Bloody Big Battles – Eckmuhl 22nd April 1809
Setup
á North
The initial map and rough painting of terrain.
The terrain map was put together with brown wrapping paper – 100gsm 750mm x 50m Kraft Wrapping paper. Overlapping in the middle set to size 6’ by 4’ with side edge extra for strength of a few inches – glued with PVA / glue stick. Terrain map basic layout courtesy of Mark Smith’s BBB Napoleon battle scenarios. So I sketched out to scale and painted on with Acrylic paints to designate the hills, roads, woods (an adaption I chose from the lovely maps created by Colin in our 20mm campaigns – see Simon’s blog on http://www.servicerationdistributionhobby.blogspot.com ). Found with 15mm figures the 2D maps are the easiest and Mark’s maps and positions of terrain make all the difference in the battle. So cheap, easy to store, and if you are finished with it then environmentally easy to dispose of.
In this map the hills are gentle shown as light green (apart from one steep section above village on lower right above Rogging). With roads shown, and the built up areas are all villages. The river Danube is impassable at the top of the map, most others are streams but there are additional restrictions as describes in the scenario. Most of the streams suffered flooding the ground level is shown as a darker green. This first initial map has the villages shown as circles, with the victory condition villages as light grey. Taking this original map it was repainted and finally villages were added in the 4” by 3” area. The battle shown here has an improved map just before the images representing aerial villages added.
Over the course of a few months we used this scenario as a testing game to get to grips with the BBB rules. Each game was close and enjoyable and allowed a better understanding each time. The actual game was 8 turns. In the first trial shown we stopped at turn 6. In the next we stopped at turn 7. The Austrians have a little more flexibility on setup positions and most were tried in the 5 games played.
Setup generally used for games.
In this run we had to stop at turn 6, but as the Austrians had managed to move quickly, getting the IV Korps back and setup a blockade they were able to bottle the French up. The baggage was going to make it off and we were looking at a draw result.
Austrians victory with 4 points, French 3.
While trying the scenario I tried at first putting the Brigade markers on rectangles of biscuit tins that stuck to the magnetic bases of the standard bearer. These could be pulled off to check, or pulled back a bit. But after players pulled the unit markers off and left them behind, or they got stuck to other unit bases I went off that idea. Instead went for the unit on sticky labels that have a tab stuck to the base, Yellow colour for the Austrians Blue white red for the French. These can be folded underneath, folded vertically up, or left behind the unit.
To speed up setup did require the units to be prepared beforehand, but the whole battle was fought with less than 3 box files of figures. This was with extra Generals added to the Austrians – well to look the part (but in future battles removed to stop units getting a +1 when they shouldn’t). The 15mm here are 40mm x 30mm (used for Shako II) so larger than 1” x 1” Chris Pringle suggests for BBB, but still played well.
Another major setup speed up was to add the deployment positions and ranges (added to this map later just with pen). This meant a setup for this and future games was achievable in 30 to 40 mins – rather than an hour and a half.
For the markers for DISRUPTED, LOW AMMO, SPENT, REDUCED ARTILLERY etc I used a bag of small multi-coloured pompoms from the Range (for about £1) and used invisible No More Nails to glue them on a bag of ½ pence pieces that were just ideal for the markers.
After playing a few games it was clear to help speed things up that a Brigade of “4S” was better using 3 regular stands and a skirmish stand – a good visual on the benefits the unit had. We also found that putting the yellow SILENCED marker, or the black LOW AMMO at the front of the Brigade when it occurred then moved to the back on the next phase, or when the artillery had been moved back it’s minimum ½ move got new players into the rhythm of the turn sequence a lot faster. Allowed with a little housekeeping a good way to keep on top of what was happening where and when. It allowed the game to proceed quicker and with fewer arguments. The artillery being limbered also came under this. A limbers at the back of the artillery, pointing the direction it is being moved (so no worries – was that limbered? Or deployed?). The addition of if the artillery piece had moved ½, unlimbered the gun was deployed pointing in its required direction with the limber across the front of the base – to show no shooting this phase. Whereas if the gun that was limbered is deployed in place the gun was deployed pointing in its required direction with the limber perpendicular across the back of the base – to show half effect shooting this phase. Making the players responsible for the housekeeping kept them focused and we had very few cases of mistakes being made that players might feel would have had a major effect on the battle. I have added an example of what I have created so far.
Having Zone of control templates was very useful, showing the 3” as in the rule book but also showing the 45o to the edge for firing / front arc, and another double 45o at the Front Centre Position for movement and when penalties would be applied.
At the time of me writing this we have played Aspern Essling, and Wagram the other two tied to the mini scenario. We have had experienced and novices playing the games and all came away having enjoyed it (whether the victor, draw, or lost). The occasional error and mistakes have been made, but with the balanced firing system it has not made a significant difference. I have seen the Austrians look as though it might be all over by turn 4, then see them turn it around in the rest of the game. Rounds where one side rolled double 6s, three times taking units of the opposition – but still did not get an easy breakthrough. Spent units recover and add to the battle. One side received several blistering cannon rounds, and lost all melees (if only to be pushed out of the victory condition) went on to win the battle. The scenarios are very well balanced and we are looking forward to play more, and replay these again.
I hope to put up my battle report on the other two scenarios in the next month, and some downloads for unit markers on PDFs.
Bye for now. | 
