The terrain was crowded with small woods and dotted with villages, so not a lot of room available for manoeuvring. Pete E. had the left flank, Jim the right and I was holding the middle. Pete was crowded into the left corner with the plan of advancing to take the flank, then threaten the French centre. Unfortunately, that was the French plan too, so the forces in that sector were crowding in in a real slogfest that ebbed and flowed with the French getting the upper hand but not being able to land the knock out blow. That was really the name of the game, with the French on the offensive with the Austrians bravely defending and counterattacking where possible, but nowhere was there a complete French victory.
The nearest they came, I'm sorry to say, was in the centre where my orders from Archduke Charles ( John W., again on my side; phew!), were to hold the centre and support both Pete and Jim. I was up against Tim's division and received a fair old bollocking, but managed to grind his forces down in the process. Three times I was forced to take a divisional morale test, passing the first, the last 2 resulting only in a retire. Meanwhile, Tim had exhausted his forces against me without breaking me and John W.'s reinforcements arrived in the form of grenadiers and cuirassiers. The French reinforcements arrived in the form of a cuirassier division commanded by Robin, but with the crowded battlefield, didn't have a lot of opportunities for glory. On the far flank, Jim and Quinny were having a ding-dong battle with Geoff's forces chiming in on the junction of my and Jim's divisions. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to Jim's command, though he seemed to have Quinny on the ropes at one stage, but by the time we ended he had conformed to the rest of the Austrians by advancing to the rear!
A great day's battle and appetizer for the Aspern-Essling refight in January.
What I do have a picture of is my British dragoons' progress; I've based them all and added the ground texture. Next is painting the bases, giving them a coat of Army painter and varnish, and finally flocking the bases. By the next post I'll have them ready for battle.
So your Austrians won the day isn't it?
ReplyDeleteLovely British heavies, ready for Salamanca
Best regards
Rafa
I think nightfall benefited the French more than the Austrians. Jim was getting the better of Quinny and John's counter attack with the reserve was well placed. As Andrew had managed to squeeze Messana's corps and a Cuirassier division into 6000 points I was given his best division - all elite so your task was made doubly difficult. But by the end of the battle your infantry and John's greatly outnumbered mine. If the battle had continued I think I would have been sheltering behind Robin's cuirassiers.
ReplyDeleteI think all bodes well for January.
Tim
Hi fellas, thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteRafa, I suppose looking at it from the 'glass half full' perspective, the fact that the Austrians were still on the board proved they had won!
Tim, I still think that although Pete was stubbornly refusing to succumb to Andrew's attacks, eventually he would have cracked and just the weight of numbers on that flank would have been enough for the French to take the field. You're right, in that the centre would have been tricky to hold, but with the heavy cavalry there, you probably could have held out. Jim's flank I wasn't paying enough attention to, but he did seem to be making some headway.Robin's sent his photos through, so stay tuned!