One Hour Aspern Essling

 I was keen to try out Disgruntled Fusiler's "Echeloned Attack" scenario, but as is my predeliction, turned it back into something more like the historical battle. This uses my One Hour Napoleonic variant of Neil Thomas's rules. The original scenario is on the AMW groups.io group. 

It is May 1809 and Napoleon is trying to bring Archduke Charles to battle by forcing a crossing of the Danube, having already occupied Vienna.

Battlefield from the south. I've not bothered to model the Danube and in this area it is a flat flood plain with lots of meanders. The French actually crossed by a succession of islands, the largest being the Island of Lobau. Imagine the waterway at the bottom is fringing a large island.

There is dense and largely  impenetrable woodland in the bottom left, and the ground rises towards the north. The overall layout is based on the Echeloned Attack scenario scenario, supplemented b the Bloody Big Battles Napoleonic Aspern Essling scenario, so I've added in some of the roads in fairly historical places as well as another village. There are actually a lot of small hamlets in the area so I've sort of amalgmated some of them. 

The key feature as far as the battle is concerned are the villages of Aspern and Essling, with the road between them running along a berm, some of the local flood defences. The berm provides some cover from fire across it. Aspern's flank rather handily rests on the woods, but both are overlooked by the ridge to the north. The other village to the northwest is Breitenloe. 

The road through Aspern-Essling leads to Pressburg to the south east, and the road to  Bohemia leads to the northwest. 

Some representative pontoon bridges. Any French reinforcements need to cross these, but very unfairly the Austrians are floating logs etc down the river to try and damage them.

Massenas 4th Corps established a bridgehead over the Danube on the 21st and occupied Aspern and Essling while the rest of the French army waited to cross. Each of these units is around 6-8000 infantry or 3-4000 cavalry. Massena has two infantry units, one cavalry and an 'artillery' which has attached infantry as well. Most artillery is factored into the standard units as they can shoot around a mile.

Massena himself is represented as a notable formation leader.

Napoleon pushed two more Corps over the river on the 22nd to support Massena. In the lead is Lannes' 2nd Corps with two infantry units and Lannes himself (historically he fell in battle).

Behind them we have Davouts 3rd Corps (1 x Infantry), the Imperial Guard (1 x Elite Infantry) along with Napoleon who is the overall CinC. Finally we have Bessieres with the reserve heavy cavalry.

Napoleon and the wagons are representational, I'll use those to show units which reorg.

John A and Jim played the French. John was overall commander and also commanded Massena and Bessieres. Jim had everything else.

The French figures are largely my old H&R 6mm figures from the mid 1970s, which have been rebased many, many times.

The Austrians under Archduke Charles arriving from the north and west in echelon. They need to take either Aspern or Essling (or both!) to win.

From the west are Hillers VI Korps and Bellegards II Korps with 2 x Infantry and 1 x Artillery between them. The Austrians had loads more guns than the French, so they get two artillery units

From the northwest is Prince Friedrich with III Korps (1 x Infantry and 1 x Artillery). There is also Archduke Charles Army HQ and some wagons which are representational.

Tim commanded all these.

From the north we have Lindenau's Grenadiers, Lichtenstein's reserve cavalry and Prinz Franz's IV Korps. 2 x Cavalry, 1 x Infantry and 1 x Elite Infantry.

On Tuesday Ian commanded these, Russell took over on Wednesday. The Austrian figures are actually my Irregular 1866 Austrians, but they are all in white jackets and grey or blue trousers, so hopefully no-one will notice the difference.

To simulate the disjointed Austrain attack, there is no overall Austrian CinC, just the two halves of the army. Imagine one half speaking Austrian and the other Hungarian...

Right, to battle!

Hiller decided on a rapid deployment so came on in March column, hoping to overwhelm the French left with a rapid assault. Long range cannon fire from Aspern inflicted minor losses on the leading units. 

