The Battle of Zwettl – The Game

I have to confess that I was pretty confident going into this game that the French would be able to hold off the Allies whilst gaining at least one of the VP locations. In hindsight I’m not quite sure why I thought this when I had neither cavalry or skirmishers in my force and only one artillery battery. As you will have guessed it didn’t go well for the French!

The French get off to a good start with four infantry columns pushing forward towards the VP locations.

Likewise, the Allies are making a general advance.

As Poniatowski's troops crest the central hill they start to come under fire from the Austrian artillery and a group of rifle-armed Jagers on their flank.

Eugene's lads are nearly at the VP location to their front but the unit of Brunswick Hussars on the hill opposite are well placed to make a charge against them.

The Brunswickers draw sabres while their escorting Foot Battery prepares to unlimber.

In the centre of the field the 51st Gabriel Spleny Regiment is advancing in line supported by the Toskana Dragoons.

I chose to keep the Nassau Grenadiers in reserve to protect my lone battery but perhaps this wasn't such a smart move as it left the flank of the 8th Poles exposed.

Eugene had no choice but to order his two Battalions into square and the Brunswick artillery immediately took advantage of such a lovely dense target.

The 8th Poles were taking increasingly heavy casualties including losing their Colonel, so Poniatowski was obliged to step in personally to shore up a rather rocky morale throw.

The Jagers continued to pop away unhindered as I had no skirmishers of my own to counter them. The supporting Austrian Hussars were snuggly out of line-of-sight of my battery.

This is how things looked after 4 turns. The 8th Poles (outlined in yellow) are now disordered.

The centre viewed from the Allied side. The Brunswick Leib-Battalion is pouring fire into Eugene's squares while the Spleny's exchange volleys with the 4th Swiss.

Unsupported, and with their Colonel down, Poniatowski tries to steady the wavering Swiss with unfortunate consequences. On the plus side there will be no swimming in the Elster for him.

The Swiss and the Spleny's slog it out with some sharp musketry.

Eugene's squares are snookered - they cannot advance because of the Brunswick Hussars but their dense formation is causing casualties to mount up and morale to become shaky.

The Swiss have had enough and head for the rear - who can blame them?

Seeing that the Combined Voltigeurs have become disordered the Brunswick Hussars seize the moment and charge with predictable results.

The Austrian Hussars move up to take the second VP location.

The situation at the end of play (Turn 8). The total game VP's were 16 to zero in favour of the Allies - some might call that a crushing defeat for the French!

Eugene ponders his future in the Grande Armee.

Of course the Austrian Press couldn't resist putting out this special edition. I must say that the chocolate does sound quite yummy.

Under the Campaign Rules Eugene must now retire back to the town he came from (Karstiff) and Poniatowski’s old Division must go with him although it will not be able to take part in any offensive action until a new leader arrives from HQ to take command.

Rob gets a total of 6 Campaign VP’s (5VP’s for winning the battle and 1VP for destroying my Combined Grenadier unit).

The Battle of Zwettl – Scenario

We have our first action of the campaign in the hills north of the Danube near the town of Zwettl. An Austro-Brunswick force has stumbled into the column of Prince Poniatowski and Eugene as they advance eastwards. In panic, General Gyulay and the Duke of Brunswick throw together an ill-conceived plan to attack the French rather than withdraw or surrender.

More fake news cranked out by the Vienna Ministry of Information.

As we are using concealed movement I'm afraid this map of the general area can tell you very little other than some of my forces north of the Danube are marching east. If you want to know more of the 'big picture' from the French side you can always email me (I can forward similar requests regarding the Allies to Rob).

French OOB

Poniatowski

4th Swiss B

8th Poles B

Nassau Grenadiers B

1 x Foot Battery

Eugene

Converged Voltigeurs A

9th Legere A

Allied OOB

Duke of Brunswick

Leib-Battalion B

Brunswick Hussars B

1 x Foot Battery

Gyulay

51st Gabriel Spleny B

Toscana Dragoons A

Combined Hussars B

1 x Foot Battery

6 x Jagers

The initial deployment of both armies. As you can see this is very hilly terrain with lots of blocked line-of-sight.

The view from the French side of the table showing the situation at the start of play.

This will be an interesting fight with such an imbalance of infantry and cavalry between the two forces. The French have a slight edge being closer to the VP locations than the Allies, but this will be offset by the superior mobility of the Austro-Brunswick force.

