Wednesday 29 January 2020

Blucher 1809 French v Austrian

A rare outing for my Blucher French army against Simon's Austrians. Using the earlier French list I went for a large French Corps supported by a Bavarian Corps and the newly painted Italian Corps.

Scharnhorst finished with the Austrians having all their troops on table while the French had the Bavarian's arriving on the Austrian left flank. The Austrians needed to break the French army or capture all three on table objectives before nightfall to win:

Austrian infantry advance on the French while they await the arrival of the Bavarian's. The French hold the left while the Italians defend the town:

The Austrian advance continues:

The first attack against the Italian position goes in:

The situation gets worse for the Italian's as Austrian Kurassier's, Grenadiers and Hussars menace their flank:

The initial attack is repulsed:

On the left the two sides have opened fire on each other. One French brigade has been destroyed by massed Austrian artillery fire. The Italian's make a 'tactical withdrawal' leaving one brigade of infantry somewhat isolated:

On the left the French have made a breakthrough in the Austrian lines though the French infantry breaking through are almost spent. No sign of the arrival of the Bavarian's yet!:

The Italian's hold on supported by some French Dragoons:

Finally the Bavarian's arrive. With the terrain to be crossed and the Austrian right already under pressure it isn't obvious what they can achieve:

The Italian Chasseurs and French Dragoons drive back Austrian Kuriassier's. The remaining Italian infantry have retreated into the town:

The Dragoons smash through the Austrian cavalry:

Both sides have taken heavy losses now and are approaching their break points, the battle will definitely be over before nightfall:

On the left the French are gaining the upper hand with the remaining Austrian units isolated:

Of the front line Austrian's only the Advanced Guard remains but they are suffering badly from musketry:

Neither side can afford to lose another brigade now, battered French brigades hold on while the Austrian Advanced Guard is whittled down:

The Advanced Guard is finally broken winning the battle for the French:

This was a really close game which could easily have gone the other way. Simon didn't have much luck, he had a couple of turns with only 2 MO and I remember one turn in which he attacked with three units all at a large advantage and lost every combat!

The early French army is quite expensive so has few units making it fragile, especially if some of the army is off table. Until the Bavarian's arrived I could only afford to lose four units and even after their arrival only five. Simon's larger army had a six break point. Simon was very aggressive with his army which you need to be if you attack, used his massed artillery well and largely neutralised the Bavarian's with his use of terrain and attack plan while I think I made a few errors with the Italian's especially leaving them too isolated., I should have just garrisoned the town with one unit and deployed the rest behind the French.

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