My wargaming weekend - part 1; naval and napoleonics

 As this is a long weekend I'm packing in three games; fantasy naval, Napoleonic's and Wars of Religion

Saturday - fantasy naval.

I started the weekend hosting a game of Armada - Mantic Games fantasy naval game based on Warlord Games Black Seas but with more streamlined rules and added dragons. The two sides were Lizard Men and Evil Dwarves vs Orcs and Egyptian-style undead. I commanded the Lizards in Chinese influenced ships.

Orcs and Undead

Lizard medium ship

Undead battleship

The scenario involved capturing shipwrecked supplies from the sea and trying to sink the enemy.

Lizard flagship

The Lizards / Dwarves managed to win 14-13 as they sunk a couple of Orc ships in the last turn. So a narrow win in my first game.

Dwarves swamped by Orcs

 

Sunday - Napoleonic

For this game I was hosted by Chris G in his wargames room for the Battle of Abensberg, 1809. In this battle a combined Bavarian / French / Wurttemberg army was attacking an Austrian army in a decent defensive position. I commanded the Bavarian Corps which was already partly deployed by Sunday as they had been playing the day before. My mission was to clear the Austrians from the central sector where they held two large hills with well placed artillery. 

The whole field from left Bavarian position

Bavarian artillery moving up

As usual Chris had made custom terrain for the battle which added greatly to the spectacle. We played in 18mm using a modified version of Keith Flint's Honours of War 18th century rules. 

Lannes Corps comes to my aid

Lannes heavy cavalry

Before lunch I tried and failed a direct approach against the Austrians on a large hill in the western centre of their lines. The shooting was too accurate and I lacked artillery support. So after lunch I moved-up some massed artillery and sought to outflank through a wood, weathering an Austrian counter attack. This worked much better and I made some progress.   

Bavarians attacking through the woods 

To my left Marshall Lannes launched a large attack against the Austrian right, pushing them back into their secondary position and bringing up infantry for an attack. To my right the Wurrtembergers entered the field and began an advance against the Austrian left.   

Grenzer unit

My guns still moving

The game ended after 10 turns with the Austrians pushed back onto their second defensive line but still in control of the road exits, and so they were awarded a minor win, despite losing about 2-1. 

Austrians holding the line 

   So that's two games down and one more tomorrow. One close win and one minor loss.