Aspern-Essling 1809

 

Back to basics today with this napoleonic refight. After a string of victories over the austrians in the Danube, the Emperor advances confidently eastwards and takes Vienna. Thinking that he has already defeated the enemy, Bonaparte crosses the river with only a handful of troops, only to be faced with 100.000 kaiserlicks eager for payback. Objectives were pretty simple: one victory point for every unit you kill (artillery half), plus another for holding a village in the last turn.

The french start the battle turning their cannon towards the approaches to Aspern and Essling, behind them, the cuirassiers form in column and ride towards the flank

Alas, the austrians have outsmarted them and take the guns in the flank

Thanks to Napoleon's command buff, the guns retreat orderly backards

But the enemy riders just chase after them 

Meanwhile the kaiserlicks have marched on Aspern and Essling covered by the artillery

And  launch a resolute assult to take both villages

The ulhans are mauled by enemy fire, but plow onwards regardless and skewer the gunners

Lichtenstein is wounded in this glorious charge

That wipes out the imperial guns

The hussars wheel about to pin a grenadier square in place as the ulhans try to recover

 The whitecoats attack the villages, but are repulsed with tremendous losses

Lannes fells in this bloody hand to hand

And even the Emperor is killed!

The austrians also get hurt when their CiC, archduke Charles, is slaughtered by the defenders of Aspern

A final assault of the mauled kaiserlicks finally expels the frogs from Essling

In Aspern however, the grenadiers have failed and retreat from the field

With his right destroyed, the french player concentrates all his men around the danuvian hamlet

The lone grenadier square in the center stays stubbornly still, and will be annihilated eventually by musket and cannon shots

The garrison of Aspern is blown up by the austrian artillery. A column of whitecoats enters the bombed out ruins shortly afterwards, seizing the village

The curassiers are charged in the rear by austrian hussars, but manage to push them back after a short struggle due to their superior quality

With both settlements occupied and the french army in tatters, the battle comes to an end in a wondrous austrian victory, the first defeat for Napoleon since the siege of Acre in 1799! Keep in touch with us for the final showdown at Wagram.

Austrian artillery

 

Our austrian army was sorely lacking in the ordnance department, so I've painted up a box of Hät guns

Weirdly enough, this time the dark umber ink didn't glaze up, I think that the trick is not to mix it with water and clean the brush with soap beforehand

Unwelcome to the jungle

 

Final encounter! The Republic has landed on Rodia, where valiant clones and mighty jedi fight in a relentless battle against the endless droid hordes. Whoever emerges victorious will control the planet Rodia, and take one more step towards winning the gruelling Clone Wars.

Here comes the pain: an AAT hovers menacingly in the separatist right

Hello There! Kenobi and Dooku clash in the center of the battlefield

The tank moves ponderously onwards, crushing the jungle under its repulsor engines

While her master joins the lightsaber melee, Ahsoka jumps into a battered unit of B1s

Guided by the Force (me), the jedi knights concentrate their attack on the arrogant count

Reliable as ever, Snips scraps the clankers

On the other flank however, the clones are having a tough time against the AAT and the deathwatch

Using a command card, Ventress jumps out of the fight and crashes into some unwary clones, that are completely slaughtered

Legion is a game of jedi and special units, the rank and file are there just to fill in the mandatory slots

Despite these losses, the Republic recovers speedily when Anakin kills Dooku

Bo-Katan and friends take to the skies, killing a clone sergeant

Fear not, the BARC manages to kill off the AAT after several turns of concentrated fire

And even has enough shots left to blow away the mandalorian bucketheads

In the last turns the remaining droids are destroyed while Kenobi chases after Ventress (it's not like that)

The surviving troopers take the objective

Battle comes to an end and with it the campaign. The system (inspired in Empire at War) worked pretty well, and we can use it in the future for things like 40k and such. I would like to take a break from Star Wars now, get in some Mordheim, Necromunda and even some napoleonics

AAT

 

Armoured Assault Tank for the separatists. I decided to go with the Phantom Menace scheme because it was easier to paint more iconic than the CIS boring grey-blue. Painting started with a yellow ochre triple basecoat, then I did the black bits and drybrushed over the metal zones. The finishing touch was a dark umber wash followed by a liberal application of sponge weathering once it dried up. 

Quick & easy!