A Battle!

The Doldrums

It's been a while since I my last battle. A number of factors have contributed to these doldrums.

• I made special counters for my latest fantasy campaign, but the Office Depot where I used to print my counters closed shop. I haven't gotten around to finding an alternate.
• LARP season is in full swing, and I have been doing a lot of stuff for the game. For example, I laced up a new lamellar cuirass.
• And I haven't really been inspired by anything lately. I've toyed with playing a game using my generic counters, but could not decide what period to do.

Inspiration Strikes

Inspiration came from a day at the movies. My brother and I saw the latest Ridley Scott movie.

I enjoyed it, even though it was a flawed film. I think it would have worked better as an HBO series.

Nevertheless, it got me hankering for some Napoleonic action!

The Campaign Begins

I toyed with the idea of playing Austerlitz, but I don't have Russian counters. Furthermore, I didn't want to wait until I found a good scenario. I wanted action immediately. I decided to press ahead with a made-up battle.

As far as backstory, I chose to set this battle in 1805 along the Danube. I also decided to make this the first battle of a campaign.

Prelude to Battle

Faced with the Third Coalition, Napoleon abandons his preparations for war with England. Instead, he rapidly marches his army to the Danube to confront Austria. Meanwhile, General Mack presses the Austrian forces into Bavaria.

The Battle of Doberschwitz

The armies meet near the [fictional] town of Doberschwitz.

The French army (top) is split into 5 corps plus the artillery reserve. It converges on Doberschwitz in three columns. The Austrians (bottom) are more tightly formed and include a strong cavalry component.

First blood - French artillery causes casualties to enemy cavalry (R).

The Austrian cavalry try to overrun the guns, but they are repulsed. A French column (L) makes a wide flanking maneuver.

Battle is joined, and it goes poorly for Austria. They lose two units - infantry and cavalry.

The Austrians lose the rest of their cavalry. But they have success in the middle, routing a French corps.

And the Austrians drive back another French corps.

But the French now have the numeric advantage, and the numbers prove decisive. They crush the Austrian infantry in the center.

This forces Mack to retreat. Another victory for Napoleon!

Game Notes

I'll have some more thoughts in a later post, but I just wanted to note that I went back to an older version of MicroBattle, where I resolved combats with an opposed die roll. Sure, it's slower, but it works fine.