Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Napoleonic 28mm: French v. Austrians

Jim's Austrians v. Mike & Steve's French

My freshly painted Austrians lined up for their first battle.  The Austrians deployed first with 2 infantry divisions of 6 line & 1 grenadier battalion, a heavy cavalry division of 2 cuirassier & 2 dragoon on their left, a light cavalry division of 2 hussars on their right and a battery of 2 guns.

The French put all their cavalry on their right, 2 cuirassiers, 1 dragoon and 2 hussars.  They had 2 infantry divisions each of 6 line and a 2 gun battery.

The French command was rated 9.  The Austrian command was rated 8, but their CIC was rated 7.  The French infantry was rated well drilled so could move up to 3 moves in line.  The Austrian infantry other than the grenadiers was rated poorly trained to  shots so -1 dice in shooting & h-t-h and one 1 move per turn in line.

The French opened the batting with a cavalry attack on the far flank.  Their infantry advanced more slowly with 2 battalions sent to the left to counter the advance of the Austrian hussars.  The Austrian heavy cavalry turned to meet the flanking enemy horse and grenadiers formed square to cover the left flank of the Austrian infantry. 

The cavalry fight swilled round for a bit, but the French numbers told and the Austrian horse looked doomed.  The Austrians deployed another line infantry battalion in square and launched a counterattack in the centre.  Their infantry redeployed into battalion mass and advanced.

The Austrian horse broke as the Austrian centre lumbered forward.

On the far flank, the French cavalry pulled back to rally while infantry came up to keep the pressure on the Austrian flank.  (We only allow rallying if over 18" from the enemy & not under artillery fire).  The Austrian attack caught the French a bit disorganised and the French lost a couple of battalions & fell back.   The Austrian hussars repeatedly refused to advance in support of the attack.

The French right was one bad break test of breaking, but their shaken units stubbornly held on.  Their left flank division counterattacked and pushed the Austrian back.  The hussars still refused to charge.

On the far flank the French cavalry have rallied and again advancing.  In the centre, both sides go into line and exchange volleys.  The Austrian hussars still do nothing.

 The French infantry division on their right has finally broken.   The French cavalry now left unsupported in front of squares and guns is falling back again.   The Austrian hussars finally charged 1 unit in support of the infantry, but failed to break through.   

It was now 10 o'clock and almost every remaining unit on both sides was shaken so nightfall was declared with the battle drawn.  The Austrians had their chances to win with their infantry attack - they got one French infantry division on the verge of breaking, but one shaken battalion gave ground but refused to break for too long.  By the time it broke the Austrians had too many shaken units to finish off the other French infantry division.  Though indecisive, it was an enjoyable battle. 

We had about 20 units a side in this battle - it's probably about the ideal number for a 10x6' table  It's enough units to give lots of tactical options & provide enough dice rolls for the luck to even out, while still finishing in good time.   

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