Back in the Shed-o-War - A video AAR

Sunday was a big day because Posties Rejects got back together in the Shed-o-War. Actually, only three of us could make it so with Postie himself as Umpire there were just four of us, but given we haven't had a face to face game in 484 days none of us was complaining. One of the expected players couldn't make it unexpectedly so our eponymous leader had to make some last-minute adjustments and Ray ended up playing the Austrians on his own... a big task with all those regiments to move. Consequently, the game went on late into the evening long after we would normally have called it a day. None of us minded though (despite the heat inside the shed) because we all had a years worth of wargaming absence to make up for. 

The game was a massive Napoleonic clash between the French and Austrians. It was a fictional what-if game set the day before Wagram. If we had had more players there were even more divisions to come on the table but as it was we were pretty busy with the stuff we had at the start of the game. 

French - IV Corp - Marchal Massena
1st Division - Legrand

       1st Battalion - 26th Legere & 18th Line and Light Gun

       2nd Battalion - 1st Baden Grossherzog, 2nd Baden Erbgrossherzog, Baden Jagers & Light gun

2nd Division - Carra St Cyr

       3rd Battalion - 24th Legare (elite)       

       4th Battalion - 4th Line, 46th Line and Light Gun

       5th Battalion - Hesse - Darmstadt  - Leib-Garde, Leib Garde Fusiliers, Leib Rgt, 1st Leib Fusiliers & Light Gun

3rd Division - Molitov

       6th Battalion - 2nd Line, 16th Line & Light Gun

       7th Battalion - 37th Line, 67th Line & Light Gun   

4th Division - Boudet

       8th Battalion - 3rd Legere (Elite) & Heavy Gun

       9th Battalion - 56th Line & 93rd Line and Light Gun

5th Light Cavalry Division - Lasalle 

       10th Battalion - 13th & 24th Chasseurs a Cheval Line & Horse Artillery

       11th Battalion - 8th Hussars & 16th Chasseurs a Cheval

       12th Baden Light Dragoons, Hesse-Darmstadt Chevau-Leger Rgt

(Reserves - Didn't Arrive: 1st Heavy Cavalry Division & Imperial (Young) Guard)

Austrians - III Corp - Kolowrat 

1st Division - Vukassovich

       1st Battalion - Lobkowitz Jagers, 2nd Schwartzenberg Uhlans & Horse Artillery

       2nd Battalion - 7th Schroder, 56th Wenzel Colleredo & Light Gun

       3rd Battalion - Prague Landwehr, 1st Beraun Landwehr, 2nd Beraun Landwehr & Light Gun

2nd Division - St Julien

       4th Battalion - 1st Kaiser, 12th Manfredini, 23rd Wurzburg & Light Gun

       5th Battalion - 20th Kaunitz, 38th Wurttemberg & Light Gun

3rd Division - Kotlulinsky

       6th Battalion - 39th Duka, 60th Gyular & Light Gun

       7th Battalion - 31st Benjovszky, 51st Splenyr, 3rd/4th Vienna Vol, 3rd Moravian Vol & lt Gun

       8th Battalion - 8th Kienmayer Hussars, 6th Grenz Rgt, 7th Grenz Rgt

2nd Combined Cavalry Division - Schwarzenberg

       12th Battalion - 6th Rosenberg Chevaulegers, 3rd Knesevich Dragoons (Elite)

       13th Battalion - 6th Blankenstein Hussars, 3rd O'Reilly Chavaulegers & Horse Artillery

Reserves (Arrived Late) Grenadier Division - Steyier

       14th Battalion - Hahn, Hromada, Legrand, Demontant & Berger Rgts (Elite)

(Reserves - Didn't Arrive: 1st Heavy Cavalry Division)

Now I'm known for not being a big Napoleonic gamer. I love the look of the period, and Posties collection is to-die-for, but I haven't had a lot of luck in those games I have played. This time however I really enjoyed the game, felt that I didn't mess up and had more than my fair share of luck with the dice. So while my divisions on the left of the French line were a bit of a sideshow to the main battle, I felt I probably had a more satisfying game than Surjit did as the commander. He was pretty much forced to conform to the deployment that Stuart had laid out and was constrained by the terrain so he had little room for manoeuvre. I, on the other hand, seemed to have plenty of scope for movement, especially after the opening cavalry clash was concluded (largely in my favour it has to be said). 

I decided to have a go at doing a video AAR for this game, which was probably a mistake because filming and concentrating on a complex game are not compatible! I ended up with an hours worth of snippets of film and no real 'theme' to them. Also, a lot of the stuff I shot was too shaky to be watchable on the screen so I couldn't use it. Lesson learned though, next time I'll try to be more organised and will use a mini tripod while filming and hopefully it will be better. I've still put together a short video so if you have ten minutes please click the link below or pop over to my channel Miniature Adventures to watch this and other videos. 

After nine hours of play, we had to draw things to a close, but could easily have played on for another nine hours if we had had the energy! We called it a drawer and everyone went home happy having had a good fight and some good banter across the games table.