It's 1813, somewhere in Germany. The massed armies of Austria and Russia are facing Napoleon with the remnants of his empire: Poles, Germans, French conscripts and the trusty Guard Corps.
On the Allied side, the Russians deployed on their right flank and pressed forward against the French Guard corps who gradually gave way but did not break.
On the other flank, the Austrians deployed in depth. An infantry corps was to the front with reserve grenadiers behind them. This allowed the Poles to extend past their flank and they rapidly advanced on the waiting Austrians. The initial Polish assault was repulsed by steady Austrian musketry with lots of artillery support. Further Polish and French reinforcements were thrown into the assault which eventually, and with great loss, broke the Austrian infantry corps.
In the centre, massed Austrian and Russian heavy artillery were causing a lot of damage to the French who were cautiously advancing. The cautious approach was getting nowhere, so the Young Guard redeployed to the centre. They made an assault on the guns which was either rash and foolish, or bold and glorious. The guns were overwhelmed and the Austrian reserves behind them broke and fled. So, bold and glorious was the verdict. French light infantry, who sacrificed themselves to cover the assault, are written out of the history books while the Guard take all the credit.
The Austrian army collapses, and while the Russians are largely intact, it is a win to Napoleon!
This was a multiplayer game with over two thousand figures on the table. We used the Glory is Fleeting rules with four 1000-point corps on each side. It was a most exciting game for all the players involved, and very satisfying to get a decisive result. From setup to conclusion, the game took around five hours to play the game. For Napoleon, glory is fleeting. For the Allies, recriminations will go on until our next game…
Glory is Fleeting is available as free PDFs from the Wargame Vault.
Rules link
Army Lists link
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