Thursday 17 March 2016

Hanau 1813 – part 1

I have to confess that I’d never heard of the battle of Hanau until Roy told me last week we would be playing a game based on it. I think his idea was to have a scenario where he could get to use his new Bavarian army and also throw in a few Austrian battalions for good measure (the 4 Austrian units are the precursor of Roy’s planned Austrian force for Vintage Leipzig). We used only a 6’ x 4’ area of Roy’s main table for this game. This is how the forces were deployed.

The initial set up of the table and troops

As you can see I was somewhat outnumbered but I did have several ‘A’ class units plus two ‘A+’ Old Guard battalions. Roy’s force was mostly ‘B’ class with I think one ‘C’ class as well. Under my Muskets & Marshals rules the unit class can make quite a difference in play, particularly in melee. We also introduced an initiative die roll system at the start of each turn (highest die roll gives initiative to that player – Napoleon always adding 1 to the die roll). The player with the initiative gets to declare charges first and the other player can only counter-charge on a die roll of 4,5 or 6. This helped to sort out a grey area in the rules regarding the charge/counter-charge sequence.

Anyway, enough waffle – this is what happened.

This is the allied left flank where all of Roy's cavalry were deployed. I think these are mostly Austrian figures - the hussars in particular are very pretty.

Some of the newly recruited Bavarian troops deployed in the centre of the allied line.

These Bavarian gunners are more of Roy's wonderful conversions. He not only produced these guns and crews but knocked out a limber for each as well (as he does for all his armies). This is impressive stuff as I have only managed to produce two limbers so far for my own forces.

Massed Bavarians on the allied right flank.

Another slightly closer view of the Bavarians - look at those converted mounted colonels! Roy has produced literally dozens of converted figures to use as colonels (Muskets & Marshals requires a lot of these as each unit needs to have one) and each one deserves close attention - don't forget you can click on the images to zoom in.

Four brand new Austrian battalions in the allied centre  - the first of many I am sure.

The allied cavalry - the figures are Austrian dragoons and hussars. I think some of them are painted as Bavarians but Roy will have to put me right on this.


These are some of my own French troops patiently awaiting the start of the battle. The 9th legere are nearest the camera being led on this occasion by marshal Groucy. Next to them are the faithful 45th (yes, I know that all Hinton units are the 45th but this one is special to me) led by no lesser figure than Prince Murat himself.
More conversions - this time Old Guard in bicornes. Lovely figures (that's Cambronne leading them). This unit also took part in Vintage Waterloo where they charged the British line in the closing stages of the battle.

The emperor with marshal Ney in position behind the guard.

Let battle commence - the guard artillery opens fire on the Bavarian batteries opposite them.
To be continued.

14 comments:

Michael said...

Fantastic Ian,
I particularly like the guard in bicornes. I have one HH French infantryman in bicorne with a miscast leg, a true "invalide".

Stryker said...

Hi Michael - Roy has so many conversions that you could spend hours reviewing his troops and still miss some. This unit has to be among my favourites!

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Just lovely... :o)

Anonymous said...

A wonderful setup, while the Bavarians and Austrians look good en masse, I like the French guard in bicornes.

Look forward to seeing the encounter unfold.

Paul

Stryker said...

Cheers Steve!

Stryker said...

Thanks Paul!

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Ah, the curative powers of massed vintage figures! Perusing your photos is helping me to overcome a bad cold. There. I feel somewhat better already.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Stryker said...

Thanks Stokes - get well soon!

Wellington Man said...

Wow! Mind you, I'm biased. Beautiful Bavarians!

Conrad Kinch said...

What a spectacle ! Those hussars in particular are lovely.

tidders said...

A vintage delight; lovely figs and nice layout

Stryker said...

Thanks for the comments - always appreciated!

Paulalba said...

Wow that is lovely Ian, top conversion work my Roy! Nice to see the Bavarians getting a run out!

lewisgunner said...

It is part of our motivation to put on a show for such an appreciative and expert audience.
The Bavarian cavalry are indeed the HH Bavarians , the Dragoons in light green are the HH Austrian dragoon painted as Chevauxleger in green rather than dragoon whte.
I picked up the Bavarians as a job lot a few years ago, they were mostly Clayton castings in quite a bendy metal. The marching figure is quite an active sculpt, and he is not terribly well defined, especially around the chest area with all its belting. Hoever, en jasse they look good enough.