KP Friedrich began marching on down the northwest road as Hiller deployed to attack Aspern. The leading formation pushed forwards aggressively to cover the deployment of the rest and was punished by brutal close range French fire. Massena even put in a spoiling attack with his cavalry, but the Austrians held firm. 

Lannes managed to successfully negotiate the chain of pontoon bridges and Napoleon directed him to the right flank, even though all the Austrians were on the left. Perhaps he had a cunning plan... 

Hard pounding at Aspern. The battered lead Austrian unit pulls back to reorganise and a fresh unit moves up, covered by the Austrian grand battery. Friedrichs units also deploy, although only his artillery is in range. 

The French cavalry decide discretion is the better part of valour and pull back, but despite Massenas personal intervention, the Aspern garrison completely missed the nearby Austrians! 

Liechtensteins cavalry and the Grenadier division began to move up to the ridge above Essling. 

Heavy fighting around Aspern, both sides had massed all their available reserve artillery to support the battle. The French garrison inflicted equal casualties, but had already taken losses earlier on, so were looking a bit shaky. 

Liechtensteins cavalry went out wide on the Austrian left and the Grenadiers advanced in line with Friedrichs infantry. Lannes suddenly had a fit of caution, not wanting to be caught in March column by the Austrian cavalry so hung back somewhat from Essling to deploy. 

The French cavalry once again put in a spoiling attack on the Grenadiers, supported by cannon fire from Essling, inflicting some loss on the Austrians. 

At Aspern the Austrian numbers and massed artillery finally told and the garrison were routed, despite the presence of Massena. With flags waving and drums beating , the victorious Austrian infantry marched through clouds of smoke and occupied the village. 

This put them right under the muzzle of the French reserve artillery who blew huge holes in their ranks with cannister, but they were undeterred. 

Massena survived the rout but fled all the way to Essling! I'm not sure what the Emperor will make of that... 

Back at Essling, the bold French cavalry came unstuck. The Grenadiers poured volleys into them as they milled around, and the Austrian cavalry put in a counter charge against their flank. They were fortunate to survive with just one hit remaining. 

They withdrew to the south to reorganise. Massena was suddenly looking a bit thin on the ground, but Lannes was finally deployed southeast of Essling. 

The victorious Austrian cavalry fell back to ridge, joined by Franzs infantry. The other cavalry put it in a spoiling attack on Lannes' right to little effect while the Essling garrison cannonaded the Grenadiers. 

Now it was the French artillery which got pummeled at Aspern. 

Massena pulled the guns back to join the cavalry and reorganise. Napoleon himself was now over the river, accompanied by Davout  and the Imperial Guard, their columns angled towards Aspern. 

Back at Essling the impudent Austrian cavalry were punished by massed musketry and cannon fire and took heavy losses. I think both sides cavalry commanders need reminding of the role of reserve heavy cavalry on the Napoleonic battlefield.... 

There was something of a lull in the fighting as both sides shuffled units around and reorganised in anticipation of the forthcoming French counterattack. 

The Austrians sent some reserve artillery towards the ridge, but otherwise consolidated their lines and reunited their cavalry. 

Lannes took over the defence of Essling, while Massena reorganised his artillery and cavalry and shuffled his remaining infantry west towards Aspern. 

Napoleon supervised Davout and La Garde as they deployed south of Aspern. Meanwhile Bessieres was still stuck on the other side of the Danube figuring out how to get his Cuirassier divisions across the pontoon bridges safely. 

We broke for the night at that point, with everything to play for tomorrow. 

Overnight Russell joined us and took over the Austrian left (Lichtenstein, Franz and the Grenadiers). The Imperial Guard boldly marched up to Aspern, covered by cannon fire from Davout and Massenas artillery, which was sadly ineffective, unlike the musketry from the Austrian defenders.

Davout shook out his Corps into open order and entered the forest, but the Imperial Guard were being hammered by the Austrians in and around the town as well as the artillery up on the ridge. A bit more softening up before committing to the assault might have been in order.

Over at Essling there was much excitement as the Austrian cavalry tried to flank the village and were counterattacked by the French cavalry. Numerous Austrian saddles were emptied but they hung on.

