18mm Napoleonics

Well for the first time in about 6 months Kent and I decided to have a game of Napoleonics using Shako II. We usually have 3 stands (18 figs) per battalion but decide to save space (my Russians still lack numbers) and only run 2 stands per battalion, the battalions look small but you get a few more on table. We decided to use a points based sysstem I found on the Shako yahoo groups website and had 200 pts each.

Russians:

• 8x regular battalions
• 3x jager
• 3x grenadiers
• 2x militia
• 2x cuirassiers
• 2x hussars
• 2x foot and 1x heavy battery
  

French (approx)

• 11 battalions of regular infantry
• 2-3 battalions of curissars
• 3x hussars

Tony and I divided the Russians into 4 commands: 2x infantry- one regular one with the elites- (8 battalions each), while the French went for a big division of infantry and the same of cavalry (not subtlety there). The French attacked so got an extra 25 pts of troops which they put into even more cavalry.

On my flank I lost a regiment of Hussars on the first turn when it was charged by 2 units of French Cav, this left my flank looking precarious but my other hussar unit managed to pick off a couple of units of enemy light Cav and slowly delay the advance. My ally, Tony, was ordered to send his heavy Cav to reinforce the flank and by the end of the battle we were still holding the flank and stopping a breakthrough.

Most of the action happened on the other flank where the French infantry attacked enmasse. Tony's regular infantry held steady though and stopped a number of charges. His infantry were slowly worn down but although the situation was critical for a couple of turns he held long enough for my own infantry to move forward and support his. By the end of the game (Kent had to get his son home) things were very, very close. The large French infantry division was at half strength, Tony's infantry had lost about 1/3 strength but seemed to be holding and the fRench Cav was also hat half strength. Another turn or two and we would have had a decisive outcome. The Russian second rate infantry played a decisive part in the battle, and had managed to hold off a couple of attacks to save the day for the Russians.

Thoughts
With the size of the table and a club game time was of the essence so the number of battalions (approx 18 per side) was ideal. Not really a fan of the smaller (12 fig) battalions, but for the table size probably made sense as it meant we were able to get more battalions on table and still have room to manouvre. So I think we might end up using this battalion size in the meantime, putting 2 of them together will mean that we can double them up to make 24 fig battalions for games like Lasalle. However we were talking on increasing to a 24 fig standard- which had been my original plan so we'll wait and see. Either way I definitely need to get my Russian army completed!

My issue with our Shako games still comes down to basing, still not 100% happy with the system we are using (6 figs in 2 ranks of 3 on a 40mm x 30mm base) but is probably the best way to go). We are probably going to give Lasalle a crack before too much longer and use 24 fig battalions.

A few pictures

The Russian line


The French line


The french advance on our right flank.


The first cavalry engagement- disaster for the Russians.


The lines close. The two Russian battalions behind the hedge stopped the French attack cold for about 3 turns through their volleyfire.


And again.


Just beyond the fields the French try to press home the attack.


The Cav engagement on our left flank. By sending in one Cavalry regiment at a time we managed to slow the advance while also wearing down the French Cav- we had never used so much Cavalry before!


Things are coming to a head in the centre.