"Battle of Raab, 1809 AAR" Topic

A tough scenario for the French and it proved just that. Roughly equal numbers of troops. The French leaders and units are better quality with the Austrians having at least half their units as conscript or irregular. But the Austrians having a strong defensive position behind a stream.

The full AAR can be accessed here:
vomkriegewargaming.blogspot.com/2020/11/raab-1809-aar.html

The opening setup of the battle with the Austrians closest and the French advancing from the top of the pic.

The action hots up around the farm mid-way through the game with the French taking the bridge and threatening the farm and hamlet.

Nice figures!

Nice AAR – thanks for sharing!

We did this as our "all day" game after Christmas, 2019, using " Napoleon's Battles" 4th edition. I took the Eugene role (as the least experienced NB player, I was " volunteered" for the role!)and managed to prove it was a difficult one for the French!

What manufacturer are your figures?

The French are mainly Essex 15mm and the Austrians are Warrior Miniature 15mm. They mix well in terms of size, being true 15mm. The Essex are easier to paint with more raised detail but they are much more expensive than Warrior.

Great looking game!
I've done Raab several times over 25 years with different rules each time. It always winds up being hard fought!

I've only started putting Austrians on the table since COVID. Like Raab, I've discovered that there are a lot of interesting battles between the French and the Austrians.

Mouth-watering pictures indeed!
And a stunning terrain – how did you do the "sunken" river and the roads over – I presume – a kind of battle mat (or cloth)?

Sunken river effect done by using a fleece cloth over raised banks with rivers made of thin perspex sheet dappled with gloss medium. roads are simply fine ballast/sand used in railway layouts. It vacuums up perfectly afterwards with minor loss of material.

Thank you very much for the info.
Next question, please …
What kind of fleece cloth did you take?

I ordered a 2.4 x 1.5 m piece of Polar Fleece 285gsm from an on-line fabric printing company ‘bags of love'. Just had to provide the image file with a grass background and a subtle hex grid.

As I've commented before, I think that far from being a "tough scenario for the French". I think Raab is very difficult for the Austrians. EHJ is a much maligned general who certainly had his flaws (like consistently dropping off bits of of army as detachments) but he drew 1st blood against Eugene at Sacile in what should surely be considered one of the most evenly matched encounters of the wars. (Any points based rule system would easily have the armies virtually equally matched). But EHJ was certainly not a 'good' general, while Eugene was learning fast. At Raab, I think John deployed and performed competently but, as he knew, his army was far poorer than its numbers would suggest. The Insurrectio were never going to stand for long against a concerted attack by good troops, as the cavalry also demonstrated in the Danube campaign. The regulars fought stubbornly but Raab was unwinnable for the Austrians IMO.

Having said that, great write up of a beautiful looking game and well done that Austrian player for pulling off the win!

Excellent! Beautiful game!