Siege of Riga

 

Our napoleonic campaign continues with the siege of Riga. The garrison of this baltic city has been left behind by the russian general retrerat, and now is under siege from a combined prussian and polish army undet the overall command of marshal Macdonald. 

On late july the imperials begin to dig their trenches

Wich sneak their  way towards Riga under heavy artillery fire

Some guns are dragged into the siege works and moved forwards

The defenders do not remain idle, and a sortie repels a prussian column

In early july the first parallel is dug up right in front of the walls

A russian mine blows up under the trenches killing some prussians

Wich are then pushed back by another sortie

Besiegers and defenders trade shots over no man's land

By now the imperial mines have reached the fortifications

Opening several breaches in them

Without a moment to lose poles and germans launch two assaults on the bastions

But all of them are pushed back, and even Macdonald is killed 

The defenders make another sortie and destroy several guns

The last remanants of the imperial army try fruitlessly to shift the russians from their defences

But the destruction of the last siege battery puts an end to their hopes

Hurrah, Riga stands!

Scout bikes

 

Next on the painting desk are some scout troopers. I thought that infiltrators wearing white was too retarded even by imperial standards, so I painted them in a rough and ready camo scheme.

Rebel fleet

 

To face off gainst the imps I've got some rebels vessels too: a pair of MC 80 cruisers and the iconic Home One, mandatory to shout -it's a trap!- at the start of every game

The imperial destroyers cost a bit more points, so I had to add two frigates to balance both fleets

Imperial navy

 

These three imperial destroyers will form the empire's fleet in our upcoming SW campaign

Battle of Saltanovka

 

My father wanted something with russians in it for our next campaign, since the only thing we've got is a napoleonic army it was time for a refight of the french invasion of 1812

We begin with the battle of Saltanovka: a desperate attempt by Bagration to pierce the french lines and join with the second russian army under Barclay de Toilly

The imperials are quite well entrenched in a pair of villages behind a river

But the russians advance fearlessly into the fray

Threatened by the tsarist guns, the french center retreats

A lively firefight erupts between the garrison of Saltanovka and two russian divisions

While both cavalries stand off in the center

The bombardment convinces the napoleonics to abandon Fatova, and the russians are quick to capitalise on Davout's hasty retreat

By now the russians have routed the defenders of Saltanovka with their musketry and taken the village

The cuirassiers try to turn the tide charging a unit that falls to form square

But to the surprise of all they are pushed back by the tenacious mujiks

Then the elite french riders charge the hussars, but before a blow can be struck the cuirassiers fall to concentrated fire from Saltanovka 

With the game tiping towards the ruskis, the hussars launch an all out charge

Smashing into the french guns

The imperials form square only to be slaughtered by the advancing infantry

Even the russians in Fatova sally out and rout another division

Finally the french player fails his morale roll and the battle ends in victory for the russian army

Imperial stormtroopers

 

With all the 40k stuff done I've fully dived into Star Wars. Last year I adcquired the starter set, and I've started by painting the stormtroopers, wich were really quick and easy to do following the recipe that I used for the clone troopers of last year

The stormtroopers are divided in three squads, one is blazing with their blasters

Another, led by a corporal, is advancing

And the last one is a ragtag group of troopers under a sergeant