Third Battle of the Hut

This week Tony, Nigel and I assembled once again in the Hinton Hut to play a game of Muskets & Marshals. It was another attack and defence game with me commanding a French army that was slightly smaller than the combined attacking Austro-Russian and Prussian armies. In total there were just over 800 Hinton Hunt figures on the table, all from my own collection.

This is how the action went.

The initial dispositions of the armies - amazing how 800 figures can look so sparse on a 6' x 4' table. French on the left, Austro-Russians nearest the camera and the Prussians just beyond them on the allied right.

Nigel commanded the Austro-Russian force. For this game they were joined by the Nassau Grenadiers (left in the front rank).

This village was one of the VP locations and was garrisoned by the French 24th line infantry. In the game VP locations were worth 5pts to the Allies but nothing to the French.

The Imperial Guard. Having a force like this is always a great comfort in a wargame, what could possibly go wrong if you have these lads on your side?

The Prussian infantry were under Tony's command. They looked quite intimidating en-masse.

Pretty in white! The Sommariva Cuirassiers (front) were rushed to the table with the paint on their bases barely dry to join their friends the Toskana Dragoons.

Turn 1 and I made the bold decision to develop an attack against the Allied centre beginning by moving up my heavy cavalry. In the top left of this photo you can see that Tony is advancing his light cavalry in an attempt to flank me on the left.

On the opposite flank things soon got nasty as the Pavlograd Hussars mixed it with the 6th Chasseurs.

For this game the Tyrolean Jagers were fighting as a close order formation which made a bit of a change. In the background you can see that Nigel is sending his Cuirassiers over to reinforce his left flank.

Another 'how it would have looked in 1972' photo.

Things didn't go quite as I hoped. The Carabiniers fell foul of a deadly cannister blast that saw them removed from play.

Meanwhile on the left, Napoleon sent La Bedoyere forward to help steady the wavering 85th line who seemed to be facing off against the entire Prussian army on their own.

My Cuirassiers did manage to rout the Silesian Musketeers however, and to force the Prussian Fusiliers into square.

1972 again.

Time to push forward in the centre-right. The Swiss and the Poles lead the advance with support from the Empress' Dragoons and the Young Guard.

Having conducted a masterly flanking manoeuvre, Tony threw the Silesian Hussars at the Guard Horse Grenadiers. This didn't end well for the Prussian hussars and both they and the supporting Uhlans were soon sent packing.

Drama in the centre as the Prussian Cuirassiers ploughed into the 45th line carrying away their eagle (why is it always the 45th?). Behind them the Prussian Dragoons have presented a rather nice target to my Guard foot artillery.

My own Cuirassiers have finally met with some stiff resistance and run away.

But the Empress' Dragoons come up just as the 4th Swiss also turn and melt away.

On the other half of the field Nigel suddenly remembers that he has infantry as well as cavalry and the columns start to tramp forward. The Moscow Grenadiers have just been routed by the 8th Poles although the Poles are now a bit isolated from their supports.

The 45th line make an undignified exit towards the rear whist the 1st Guard Grenadiers form line ready to blast away the pursuing Prussian Cuirassiers.

Vive le emperor! The Young Guard and the Guard Marins continue to advance.

Nigel's Cuirassiers finish off the 6th Chasseurs breaking the curse of the 'new boys' in their first battle.

Tony's infantry are closing in on my left-flank VP location (on the hill). I was intrigued to see how Tony did not have the same confidence in the Landwehr that Nigel had in our last game. Safely tucked away in the back line, they were the only units in his force not to suffer a single casualty in the battle.

The Prussian Musketeers press forward and poor old Gneisenau goes down.

The boys from Brandenburg crest the ridge forcing the the 85th line back to claim the VP location.

Er, um, I sort of wish that I hadn't ordered this charge by the Empress' Dragoons. I'm sure she would have been proud of them though.

The Old Guard move forward but it's now turn 7 and just a bit late to turn the tide - they look pretty though.

Even Nigel's tardy infantry have found a new lease of life as they charge into the village.

The Guard Marins melee with the Moscow Infantry but they have no supports and most of the Austrian units are still untouched.

The 24th line are expelled from the village and are cruelly ridden down by the Pavlograd Hussars.

To top it all, the new boys slam into the rear of the just rallied Swiss. Turn 8, victory is sealed - 33 points to 11 in favour of the Allies.

