Campaign For France - 3. French and Austrians clash in Battle 2

At the same time the French and English fight out Battle 1, another French force and the invading Austrian force come together near the eastern border with Piedmont.

The French outclass their attackers with a heavy Young Guard Corps attached Guard Cavalry while the Austrian force is their main Corps comprising a number of Line Infantry Divisions, elite Advance and Light Brigades and a strong division of Grenadiers as well a small contingent of Wurttemburg troops.

Battlefield map:

French deployed along the bottom and Austrians deloyed along the top of this map

0900hrs

As a meeting engagement both sides deploy in medium rain. The rain reduced the visibility and so the forces deployed onto the field of battle without being able to see each other and losing a lot of their movement speed.

French forces deploy on the left and Austrians deploy on the right

Austrian Grenzers deploy in line

French Infantry

French artillery massed for effect

1000hrs

Almost all formations continued forward through the rain. In the centre and on the Austrian right, contact was made.

In the centre Austrian Hussars engaged French infantry in columns and on the right Austrian Landwehr engaged French infantry in columns.

Austrian Hussars decided to take the opportunity heavy rainfall gives and they charge forward moving to line formation before they did. Their target was 4 battalions of French Young Guard Infantry who immediately formed closed columns. The change of formation triggered an opportunity charge but the unit failed to capitalise on that moment. Minutes later though, they successfully charged and while taking a small amount of artillery fire on the way in, they met their target with no loss. All 4 French battalions were routed and the Hussars continued to penetrate into the French lines. Another 2 battalions in the line of charge failed to form square and were also contacted. This time however the fatigue of the horsemen was too much and they failed to cause any damage and withdraw.

A good start to the battle.

On the Austrian right, French Infantry in columns and Austrian Landwehr marched to close the gap between them. Rain forced them both to decide this engagement by the bayonet and the 1st line of Landwehr were routed. The 2nd line of Landwehr fared better and were pushed back but in disorder only and not routed.

Austrian centre closes the gap between them and the enemy with Austrian Hussars on the left excited about the juicy formations ahead of them.

Austrian centre left and left with elite infantry leading their formations forward

Austrian Hussars clear 4 enemy battalions from the force opposing the Austrians

French infantry on the Austrian right push away a line of Austrian Landwehr

French cavalry on the French extreme right

1100hrs

The commander of the Austrians, Field Marshal Guylai personally delivered a order to a portion of the reserve made up of a brigade of Austrian cavalry and a brigade of Austrian Grenadiers to deploy with haste to cover the extreme left of the Austrian line where a French cavalry division was threatening to outflank the Austrian position. 

The remainder of the Austrian reserve, another brigade of Grenadiers, was ordered to move to the same position on the extreme right but the order failed to arrive in time.

The situation at 1100hrs with French cavalry at the bottom of the picture threatening to come around the woods and the Austrian left. In the centre can be seen the 2 Austrian line divisions attacking in perfect unison with a small wood in between them.

Austrian light brigades support the line division attacking in the centre left

Austrian attack on centre left

The Austrian attack in the centre left was now engaging the enemy troops before it. The lines made for slow progress but it also kept casualties lighter from the French artillery.

The light brigades on the left here held their position in order to deploy artillery and ready cavalry to attack through the gaps while the line division on the right pushed forward and engaged the enemy infantry in firefights on the hill.

Austrian light brigades on the left and line infantry division on the right

In the Austrian centre right, another line infantry division supported by a light brigade attacked forward as well. With 4 Young Guard battalions on the run from previous cavalry attacks, the Austrians were keen to send in the fresh Hussar regiment to cause more damage that the infantry could exploit.

Another 2 battalions were scattered in a short time later.

A fresh Austrian Hussar regiment in the centre move off the hill to line up a charge on 2 battalions of French Young Guard.

Victorious Austrian Hussars sitting in amongst the French lines

Austrian Grenadiers screened by Grenz deploy in their columns on the Austrian extreme left

Austrian Cavalry on the Austrian extreme left

Artillery and cavalry move to deny the left flank to the approaching French cavalry

On the Austrian right flank, the Austrian Landwehr are charged and pushed back en mass with some routing and some withdrawing. Soon the whole formation was forced to withdraw and began breaking contact with the French infantry.

