Saturday, December 9, 2023

Shambattle on Steroids...


An early preview of my present project - Napoleon's April 1809 Campaign against Austria. So far one  complete plus one half turn have been played out. After early defensive successes at Abensberg and Regensburg, things have not gone well for the French. Once Archduke Charles seized the initiative (the French 'won' the first move initiative, the Austrians the second) he was able to take the fight to the French. For the French, both III Corps columns have suffered reverses (at Abensburg and Wolkering), and Oudinot's II Corps a major defeat on the Ammer River. The French also lost a general at Abensberg.

However, the French response to these adverse events has yet to be determined... 

The battle narrative will be enlarged upon at some future date...


To be continued... after the Purple River Valley Shambattle story...

6 comments:

  1. An interesting start. The original campaign started badly for the French as well, I wonder if the Austrians will finish better this time.

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    1. This does look interesting. What is the nominal scale (in BMUs and hexes) for this campaign?

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    2. So far, after six or seven turns the battle is continuing to rage. There have been all sorts of alarums and excursions, with the issue in a state of flux. One heads-up: Marshal Davout copped an incoming and is out of the campaign. His replacement cost 3 of the end-of-turn recovery of half the turn's losses.
      cheers,
      Ion

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    3. Jonathan -
      I'm not quite sure I fully understand your question. The ground scale is roughly 6-7 km - 4 miles - across. So the table represents a theatre some 70km x 75km, or 45 miles x 48miles. Roughly.
      The figure scales I'll have to check back through my notes.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  2. Interesting to compare the game's approach to say, Snappy Nappy in treating a campaign in a day to campaign on a single table.

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    1. pancerni
      I really enjoy those 'Snappy nappy' campaigns - most entertaining. These days the accounts are often accompanied by maps, that help with orientation. The reader is better able to see what is happening.

      This particular campaign being full of incident, I'll probably have to label the photos, and add the occasional situation map. The narrative will probably be pretty sketchy - I'm not sure I can remember all that's happened so far!

      One notable incident, which had little real bearing on the campaign, was what happened to the Austrian VI Corps cavalry. Their two figures got separated from their parent army corps, but then they, quite unaided, took on a whole French (actually Bavarian) army corps - and inflicted a stinging reverse! Eventually they were overcome, but they gave a deal better than they received, holding up the enemy column for at least a day.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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