The run of bad luck for the emperor continues – I really should paint up some more French infantry.

Another highly enjoyable game and my thanks go to my visiting generals for their company and for soundly beating me yet again!

A walk in the (artillery) park

 Wellington, Napoleon and Blucher have been inspecting the artillery park.

"I say, what spiffing guns!"
"Ya das ist goot kanone!"
"Oui but mes filles are le best!"

Meanwhile there are rumblings north of the Danube near the town of Zwettl where bizarrely the Austrians seem to have launched an offensive.

There may be a battle in the offing.

Somewhere in Austria

Unfortunately, for security reasons, I can’t tell you the current location of the emperor but suffice to say the Guard are watering their horses in the Danube. The French army is making steady progress eastwards and hopes to catch sight of the spires of Vienna very soon.

"What are the latest reports on the Austrians la Bedoyere?"
"They are saying they will fight to the last Russian sire!"

The Austrian PR machine is cranking out stirring proclamations about defending Vienna however it’s seeming increasingly likely that Mack is continuing his retreat, possibly in the hope of joining the Prussians although there is no firm news yet as to whether they have mobilised. No matter, it will be less work for us to defeat them all in one great battle!

French Limber and Austrian Protestations

I decided to complete a French limber to give me the complete set – one limber for each nation. Once again, all the castings used are vintage Hinton Hunt ones including the limber itself.

1 x FN/36 Driver, Line Artillery Drivers Corps

1 x H3 French Gun Horse (near side horse)

1 x H4 French Gun Horse (off-side horse)

1 x AL/3 Limber

I didn’t have the HH painting instructions for the artillery driver, so this is a bit of a cobbled together uniform, but he looks pretty enough.

For some reason the Austrians seem to be annoyed that Napoleon captured Mack’s entire army at Ulm. The French were actually just trying to send engineers to help with the flood defences on the Danube when the bewildered Mack thought himself under attack and rode off at haste on a donkey.

Next stop for the Grande Armée – Vienna, we'd like to see the Opera House!

This is just the starting point of our campaign, turn one is now in progress.

Drums along the Danube

Rob and I are about to embark on another Campaign set this time in Austria. It will be very (very) loosely based on Napoleon’s Campaign of 1805 but as I don’t have many Austrian troops the Russians, Prussians and Swedes have all been drafted in on the allied side.

We’re using the same Campaign system as before with the locations of our various forces plotted on an Excel spreadsheet that we pass back and forth after each turn. Each page on the spreadsheet relates to a town on the map and our forces remain hidden until scouted by the enemy. An infantry force moves one town each turn and may scout one adjacent town prior to moving. A lone Light Cavalry unit moves up to two towns each turn and can scout two adjacent towns.

This is the campaign map (courtesy of Murat Maps). The yellow areas are the deployment areas for the Austro-Russian army, the black area is for the Prussians and the blue for the French (click to expand the map).

Scouting is carried out in secret by looking at the relevant page on the spreadsheet to see what, if any, enemy forces are present. The scouting unit may attack or retire depending on what remaining movement allowance it has. Using this system allows us to make hidden movement without the need for an umpire.

A sample of the spreadsheet used for hidden movement. Each page along the bottom corresponds to a town in the index.

At the start of the Campaign each player breaks down his OOB into 'Divisions' and Light Cavalry 'Brigades'. Each Division or Brigade must be assigned a named leader from a limited pool of commanders. A Division can have a maximum of three units (they can be all infantry, all cavalry, or a mixture of the two), one battery and a skirmisher Company of six figures. A cavalry Brigade is a single Light Cavalry unit with an option to include a horse artillery battery.

There is a stacking limit of two Divisions plus a Cavalry Brigade in any town, this has been kept deliberately low to ensure that any battles are quite small as I play all the games solo. Once during the Campaign Napoleon may initiate a Major Battle which allows a third Division to be added to an attacking stack, the defender then has a march to guns option to bring in a third Division to their own stack, although these will arrive during the game as reinforcements.

The campaign lasts for 15 turns and there are VPs to decide the winner. The turn record chart also shows the chances on a D6 of the Prussians being activated.

Rob has chosen to command the allies which means that I will be playing Napoleon again (so glad I painted all that Guard cavalry). We’ll be taking this a bit more sedately than the previous Campaign, not least because I’m still painting those Austrian Cuirassiers, but I will post the battle reports here as and when they come up.