Blucher French v Austrian

Last night's Blucher game saw my Late French army taking on Simon's Austrians. I went for a corps of conscripts and light cavalry, a corps of Poles and a large Guard corps with Napoleon leading the army.

The Scharnhorst didn't go well for the Austrians with the French gaining an overwhelming number of VP and a much better battlefield situation:

The initial deployment. Unknown to the French the four Austrian units on the Austrian left were poor quality Landwher and Insurrecto:

The French quickly established a strong position:

Even with one more Corps arriving the Austrian line looks weak:

By this time the Austrians had spend half the day not really getting anywhere. They couldn't see how they could effectively launch an attack and conceded defeat.

As this had not taken long we then played a pick up game with the same terrain and the French attacking:

The French have decided to attack the Austrian-held hill with strong forces:

The Poles go into action:

On the French right the Austrians advance against the Guard:

Austrian Cuirassiers menace the Guard Horse Artillery who promptly discourage them with a well aimed hail of lead:

Austrian cavalry try to disrupt the Polish attack on the hill, riding down the Polish artillery:

The Austrian cavalry continue their rampage wiping out some French conscripts:

Battle rages all along the line:

 The French finally drive off the Austrian cavalry:

Superior Polish skirmishing is slowly whittling down the Austrians on the hill. They decide it is time for the bayonet and charge!:

Many units are now weakened on both sides. The Guard is starting to gain the upper hand on the right:

The Austrian left is collapsing quickly now:

On the French left the Austrians launch a series of desperate charges. Both sides are reaching the limits of their strength:

The Austrian attacks are repulsed and they fall back almost spent:

The Guard advances to mop up the Austrian right:

The French left follows up the retreating Austrians:

Victory goes to the French as the Austrian army morale breaks:

For the second game in a row Scharnhorst resulted in a very unequal battle. This is a risk of the map campaign system but I still think it is worth doing.

Stopping the first game was a good idea and we both enjoyed the second pick up game, it was very close and had a number of twists and turns. It could easily have gone the other way.