Battle of Bergisel 1809 - Black Powder

Now that I'm retired and have no excuse to game midweek, played a great Black Powder game at my buddy's place. A great bunch of folks who meet regularly on Tuesday evenings - starting at 6:00pm. They play a variety of games, including Rebels and Patriots and Xenos Rampant. Actually, they don't usually place Black Powder unless someone like my buddy (or me in the past) host it. The scenario is based upon the Batttle of Bergisel in 1809. My buddy who hosted it has a ton of  Bavarian, Austrian, and Tyrolean figures and terrain for the 1809 Campaign. It's pretty much his focus for Napoleonics. He has some ancestral roots with the area, and has visited the area many times since he was stationed in Germany for many years. I ran a Tyrolean "brigade" on our right flank. My units consisted of two Shurtzen battalions, a Landstrum battalion, and a light cannon. We played about five or six turns, which I managed to take out a Bavarian infantry battalion and Chevauleger squadron by lucky die rolls in firing and combat. The center and our left flank were a bit different with the Bavarians taking our several of the Tyrolean units. When we ended the game, we called it a slight Bavarian victory. We may play another round in the future where we left off - in fact, we may try to use Rebels and Patriots for this. Hope you enjoy the pictures of the impressive game table and figures my buddy put out.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by - oh, and I will be hosting a Rebels and Patriots Napoleon in Egypt game this weekend at a game day. Wishing you the best!

Enfilade 2022

Just got home after attending our annual "big" convention, Enfilade. This was the first year we've gone back to the usual Memorial Day weekend time-frame since 2019 (pre-Covid). Our friends and allies from Canada showed up in force since border crossing requirements have eased up. Attendance was up from last September's ad hoc convention - there were about 300 attendees and around 120 games. A bit less than our record high in 2019 - around 400 attendees and 140 or so games. I was able to host four games: two Black Powder La Haye Sainte games and two Pike & Shotte Marston Moor games. There were 6 players for each Black Powder game and 8 players for each Marston Moor game. I managed to retain most of my voice through Sunday morning's game. Pints of Guinness Stout during and after games (except this morning) helped to fortify my resolve. Here are some pictures from the games I ran and also some of the great games others hosted. 

From the first La Haye Sainte Game. The KGL quickly moved into the farmhouse and stables and took pot shots at the approaching French. This allowed to French to return fire - the mechanics allowed them to shoot back once the KGL fired out of buildings.

French infantry and engineers approach the main gate of the complex. Hanoverians and 95th Rifles providing support to the beleaguered KGL inside. In both La Haye Sainte games, the players running the 95th and Hanoverians were both aggressive and had good die rolls. Unlike history, the 95th quickly moved out of the safety of the sandpit and advanced to engage the French. Providing devastating fire with their longer ranged rifles and Sharpshooter rerolls.

French infantry broken into smaller detachments shooting and fight around the barn. The scenario had units represented by two stands once they reach the outside of the farm complex.

The farmhouse and stables on fire. The GM (me) rolled a D6 at the start of each to see if the farmhouse, barn and stable would catch fire from off board artillery. On a 6 it would catch fire and then another D6 roll would determine it's "ferocity". The KGL inside could attempt to put out the fire with a higher roll than the "ferocity". It not put out in 3 turns, the structure would burn and not be able to be occupied by KGL. The KGL successfully put out the fire in some of the structures in both games. In both games, the French were not able to destroy the required number of KGL occupants in both games. They needed to destroy half of them.

One of the two Marston Moor Pike & Shotte games - view from the Royalist side with Rupert's Bluecoat regiment of foote to the left of Newcastle's regiment of foote. The Marston Moor games were held on Saturday night and Sunday morning. I was able to leave the table set up in the gaming hall overnight. It would've been painful to reset the game with the amount of figures used.

Royalist cavalry led by Prince Rupert on their right wing. A unit of Rupert's red coated commanded shot screening their advance.

A view of the Royalist left flank. Their cavalry facing the Parliamentarian cavalry led by Thomas Fairfax.

Center of the Allied army with regiments of Scottish foot holding the line.

Royalist cuirassiers supported by cavaliers charging into Parliamentarian commanded shot.

 Cromwell in the background with his Ironsides.

Royalist foot arrayed along the hedges and ditch running the center of the battlefield.

Dismounted dragoons from both sides engaged in the rough.

Parliamentarian right attempting to advance.

Cromwell with his remaining Ironsides. It was a close Royalist victory in both games.

Next up are pictures of the others games which I will endeavor to caption (hopefully correctly) once I go through the events listing.

Aspern-Essling - General du Corps

Ancients game hosted by White Rock Gamers from B.C. Canada.

Skirmish at the Walnut Grove Mill - AWI - Muskets & Tomahawks

Lena Lamont and the Jungle Fortress - Congo rules

Battle for Richmond, 1862, ACW, 28mm, White Rock Gamers

Chain of Command "Serafimovich 1942:Battle of the Sunflowers"

Alpine Fury -Tyrol 1809 - The Third Battle of Berg Isel - Black Powder

The Sand Pebbles

Gnome Wars

The Fall of the Philippine Republic: Battle of San Pascual - The Men Who Would Kings

Pulp Alley: La Playa de Parador

Circus Maximus - Chariot Racing

Black Seas

Duel of Aces - Wings of War WW1

Con Sonar

Kursk - The Second Day

Wagram using Shako 2. This was the last game being played on Sunday - most of the players were from Canada and were staying until Monday.

Well another great convention - almost, but not quite, like old times. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy the pictures.

Battle of Bergisel 1809 - Tyrolean Rebellion - Black Powder

Playtested my buddy's Black Powder Tyrolean Rebellion game today. It's actually the second time playtesting this game. He's hosting it at next month's Enfilade convention. It was originally supposed to happen in 2020, but the lockdown prevented this. He also didn't have time to prepare for it at last September's convention as he was deployed the earlier part of the year. All of the figures and scratch-built terrain are his.

I ran a couple of the Tyrolean brigades, along with another buddy - mostly skirmish order troops and some villager types classed as warbands. The Bavarians had cavalry units - which didn't play a big part as the Tyroleans stayed on the high ground for most of the game. They also had more artillery. In fact, the gun I had only was allowed to fire 3 times during the game before running out of ammunition. We played 5 turns and it was considered a close Bavarian victory as although most of the Tyrolean units were intact, enough were shaken and a unit of Bavarians held a key bridge - a victory condition. There are quite a few special characters and special events occurring as part of the scenario. One of the special events has someone rolling boulders down the slopes onto the enemy at some point during the game. There is also a female heroine bringing resupplies, including cannon balls, to the rebels. All in all a fun scenario which is based on actual historical events. Should be a winner at the convention.

A unit of Bavarians occupying the high ground after destroying a Tyrolean unit - the Bavarians then turned about and faced another Tyrolean unit below them.

My buddy who hosted the game, far right in the photo, had two of the Bavarian players pose along with him with some actual pikes from the Lucerne armory he picked up when he was stationed in Europe.

Have playtest next week for another buddy's game for Enfilade. This one will be based on the movie, "The Sand Pebbles". Looking forward to it. Thanks again for stopping by, and wishing you all the best!