Monday’s game saw our return to Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (GMT Games, 2010) and to the Battle of Eggmühl. The battle features in the Austrian Army expansion (GMT Games, 2013) is covered over the course of five scenarios; with Alteglofsheim being the last. T sets them up; I just show up.
The situation
is an interesting one. It takes place toward the end of the day; most of the
Austrian army is in retreat, with a rear-guard screen provided by Schneller’s Cuirassiers
and Stutterheim’s Light Cavalry brigades. A battery of Austrian guns is on the
board at the start, covering the retreat of the bulk of the Austrian army from an
elevated position outside the town of Alteglofsheim, but they’ve been ordered
to limber and withdraw ahead of the advancing French. What resulted was a clash
between two battle-weary heavy cavalry forces, the smaller supported by a
relatively fresh light cavalry, clashing in burgeoning night, until breaking
off before the light was completely lost.
The Alteglofsheim scenario on paper looks to be weighted toward the French player, with a superiority in unit numbers (thirteen to ten), Leaders (three to two) and artillery (two to one). The scenario offers more options to the French for gaining Victory Banners through means other than eliminating units in combat. For us, the battle promised to be short – a mere five Victory Banners – but as with the generals fighting the historical action, out options would be limited; each player had only four cards to their hand. In keeping with habit of long standing, I dealt two four-cards hands and let T choose (this is, of course, not an option when the hand sizes are irregular). In this scenario, the Austrian player goes first.
Alteglofsheim, opening set-up.
As it
happened. The hand I’d been left with offered an easy first point; the Bombard
order offers two options for up to four Artillery units. It always seems a waste
when you only have one available unit for a multi-unit order, but I wasn’t going
to look too closely at this gift horse. With Bombard, it’s always tempting to
pummel an enemy unit with its plus-two dice punch, but I had my orders to
withdraw the artillery (as mentioned in the introductory paragraph – “Save the
guns!”). The second option is to move your Artillery units up to three spaces
(subject to terrain restrictions, of course). A clear path allowed me to move my
single Foot Artillery to the Austrian baseline, ready to march off the board in
a subsequent turn.
The
French attack began on their Right flank (my left, where I was weakest, hand-wise).
Where the Austrians could secure a Victory Banner by simply moving my Artillery
off the board, The French player will gain a Banner for every unit they can get
off the board over the Austrian baseline. While the French Cavalry can choose
to fight or dash, the Austrian mounted troops’ only option is to dissuade the
French through martial means. The order allowed T to get his Light Cavalry across
the river and into striking distance of my less numerous light horse.
On
their second turn the Austrians played Recon in Force, allowing the removal of
the retreating cannon. That marked the first Banner of the game. On the left I
was able to activate one of my Light Cavalry to intercept T’s incursion,
battling on after the besting the first squadron to put both to flight, retreating
across the stream with the loss of a single block each. All round, a good
start, but I didn’t think I’d be able to maintain the momentum. The French
countered with an Attack Center order, bringing up his Cuirassiers to attack my
forward-most heavy unit, pushing it back bloodied (two-block loss). The battle
would mostly be fought in the Center, with blows traded throughout.
A successful counter-attack drove one squadron into retreat and isolated
a depleted Cuirassier formation.
I
responded to T’s last order with my own Attack Center, rallying Schneller’s
Cuirassiers to a counter-attack and building – throughout the game I think I
only picked up a single Order Right Flank card, which ended up unused a defensive
line. I couldn’t make any definitive action on my Right Flank, though couple of
cards ordered units in all sectors, which proved enough. I was fairly confident
T would ignore his Left, focussing on the middle action, were he could wreak
the most damage.
For a
handful of turns, the initiative swung between the two sides. T scored two Victory
Banners in successive rounds. I, in turn, whittled down the strength of his
units with uncharacteristically good rolls (mostly in response to T’s attacks),
but was able to deliver a decisive blow only once.
The match
was over in six and a half rounds. With my seventh card – Leadership – offering
two successful attacks on severely depleted French units (each down to a single
block) on the Austrian Left and Center, though Nansouty – attached to the
reduced Cuirassiers – managed to evade capture.
After day's last light; end state.
Alteglofsheim
is an interesting scenario. I’m curious to revisit this as the French player,
but we have two more Eggmühl scenarios to play through to finish the cycle. Turn
limits aren’t a part of a Commands & Colors game, but I think in this
instance a turn ceiling of, say, eight rounds might help the players focus and
deliver a more historically consistent outcome.
In
retrospect, the Austrians got lucky, rolling some solid defensive reactions and
taking early banners and managing to hold the French Cavalry in engagement. If
the game had been more of a stalemate, the French would almost certainly have
been able to get two or three units off the board, tipping the balance and
almost certainly taking the game.
T and I
have been playing long enough to gain some insight into the other’s style of
play; I know he will almost never shy away from a fight, particularly with his
Cavalry, even when a surer course of action presents itself. Gallant perhaps,
but I fear it cost him the day.
Orders played. The two columns left are the Austrian orders, French to the right.
The consecutive Forced March orders activated single Horse units. I'd never
see two Forced March cards in a majority Infantry battle.
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