BORODINO AT BOBS

 A few years back, we had a refight of Borodino at Bobs, another local wargamers. Bob has a great table in his garage, and being removed by water from the mainland UK, it was this refight which inspired me to go into 28mm despite having already built up forces for this battle in other scales. This was a classic wargame designed for action, a few units from different nationalities can be seen masquerading in the battle, but that matters not a jot when the game is moving quickly and the blood is flowing. With WW2 this is never the case at this location, as there are more troops and materiel for this period in Bob's "Bunker", which is actually a bunker as it is in the basement, than I have ever seen anywhere else. He is planning a huge refight of Anzio next month and the German Orbat for Rapidfire runs to 23 pages!
 My apologies for the quality of some of the pictures, I had a really basic camera back then, still do, only basic is better these days. I just thought it would be fun to share some pictures of what was a particularly notable day in my wargaming career.

 The first picture gives an general overview of the centre, with the Russian earthworks to the fore. The rules used were La Republique, I believe, which are free to download off the internet. I had never played with them before, and it had been quite a few years since I'd played any Napoleonics at all - both these factors became obvious very early on.

The game kicked off much in line with the historical details, with initial pushes through Borodino and towards Utitsa.

 It was at this very early stage that I charged a regiment of French hussars straight at some Russian infantry, only to see them vaporised to the last man in a hail of musketry. "Different rules" sprang instantly to my mind. The battle was rapidly developing steadily along the table length.

 In the centre, again much in keeping with real events, the attack on the earth works mounted in size and pressure. The first few were pushed back until ever increasing forces were slowly but surely used to press home the assault. I do recall that the casuality records were enormous.

  In this picture we can see Vic, who was Napoleon on the day and lumbered with me on the right flank, pressing on with the attack. Due to his status as an international man of mystery, it is best that we only see the grim and gritty determination so evident in his chiseled jaw line.

 The battle eventually reached it's peak in the centre as the French eventually overwhelmed the Great Redoubt and Fleeches.

 The French had now succeeded in gaining ground in the centre, but not, needless to say, on the right flank where I was in command. This was the state of play at the end of what was a truly enjoyable game. The French were in no position to continue the fight and neither were the Russians, a Phyrric victory that opened the road to Moscow just like the history books.
 I hope to get the hang of writing up battle reports eventually but at the moment I'm just enjoying sharing pictures of battles, which I myself always enjoy when posted by others!