Thursday, September 02, 2021

The North Flank at Austerlitz

This is a scenario we have done before, but always a good one as two pretty evenly matched forces small enough to do in realistic scale with 28mm fighting pretty much in isolation  from the rest of the battle.  The table is 10x6'.  Rules: Our Marathon to Mafeking house rules.
French: Jim & PeterC.  Russians: Mark & Chris.

The French are on the left. They have weighted their left flank with an infantry division in 3 lines.  Their centre is covered by a division extending 2 line with all the artillery.  Their cavalry is in reserve behind the left flank 
The Russians have their  best cavalry massed on their right flank (in the distance).  Line infnatry hold the centre with their Yeger reg on the left & a cossack brigade on their extreme left. 
The French have boldly advanced infantry in line towards the Russian cavalry. The hussars have charged them but their heavy cavalry haven't responded to their orders yet. On the near flank the French light cavalry have come out to face the cossacks. The Russian yegers are advancing in columns.  Thier line infantry is plodding forward in line. The French have sent 2 legere battalions forward as skirmishers. in front of their centre.

On the far flank the Hussars broke thru the front line but were stopped by a square behind & fell back.  The heavy cavalry also attacked, but fell back after failing to break thru.  The Russian centre continues a slow advance.  The yeger's advance has slowed with French cheassurs in front.  The cossacks are being pushed back by Hussars.

On the far flank the Russians have detached theri hussars & are sending them across their rear to support their left.  Another attack of the Russian heavy cavalry broke part of the French line, but was stopped by supporting columns.  On the near flank the cossacks have been broken & the end of the yeger line has formed square. 
On the far flank poor command has left the Russian cavalry flat footed as the better lead French infantry advance & shoot them up.  In the centre the French skirmishers have been driven off & the infantry are exchanging musketry
On the far flank the Russian heavy cavalry have been broken by French musketry leaving the right flank of their foot overlapped & exposed. On the left only the end battalion formed square, showing some disrespect to the mere chasseurs to their front.  But after they took a pounding from the French artillery the Chasseurs chanced a charge on a line of yegers & with a flurry of hot dice made a hole in the Russian line.
On the near flank the yegers in column tried to form square, but were caught before completing the charge by more chasseurs bearing good dice.  A Russian column attack on the right of the yeger's position was broken by artillery & musket fire.  The remain square is surrounded by hussars,fails brigade morale & surrenders.  The hussars have arrived from the far flank, but too late.   In the centre the French line is holding .  On the far flank the Russian infantry is outflanked & looks doomed.
The Russian Hussars make a last desperate charge on the near flank, the French Hussars hold firm.  The Russian right is being rolled up.  The appointed time for nightfall has arrived & the Russians wil slink away in the dark claiming some kudos for hanging on until dark.  

According to our points system the French had 1360 points to the Russian's 1138.  But it didn't look like it for a long time as the Russians had many more troops, including the only heavy cavalry, a lot more artillery & their infantry though poorly trained were rated "stubborn" & hard to break..  It looked scary for the French while the Russian line stayed continuous, but once cracks were made in it, the superior command rating of the French allowed them to take advantage & the Russians suddenly collapsed.  It was probably a mistake for the Russians to send the hussars across the rear, as they arrived to late to help their left & their absence on the right was fatal to the heavy brigade facing aggressive infantry in numbers.



 
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1 comment:

James Fisher said...

Great looking game. Austerlitz is such an excellent battle to play as three separate actions or in its entirety. Bagration v Lannes in the north works particularly well as a separate action—as you demonstrate so well!
Regards, James