Projects - Marking Time

Lately feeling under the weather, I've not felt much inclined to follow up on the Shambattle games the previous posting prepared for. Liverish, or something. Do others get that?  One does all the homework and prep work, but one quails at the thought of setting up the table. As if that were a chore!  It will get done... eventually.

But, rather than this blog spot sitting in silence any longer I thought I would do one, or possibly more, on other projects that have been occupying my time instead of fighting out the battles. This posting will focus upon another 'Map Game' - Napoleonic, the opening campaign of 1809.

Although the thought had occurred to me earlier in the year, this 'Campaign in a Day: Crisis on the Danube' was a further inspiration. These projects, posted from time to time in the Blunders on the Danube blog, make for entertaining reading.

Of course the project I have in mind is a campaign on one table. For anyone new to Archduke Piccolo, here's my attempt at the Hundred Days' campaign. Very much an experiment, the whole concept seemed to add a whole new dimension to miniatures war gaming.

For a week beginning 10 April, the Austrian army, under Archduke Charles, had entered Bavarian territory and faced a disorganised response. Held up in Paris by other affairs of State, Emperor Napoleon did not join the Grande Armee until the 17th. At once taking over the reigns of army command, he set about producing order from the disorder created by his chief of staff, Marshal Berthier. 

The action begins with the Army Corps formations located as shown in this map: 

The small lozenge shapes show where Napoleon and the Archduke are standing at the outset of the action.  The following picture is how the map is supposed to look on my hex-board.

There is a small problem with this map: there's a heck of a lot of river.  Partly to save board space, all the rivers, even the large ones like the Danube and the Isar will be laid out along hex-sides.  I'll probably have to extemporise some rivers with something or other.  There must be at least sixteen foot of river on this table.

Adding in the location of the formations: 

How the table will be set up.

Now for the Orders of Battle:

Austrian Army:

Commanding in Chief: Erzherzog Karl - begins at Rohr

I Corps: Graf Bellegarde - begins off table in Bavaria opposite Regensburg (Ratisbon)
6 foot: 4 line infantry, 1 jager, 1 freiwilliger (1)
2 horse: 2 uhlan light horse,
3 gunners (2)

III Corps: F. Hohenzollern-Hechingen - Rohr
5 foot: 3 line infantry, 1 jager, 1 grenzer
3 horse: 2 hussar, 1 chevauleger, 
3 gunners

IV Corps: Rosenberg - Langquaid
5 foot: 3 line infantry, 1 grenzer, 1 legion
2 horse: 2 hussar
3 gunners

V Corps: Archduke Ludwig - Between Pfaffenhausen and Siegensburg
7 foot: 3 German line, 3 Hungarian line, 1 grenzer
2 horse: 1 hussar, 1 uhlan
3 gunners

VI Corps: J. Hiller - Moosburg
7 foot: 3 German line, 3 Hungarian line, 1 Grenzer
3 horse: 2 hussar, 1 chevauleger, 
3 gunners

I Reserve Corps: J. Liechtenstein -  Pfaffenhausen
3 grenadiers,
3 cuirassiers,

2 gunners

II Reserve Corps: M. Kienmayer - Landshut
2 grenadiers,
2 horse: 1 cuirassier, 1 dragoon
2 gunners

The smallest formation: Michael Kienmayer's
II Reserve Corps.

Totals: 35 foot, 17 horse, 19 gunners = 71 figures, 7 guns

Notes:
(1) The infantry types are really what I plan on fielding.  They probably won't have any game significance
(2)  Each army corps gets one gun, but 2 or 3 crew members depending on the OOB.

One of the largest formations: Oudinot's II Corps
spread over two grid areas.  Minifigs, except for the 
Hinchliffe cuirassiers.

