"Favorite Battle?" Topic

As the title suggests, what is your favorite Battle, or perhaps series?

Thats tough. I like Quatre Bras…. also like the 1809 campaign, Ekkmuhl and Apern-Essling, followed by Wagram.

Chalfant

Too many to choose from. I like Marengo and Liepzig as 1 and 1a.

Jena/Wagram.Liepzig for late war.

Quatre Bras and Ligny. Liepzig would be a close third but only parts of the battle.

The Nile is my favourite battle, although it is tough to game.

Austerlitz of course!
But for gaming purposes Quatre Bras

Maida is a great little battle and perfect for a wargame: two small, evenly matched armies; surprisingly rare in the Napoleonic period. And the battle could easily go either way.

Waterloo.

Eckmuhl
Tagen-Haussen
Another vote for Quatre Bras and Ligny

Go on admit it the rest of you. They all just led up to the finale. The only debate is whether a Waterloo outcome involving the complete rout of the Allied and Prussian armies and the capture of Brussels would have made any difference in the end.

Leipzig must be too big for an enjoyable game, unless a large barrel of beer involved.

I have never played a wargame based on earlier than 1916, but Quatre Bras must be brilliant for solo wargaming. You play against/with stacked cards, with something coming down the two roads to support you. Is the next reinforcing unit the Guards or the Duke of Cumberland's Hussars? That next unit approaching Bois de Bossus; is it an ambulance unit or the Old Guard?

At Ligny, old Vorwarts had some idea of what he had/was facing. Bulow was hardly likely to turn up, which may have proved all for the best anyway! Less surprise involved. No gamer would have Blucher then fall back on Wavre, let alone march away form his supply lines to Mt St Jean. No rules would allow that and his monarch would hang him…unless of course……

That is realism

Corunna

From the Napoleonic era, Aspern Essling. John Miller

Austerlitz.

Wagram, Waterloo and Borodino.

Tagen-Haussen- close run thing and can be made big ( add Friant's DIV and IV Korps ) or keep small with Tagen only.

@Deadhead
If napoleon managed to rout the prussians at Ligny with D' Erlon's flank strike and or just routed the Allies at Waterloo then turn and rout the prussians as they moved onto his flank. Then with this chase to the sea, there is good possibility Austria would have change sides and more of France would have come to Napoleons service, swelling his Army.
Now that would be a interesting "what if" campaign to play out!

MG

Battle of Eylau for me. Mass cavalry charges, mountains of Russian artillery, blizzards, and the redemption of the Prussian army!

Salamanca and Marengo.

Corunna here also.

Auerstedt or Aspern-Essling, I tend to lose interest in the wars after that one

Borodino. I'm a big artillery fan.

Maloyaroslavets
Eylau also.

- Sasha

Jena, Auerstadt, and Eylau. Pretty much any battle from 1806 & 1807.

Quatre Bras.

Eylau(full battle, including Ney's Corps), Wagram, and Borodino.

Valmy

Waterloo – esp. as it's my birthday was well!!

DB

Waterloo, Marengo, Quatre Bras.

Waterloo.

Marengo, Jena/Auerstadt, Borodino, Bautzen, Ligny, Waterloo.

Pont-a-chin (1794), Marengo, Saalfeld/Jena/Auestadt and Waterloo

Austerlitz jena auerstad greetings serge joe

@Beeker

Can you tell me more about Pont-a-chin?

Albuera in Spain. Nothing else close!

GdeP

Aspern-Euling then Wagram

Talavera for me!

VW

P-o-S is a pet history project. I came across that action in Phipps' account of the allied loss at Tourcoing and then then their victory at Tournai under the Duke of York and Coburg.. only to be abandoned later after the Empire's decision to give up Flanders.

I must say my interest in this was furthered by tracing the events of this campaign along the map in Ferraris' 1777 Atlas of Flanders – incidentally, the namesake participated in this campaign although I do not know if it was the original author or a relation.

Like most action in the west of Flanders at the outset of the revolution it provides a great number of players, diverse uniforms and costumes (I went so far as to convert 6mm Landwehr with Top hats into British Grenadier light companies.. all with black chennie along the cocked axis of the hat and a green plume in the middle… how's that for admitting mental imbalance! LOL! And of course some very interesting history!

Sorry, that should have been P-a-C … I have Port of Spain on my mind right now.. LOL!

Any battle in the Spanish Peninsula war.

Almost any battle not in the Peninsular War

I've always enjoyed Dennewitz, as it's a very interesting meeting engagement with a very cosmopolitan orbat:

Prussians, Russians and Swedes (plus a British rocket battery) on the Allied side and French, Bavarians, Poles, Italians, Saxons and Wuerttembergers on the other.

Very hard to pick just one, but if forced to pick just one, then of course Waterloo.

My standard wargames rules test scenario is Bussaco, so I've probably played that more times than Waterloo.

Fishguard!

I've watched this set of posts, and found out I've gamed most of the battles listed here. And, you know, I liked them all. Picking one favorite … I give up. Too dog-gone many excellent battles.

LOL, yes, sorry, of course it's Fishguard… What was I thinking…?

Nice pic, Jemima!

Cheers Spontoon! More here: PDF link

Tolentino and Murat's 1815 campaign

Waterloo, Leipzig, Borodino, Wagram, Aspern-Essling, Eylau, Jena, Marengo, Friedland, and Austerlitz.

Mainly 1809. Wagram