In response the whole Austrian left wing attacked. Infantry marched up to Essling and the Austrian cavalyr charged. They put a couple of hits onto Bessieres' Cuirassier but Massenas' already weakened Cavalry were put to flight and fled in disorder 

Bessieres returned the favour and routed his opposite numbers, while the Essling garrison engaged the Austrian infantry. 

Back at Aspern the pounding was too much for the Imperial Guard and they retired exhausted. Davout was in a good position to attack the town from the forest though, covered by the French artillery.

The situation at Essling was now desperate for the French, the massed Austrians poured in numerous effective volleys as well as cannon fire, which reduced the garrison to one hit.

This was followed up by a charge from the Austrian cavalry. Cavalry need 6 a to hit attacking towns, so that is three dice, which rolled.....1,1,6! The French were routed and sabred down by the victorious cavalry! Essling fell, but Massena was poised outside waiting to counterattack.

Back at Aspern, Davout succeeded in recapturing the town as the defenders were routed.

At Essling Massena was content to shoot at the cavalry, which almost routed them, while rallying some of the disordered troops outside the town. Bessieres meanwhile manouvered his cavalry onto the flank readying for another charge.

The Austrians counterattacked Davout, who easily weathered their feeble attack. The Austrians were suddenly looking a bit thin on the ground here.

Sadly for the French, Lannes, who was also in the otwn, managed to roll a double 2 and was taken from the field, mortally wounded.

At Essling however, the French counterattack failed. Unfortunately I forgot to take a couple of photos here in the excitement as Bessieres charged the Austrian infantry but was in turn routed by the a flank attack by the remaining Austrian cavalry.

Massena attacked the town but no longer had the strength to retake it, particularly when the Austrian Grenadiers stormed the adjacent berm.

As time ran out, the Austrians and French held a town apiece, which meant that Napoleon had lost. Time to retreat back over the Danube and try again at Wagram in July.

That was a very hard fought and close battle, very enjoyable to run and with  very positive feedback from the players. It is always nice to get to a vaguely historical result in a sensible amount of time. I'm pretty happy with this version of the rules, and while you could ride a horse and cart through some of the holes, they work well enough for this sort of game and produce a decent narrative. I'm still not sure I've got the Imperial Guard quite right, I can't help feeling that they should be better than just a 7SP unit, but hey ho. 

I can't help thinking the French made rather more errors than the Austrians, but such is the nature of war.

Rocoux 1743

 In the aftermath of COW we were all a bit gamed out, so Tim put on another mid eighteenth century Table Battles game. These generally involve battles I've never even heard of, and this one was no exception, being Rocoux, which took place in 1743. It does feature our old mate Charles of Austria, notable for never winning a battle and this one had a confusing set of participants. Apparently the Austrians were actually Dutch and the Prussians were French in this one, although there were some actual Austrians present under Charles, although they contributed nothing. All something to do with the Pragmatic Alliance I gather.

Anyway, Russell, Jim and I drew the Prussians/French while John and Mark were the Dutch/Austrians. The Dutch were pretty good, being able to mass up command dice and benefitting from 'linked formation' bonuses. The French however had a powerful Grand Battery, and were able to deploy in depth to absorb losses. Our units were also much bigger, typically 6SP vs 4SP.

The Dutch (left above) had two wings, the inert Austrians who acted as a reserve of SP and a rearguard, not yet in action. We also had two wings , our grand battery and the deep columns (which needed a double on them to activate).

The first couple of turns didn't go well, our guns lined up to bombard the enemy, but they kept attacked, forcing them to react and drive the Dutch off again. This quite put us on the back foot.

We started to build up dice on our wings to attack, although unlike the Dutch we could only put one dice per turn on a unit. You can see we've got a blue dice on two of the wing units and doubles on our deep columns.

Meanwhile the Dutch kept up relentless assaults, first using up our 'deep column' reserves (they are down to 1 SP above).

