Last weekend was the long awaited Mockern Epic game. After some last minute painting of Cossacks by Don to ensure we had the Mother Russia rule covered we were ready to go Saturday morning.
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| Table ready to receive the figures |
Don took the Prussians (Allied right wing), which are all Calpe figures, Norman took the left wing with his newly completed Russians (Front Rank). I took the French and a spattering of Poles (Foundry, Perry and Murawski) with the objective to hold the right wing of the French Army at Leipzig under the command of Marshall Marmont. The Allied army was commanded by Blucher.
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| Initial set up, seen from French right flank |
We managed over the day to play two games with a close run thing in game one and a more one sided affair in game two.
Game 1 started with a strong Prussian infantry attack on the fortified Manor House north of Mockern. This was quickly captured and with a series of force march cards in this sector the Prussian infantry was able to maintain its momentum for most of the game and push the French out of building after building. The French also lost over half their artillery early in the game. With the left flank almost gone, the only option for the French was a counterattack against the Russians (who had moved very little), spearheaded by French hussars and Polish uhlans. The attack almost paid off with all the Russian cavalry being destroyed but it was to little to late. The Allies won 15 banners to 14.
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| Prussian infantry in front of Mockern |
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| French infantry behind Mockern |
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| French artillery in the centre |
Game 2 started in the same fashion as game 1 but this time the initial Prussian assaults did not push the French out of their defensive positions, the French were able to reinforce and the Prussian attacks, although pressed never got any momentum and by the end of the battle the Prussians were holding a thin defensive line along their start positions.
In the centre, the Prussian cavalry took a hard pounding from French artillery before being mopped up by the French Cavalry, again supported by Polish uhlans.
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| French artillery near Mockern |
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| French cavalry awaiting orders |
On the other flank, the Russians this time showed more aggression but were never able to dislodge the French/Polish infantry and a massing of French cavalry (including Cuirassiers) ended with a cavalry charge which won the game for the French, a score of 15 to 3.
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| Russian cavalry, light and heavy |
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| Prussians in the centre |
A great day with two fantastic games, especially the first which could have gone either way although I just could not stop the Prussian steamroller. The day was intermixed with a good lunch and very nice dinner, courtesy of the camp followers!
As mentioned in my last post, the Polish infantry got their first outing in this game. The Polish artillery (almost done) did not turn up so some French artillery stood in. Next game is Aspern-Essling Le Grand Battle in September (Colours weekend) with hopefully 6 players. I have made some changes to the LGB version on the website adding in Austrian Grenadiers and some more Grenzers. The French get one each of an Old and Young Guard battalion, the latter being the next unit on the painting table.
Using Microsoft Publisher I am now able to construct my own maps (with terrain only and then add the units) and will be working on the following LGB scenarios, Borodino, Wagram, Ligny and Waterloo.
