State of Play: Commands & Colors: Napoleonics – Eggmühl, Day 1, 21 April, 1809

 

 

Austrians spoiling for a fight.

Continuing our unintentionally confused run through the Battle of Eggmühl via the conduit of Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (GMT Games, 2010), we went back to the beginning, with the meeting engagement on the first day between Marshal Davout’s probing force and elements of Archduke Charles’s Austrian forces. If you’re joining us for the first time, this is the beginning of the Eggmühl cycle, but it’s actually the third game played – we only decided to play all the scenarios after completing the fourth and fifth (the AARs for which can be found here, and here). These scenarios are featured in the Austrian Army expansion (GMT Games, 2013).

For these scenarios, your loyal correspondent will be playing the Austrian side, on balance, the historical losers of the battle. My brother-in-law and long-time opponent, particularly in regard to Commands & Colors – I refer to him as T to maintain his anonymity, due to his notoriety in his own field of expertise – will be ordering the French.

Going into the match, the French have alight advantages in regard to force – one more Infantry unit than the Austrians, three of those Light units, already in the trees, to the Austrians’ single Grenzer shirmishers, and two artillery batteries to the Austrian’s single hilltop battery), and hand size (five cards to the Austrians; four). The French also start first. The Austrian Line infantry has a little more staying power (five blocks instead of the usual four for Line units of other nationalities, but when forced to retreat, they fall back two spaces, reflection their poorer discipline and morale. The Austrian forces are all along the backline with little room to manoeuvre, so their first priority is to get at least some units up and into the fight.

Opening set-up.

But the first move went to the French, A Probe Right Flank order brought two of T’s Line up to engage with my forward-most line unit on my left. Fire (and blocks) were exchanged, but to no clear advantage. The Austrians saw them off with Flag rolls (it was only a probe, after all). I answered with a Force March order, getting all of my Centre Infantry units up off the baseline (Austrian Line and Grenzer units retreat two spaces with each unignorable flag, so you don’t want to be caught on the back-line in a fight).

With his second order, T also played a Force March, bringing up the Infantry on his Left and taking possession of the town of Obersanding. This should have earned him a temporary Victory Banner, but I hadn’t conferred with the scenario notes before starting, and it slipped T’s mind in the excitement of play. Had he been able to take the town of Oberlaichling on the Austrian back-row on my Left, that would have given him a second, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. I replied with a Recon in Force order (one unit ordered in each sector), plinking at enemy units on the flanks. Not much to show for it.

End of round two. The French take Oberlaichling, earning them a permanent
(but unclaimed ) Victory Banner.

Round three was where things began to get interesting. T tried to gain the advantage with a Take Command Right Flank order, allowing his Leader to order up to three adjacent units. Unfortunately, this meant a single intact line unit (Lorencz attached), another reduced to a single block, and an Artillery battery. Choosing to play it safe, T made a ranged attack with the reduced unit and the battery, for no gain. I countered with a Flank Attack order (two units each in the Left and Right sectors. This resulted in my first two Banners of the game, picking the low-hanging fruit of a single block Line unit in each sector, and reducing another on my Left.

End of round three. So far, no visitations from Aide de Camp Claude.

Over the subsequent couple of turns the French continued to chip away at the Austrian defenders but couldn’t make a definitive strike anywhere on the board. The Austrians on the other hand managed to gain two more banners in audacious exchanges that – statistically – should not have come off. After two consecutive wins in the previous games, I wasn’t trying to lose the this one, but felt I could afford to take some chances instead of playing it safe. T had some headaches with his card-draws; he played two Cavalry Charge orders nearly consecutively, in spite of fielding no cavalry – merely ordering a single unit each time but to no advantage (poor rolls will take a toll on even the best card performances).

At the opening of round seven, T played the best card in his hand, and the one he’d been pinning his hopes on. Assault Center allowed him to use one of his native strengths – superiority of hand-size – to activate up to five units in his Centre section to attack; except only four units survived in the centre by this point. Preferring not to take too may chances, T chose to use Ranged Attacks where he could, but only managed to reduce different units' cohesion by a block here and there. I responded with a Probe Center order and tried to chipped-away at a couple of his Line units. When I drew what would be my last card, I was sure the game was over.

End of round seven.

I think T had lost heart a little by this point. He played another Cavalry Charge (it’s always a bitter irony when the side that doesn’t have any cavalry or artillery seems to draw all the Cavalry Charge or Bombard orders). Another ineffectual ranged attack. Then it was time to drop the curtain.

Bayonet Charge. I needed two Banners to put T out of his misery. I ordered three Line (two reduced to three blocks each) and one Grenzer unit into melee, each against a single block Line or Light formation, and one lone Leader in my Right. The leader evaded capture, but each of the infantry units were eliminated quite convincingly.

End state.

The final result was a 7-1 victory to the Austrians, not historically accurate, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t satisfying. The French managed to hold Obersanding for nearly the entire game, resisting fire from two sides, but failed to get close to Oberlaichling.

I fully expected the French to take the game at the beginning of play. Advantages, though small, can play an outsized role in a game like Commands & Colors, but they are not all there is to it. The dice gods can deny your best efforts, as they did with T on the night, coupled with his self-reported poor starting hand and card-draws. Sometimes it’s just the wrong night to be the favourite.

Cards played in order; French (right two columns) moved first.