... continued on from Part 1
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| Opening up today's fighting, the scale time is 1340hrs. Quite late in the afternoon after the early march. On the extreme flank, swarms of skirmishers from 2 regiments of Legere close in on the demoralised Austrian regiments and pick them to pieces whilst the main line of lights closes with the bayonet. In the centre of the fight - unfortunately, whats left of the 17eme Ligne in front of the Austrian artillery is all but destroyed. On the far extent of the fight, the 61eme Ligne is halted by the Austrians and a minor scuffle develops. |
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| I am not too worried about the other line units, as this action all hinges on what the Legere can do to the Austrian flank. The large regiment of Austrian defenders are already demoralised and pushed back through the woods, so lets see what 8 elements of skirmishers can do. (Thats a lot of combat dice coming up) |
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| Perfect ! The Austrians pack up and run away, leaving behind over 1000 dazed prisoners. |
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| View from the second wave of Legere, looking downhill towards the Township with nothing but the exposed left flank of the next Austrian Division in their pathetic line. If only we had some cannon up here now - what a lovely target :) |
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| And the other regiment of Legere are now free to hit the flank of that pesky Austrian artillery group. Combat factors are going to be surprisingly even here, even though it looks like a pushover for the French. Because this regiment already has 4 bases of skirmishers dispersed and running over the hill dealing with the Austrian line, these battalions left here are therefore only remnant forces in loose order. Finally, we have GdD Friant here, attached to the lights and leading the attack. Risky - yes, but we have to kill that artillery at all costs. The rest of the battle really depends on this. |
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| Done and Dusted ! The legere take the position and thanks to some excellent die rolls, the Austrian artillery is not only silenced - but all guns are captured intact ! What luck ! Time to get those guns up on the high ground and make a real mess of the entire Austrian line, which is now advancing in clear ground, presenting a wonderful packed enfilade target. Pity about the range though. |
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| Meanwhile, about 5 miles away on the right flank - possibly oblivious to the distasters unfolding on the hill ...... ! ! ! Great and Glorious Success ! ! ! Columns of our Hussars have advanced forward and covered all the ground to the river already. Not a Frenchmen in sight. |
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| Leaving the door open for our light troops to get over the river, and do their stuff in the Orchards of Monastery Hill. Standards from the beaten French regiments can be seen at the foot of Monastery hill - the trap is now closing. |
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| Even our chaps from the marvellous Vienna Woods Landwehr - volunteers all, are in high spirits as they march forward to the drums.. That Old Devil Boney is beaten at last ! We have them now - forward lads ! |
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| The Dragoons on the hill are now fully recovered from their breakthrough, and seeing the collapse of the Austrian left wing ... that is surely the signal now to exploit the breakthrough. The Dragoons sweep down the hill and take the Township, virtually un-opposed. |
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| Continuing forward at a brisk trot, they consolidate the position of the Township. |
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| And run directly into 3 groups of Austrian commanders. The Divisional HQ for 2nd Division, the whole Corps HQ for I Corps .... and also the Army HQ with Archduke Charles himself. Ummm .... thats nearly 3000 cavalry vs the entire Austrian command camp. |
... and I also need to go re-read the rulebook a few times about how to deal with this unusual situation above.
Looks like game over, but I will see if the Austrians still have a fighting chance with the dice gods.
Reporting back soon ...
Keep 'em coming, a great read!!!
ReplyDeleteReply from the rules authors :
ReplyDelete"
WTJ_Wargames
Since leaders are not combat bases (or units) with respect to
assault resolution, I would suggest redeploying the contacted HQs by 8cm. To
punish the HQs for being negligent, I might consider having each HQ roll on the
Leader Injury Table. Perhaps even applying the +4 DRM for Emergency Rally since
these HQs are definitely in harm’s way.
Regarding your dragoons running amuck in the Austrian rear, I see no division
commander within command radius. Are these dragoon formations out of command?
If so, they must remain stationary under defend orders or move to rejoin their
parent formation. Additionally, if out of command, the dragoons may not execute
any divisional orders. By the way, what were the divisional orders for these
dragoons that allowed them to swing around so deeply into the Austrian rear?
"
So, will try that approach then. The Austrian commander evade (or flee in disgrace is probably an accurate description), with a good chance of suffering injuries. This should place a fair whack of their abandoned troops out of command radius as well, and provide the French with a real chance to roll the line up.
I have noted as well that the Dragoons can only perform these unusual battlefield moves because they are acting as an independent cavalry Division with their own attached general. Otherwise - if they were merely a regiment attached to another Division, they would have to stick around within radius of the parent formation.
This need to hang around the parent formation is an organisational thing that really hamstrung the earlier Allied armies ... the French made much better use of independent cavalry commands. As seen here, a big group of independently led heavy cavalry can nake a real mess of the battlefield.
Great story evolving, and any time a game makes you explore the limits of the rules, that's a good thing for the future!
ReplyDeleteNice photos, and nice figures...
ReplyDelete