I have completed our OBs for Leipzig. There are over 11 200 reasons** why it is gonna be a big challenge and a great sense of achievement when we finally make it happen.
_BorodinoSkirmish.jpg) |
| Leipzig will make this one seem like a skirmish! |
Army
|
Troop type
|
Approx. numbers
|
No. of figs or guns**
|
French-Allied Army
|
Total
|
179400
|
|
Infantry
|
144000
|
2880
|
|
Cavalry
|
35400
|
708
|
|
Artillery
|
848
|
53
|
|
Allied Army
|
Total
|
343200
|
|
Infantry
|
269400
|
5388
|
|
Cavalry
|
73800
|
1476
|
|
Artillery
|
1328
|
75
|
|
GRAND TOTAL
|
522600
|
11220
|
|
If you’d like to look over the army lists, they are on Google drive;
I created the lists using a figure scale of approximately 50:1. Units of infantry, cavalry and artillery were determined from available orders of battle (principally from Pigeard, Nafziger, with reference to Millar when necessary) based on a conversion of approximately 1 200 soldiers present for Austrian line infantry regiments and 800–900 soldiers present for all other Austrian infantry and those of the other nations. A conversion of approximately 600 troopers per cavalry unit was used. Artillery batteries were included at the rate of one battery for approximately 20 guns for the Russians and one battery for approximately 16 guns for all other nations. Wherever possible the wargaming units have been allocated names based on the units that were present. Combined/composite unit names have been used if the actual units were at low strength and 1st, 2nd, etc. battalions for larger units.
I went through the list fairly carefully, but there may be typos or errors. I’d be happy to hear about any that you find so that I may correct them!
Sources consulted
Millar, S (2004) Allied Order-of-Battle at Leipzig: 16-18 October 1813. The Napoleon Series. http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/leipzig/c_leipzigoob.html
Nafziger, G (n.d.) French Order of Battle for Leipzig, 16-19 October 1813. The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle, file name 813JIA. http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/813JIA.pdf
Nafziger, G (n.d.) Allied Order of Battle for Leipzig, 16-19 October 1813. The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle, file name 813JIB. http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/813JIB.pdf
Pigeard, A (2009) Leipzig : La bataille des Nations (16-19 octobre 1813). Napoleon 1er Editions, St Cloud, France. 82 pp.
That's a wonderful, huge, project!
ReplyDeletePhil.
Good luck with that James!!
ReplyDeleteGo BIG or go home.
ReplyDeleteKickit up a notch James!
Wow... this is BIG!
ReplyDeleteWaiting to see it
Rafa
Ambitious project by any standards - good luck with this one - can't wait to see the results.
ReplyDeletehave fun
jj
Thanks for the encouragement gents. We are not kidding ourselves about the size of this project, but we are confident that we can do it, having completed Borodino last year. We'd like to do it for the bicentennial in October, but may not be ready by then; we'll see. In the meantime Mark is painting at his steady rate, me a lot slower and Julian is building Leipzig and the out-lying towns!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I was walking the dogs this morning and it suddenly came to me that I had the dates for the battle wrong—idiot! I have corrected it and updated the links above.
Well, that is just huge, James. Our group could probably swing Leipzig at 1:100, but this battle is SO huge that even *I* decided it just wasn't really practical or desirable.
ReplyDeleteA brief glance at the enormous disparity in numbers between the two sides also means a challenging scenario to design as well. Still, the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of the Nations only comes once, eh?
I personally prefer Dresden, a quite huge battle in its won right, but not quite as big in troop numbers or 270 degree geography. I'll be doing a condensed version of that at Historicon in July. Of the course, the fact that it was a rare French win in 1813 has nothing to do with it, either...
Peter
Hats off to you Peter for planning such a(nother) sizeable game at a public event. It's no mean feat to play 'away' and to include unknown players who are not necessarily au fait with the rules. Who knows, perhaps one day we'll be over your way and able to attend? In the meantime we'll enjoy the games via your blog.
DeleteWe are gonna take our time with Leipzig; both the planning and the playing. We'll likely miss the actual bicentennial, perhaps by as much as a year, but it will be done and we'll play it over several of our sessions to enjoy it to the full!
The raw numbers are imposing, especially for the French-Allied player. They are also a bit deceptive too aren't they? The odds start more or less even, with the French on internal lines, so who knows what could be achieved on Day 1? We most likely won't have the 'rest day' on the 17th either, so that may change things. Those and other crucial questions of scenario design all lie ahead of us—as you said...
James - that's a truly impressive bit of work just creating the OOB's never mind the figures! I will be watching the build up to this game with great interest.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian. You are dead right, it was a big job--a labour of love, but time consuming nonetheless. It probably represents a week or two of 'full-time equivalent' which I spread over five months or so. I hope it is of use to others!
Delete