Davout vs Archduke Charles

Good game last night. Lau took the Austrians and I had the French in a battle based extremely loosely on Razysn 1809 but with slightly different terrain and totally different forces.

The French consisted of Davout's 3rd Corps including a division of dragoons. These were supported by the Bavarian division of von Wrede.

The Austrians had two line Korps (I and II) supported on their right by Nordmann's Avant Garde and on the left by the heavy cavalry of the army reserve.

This order of battle gave the austrians a significant advantage in numbers, against which the French had a generally higher quality (especially among the infantry) and the superb leadership of Davout.

Both armies attempted to move forward on their respective right wings. I was a bit incautious and sent the majority of 3rd Corps splashing over the river, abandoning the defensive position afforded by the stream. This caused problems as the austrians surged forward and engaged my trrops in the centre and sent them reeling back. Both armies paused briefly to reorganise and rally, while continuing their attempts at outflanking.

The Bavarians steadily worked their way towards the austrian cuirassiers who chose to give ground. Eventually the Bavarians were able to swing left and begin to wrap up the left flank of II Korps. The majority of Davout's infsantry continued to hold in the centre, unwilling to risk further offensive operations. Over on the French left, the light cavalry and dragoons attempted to hold-up the Avant Garde and protect the flank of the infantry.

After a couple of hours we decided to bring the battle to an end. Both sides were quite exhausted and while able to hold their ground, each needed fresh reserves to make any further inroads. An honourable draw was decided.

The rules were my good old homebrew set (available from google docs by following the link on the blog). Apart from a couple of typos these still seemed to work well despite our being a bit rusty (if using them, cannister rolls 2d6, roundshot 1d6 - the quick reference sheet is wrong). I still need to pen some pursuit rules and other bits and bobs, but we'll be trying them out again in a fortnight.

cheers