My regular opponent Mike and I are fighting our way through Mark Smith's Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles scenario book. We are now in the Danube valley for the three major battles of Eckmuhl, Aspern-Essling and Wagram.
For Eckmuhl, Mike took the French & Allies, I took the Austrians. Mark and I played this a few years ago at his house and I provided the Allied models for this game - Bavarians and Wurttemberg - as well as my extensive Austrians.
Let's start with the map....
However, with better intelligence and a clearer strategic picture, Napoleon has realised that if he can pin the Austrians at Eckmuhl, he can strike into their extended columns.
For this game the Austrians are mainly passive, reflecting their cumbersome command & control systems. Unlike the French & Allies, with loads of active Marshals, the Austrians only get General Rosenberg, Commanding IV Corps. No other Austrian Commanders are modelled.
South end of the table.
They spent the game moving slowly north, but didn't get off the table...
In the South, the Austrians fail to form a coherent defence.
Turn 6
Slightly different angle shows my crumbling defence line, still hampered by passivity.
It was at this point that we agreed Mike had won. The scenario is a tough one for the Austrians - they don't have a lot of initiative, they are strung out and the French can push.
So, with passive troops, only one General and strung out along the road, I was not starting from a great position.
Start positions are here:
North end of the table. Orange counters denote "passive". Mike is scrutinising the scenario!
Close up of Rosenberg defending the southern tip of the Austrian advance.
A couple of shots of my wagons. These feature in the game as the Austrian logistics train fled to Regensburg and greatly hampered the use of the road.
Turn 2
At the end of turn 2 the French had broken into Eckmuhl in the south.
North end of the battlefield - Austrians are heading south, but passivity and no generals means that this is an uncoordinated effort.
Turn 4
Austrian grenadiers hold the line, but it's not enough. Austrian IV Corps gets ground down and the Austrians start moving north...
North & central battlefield - the Austrians had moved to the south, but far slower than the French. They stopped the French advance but could not destroy them with firepower or close assault.
The wagons keep trundling north....
The Austrians are being pushed back in the west (far side of the table).
Panning to the left, it looks good, but the Austrian middle is not in good shape and these troops could well get cut off.
Turn 8
By this point it was over for the Austrians - the French continued to push them North and slowly eroded the Austrians. The Austrians fought well, but they never caused enough casualties to break the French.
I really enjoyed the game, it was nice to get some troops out who had not seen daylight for a couple of years and my wagons got to block the road.
I hope that this inspires you to see if you can do better than me (and Archduke Charles) on the day.