French Army:

Commanding in Chief: Emperor Napoleon - begins at Ingolstadt

II Corps: Nicolas Oudinot - begin at Au
6 foot: 5 line, 1 light
3 horse: 1 hussar, 1 chasseur, 1 cuirassier
2 gunners

III Corps: Marshal Davout - begin south of Regensburg
('wing') Friant/Montbrun/ St Hilaire:
5 foot: 1 light, 4 line
3 horse: 2 hussar, 1 chasseur
2 gunners
('wing') Morand/Gudin/St Sulpice:
5 foot: 1 light, 4 line
3 horse: 3 cuirassiers
2 gunners

Totals III Corps: 10 foot, 6 horse, 4 gunners serving 2 guns (3)

IV Corps. Marshal Massena - begin Pfaffenhofen
9 foot: 2 light, 7 line
1 horse: Baden light horse
3 gunners
1 pontonier

V Corps: Marshal Lannes - begin Vohburg
4 foot: 1 light, 3 line
3 horse: 1 chasseur, 1 cuirassier, 1 cuirassier OR carabinier
3 gunners

VII (Bavarian) Corps (4): Marshal Lefebvre - begin Neustadt
5 foot: 1 light, 4 line
2 horse: 1 dragoon, 1 chevauleger
3 gunners

Wurttemberg Corps (4): General Vandamme - begin Ingolstadt
4 foot: 1 light, 3 line
1 horse: 1 Chevauleger
2 gunners 

Totals: 38 foot, 16 horse, 17gunners, 1 pontonier = 72 figures, 7 guns (5)

Notes: 
(3) Marshal Davout's Army Corps being so large won't 'go' on a single hex grid space. Hence the split along the same lines as carried out in the 'Campaign in a day' game. I was going to do the same with Massena's command, but decided it was not too big for a single hex space.

(4) My Grande Armee is pretty much exclusively French - no allies. So, with the possible exception of 1 Nassauer figure, we'll have French standing in for Allies of the French...

(5) I believe the Austrian artillery outnumbered the French by a larger margin than I have given. However, as the Austrian artillery - pretty much le dernier cri 50 years before - was fairly overmatched by the turn of the century by just about all major belligerents.  

Preliminary OOB notes for the French Army

As usual for these projects, I'll be using my dice combat system, rolling 1D6 for each figure in combat, plus each arm represented. Corps commanders count as one of the figures, but a +1 bonus will be added to Napoleon, Archduke Charles, Davout, Massena and Lannes in person.

1 = artillery hit
2 = cavalry hit (6) 
3 = cavalry hit
4 = infantry hit
5 = infantry hit
6 = infantry hit and/or commander hazard (7)

Formations attempting a forced crossing of the Danube or Isar Rivers halve their combat dice.  
Garrisons may be detached from parent army corps to hold and defend towns and cities.

Notes:
(6)
The thought occurred that 2 could mean light cavalry hit, and 3 heavy cavalry.
Light cavalry = hussars, chavauleger, light dragoons, chasseurs-a-cheval and lancers
Heavy cavalry = dragoons, cuirassiers, carabiniers-a-cheval and cavalry in the strictest sense of the term

Of course, the corollary is that the dice scores for foot might also be distinguished. A roll of 4 means light infantry hit; 5 or 6 means line infantry, landwehr or grenadiers.  Light infantry might include voltigeurs, chasseurs-a-pied, carabiniers-a-pied, jager, riflemen, tirailleurs, cacadores, tiradores, grenzers, and any freikorps...

The jury is out whether it would be worthwhile making these subdivisions, which really apply only for determining combat outcomes.

(7) 
Army and Corps commanders at hazard roll 1D6 to discover their immediate fate. 
The simplest method is to give Corps commanders 6 'health points' (I have just got to come up with a better term than this!). Once this is reduced to zero, the commander is incapacitated - KIA or POW depending upon what seems reasonably to have occurred. The Division ('wing') commanders in Davout's Corps have 4 'health points' only. So when a 6 is rolled for combat, roll again, subtracting that score from the commander's 'health'. Of course a roll of 6 will immediately incapacitate the commander (a 4 being sufficient to knock over a Division ('wing') commander).

I should add here that army corps may be distributed over 2 adjoining grid areas. If both sections - call them wings - are in contact with a single enemy in a single grid area, the figures in both are added together in their own turn. If an enemy corps in one area makes contact with both wings, then it may select one wing as the target.

Attrition:
I have finally decided upon the method I used for the Operation Uranus game of 6 years ago for determining rallying and replacement of losses. For each game turn, losses are halved for each arm (exact halves round up for infantry, round down for horse and foot). Then they are returned to formations that have taken losses, on a 'pro rata' basis.  This might involve a certain amount of paperwork to calculate.

To be continued...