This is very bad, we only start with one morale chit, so we need to kill an enemy unit quickly as if they rout even one of ours, we lose at once.

Then the Dutch pummelled our Left Centre, which was rapidly reduced to 1SP. We just couldn't get the command dice out in sufficient quantity to either activate the guns (they needed a straight 4) or to allow for counterattacks from our own units (they need doubles).

Although we finally got one decent attack lined up on our Left, the Dutch attacked once more, routed our Centre Left and with that the game was over. Total wipeout. We obviously badly mis-played that one as usually these scenarios are much more balanced. In all the excitement we all completely forgot about the option to shift SP from one unit to another, although we were playing so badly I don't think it would have helped.

Having finished in 25 minutes, we set it up and tried again.

This time we tried to be a bit more canny, and largely discounted the artillery. Instead I wanted to work up some local superiority through spoiling attacks so we could get a three SP advantage locally, which in turn would trigger the mighty 'oblique attack' bonus.

Honours a bit more even here, although the Dutch kept attacking furiously. We've got a decent spread of dice, our reserves activated and we are able to keep chipping away at the Dutch right.

When we've taken losses, we've used actions or reaction to shift SP around. Waldecks Centre Left is still at maximum strength about to attack the weakened Dutch Right.

We finally managed to achieve the magic 3SP superiority, and the extra hit bonus routs one of the Dutch units! One morale chip to us, and one off them. 

And its pal soon follows suit! Two morale chips to us. Now the Dutch only have one left. That is more like it!

We have an awful lot of dice on the left, but the Dutch Rearguard is not in action so we can't attack it. It transpired that we had read this wrong, and the Rearguard should have been committed if any of the Dutch right wing units routed. This is slightly frustrating as we have lots of combat dice and nowhere to go. Meanwhile the Dutch keep pounding our right and we are running out of SP to move across.

The Dutch Rearguard is finally in action so we have something tonattack, but our units are all quite weak now.

We give the Rearguard a right kicking and reduce it it 1SP. But then, curses, our Right Wing collapses and the morale advantage swings back to the Dutch (3 vs 1). 

We are so close to wiping out the Rearguard, but it is not to be, and one more devastating Dutch attack takes out our Left and with it our morale collapses.

That was a much better game, and we played the French far more effectively. The Dutch are more straightforward but the French take a certain amount if finesse. We nearly had them there, and I certainly don't mind losing in those circumstances.

These bigger TB games can be a bit hard to manage as there is quite a lot going on. My second monitor has broken, so I can't really see the cards on my small laptop screen, so that is something I need to address fairly quickly and buy a new monitor. 

One Hour Aspern Essling

 As I wanted to try out some revisions to the morale system in my OHW Napoleonic variant, I thought I'd give Steves 'Echeloned Attack' scenario a go. https://soundofficerscall.blogspot.com/2024/04/scenario-31-echeloned-attack-developing.html

It is based on Aspern-Essling, so a chance to get the Austrians out.

Battlefield from the south, Aspern left centre, Essling right centre. Imagine the Danube and the islands off to the south. Obviously I've converted Steves scenario to a 9x9 hex grid. The only terrain I added was the NW-SE highway which ran across the front. If doing it again I'd probably do a bit more research on the minor terrain features as I did for Friedland.

Massenas Corps starts deployed on table in and between the villages. I roughly worked out the OBs based on the historical forces, and as usual each unit is around 8,000 infantry or 4,000 cavalry (possibly a bit more for this one). On a 9x9 grid I prefer a higher unit density than the standard 6, so I aimed for 9 on each side.

Massena starts with two infantry, one Cavalry Corps and the lone French artillery unit - most of the guns are assumed to be factored into the units.

The French reinforcements straggle on across the Danube, each unit may be delayed by Austrian attacks on the pontoon bridges. First up is Lannes Corps with two units, then the Imperial Guard with one elite infantry, and finally Bessieres brings up the rear with the reserve Cavalry. I added another infantry unit to the Imperial Guard, which makes the number of units even on both sides, although the French have two leaders as well (Massena and Lannes). Napoleon and the baggage train are purely representational.

