7 AM - The weather continues to be fine. Visibility on the table increases to 60”.
Austrian Headquarters - a messenger arrives with the news that the French are advancing along the main road with a force of approximately one infantry division and one cavalry division. Klenau assumes that the infantry will assault the village, but he is unsure of the cavalry intent. For now, he is content with his dispositions and can but wait for the French assault to further develop and reveal its intent.
French headquarters - the attack is developing as intended. Advance elements have been told to press on with urgency and aggression.
Klenau is wrong about the lead French infantry brigades. They are not heading directly for the village. Rather they have moved towards the vineyards below the village.
Above - three Austrian infantry battalions from Gyulai’s 60th Infantry Regiment (IR60) are waiting in line abreast amongst the vineyards. On their immediate right, on higher ground, they have a battery of foot artillery.
Rather than wait for the rest of the brigade to catch up and form up for a prepared assault, French 2nd Line Regiment (3 battalions) press on alone and are raked by Austrian fire. II Battalion are immediately repulsed. I and III battalions make it into contact with the Austrian line, but are roughly handled. All of 2nd Line Regiment reel back and retire with very heavy losses (200 men).
It is a similar story over on the slopes in front of the village. Marulaz ruthlessly pursues the Austrian hussars with his 3rd and 4th Chasseurs á Cheval and horse artillery, but they run into Schwazenberg’s 2nd Cavalry Division posted on the hill and the Austrian Hussars turn and charge.
The French cavalry rapidly retire. Losses have been fairly even in this small affair (roughly 40 men per side) but both this and the action at the vineyard have signalled to the French that the Austrians are ready and prepared to fight.
Their tactic of rushing the enemy for early gains has come unstuck. Their next attacks will need more preparation.
Above - The French cavalry (green flags) have pushed on alone and are isolated. The single yellow flag is the hussar regiment. The other yellow flags are the rest of 2nd Cav (dragoons and chevauxleger), with their horse artillery. The map graphic is copyright of Henry Hyde. After this action the French cavalry have fallen back around 1” on the pinboard, back into area 7.
Summary - The French attempted to do too much straight off the march. They have had to retire and will now need to organise some prepared assaults. French 2nd Line regiment have taken quite a beating, enough that they will not be able to lead the next assault.
Resources -
The campaign started at 6 AM - LINK to previous post.
https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-pursuit-of-vi-korps-6am.html
The next campaign hour can be found here - LINK;
https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-village-comes-under-pressure.html
My other bit of webspace is COMMANDERS if you have time for a coffee and a browse. LINK
https://commanders.simdif.com/dear_diary.html
A nice little first action there Norm, and one that shows the value of a campaign, as the narrative unfolds nicely as both sides move and advance to contact. The French seemed a bit keen to assault the Austrians, but then you read of other actions where their elan won the day etc. Looking forward to seeing what the next moves are etc.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve, the campaign narrative is about to open up a bit, as you say, showing the positives of the campaign environment.
ReplyDeleteI am going to make a slight Admin change. We have the Campaign Hour and of the course the battles that happen in that turn. I am going to have battles last for strictly 8 Turns and then everything will pause for another 1 hour campaign turn to be played.
That way, actions that are dragging on, get an opportunity for reinforcements to arrive on the field and there is also a story opportunity as the situations around the battlefield change which might impact on some decisions made on the active battlefield.
I say 8 turns, that is just a starting point, it may be just right or may need adjustment either side of that …… we will soon know!
A good point re: the campaign Turn time and the game timeframe itself, something that I have been pondering how to handle with BKCII. Also with the speed of movement from mechanised units, this would need careful handling too. I'm thinking of making the game Turns 6 moves, so a tad shorter than your options, mainly driven by game experience though. Lots to ponder for sure and looking forward to seeing how your ideas pan out.
DeleteSteve, I am ‘in game’ now an 8 turns might need toning down to 7 turns. It will allow more interaction with what is going on elsewhere ….. but I am going to be re-setting the same tables a few times, for example fight in a village, the change battlefields to do slope etc, then an hour later, re-set the village again!
