The Eighteenth of our 2011 games
The Battles of Crackenspiel
Photo by John Murdaugh
White-coated forces of the Austrian Emperor attempt to penetrate the French line and destroy the enemy communications after the minions of Napoleon have made a successful river crossing. This action took place near the village of Crackenspiel and drew it's name from that town. We played the game on July 6, 2011 at Jay Stribling's home in Jackson MS. It went so well and so quickly that we played one game before lunch and another in the afternoon.
This is our first attempt to use the "Commands & Colors Napoleonic rules for our 25mm Napoleonic armies. Jay Stribling drew a 6" Hex pattern on a sage green cloth. It should have been a deeper green, as it looks almost white in the game photos. But is is Green and it worked very well for the game.
Instead of using the little blocks that came with the game, the larger hexes enabled us to use four stands of our 25mm Napoleonic forces (mounted for the old Avalon Hill rules set Napoleon's Battles) for each unit.
John Murdaugh has a large number of photographs of this battle on his web site: Nomadic Old School Gamer . Please click on that link to view them, and much more.
Photo by Jay Stribling
The French high command - vicious, hungry marshalls of the empire. Left to right: Sean Pitts, Bill Hamilton, Larry Reeves.
Photo by Jay Stribling
Two of the Austrian Generals, Jim Pitts (on left, point out a terrain feature) and Phil Young (worrying about what the Emperor in Vienna might think).
Photo by Jay Stribling
John Murdaugh, the other Austrian commander in a dramatic portrait. He looks as if he should be a best-selling southern author or perhaps a senator.
Photo by Jay Stribling
French troops at the beginning of the game, before they have moved away from their base-line.
Photo by Jay Stribling
Thier Austrian opponents, emerging from the woods on their side of the table.
Who were the players in this game?
The French Players were Sean Pitts (Right flank division), Bill Hamilton (center Division) and Larry Reeves (left-most Division). The British were John Murdaugh (the Left wing), Phil Young (the Center), and Jim Pitts (commanding the Right wing),
Photo by Jay Stribling
Three regiments of Austrian light cavarly, Hussars leading, flanked and followed by Lancers, they jingle along the extreme edge of the game table.
Photo by John Murdaugh
The Austrian center as viewed from their left flank. The White-coats are advancing from right to left to "have at" the French. The French flags, shown on the right side of the image are Victory Banners - won by eliminating enemy units.
Photo by Jay Stribling
The Umpire's stash of Victory Banners. Whenever one side destroyed an enemy unit, or occupied the two central hills, that side would receive a Banner. The first side to posess twelve of these victory banners, would win the game.
Photo by Jim Pitts
The Austrian right as viewed from the French left flank. This is at the end of the first turn of Game #1.. The Austrians are advancing with two units of Grenz in the lead here.
Photo by Jim Pitts
As a companion to the above image, here is the French left as viewed from the Austrian right.
Photo by Jim Pitts
The French left-flank commander grips the table as Austrian "Chaveauleger" penetrate almost all the way into his rear. Mon Dieu! Can nothing stop those devil-cavalryment?.
Photo by Jim Pitts
The French center with two batteries out front. In the rear we can see thier collection of Victory Banners.
Photo by Jim Pitts - Second Game
In the center of the battlefield, Austrian infantry moves towards one of the important hills which are worth a Victory Banner if both are occupied.
Photo by Jim Pitts - Second Game
At the extreme edge of the battlefield, the Austrian Somariva Cuirassiers crash into French Chevauleger Lanciers which have already lost three squadrons. The French Eighth Legere which has occupied the woods will pour fire into the Austrians in the next turn.
The Austrians are attempting to finish off the French lancer unit and so add a Victory Banner to their collection. They are so close to "The edge of the world" that they are bumping over the clamp that keeps the fabric of the universe tightly streached across the table-top.
Photo by Jim Pitts - Second Game
The Austrian center has advanced to the middle of the battlefied. Supported by two batteries, they have take one of "the hills which give you victory banners if you hold them both."
Photo by Jim Pitts - Second Game
Bill Hamilton gestures in an annoying French manner as he plays his "Strategic Movement" card. Two of the reinforcing French batteries leap ahead, Occupying "the hills which give you victory banners if you hold them both" and Voila! the French receive their twelfth Victory Banners and the battle is Napoleons. The Corsican Ogre is victorious again!
The reader should feel free to hum "La Marseillaise" to himself or herself at this point.
So, who won this game?
In both games the French gained 12 Victory Banners before the Austrians did. In the first game, the poor Austrians only had 5 or 6 banners when the French won the game.
In the second game the Austrians did much better and held the French even, banner for banner during much of the game. At the last, the French had 11 banners while the Austrians had 10 or so. Then Bill Hamilton, playing a "Strategic move" card simultaneously occupied the two hills in the center, gaining the twelfth French Victory banner and winning the game!
This was our first experience with the Command & Colors system for most of the club. Jay Stribling, Jim Pitts and Bill Hamilton had played the system in Clay Cooper's 15mm game at Bayou Wars 2011. The game was a blast!
This game system allowed us to use part of Jay Stribling and Robert Whitfield's large (LARGE) 25mm Napoleonic troop collection. The game table was a moderate size and we were able to fit 25 16-man units along with five artillery batteries of three guns and six gunners each on it. The games each took about 2.5 hours. We are ready to battle again with these rules!
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