The Austrian right wing, Hiller and Bellegarde with two infantry and an artillery. Coming on down the road is Prince Frederick with another artillery and another infantry. The Austrians had such a huge artillery superiority in this battle that I gave them two guns. Each is assumed to be supported by around 4,000 infantry for headcount purposes. The Austrian Army HQ is lurking in the top corner.

Lichtenstein commands the Austrian centre, two cavalry and the Grenadier infantry. Finally Prince Franz is off in the far corner with another infantry unit. The arrival of all these units is staggered so Hiller and Friedrich move on first, then Lictenstein, then Franz, hence 'Echeloned Attack'.

I struggled with the French deployment. Both towns have to be occupied, which was best done by the infantry. I left them configured as massed infantry and not lights, which reduced their defence vs artillery fire, but increased their firepower. I put the cavalry in reserve, ready to intervene/block/harass as required and in the end went for quite an aggressive deployment of the Grand Battery, angled to cover the highway (which of course exposes its flank to Lichtenstein). I could always move it later I figured. Right.

Hiller came marching on first in column of route, but deployed his Grand Battery in range of Aspern. I really messed up the initial Austrian deployment, the lead infantry unit moved into range of the French unnecessarily and suffered two hits from long range artillery fire.

And then more Austrian infantry managed to mask the guns! What a cock up. Prince Franz at least came marching on, so there was a big local superiority over Massena in Aspern. The French cavalry went floating around north of the road to discourage anything too brave. It is now in charge range of the limbered Austrian guns, so they would be advised to deploy. 

One of Hillers units has now taken three hits. For this game I've dumped the old disorder rules, instead units which aren't adjacent to the enemy can rally hits off. The wrinkle is that they only get half back, and the rest become permanent hits which can never be removed (thank you NQM). Think of them representing actual casualties and/or a permanent loss of cohesion.

If a Leader is with a unit (like Massena in Aspern), they can attempt to rally next to the enemy, but at some risk to the Leader.  

The Austrians manouvre very aggressively against Aspern to maximise their local advantage. All their guns are deployed with the village in their firing arcs, and no less than three infantry units are now deployed, one has pressed hard up against the town to clear fields of supporting fire and assault the village.

Lichtensteins cavalry are now up on the high ground, forcing the French cavalry to fall back and cover the flank of their guns. The remaining French can only blast away and hope for the best. The Austrian unit beside Aspen is masked from the French guns so Massena will have to drive them away himself. That was why I left them formed up in close order.

Help is on the way as Lannes now starts to march on in column of route, heading for the sound of the guns. Neither unit was delayed crossing the Danube.

All hell breaks loose around Aspern as almost every Austrian unit opens fire, the Austrian guns rip into the French infantry and Massena suffers heavy losses. Lannes closes up on Aspern and deploys behind the village, while his other column moves to support the Grand Battery. Massenas defensive fire is quite effective, and the Austrians now have one unit on four hits and another with five. Massena in Aspern is now on three hits though.

At Essling it is a bit of a Mexican standoff. The Austrian cavalry occupies the high ground but needs more infantry support to attack effectively. Lannes' relief column will arrive before the Austrian infantry.

The Austrians pour more fire into Aspern. Massena is forced to retreat or be destroyed. He could try and rally in place but the risk is too great. Instead Lannes marches in and occupies the village while Massena falls back. 

Meanwhile, things are happening at Essling. The Grenadier division is now deployed on the ridge and Prince Friedrich is moving up on the left. The Austrian cavalry has a go at the French, but only inflict one hit and bounce off. Lannes' other infantry unit deploys next to Essling.

The French cavalry counterattack and inflict two hits on the Austrians. Was that wise? It was too tempting. They are still covering the flank of the French guns but are now a bit exposed. 

