French assault the Austrians again!

Steve and I got together last Friday for another game of Napoleon at War. Steve had gone for Austrians again and so I was French. We upped the points from 1500 to 1750 each. We rolled for a scenario and got 1, 'Attack on a prepared position'. We then diced off to see who was attacker and the honour fell on my shoulders.

We rolled up for terrain, only four pieces and the table ended up like this.

 I rolled up a village and as they make I good defensive position I tucked it away in the corner. Steve placed one objective centrally on the road, I decided to place the second over on my left. The woods on the right would be too in the way if I had gone the other side.

As defender the Austrians deployed first. They started with 

Infantry brigade = 4 Infantry battalions and 1 Artillery battery.

Infantry Brigade = 4 Infantry battalions and 1 Hussar regiment.

Cavalry artillery ( not quite as good as horse artillery).

A this point I had no idea what the Austrian reserves were.

As with many scenarios the aim is for the attacker to either capture both objectives or break the enemy (gain more victory points than the enemy has active forces).

I started on table with 

Infantry Brigade = 3 Conscript battalions

Infantry Brigade = 1 line battalion and 4 Conscript battalions

Heavy artillery battery

Foot artillery battery

Artillery general

Light cavalry brigade = 1 Hussar regiment and 2 Lancer regiments.

The artillery batteries and artillery General were combined into a grand battery ( artillery re rolls misses :-))

In reserve 

Cavalry brigade = 2 Dragoons

I deployed the 3 battalion battery on he extreme left flank with the Grand battery opposite the Austrian brigade artillery. The plan was for the Grand battery to silence the enemy guns and help weaken the force whilst throwing the infantry brigade against the same force, hoping to break the force and take the objective.

The 5 battalion brigade was deployed in the centre to strike against the other significant Austrian force. My cavalry were deployed on the right with the aim of taking on the Austrian cavalry and supporting the infantry assault in the center.

What could possibly go wrong?

Turn 1

To kick off the French infantry on the far left commenced their advance and the artillery start to fire on the Austrian artillery. The Austrian brigade battery lost a base (hooray!) but managed to take out a French foot gun in counter battery fire (boooo!)

In the center the Infantry advance

And on the right the cavalry move forward to cover the infantry and manoeuvre in ready mess to take on the Austrian Hussars.

No French reserves arrive :-(

The Austrians (unaware of the French plans) uncharacteristcally (for Austrians) act decisively and instead of waiting to be attacked launch their own offensive!! 

On the French left they successfully charge

And destroy a conscript battalion

And in the center they strike 

And force back a French battalion

The Austrian Hussars, instead of waiting to be enveloped gallope forward and strike for the French Line 

battalion. The French hussars counter charge 

But fail to help the infantry and are forced to retire.

So the Austrian Hussars continue and breakthrough onto the French line battalion. Luckily few casualties are inflicted and the infantry survive!

And the Hussars retire.

At the end of turn 1 things are going not how the French had antisipated.

Turn 2

It's only turn 2, early days so the French stick to the plan. The battalions on the far left prepare to assault the Austrian line whilst the French artillery destroy the Austrian brigade artillery (hooray!)

In the center the French prepare their assault but the left hand battalion takes a pasting from the Austrian return fire!

The cavalry get ready to charge the Austrian hussars.

But the Hussars are too experienced to get encircled and evade the French lancers.

On the left the French charge through a storm of musketry taking casualties and make contact...

But.................is that it? I hear you cry.........yes, the French inflict 1 hit only!!! Out of 5 dice.

The second battalion doesn't even make contact so both fall back (in disgrace)

In the center two battalions charge ( one at a time)

 

both fall back (again, in disgrace)

Once again French reserves fail to arrive :-(

On the French left the Austrians move to take advantage of the poor French performance.

In the center the heroic Austrian battalion that saw off 2 French assaults falls back out of the firing line.

The Austrian musketry destroys the half strength battalion.

The Austrian Hussars fall back to support the now deployed cavalry artillery whilst the infantry form square.

On the French left the Austrians charge the rear of the retiring French infantry and destroy them! The remaing unit passes it's force morale test and so stays in the action.

To finish a disastrous turn for the French the Austrian reserve arrive.....both of them!!!

A brigade of 5 infantry arrives and advances through the village,

Whilst an Austrian light cavalry brigade of 1 chevaux leger and 1 Uhlan regiment arrive to help support the objective in the center.

Turn 3

The game has already felt like its slipped away for the French. Winning this scenario was now pretty impossible, still, it was worth carrying on to see if any breakthrough could occur.

In the center the French battalion try to reorganise.

And the French lancers line up a charge to hit the Cavalry battery on the hill.

The Grand battery targets an Austrian battalion and inflicts heavy losses.

The remaining battalion on the far left hurls itself at a fresh Austrian battalion hoping for a decisive win.

but despite an attached commander the French conscripts are destroyed in their effort!!!

In the center the Cavalry battery evades the charging lancers taking refuge in a nearby infantry battalion, thus ending hopes of a breakthrough.

Once again the French reserve failed to show.

At the end of the French phase of turn 3 the left flank looked like this

And the right flank looked like this.

So it was at this point I conceded the game. We were running out of time ( because Steve had to leave a bit early) and it was clear I was not going to break his army or capture both objectives.

