Tuesday 16 February 2016

Wagram 2017 Mega Game - call for volunteers!

Forward by Bricole! Keith Rocco
Dear fellow South East Australian wargamers, this post is by way of a recall to the Colours for veterans of our Napoleonic megagames at the Hall of Heroes!


Whether you want to draw your sabre for the ArchDuke Charles, arguably the first commander to defeat Napoleon on the field of battle, or yearn to march under the Eagles once again, the Wagram 2017 project needs a few good gamers...and lots of painters!


You know the format - a weekend of socialising, playing, the laughs, the tears (well perhaps only me) - the chance to wargame with thousands of 28mm models over dozens of square feet of beaut terrain in good company...sometime in the winter of 2017, possibly the weekend of 8th and 9th July 2017...


The outline scenario, still very much a WIP, is to focus on the situation at the base of the Marchfeld plateau in the early evening of 5th July.

We will 'bathtub' 6 Corps sized formations, these facing off against each other across three 12 x 6 foot tables, which we will play down the length of, as we did for Waterloo...

The details of the scenario can be developed over time, at this stage, the first priority is to come up with a painting plan to produce the thousands of Austrian figures we will need - we have plenty of French from our previous games...

Improvements for 2017

As we have progressed our series of megagames, we continue to learn and refine our skills. So new for 2017, we will ensure that all players come to the scenario fresh, and with the action balanced out amongst all 3 tables. The orbats will be bathtubbed to ensure that there is plenty of space for manoeuvre, as there was historically. There will be some training games, to refresh our skills and ensure that our scenarios and troops stats are balanced, but these will be based on other 1809 battles which led up to the epic Wagram battle, and players will be encouraged to play both sides to get a good feel for the strengths and weaknesses of both armies. Then, as with real life, players as teams and commanders will only come together to plan their action on the Friday night.

Guidelines for basing any Austrian units players wish to paint are exactly that, based on the way the Perry brothers base theirs, as described in Black Powder Appendix 1 of the rules on page 172, and existing collections based differently are very welcome. But do try to stick to the general guidelines as laid down in the rules, although we are very flexible so long as you use movement trays! 



Some online resources for Austro Hungarian Organisation and uniforms:

blundersonthedanube

www.napolun.com

www.napoleon-series.org

napnuts

index of uniform plates (click on the +)

Infantry Facing Colours by Regiment and Title

There are ample sources of cheap but lovely hard plastic Austrian Infantry figures from both Perry and Victrix. My favourite are the Perry figures, who do German line infantry, and spookily enough 1 box will do you 48 figures! The Victrix range is much wider, covering line and grenadiers, Landwehr and jaeger. Both ranges are available from the Hall of Heroes. Unfortunately there seems to be no prospect of any hard plastic cavalry, so recommended sources are Perry Metals or Front Rank. Personally I find the slightly chunkier Front Rank heavy cavalry mix very well against the slimmer Perry light horse. Gamers with deep pockets are encouraged to commit to painting up 1 or 2 such regiments for the project...

Infantry facing colours by Regimental Number










So if you have got this far down, thanks for your interest, if you are interested in being put on the mailing list for a copy of the orbat/painting plan, and to hear about training games and other related events, then please give a shout on the Hall of Heroes Waterloo 200 face book page or register your interest with the staff at the Hall of Heroes. Or leave a contact email on the comments page below!

1st Infantry Regiment (Kaiser Franz)

30 comments:

  1. Good stuff mate...I am in....Austrians!

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    1. Good show Jason - knew we could count on you!

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  2. Good luck with this guys, should be a great game.
    Like you the League of Augsburg had a great Waterloo experience & we are also planning a 1809 battle in 2017, but we're going for Aspern - Essling, another iconic battle.

    Look forward to seeing your updates.

    Bob

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    1. Thanks Bob - and good luck with Aspern - one of the few battlefields I've had a chance to visit - should be quite manageable.

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    2. Yes it's easier than Wagram, although I suspect it will probably be a stepping stone to it's bigger brother.

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  3. Fantastic, looking forward to seeing this come together!

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  4. Good luck guys look forward to seeing the finished result. (Glad our club uses Shako II basing, 18-24 figs for inf bttn and 9-12 figs for cavalry, much easier on the wallet :) )

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    1. Thanks Anthony, yes hopefully it will be quite a spectacle!

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  5. Sorry to be on the other side of the globe, otherwise I would love to give a hand!

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  6. With you in gamer's sprit... but alas physically stuck in California. Looking forward to the progress reports.

    Interesting table set up. Noted you are not using the "Z" table set up pattern to cover the northwestern front. French must be nervous about the massed Austrian grenadiers...... ;-). Still, you and your hardened group will have a "blast" playing the epic Austrian battle of 1809.

    Michael aka WR

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    1. Thanks Michael - well the 'down the table' format worked well for us for Waterloo - now if we can just avoid having all the action on one table....

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  7. Good luck with the project! I wish to live upside down in 2017, to join your game ;)

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  8. Can you tell me exactly where this is being held? I would love to come over from NZ for it. Next year gives me some time to save leave and money.

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    1. The Hall of Heroes, Queen Street, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia. Suburbs of South West Sydney. Be great to see you mate!

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  9. This post is a great start for the game. As always I shall be watching with great interest. FYI, the local big game brigade are looking at Aspern-Essling for this year.

    Salute
    von Peter himself

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  10. Thanks your vonship! Yes we consider somehow linking in across the Tasman, but we really couldn't be ready this year...

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  11. I love austerians have almost finished the 1809 austerian 2 corps ralph do you have an orbat for that corps. Im hoping to play test that corp in june. I also have cav and compleated 10 gun batteryies of which one is horse artillery how many hussar units are required for the big game.

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  12. I love austerians have almost finished the 1809 austerian 2 corps ralph do you have an orbat for that corps. Im hoping to play test that corp in june. I also have cav and compleated 10 gun batteryies of which one is horse artillery how many hussar units are required for the big game.

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  13. Hi Mark thanks for your enthusiasm! Will send you the 2 Corps orbat via email, and a sitrep on Hussar units still required.

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  14. Hi ralph im working on the austerian 1st corps it will be interesting to see how all the landwehr and inderpendant units look like. Most of your austerian generals have a command rate ing of 6 some have 7 and very few are 8. It might be hard to find austerian players.

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  15. Hi ralph when i play a 1809 wagram practice game all austerian generals will have a command level of 6 the cinc will be a 7 and all landwehr will have the wavering rule and be untested and all line inf will have the avant garde rule will fire with 4 dice and due to their large formations do not have to form square as cav will bounce off them the austerian army generals are still thinking 7 years war style. I will wait to see the black powder stats that will be used. I will probably stick to providing painted figures for the game. If it was up to me landwehr brigade generals would probably have a command stat of 5 for most of them they like to run away.

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  16. Hi ralph when i play a 1809 wagram practice game all austerian generals will have a command level of 6 the cinc will be a 7 and all landwehr will have the wavering rule and be untested and all line inf will have the avant garde rule will fire with 4 dice and due to their large formations do not have to form square as cav will bounce off them the austerian army generals are still thinking 7 years war style. I will wait to see the black powder stats that will be used. I will probably stick to providing painted figures for the game. If it was up to me landwehr brigade generals would probably have a command stat of 5 for most of them they like to run away.

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  17. Hi when would you like a practice game my austerian army is big enough im living on central coast now and i also have a south coast address please email me when you can i have some rule additions for 1809 game.

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  18. Hi ralph i hope toomorrows practice game goes well. You might find the austerian generals have a command average of 6 and grenidiers and cav are 7 and the cinc is an 8.

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