The next battle in the Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles book is Hanau, with the Austrians and Bavarians taking on the French on October 1813. The Austro-Bavarian forces are deployed to catch the retreating French army (heading South West to France) - they expect stragglers and small forces, they get Napoleon and the Imperial Guard!
Here's the map:
Here's the table - starting with the Allied left
The town of Hanau, with forests at the top of the picture
The Allied right flank.
At the top of the photo the Allies have advanced into the wood to contain the French. This negated the artillery (as you can only see 3" into a wood), so the combat was charging and countercharging, both sides getting disrupted, gaining cover from the woods and not winning hand to hand combat.
At the bottom of the photo there are two units of Guard infantry who have burst out of the woods, causing redeployment of one Allied unit from the main battle and despatch of another unit to try to stop this!
Turn 3
Turn 6
The Bavarians guarding the bridge/village got assaulted and lost - with no where else to go the survivors attempted to swim the river.....
At the end of turn 3 events had progressed a little.
At the top of the picture the Allied cavalry have forced the French cavalry to redeploy in the face of the Allied charges.
The battle in the woods continues in a confused and inconclusive manner. The Allied artillery, with no target to their front, turn 180 to fire on the Guard.
At the bottom of the picture the Guard continues its advance to Hanau.
Turn 4
On the right the battle in woods continued, with the Allied cavalry taking casualties from repeated charges against the French cavalry.
The main Allied defensive line started to break up - to the left of the photo are disrupted cavalry and infantry, as well as two spent infantry.
At the bottom of the photo the Guard approach Hanau and a further 6 strong unit advances.
In the middle the Allies defend Hanau.
On the left Mike threatened my Cossacks, defending another two important villages, as this flank is wide open....
By turn 6 the Allies were in trouble on the right flank. At the top of the picture the French cavalry are pushing the Allied cavalry back. At the bottom of the picture the Bavarians have been pushed out of the woods and the Allied unit guarding the bridge objective (lower right) has been assaulted in the rear,
Here's the zoom shot - Bavarian line is crumbling.
On the left flank it's all wide open - the only factor slowing the French infantry is the speed of their March.
French Turn 7
By the end of Mike's turn 7 the Allied destruction was complete. At the bottom of the picture I've lost the Bridge and the river. At the top of the picture my cavalry is getting hammered. In the middle are lots of Bavarians sporting "spent" counters (which are actually Bavarian blue) getting hammered by the French.
On the Allied left / middle I still held Hanau, with the surrounding fields littered with the wiped out French attackers.
Out of troops and options, I conceded at this point.
Closing thoughts
My strategy had been to hold the French up for as long as possible in the woods - this was an error on my part, I think. It did take Mike time to deploy his troops and get momentum, but the woods hampered both sides, so the wood fighting turned into a battle of attrition and he had more troops of better quality. I also kept the French bottled up so far in the woods that my Allied artillery could not see them - or shoot them.
My cavalry attack in the North did distract Mike and we had a big several turn cavalry scrap - which i eventually lost.
My concentration on keeping most of my troops in the woods meant Mike was able to send troops to threaten Hanau and to roll up my line.
Mike's numbers and quality did tell in the end - by turn 6 I had units at break point and by turn 7 it was all over.
A comprehensive Victory for Mike and an enjoyable game. It goes quite quickly, we played it in 4 hours (having set up the previous time but allowing 1/2 to 3/4 hour for lunch).
Mike's French, my Allies all Baccus.
