1813 Campaign – Landshut Phase

 

Map of Europe

This map shows the location of the five campaign areas. 

Each square is a military region.  

The current location of each army group is shown.  

The stars show the location of previous phases.  

The colour indicates which side won.   

 

This is the 89^th phase since the campaign started in April 2009.  

It is the 15^th in the sixth revision which started in June 2020 

 

The white star shows the location of Landshut

 

Austrian corps

On paper all five of the campaign areas are very similar.

Particularly the three areas in Germany

 

Each army has nine corps, each of four infantry brigades, one cavalry and corps artillery

 

The aim of my campaign is to produce battles which result in balanced wargames

This has resulted in armies of different, but balanced, abilities

That is the reason I choose 1813, because by then all armies has similar combat abilities

 

Napoleon’s Grande Armee had been destroyed in Russia.

It was replaced by a mostly conscript and poorly trained army

Allied commanders had learned hard lessons, which resulted in better led armies

 

Despite all of this, each of the five campaign areas has a different look and feel

In the north Napoleon and his old guard is engaged with Blucher’s dark blue Prussian army.

 

Central Germany has the stubborn, green coated Russian army

The south with its more colourful Austrian army is my favourite, at least visually.

I know many wargamers moan about masses and masses of plain white uniforms

But half of my Austrian army are Hungarian, with their light blue trousers

And on all the white jackets highlight the varied facings

 

Bavarian corps

Their opponents are called “The French Army of Southern Germany”

But in fact they are entirely Bavarian and Baden brigades.

 

The light blue (cornflower blue?) of the Bavarian infantry stands out on the wargames table

 

Long before I grasped the complicated subject of Napoleonic uniforms I had admired the Bavarians

They were the first German troops I added to my French army

Long before I had corps and brigades, I had a group of them to lighten the dark blue of the French

 

Many years ago Jan and I spent a couple of annual holidays in Bavaria

We have always enjoyed hill walking, and it would be hard to find a more beautiful area to do so

 

And the fact that it was also the scene of major Napoleonic battles added to its attraction

 

My main interest was the main conflict between French and Austrian armies

It was then that I discovered how important the Bavaria was as a major element of Napoleon’s armies.

 

During our second holiday we visited the military museum in Innsbruck

I was fascinated by the diorama of the battle of Bergisel.

Bavarian troops fought in the mountains with the irregular troops of Andreas Hofer

I would have loved to collect a Tyrolean army with their pitchforks and odd collection of muskets

 

Very similar to the Spanish guerrilla bands who add so much to my campaign phases in Spain

 

But unfortunately at that time there were no suitable wargame figures available

And now that they are easily available I have long passed my painting phase

Having painted figures every day for more than 30 years, I have not lifted a paintbrush since 2006

 

That was when I completed my last major replacement project using mostly Front Rank 28mm figures

 

I have no interested in taking up painting again, and doubt that I could do so with my poor eyesight

 

So my battles in southern Germany will be restricted to the regular armies of Bavaria and Austria.