not shooting very well and didn't play too much of an actual factor in the game, but the Austrians were ever-conscious of their presence atop the high ground.
We only played 4 turns, but felt the Austro-Saxon army would continue to get mauled as the Russians still have most of their army intact - including the 3 gun batteries supported by the brigade of grenadier regiments. As the taking of the high ground was the victory condition - or destroying over half of the enemy army, this seemed like an uphill battle (pun intended).
I should add that we used 2/3rds movement and musket range reduced to 16 inches and artillery to 24 and 36 inches for light and heavy respectively. We only allowed firing after one basic movement - which we did like. It was suggested afterwards that we might've kept movement and ranges as per the basic rules - but still limit firing to one move.  Increasing the movement distances might've worked out better - at least for the Austro-Saxons. That said, the Austro-Saxons consistently had worse die rolls than the Russians. Anyway, I was glad to finally get the figures into a game and getting more familiar with Black Powder. Thanks for stopping by and best wishes to you all!

35 comments:

  1. Great looking game Dean - fantastic Russians and Austrians!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the nice comment, Mike! It's nice playing several BP games recently. In the past, I only played the rules infrequently, so these past games have been a great experience. Kindest regards, Dean

      Delete
  2. Looks great, Dean Gorodteschna is an interesting battle; we did it a couple of times with Field of Battle about 10 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot, Peter. Yes, Russians vs. Austrians, too cool not to try out. Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  3. I am glad you got these armies into a game too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Jonathan. My goal is to get all of the figures I painted during the lockdown,and afterwards, onto the gaming table soon. Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  4. Nice game and report. I may be wrong but it feels like you've been blog-quiet lately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the visit and kind words. I am probably posting less frequently than in the past. Maybe once a week or so. Warm regards, Dean

      Delete
  5. Very beautiful game. A large number of numbers pleases the eyes.
    Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for the nice words, Alexey. Someday, I may have to paint up some proper Saxons. Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  6. Thanks Dean, lovely looking armies and table.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Norm. Kind regards, Dean

      Delete
  7. Great looking game Dean, a battle to play and play again...Beautiful armies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Phil. We all had a good time with the game, and quite a few ideas on possibly improving the scenario. Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  8. That's looking amazing!
    Love to see big beautiful painted units!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Michal. Still waiting on the Perrys to release their plastic Russian cavalry. Kindest regards, Dean

      Delete
  9. I don't like much this period for games but your battle is a feast for the eyes. Beautiful armies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mario! Yes, I know - not everyone is into Napoleonics (or even historicals), but I have a varied, if somewhat superficial, interest in a lot of periods/genres. Kindest regards, Dean

      Delete
    2. Ah, yes. So sorry about the mix up - Regards, Dean

      Delete
  10. lovely games report Dean! your work on the painted miniatures/units look awesome! cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Phil! Kindest regards, Dean

      Delete
  11. Impressive and great looking game. Huzzah for the Tsar!
    Neil

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Neil! Although I played the Saxons, I was rooting for the Russians too! :) Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  12. The game is a visual feast as is to be expected with your figures Dean but the result seems a bit disappointing.....I have had mixed results playing Black Powder (only a few times admittedly) sometimes, unusual dice rolls lead to very strange outcomes - we had one game where the cavalry got a triple move on the first turn, charged across the entire width of the table, and basically destroyed half the enemy army before it had done anything - game over - and it was one of our Friday night., end of the working week games, so it was rather dissatisfying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Keith. My buddy and I really played the Austro-Saxons tactically unsound. We both made grave errors - he for using cavalry without any infantry or artillery support; and me charging the Saxon infantry without any real plan than straight into a brigade of Russians infantry supported by artillery on the heights. Otherwise, I think the rules work out well enough for our tastes. Kindest regards, Dean

      Delete
  13. Looks solid, Dean. Always good to see Russians on the table. May I ask how big your table was?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot, Markus. I have 3 Costco folding tables that makes a 6x7.5' top. The cloth is an old Joann's fabric cut to 8' length and their standard 5' width. I can also configure the tables to 5'8' (2 lengthwise and 1 crossing the top), but I like to leave some free table space on the long edges for troop starting areas and playing aids, to include refreshments. :) Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  14. Great to see the collection on the battlefield Dean. A very compact looking battle. Giving me inspiration to get on and start those Napoleonics I have, if only I didn’t get distracted so often

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Matt. Yes, it was a bit tight, but using my smaller-sized cav units helped - only 8-figures per for standard units. Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  15. Great game! Pity few details and pictures, but I'm sure you had a great time, Dean 8)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot! Yes, as I was participating running the Saxons, I wasn't able to take as more pictures. Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  16. Lovely looking game and nice to get your recently painted figures on the table ! I've been thinking about this battle, once I've waded through my Austrians as my nephew has a painted Russian army,probably will also try Blackpowder, oh and by the way ,your recent sisters additions have bee splendid!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot, Iain! My buddy (with the huge Austrian army) and I are very pleased with Black Powder for our Napoleonic games. We liked the house rule (from the Clash of Eagles supplement) of limiting firing to only one basic move. I may use the usual movement and range rates the next time we play though. Appreciate the compliments for the Sisters army too! Warmest regards, Dean

      Delete
  17. Great game of a less-often-done aspect of the 1812 campaign Dean. Absolutely lovely figures.
    Regards, James

    ReplyDelete