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)