The intense fighting at Aspern continues. Massena and Lannes concentrate their fire and one Austrian unit is finally routed, but Lannes is shredded in Aspern and takes four hits. Unlike the real battle, Lannes survives, for now....

Back at Essling, the Austrian Cavalry come back again, and supported by the Grenadiers, the French cavalry are shredded. They withdraw behind Essling to rally. This of course leaves the flank of the Grand Battery exposes tot he Austrian Cuirassiers on the ridge. I got too carried away firing at the Austrian assault on Aspern.

At Aspern, Massena rallies, recovering all his hits but keeping two as permanent ones (those unsightly white markers). If I keep this mechanism I'll make up some different markers for permanent hits which are less obtrusive. Lannes is now quite weak, hopefully I can swap the units back next turn.

The Austrian attack on Essling finally goes in. The infantry advance off the ridge and then cavalry charges the French guns and inflicts a whopping four hits! (flank attack). The French cavalry rallies, obtaining two permanent hits, and now Napoleon and the Imperial Guard are moving up in support. I could withdraw the guns to rally, but the French infantry are so near now....

The Austrians take Aspern. The French are routed and Lannes escapes by the skin of his teeth.

And the Austrians crash into the French at Essling. The Austrian infantry very aggressively moves up to Essling, and the Austrian cavalry charges both the French infantry supporting the town outside, and the French guns. The Grand Battery is overrun.  The guns are lost and the gunners flee or are cut down.

The crisis of the battle is upon us.

The Austrians assault Essling. The cover of the village proves to be good protection and the defenders are largely unscathed. The revived French cavalry even puts in a charge on the Austrian infantry. The struggle hangs in the balance. 

In the centre the exposed Austrian cavalry pull back to rally and are subject to long range fire from the second line of French infantry. Massena heroically leads his battered infantry in a counterattack and retakes Aspern!

The Austrian attack on Essling begins to struggle, and the French cavalry rout one of the attacking infantry units..

The Austrian Grenadiers don't have any choice but to turn to face the French cavalry, and the Austrian horse (with one hit left) puts in a final charge. I completely forgot that Line Infantry can turn to face cavalry, and so what would have been a devastating flank attack, became an ineffective frontal attack. 

The final Austrian units at Essling are blown away by massed defensive fire. Even though the Austrian horse on the ridge has rallied, they are now carrying three permanent hits and are very fragile. There isn't much the Austrians can do here now.

And back at Aspern, the Austrians still have their guns, but only one weak infantry unit (also carrying three permanent hits). If the Austrians hang around, they might batter Massena some more, but they are just going to get their guns overrun by French cavalry.

So game over, Napoleon has (just) pulled it off. Wagram next!

That was a really good scenario, very enjoyable, and well balanced. As it is a while since I've played the Napoleonic rules, I made a few rules mistakes. I also messed up some of the play for both sides, particularly Hillers deployment and the French battle in the centre. The Austrians need to be aggressive in this scenario as the French reinforcements will tip the balance later in the game, but I erred on the reckless  at times. This was the first game I've played where the combined arms stuff really worked though, as if you could get your artillery/infantry/cooperation going properly, it was just devastating.

The new rally system also worked well. It felt less gamey than the old system and it perhaps increased the impact of player decisions as it was less random. Deciding whether to fight, run or stand and rally was really quite hard a times. I'll try another game with it, and if I stick with it as a mechanism, I'll make up some more markers for permanent hits as the tile spacers I was using stick out like sore thumbs.  As I was solo playing, I didn't use the sabot bases for this either, which looks much better I think, but I'll keep them for remote games as it makes the pieces easier to manage.

Regular readers may have noticed a drop off in solo game posts, that is down to me playing Fallout 4 (again) but on Survival Mode, thanks to the TV series. I don't usually play big computer RPGs in the summer, but for some reason it grabbed my imagination. As the last run through took me 180 hours, this may take me a while, especially as I've downloaded the Far Harbour and Nuka World expansions. I will try and keep a bit of solo gaming up, but there are only so many hours in the day. Normal service will be resumed at some point!