The Battle of Brückenau, 1796 - "A What If" AAR

This pre-Christmas gathering saw seven Rejects muster in Postie's shed for a "what if" 28mm French French Revolutionary War encounter.

French carabiniers stand prepared.

Background to the Battle of Brückenau, 5th September 1796

36 hours after the defeat of the French Army of the Sambre et Meuse at the Battle of Wurzburg, the pursuing Austrians have caught up with the rearguard close to a river closing at Brückenau.  General Jourdan has given orders to his retreating troops to not just delay the Austrians, but to give them a bloody nose to deter any further pursuit.

The Austrians are in high spirits.  Meanwhile, the French have been retreating for weeks leading to a fall in morale and a crisis of confidence in their generals.  A victory here would go a long way to restore sunken spirits.

The aim for both Jourdan and Archduke Charles, the Austrian commander, is to severely damage their opponent.

Archduke Charles controls the initiative.

Rules: My own written rules
Umpire: Me
Figures: Mostly Elite Miniatures, Foundry, some Eureka.

The Armies
Austrian Army (Surjit, Steve and Stuart)
Commander in Chief:  Archduke Charles

Hohenlohe’s Brigade (Stuart)
4 infantry regiments (2xline; 2xveteran)
1 light gun

Hadik’s Brigade (Steve)
4 infantry regiments (2xline; 2xveteran)
1 light gun

Georger’s Brigade (Surjit)
4 infantry regiments (2xline; 2xveteran)
1 medium gun

Schottendor’s Brigade (Steve assumed control)
3 infantry regiments (2xline; 1xveteran)
1 Grenzer Sharpshooters (veteran)
1 medium gun

Not deployed and never arrived
Spiegelberg’s Brigade
2 units of Hussars (2xveteran)

Rosenberg’s Brigade
2 units of Dragoons (2xveteran)

French Army of the Sambre et Meuse (Ray, Dan and Colin)
Commander in Chief: General Jourdan

Legrand’s Brigade (Ray)
4 infantry regiments (4xline)
1 grenadier unit
1 light gun

Simond’s Brigade (Colin)
4 infantry regiments (3xline; 1xveteran)
1 carabiniers skirmish (1xveteran)
1 medium gun

Olivier’s Brigade (Dan)
4 infantry regiments (3xline; 1xveteran)
1 carabiniers skirmish (1xveteran)

Not deployed and never arrived
Klein’s Brigade
2 units of Chasseurs (2xline)

Ney’s Brigade
2 units of Dragoons (2xline)

Palmerolle’s Brigade
2 units of Dragoons (2xline)

Pre-Battle
The game started with a number of blinds and dummies on the table for manoeuvring to determine deployment.

The empty battlefield

The starting positions for the blinds.  Each side had a blind for each brigade plus four "dummy" blinds.

Each side had to move blinds, but also had the option to move an enemy blind in an attempt to thwart any plans for deployment. 

This proved to be a great example of how when multiple players on are the same side there is no need for command and control rules.  The Austrian commanders very quickly disagreed about deployment, positioning of blinds and battle plans.  Some particularly stubborn decision making actually allowed the French to move enemy blinds far more than they ought to have.

The Battle

The final positions of the forces.
The French clearly succeeded in separating Georger's brigade from the rest of the army.  But could they take advantage of this?  How quickly could the Austrians bring weight to bear on the French left?

Georger decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took up a defensive posture.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Austrian army started wheeling it's right flank to trouble and turn the French left.
As Simond advanced towards Georger, Legrand moved aggressively towards Hadik's brigade on the hill.  It seemed like a move to keep the two parts of the Archduke Charles' force apart.

Having seized the initiative, Legrand launched his grenadiers up the hill.  His skirmishers screened the following columns from Hadik's artillery.

As Hadik sought to defend the hill, the Austrian right was swinging round onto the flank.

Showing incredible resolve (and a shockingly amazing amount of luck with the dice), the Austrians inflicted a bloody reverse on Legrand's grenadiers.  Shaken at this turn of events and then hit by a counter attack, the whole French brigade was compelled to retire with units either anxious or shaken.

The view of the retreating French from Hadik's position on the hill.

After such a stunning and surprising success and seeing that the French centre was hurtling towards collapse, the order was given for a general advance towards the French left.

Even though the French right, Simond, had started to position itself on Georger's left flank, the centre was fragile and needed time to rally and reorder.  Meanwhile, the Austrians were bearing down on Olivier who, despite, holding a defensible position, was facing increasingly overwhelming numbers.

The French rear guard decided that this was not going to be the day to turn back the Austrians and made good their withdrawal.  An Austrian victory.

Afterthoughts
This was always going to be a tough battle for the French.  The Austrians held the advantages of initiative and more quality units.  However, the French enjoyed better tactical flexibility and better quality artillery.  

The defining point of the game was the French assault.  No rules could ever legislate for the Austrian dice roll that turned a likely defeat into a stunning victory.

Should Legrand have come out and assaulted the hill?  or should he have come out and sought to shoot and retire?  Could Olivier have stood behind the stone walls and defended, after all the Austrians could only charge with one unit at a time?  Only the commanders can answer those questions.

Perhaps, and maybe probably, the issue was with my scenario design.  Something for me to reflect on.