Junction Jeopardy Campaign Part II - doing it!

 

Above - an AI image that I called upon for my own rule book. Thank you to whatever sources helped create it.

Campaign - The Pursuit of VI Korps.

A couple of days ago I posted (link below) about a new campaign booklet that Henry Hyde has just released called Junction Jeopardy.

I am about to kick off my 2026 campaigning using this book. I will use the book as written, other than changing the name of some terrain features to fit in with my choice of campaign location adding an order of battle and introducing an orders system. That story starts here;

Please note, this booklet is a new release and to protect sales and the IP of Henry Hyde, I am choosing to not use the rather lovely images in his book or direct aspects of the text. Unfortunately that leaves you with my own very bland schematic of this campaign area but it will be enough to illustrate unit positions and their movements and to give an overall impression of what is going on. Future reports will show ‘in game on table’ photographs so hopefully that will help with the story and create a visual. 

Historical fact - On 6th July 1809 the French defeated the Austrians at Wagram, forcing their retreat. The French were a little slow in pursuit, but once they got going, Masséna pursued with Legrand’s division at the head of IV Corps and Klenau retreated as a rearguard with his VI Korps.

Historical fact - On 9th July, Klenau made a stand at Hollabrunn. He outnumbered his pursuers, who had pushed ahead with Legrand’s 1st Division and some heavy cavalry. After a hard fight, Legrand (French) was forced to fall back and await the arrival of the rest of the corps.

Here is a ‘what if’ campaign (The Pursuit of VI Korps). We might assume that Klenau (Austrian) used the repulse of the French attack to continue his retreat, but that on the following day, 10th July, the French were once again in pursuit and he was compelled to make a second stand at a small village called Klein Stetteldorf, an important crossroads that also carried a stone bridge across the Göllersbach (a river), which was the intended route to secure the Austrian escape.

His orders are to act as a rearguard. To defend the village for as long as possible with a view to extracting as many Austrian units as he could from the campaign area by crossing the Göllersbach and retreating along the road in area 3 towards Laa an der Thaya (off map) and have them leave the campaign area on that areas table edge.

If Klein Stetteldorf falls too quickly, the French will be snapping at the heals of the retreating units and that will most likely constitute an Austrian defeat - we shall see.

This is my very bare bones map that I am sharing. Each area represents a 6x4 table. Obviously in the booklet it is rather lovely looking and full of terrain nuance. Importantly, the Göllersbach runs from area 1 into 2, through 5, 6, 9, 8 and 7 and is a significant obstacle. It can be crossed at roads and there is a ford up in area 1. I’m guessing that the French wouldn’t know much than this prior to their advance towards Klein Stetteldorf, certainly not the detail that is actually on Henry’s maps.

It might be a fun thing for the reader to sketch out the above map and then fill in some of the blanks as the campaign unfolds just as the French HQ might do.

At the start of play the Austrians will set up their forces in areas 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. So not in areas 2, 3 and 9. 

The campaign starts at 6 AM on 10th July. At that time French units will enter the campaign area by advancing along the road into area 1 (from Hollabrunn).

French orders are to prevent the escape of the Austrians and defeat them on the field of battle (our campaign area).

Success will be judged on how well either side do against the gains of the other.

Orders-of-Battle

Austrian (parts of VI Korps)

French (parts of IV Corps)

This gives us;

Austrian - 13 infantry bats, 3 cavalry reg and 4 gun batteries

French    - 19 infantry bats, 6 cavalry reg and 6 gun batteries

Special Rules - The Austrians fought a significant engagement only yesterday, each and all of their units will start the game with 1 hit allocated to them. Under my own rules, units generally lose their offensive capability after 4 hits and are removed from play after 8 hits.

The village will be divided into four Built Up Areas (BUA’s), each formed between the arms of the road that define the crossroads. Only one battalion (per side if locked in combat) can occupy a given BUA at any given time. This will not effect normal road carrying capacity for those parts of the road that run between adjacent BUA’s that are friendly controlled.

I will be managing the campaign using copies of Henry’s maps, glued to foam board with units represented by pin markers that may move each hourly turn. As clashes occur, the action will be transferred to the table. My solo play will use some random activation of formations / units just to mix things up a bit.

I will do update posts here that describe the progress of the campaign. I’m not sure how long this will take to play as it needs to fit in with life and other gaming, but I hope one way or another it entertains and perhaps highlights the value of this little campaign book.

My additional admin - Since I am trying to do this campaign some justice, I have produced a few posh play aids to help me as follows;

An order of battle that goes down to battalion level (as shown above).

A campaign board (part shown above) to manage the campaign movement of troops. In this image the flags show Austrian blocking forces on the road. Infantry Regiment 14 and IR59 between them have four battalions of infantry under the command of Adler, taking up blocking positions on the road.

I scanned each of the area maps in the booklet, each are 6”x4” (each replicating a 6x4 table) and printed them off. They have been pasted to a sheet of foam board so that units can be represented with flags and pins. The map gives a lot of detail and we will get accurate measurement of movement over that terrain with the pins. My printer went a bit skewy on the last map and has given me pink fields with stripes! I’m looking forward to that battle :-). The printer ink tubs are pretty full so I have no idea what that was about - saboteurs from the local population methinks.

A weather device as described in the booklet that might introduce some changeable weather …. or might not :-)

A casualty roster so that losses in a battle or minor contact will carry through the mini campaign, so we will start to see fatigue setting in and a benefit to having fresh units on hand, they will start to matter.

An order roster - Units will start the game with orders. I will put in a system for changing orders and using initiative that will be based upon distance from the commander. Orders will be things like ‘Advance to the ford and secure if possible’, ‘scout the area north of farm X and report enemy strengths’, ‘take and fortify farm X’, ‘capture the stone bridge’.

A Terrain Chart - This will be used to identify whether each terrain type is classed as clear, difficult or very difficult, which in turn will effect movement rates / costs.

Ready!

It is 6 AM on Monday 10th July 1809. The weather is fine and as daylight breaks, visibility on the table is noted as being at  three feet. The sound of 9000 pairs of French boots on the march from Hollabrunn cuts the air - Austrian outposts nervously prepare. 

Please keep an eye open for following episodes of this campaign if this sort of thing interests you.

Resource Section.

The previous post that discusses the campaign booklet - LINK

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/01/junction-jeopardy-campaign-by-henry-hyde.html