Wurttemburg light infantry await the oncoming French infantry

The commander of the Landwehr orders the withdrawal of his units

The Austrian Reserve division commander encourages his Grenadiers

1200hrs

The battle ends (2 x night maximum as per Campaign Rules) with the French in command of 3 points of strategic value on the table and the Austrians achieving only 1.

Click here for Part 4 of the Campaign

France 1814 Campaign - updated May 26 - Day 2 Completed

(this post will be updated as the campaign progresses rather than added new posts which appear in reverse order and make it hard to read)

LAST UPDATED: May 26 2013 - Day 2 Completed

So our weekly Empire V group have begun a new 1814 Campaign.

Peter is playing Napoleon with myself as a French tabletop commander as well as the Campaign movement guy.

Jose is playing Blucher with Dave, Leith, Mark, Doug and anyone else who joins in as various Allied commanders and tabletop commanders.

We are using a very very streamlined bunch of campaign rules based on Napoleon At Bay. We are using the map from this game. This just covers weather and movement in order to generate tabletop battles. We have no attrition, no supplies other than keeping a line open to the starting point and no reinforcements of men. No stacking. No scouting. Nice and Simple.

Commanders simply send in orders of which formation is moving, from where and to where and the route of march, along with the order of march and the level of aggression it will take if contacted by the enemy – AGGRESSIVE (attack anything), NEUTRAL (attack smaller), DEFENSIVE (attack no one).

There is definitely a feeling of excitement in the air.

Force on Force AAR from Brisbane Muster - June 2011

This past weekend I attended the wargaming day in Brisbane called the Brisbane Muster.

One of the many demo and participation games was a 15mm Force on Force game put on by Kevin and Mark. I joined this game as the insurgent player against a French force.

The scenario was that a small French recon team of 3 vehicles had been ambushed by a group of students armed with small arms and 1 rpg. One of the vehicles had sustained some damage and 2 of its crew were seriously hurt and in need of immediate evacuation. A QRF of another light vehicle and 2 x APCs with remote weapon systems were enroute to assist with the extraction of all from the site.

Meanwhile, the insurgents were attracking attention and numbers were growing.

The volume of fire the French were drawing made it impossible for the 2 surviving vehicles to man their fixed weapons and these remained buttoned up for most of the duration of the contact.

Soon after the ambush was sprung, the French QRF arrives on the right of the battlespace made up of another light recon vehicle with a 50 cal MG and the 2 x armoured APCs full of heavily armed French troops.

The lead vehicle hits some rough terrain and destroys its front end beyond repair, blocking the road for the remaining vehicles. The 1st APC veers left and into the creekbed and gets bogged while the 2nd APC moves north and around the carnage.

All newly arrived vehicles draw fire and soon all recon vehicles including the light vehicle from the QRF are either destroyed or heavily damaged. With the heavier armour of the APCs, the French begin to take the offensive to widen their area of control in order to get an evac chopper in for an increasing amount of seriously wounded soldiers.

More insurgents arrive and pretty soon the French are surrounded on all sides and fighting for their lives. The bogged APC gets itself out of the creekbed and up onto the southern bank and with infantry support, gains ground on the insurgents, clearing out a number of buildings and pushing enemy fighters back into a village.

The 2nd APC moving north spent a lot of time overwatching for any threats from the north but eventually needs to move. It pushes forward but is taken from the side by an awaiting enemy with an RPG. The vehicle is destroyed with all men onboard forced to fight their way into the cover of a high crop.

Enemy numbers are increasing and large groups can be seen approaching from the left. The French commander calls in a nearby Apache gunship which destroys a recoilless rifle coming into action and a number of insurgents. The effect of this is astonishing as the entire left side of the battlespace goes quiet from suppression by the gunship.

As more insurgents race through the village to get into the fight, the French begin withdrawing on foot along the road the QRF arrived on, leaving burning vehicles, and several severely wounded and 1 dead soldier.

As a gesture of goodwill, the insurgents take the dead and wounded to a Redcross site the next morning and disappear back into the mountains.



(more pics of a nearby Iraq demonstration by Bill)