We played the 1800 Battle of Montebello last night, testing our Bonaparte Waltz rules. Tom was the Austrian General Ott and Rick was General O'Reilly, which gave him ample opportunity to deploy his rich Irish brogue. I played the French general Lannes, seconded by Ken. The scenario was based on the Volley & Bayonet scenario, from the trove of Keith McNelly's online scenarios. I changed our troop scale, bringing the level down to a battalion / cavalry regiment / battery per unit. This is a stretch but it seemed to work. Otherwise we'd have 4 or 5 units per side. I didn't take any photos until the game was over, so they are all clustered at the bottom.
I found the French too strong in last week's game and changed the command and control rules for this. Instead of pips, we had die rolls to activate hexes (a 50/50 chance) with leaders getting re-rolls for units within 3 hexes. Poor generals (all the Austrians present) got one per turn, competent got two and superior (Lannes and Victor, the latter arguably) got three. Ott as a poor general drew one card a turn and Lannes as superior drew three. The combination of re-rolls and cards ended up putting too much octane in the French tank this time too. Die rolls determined who played on what side.
The game started with O'Reilly's force on the western edge of the table, with Lannes' advance coming on the northwest corner. The Austrians advanced and were closely engaged with the French, while Vogelsang's division arrived on the east edge and began marching across the table. A French battalion marched into Casteggio with the aim of delaying Vogelsang's troops. Meanwhile Lannes and O'Reilly slugged it out. Then the rest of Lannes' troops arrived and I threw them at O'Reilly. An attack was repulsed, with evil effect. Since I was so near the edge of the table, two battalions ran off the edge. When I get the command control ironed out in the rules, this scenario is going to need a little room so the French don't fall off the edge of the world again. The French cavalry wiped out O'Reilly's cavalry regiment but were then shot down by the Austrian infantry.
O'Reilly looked to be in real trouble now, loaded with disorder markers and with French moving to cut him off from the main Austrian army. But Ott had gotten onto the table along with the head of Schellenberg's division and he sent a couple battalions using reserve movement to aid O'Reilly. Another pair sent the turn after that allowed all but one of O'Reilly's force to escape the clutches of the French.
Vogelsang hit the lone French battalion in Casteggio with a four battalion attack that scattered the French to the winds. Between two dispersed French units and the pair that ran off the table, the French army was one unit away from wavering, which would grant the Austrians a marginal victory if they avoided the same condition.
But the Austrians were ham-strung by bad activation rolls, with many troops unable to move forward and others failing to rally. They had only four dice re-rolls per turn, one each for their poor leaders. The three French leaders had eight between them. That and the constant stream of French cards allowed the French to rally from disorder quicker and often to play cards allowing attacks in the same turn.
The Austrians decided to knock off one more unit, which would slow down the French activation. Tom rolled 12 dice and got one re-roll, which was a retreat result instead of a hit. The beat-up French battalion remained in the rear while fresh units charged forward and drove the Austrians back.
O'Reilly got back behind a stream. Schellenberg came up with a couple battalions and plugged a gap in the center. Victor's corps had arrived and the newly-painted Blue Moon infantry (taller and prettier than their 1970's vintage comrades) charged across a stream, shoving them back. O'Reilly now planned to cave in the left flank of the troops across the stream. As he led his forces, I played an infantry counter-attack card and moved a pair of battalions against his force and resolved the combat immediately. Rick's dice were cold, inflicting one hit my French. Then the French infantry caught fire (my dice heated up) and I shoved both Austrian battalions and O'Reilly back in disorder.
Both Rick and Tom had become discouraged by the ability of the French to recover from disorder and play cards to aid movement and combat. They'd been trying to knock off another French unit fro 4 or 5 turns and hadn't managed to do it. I had by this time pulled badly hurt units behind my front – easier to do once Victor's troops arrived. So they threw in the towel.
Note: the French are mostly in 1813 uniforms, except for a bunch in bicorns, and the Austrians are 1809, a mix of early helmets and later shakos. If that impurity offends you, please avert your eyes.
We played 10 turns in 2 hours and 20 minutes. French losses were 800 infantry, 130 cavalry of slightly under 10,000. 1200 French had fled the field early in the game. Austrian losses were 1,400 infantry and 150 cavalry, of some 12,000.
It was agreed by all after the game that the French were still too potent – though I must say it was fun directing such a powerhouse. The command and control still needs work – the Austrians were hard put to organize coherent moves while the French had almost no trouble doing the same. I'm looking for a mix where the Austrians are cumbersome but not immobile, and the French are better but not incredible. Certainly the re-rolls combined with the cards make the French very strong.
A minor point is that both sides forgot about Austrian battalion guns early in the game. The solution to this is how we label the units. Right now we have the basic combat info – 3 dice per line infantry, etc. Units with battalion guns need to have 4/3 on the labels, for 4 dice with guns, 3 after losing them on the label. Then maybe we'll remember.
The combat system and cards work well, but command and control needs to be settled.
takes a look at flexible roads made from long-lasting flexible resin.
