Ray, Steve and a number of Reject Zoom groupies got together to witness the first campaign battle just west of the town of Fraise. See here for introduction.
For your information, the figures are 6mm MDF from Commission Figurines and the rules being used are Volley and Bayonet.
Steve (French) as Augereau was defending the road in prepared positions. Ray as Wurmser and Lee (Argenteau) were entering from the east.
Augereau had three infantry and one cavalry division at his disposal. The Austrians had a considerable force of six infantry divisions and one cavalry division. Plus, there were other troops arriving later in the day from further afield.
The French deployed on the hills straddling the road and their line of communications. Most of the infantry being either behind earthworks or in the light woods. Their cavalry was deployed further forward on the French left.
walls and lolly pop sticks making up for my lack of appropriate scenery. |
The first turn was 12:00 noon. Daylight was going to end by 21:00. So, the players had the potential for 9 turns, each turn representing 1 hour. Movement is big in Volley and Bayonet to reflect the time and ground scale, and the grand tactical nature of the ruleset.
Chasseurs a Cheval and Dragoons contact the near Austrian hussars. |
Weight of numbers wiped out the hussars. But dice rolling was good on both sides (this seemed to be a feature of the game), thus the Chasseurs were dispersed.
Cavalry in column can just be seen in the bottom right corner. |
Cautious Wurmser (Ray) now starts to show some aggression. Moving swiftly, he sends freikorps and two regiments into the heavy woods on the French right flank. From the east the cavalry is emerging from the light woods and can gather some momentum.
Cavalry in column emerging from the woods. Note the bases to reflect that they are in march column and that this is the length of that column's tail. |
After slow progress through the woods (nearly an hour in tabletop battle time), Austrian infantry prepares to deliver volleys in support of grenadiers charging up the hill against the French 14th line.
The final positions before French withdrawal. |
But... the French cannot withdraw without the possibility of an Austrian pursuit taking place.
In the campaign, each side has a number of light cavalry (LC) points allocated across their corps and divisions. This is an abstraction to enable strategic operations like scouting, and to be used as pursuit. They do not appear in battles. Each side totals their LC points present. If the winner has more they roll that number of d6. Sixes cause a loss of one strength point off whichever division the loser uses as a rear guard. Ray rolled extremely well and caused 5 strength points of casualties.
Analysis/Conclusions
Ray had two turns of the game left. In Volley and Bayonet terms this is plenty of opportunity to cause an awful lot of damage. Especially when considering that Ray was ready to engage/charge on each flank and along the whole French line. Nonetheless, it's not a lot of wriggle room.
The woods held up Ray's deployment, but it was a great lesson learned about deploying from a road. Plus, the woods which held up Ray also protected his troops from being harassed by the defenders as they arrived. In short, the terrain permitted Ray to mass his infantry and bring them forward. The only potential negative is having to march against the clock.
One has to wonder about holding a static position. However, Steve was grossly outnumbered. Given time, the Austrians were always going to be able to envelope the French.
I guess there was not a lot of combat, but it was an intriguing game of movement that led to a victory by one side manoeuvring the other out of their position. I would imagine that a lot of generals would accept that sort of victory gained with little loss.
Everyone seemed happy with the play, the rules and how the campaign translated onto the table top battle.
Seven turns completed in about 3 and a half hours. I'm happy with that.
Now to administer the French strategic retreat and prepare for the next strategic moves on the map.
Happy Days!