DeleteMost interesting!
ReplyDeleteHi Vincent, thanks for popping in. Over-all it is playing like our Wavre e-mail campaign game, only that was point to point.
DeleteLooks great!
ReplyDeleteI love narrative reports like this!
Hi Michal, I am on a battlefield now and it is very tense. I am playing solo and still don’t know how exactly this will all play out.
DeleteSome early form of guerre à outrance from the French there Norm. The campaign is developing well.
ReplyDeleteHi Phil, yes it hotting up ….. and starting to feel real!🙂
ReplyDeleteInteresting developments! I'm rooting for the Austrians myself!
ReplyDeleteHi David, they are potentially the under-dog here ……. but, a few surprise rabbits are being pulled out of the hat! Who knows! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis IS interesting, Norm. The French cavalry command is Marulaz (not Marulez).
ReplyDeleteHi Jon - Thanks, I have amended the text. I am having a lot of fun with this, it is quite compelling.
ReplyDeleteWe do these exercises for some fun so, a success!
DeleteFascinating work Norm. The idea of limiting the battle turns to see what happens elsewhere is very clever.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to see how your structure develops. (and the games of course!)
Hi Ben, some of the fine tuning is occurring on hoof as I go along. Using my own rules, a unit in assault column can move 10” at a time, so I am reasoning that unopposed etc, the column could march the length of a 6’ table on open ground in 7 turns, suggesting that every 7 turns or so, the progress of units on the rest of the map should at least have an opportunity to move / fight.
ReplyDeleteNice work Norm, I can’t quite keep up , but I have now purchased a copy of the campaign booklet 👍
ReplyDeleteHi Matt, I think the booklet would make a good basis for part of your ongoing Sealion actions, especially played back-to-back with Martin, just a case of calling out the map zones you are present in and Martin doing the same, with the surprise element being not knowing enemy force composition.
ReplyDeleteIve gone back and read your earlier posts on the campaign book, Im afraid I may have to purchase it! Interesting and real feeling turn, often French elan can achieve a lot, not so much in this case!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hi Iain, I have an engagement on the table now and because of the linked aspect of games in a campaign setting, I am constantly seeing results in terms of how it will impact on the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteFor this campaign, I gave generally equalled army capability, so I have not imposed any leader attributes and all units are rated capable except the Austrian Landwehr. The equalising is bringing numbers and fresh units / reserves into sharper focus. The degrading of units through battle is retained and carried on into the campaign, so after a couple of hours of fighting, fatigue is starting to show.
I’m loving the Junction Jeopardy structure more and more …. helped considerably by your great practical methods for running a campaign, such as the pin-board for the maps and the map-table coordination. Great work, as always Norm. Rhys
ReplyDeleteHi Rhys - thanks for stopping by. The booklet just seems to hit the right button. For me it connects a bit with the past, in that, it was something I used to do (linked wargaming one way or another) and was certainly exposed to more in the ‘old’ magazines and the words of the grandfathers of the hobby.
ReplyDeleteFor me, there feels a sentiment behind the booklet that it is reminding us to do it again and I am really enjoying that spark.
My mini campaign has just moved on a little bit and I should have something out by tomorrow
Rhys, I note that the linkage between table top action and what else is happening in the Campaign Turn has only been mentioned in the comments section. In the next post I will add an ‘Admin Edit’, that describes it, to ensure the wider audience picks it up - thank you.
DeleteSorry, late to the party. Well impressed with all aspects of this and more importantly you seem to be thoroughly enjoying it too. Like Iain, I’ll probably buy into this shortly.
ReplyDeleteHi JB, I have just settled to write new orders and move things on the pinboard etc and so the next turn feels quite exciting and it is exactly this linked nature of all the actions that is drawing me in. I am particularly pleased and surprised that the solo aspect of running this is so rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying your own storyboard.
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