Conclusion

I wasn't sure about posting this AAR originally as it was a short game, not even completing 3 turns, but then I thought these sort of games do happen and and they are worth sharing. Also Steve's defence was very good and worth highlighting.

The French failure was due to a number of reasons. 

First, I had not made the necessary sacrifices to the dice gods resulting in poor rolls through out the game. On turn 2 no less than 4 charges were attempted and each ended in failure. Few plans survive poor dice rolls!

Second, I don't think I used the grand battery properly. Units were not softened up prior to assaults and this proved costly. I probably should have been softening up the infantry prior to assaults rather than going for the Austrian artillery.

Third, there was not much combined arms attempted. This was partly because I spread the attack across the whole front instead of focusing the attack at specific points.

Fourth, the aggressive defence took away the initiative from the French and simply proved more effective than the French offensive.

Fifth, with all Austrian reserves on table and no sign of the French reserves the French were outnumbered quite quickly. A bad sign!

I'm sure there are more reasons if I think hard enough.

This scenario is possibly the hardest out of the 6 in the rule book for the attacker. If things don't go well for the attacker from the start then it's almost impossible. The game could have gone on longer and you never know what might have happened but I'm pretty sure it just wasn't my day. 

The Austrians in defence are a very hard nut to crack. As I understand things Man at War are working on an 1813 campaign book and say the Austrians will be revised. Just how that revision will manifest itself we will have to wait and see, although there could be some free PDF downloads of the revised lists on their site soon.

An end of 1813 big game

December proved to be a busy month so It's been a while since the last AAR. I have had a few games but forgot to take pictures of the last game. 

At the beginning of the month I held a big game set at the end of 1813. A lot of people missed out on the Leipzig game so I decided to put on another big game. Rather than repeating the Leipzig game I decided to do a fictitious battle set in December 1813. It was essentially a final attempt by the French to hold up the advance of the allies. To keep things simple I kept the same OOB as the Leipzig game ( basically all our available figures!) with only very minor tweaking.

The battle field had two villages, one held by th French on their left flank and one held by the allies on their left flank.

There are a lot of photos in this AAR as quite a lot happened but I won't go into too much detail, just give an overview of events.

The French left flank.

 

The allied left flank with Russians holding the village.

For the Allies only the combined Russian /Prussian force started on table.

The Prussians were deployed on the allied right opposite the French held village.

TURN1

The French started aggressively as they initially outnumbered the allies and advance across the while front.

Here the French advance on their left flank.

and move through the village.

The Russians hold the village on the allied left aided by a large artillery redoubt.

The Prussians advance.

Not put off by the Larger French numbers the Prussians are up for a fight!

TURN 2

The rapid French advance means they arrive at the allied village before the Russians have fully taken up positions.

In the centre two French (well one is actually Italian) brigades also rapidly advance.

The French move through their village 

and engage the Prussians.

Russian cavalry see off the French cavalry on the extreme allied left.

In the reserve phase the Austrian divisions arrive in the center to support the threatened Prussians.

TURN 3

The French inflict losses on the Prussians

and start to force the Prussians back.

In the center a French cavalry division arrives to support the infantry in the center.

Prussian artillery successfully targets the French cavalry and the Austrians move up to support the Prussians.

The Prussians try to take on the French.

Austrian cavalry threaten the French center forcing the battalions into square. 

As a result of the French successfully forming square the Austrian cavalry fall back.

Turn 4

The French continue their success against the Prussians.

In the center French Heavy cavalry support their infantry and force the Austrian infantry into square.

In the reserve face the Ogre arrives to take command assisted by elements of the Guard.

Overview of the French left and centre.

In the previous turn more Austrians arrived on the allied right flank, including the reserve Grenadier brigade advancing grouch the woods. However the French have seen off the Prussians to their front.

The Austrians work their way around the French left forcing the French into square to hold the enclosed field.

For most of the game the French right was relatively quiet as the battle for the Russian held village stalemated.

TURN 5

French light cavalry advance to ease the pressure on the extreme French left.

and the French move up to occupy where the Prussians had been.

Having seen off the Austrian cavalry the French infantry in the center advance once more.

On their right flank more French infantry move up.

A French heavy cavalry division arrives on their far right but too late to have any real impact.

View from the extreme French right looking at the Russian held village.

The Austrian Grenadiers advance through the woods to stop the French capitalising on the Prussian withdrawal.

View across the battlefield from the French held village.

The battle for the Allied village continues.

TURN 6

With dusk fast approaching on a winters afternoon it becomes clear neither side will make any significant breakthrough.

Poles attack the remaining Prussians on the hill on their centre left position but fail to make an impact.

The Italians charge the Prussian artillery forcing the crew to take shelter in the allied battalion behind.

The French light cavalry on their extreme left fail dismally to hold up the allied advance and are forced to retire with significant losses.

As visibility drops the Grenadiers make sure the French are contained in the enclosed field on the French extreme left.

With stalemate across the table and 6 turns completed the winter sun drops below the horizon drawing the battle to a close. The French ultimately fail to halt the allied advance toward the mother country but it was always going to be a tough ask as per history.

The game was ultimately designed as a spectacle for those friends who couldn't make the Leipzig game. With equal pointed armies a stalemate was always on the cards. 

I've learnt a lot putting on these big games. The dynamics are very different to the usual evening game.  For the next big game I'm going to put a lot more thought into the scenario and try and give the players more of a command challenge.

Hope you enjoyed this AAR.