KS Napoleon Game Saturday, July 25th

I've put together a scenario on the Russian Elkhorn map.  It's foggy today.  The French need to keep the roads in SW corner of the map out of Austrian hands as that is their line of communication. Friant's heavy cavalry may not be used for scouting.

Everyone will need the newest Nappy and Supplemental Maps mods, (both version 1.08).

Général de div. Dominique Vandamme (32443 Inf.  4908 Cav.  52 Guns))

 Général de div. Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor  (6725 Inf.  1020 Cav.  14 Guns)
   Général de brig. Antoine Alexandre de Cosson (2275 Inf. 4 battalions  Avg. Exp. 5.7)
   Général de brig. Jean-Baptiste Dalesme (4450 Inf. 6 battalions  Avg. Exp. 5.0)
   Generalmajor Karl Seydewitz (1020 Cav. 4 squadrons  Avg.Exp. 5.0)
   Capit – 4e Co/7e Artillerie à pied (8 Guns   Avg. Exp. 5.0)
   Hauptmann  Württemberg Artillerie à cheval (6 Guns   Avg. Exp. 5.0)

 Général de div. Louis Friant (9492 Inf.  1592 Cav.  12 Guns)
   Generalmajor Ferdinand Minuzzi (3975 Inf. 5 battalions  Avg. Exp. 4.6)
   Général de brig. Florentin Ficatier  (2242 Inf. 5 battalions  Avg. Exp. 3.6)
   Generalmajor Karl von Stengel (3275 Inf. 4 battalions  Avg. Exp. 4.0)
   Général de brig. Marie Adrien Guiton  (1592 Cav. 8 squadrons  Avg.Exp. 4.5)
   Kapit Caspers (6 Guns   Avg. Exp. 5.0)
   Capit – 2e Co/7e Artillerie à pied (6 Guns   Avg. Exp. 5.0)

 Generalleutnant von Neubronn (9904 Inf.  538 Cav.  14 Guns)
   Général de brig. Raymond Viviès de La Prade  (3675 Inf. 5 battalions  Avg. Exp. 4.
   Général de brig. Nicolas Guiot de Lacour (6229 Inf. 9 battalions  Avg. Exp. 4.9)
   Generalmajor Röder (538 Cav. 4 squadrons  Avg.Exp. 5.0)
   Kapit Munter (6 Guns   Avg. Exp. 5.0)
   Capit – 7e Co/5e Artillerie à pied (8 Guns   Avg. Exp. 6.0)

 Crown Prince Ludwig (6322 Inf.  1758 Cav.  12 Guns)
   Generalmajor Valentin von Harrant (4625 Inf. 7 battalions  Avg. Exp. 5.0)
   Général de brig. Jean-Charles Desailly  (1697 Inf. 5 battalions  Avg. Exp. 3.7)
   Général de brig. Pajol (1758 Cav. 7 squadrons  Avg.Exp. 5.0)
   Capit. 8e/7e Artillerie à pied (6 Guns   Avg. Exp. 6.0)
   Hauptmann 1. Schwere Fußbatterie (6 Guns   Avg. Exp. 6.0)

It's foggy today.

Load the guns with cannister.

Well another battle, another loss.  The Austrians showed real ability.  They poured a division into a gap that had opened in our line.  At that point the show was over.  We have won 1 fight out of the last 6.

Here's the replay: Another Humiliation

impressive job by the AI...

another battle that shows the importance of a proper reserve, the central position and the problems that come up with chasing the enemy for too long...

Very bad feeling for the last hour of the battle indeed.

This is the opposite of last sunday's battle around Goumont-Mon Plaisir. If one is counted as a defeat the other is not, just to be coherent.

Yes, the replay shows how fixated commanders can get when dealing with the problem in front of them. Tom and Pepe should have connected their right/left flanks so there was no gap and on the right Mark pushed too far north in pursuit of defeating the enemy in front of him rather than focussing on holding a line to block access to the objective.

Who was the C-in-C here BTW?

Also - not haranguing people, I'm sure I'd have done the same in this situation but if we can all open up our awareness to what is beyond our division's flanks a little that will make us a more coherent force.

When enemy cavalry is harassing your troops it's hard to worry about the big picture. This battle does show how divisions become exclusively focused on the fight in front of them. This was compounded by the fact that it was a foggy day with limited visibility.

Until I watched the replay I had no idea of what had happened in the west. I only knew that the division I faced was thoroughly beaten by Pepe, Mark and myself. I was then surprised when Pepe sent me an urgent message to move west as the Austrian hoards were pushing south. I had no idea where Mark was, as one minute he was on my flank and the next, he was gone. I thought that perhaps he was north of me also moving west. Seeing his fight against a large division was quite surprising.

When I moved west and ran into two Austrian brigades I thought this must be the force Pepe was worrying about. I had caught them on the march and was confident I could not only hold them but defeat them. I was just writing a message to Pepe telling him I had halted the Austrian advance and he and Tom should move up and take them in the rear when the game ended. Little did I know that their commands had already ceased to exist.

Being whipped by the Austrians is a most disagreeable situation.

it may be disagreeable - but it's the only situation where you can safely say that you were fighting the mightiest army of the known worlds and thus saw defeat at the hands of the only worthy opponent!

Its a bit scary how quickly Tom's and Pepe's two divisions go from respectable forces holding a mostly coherent line to nearly nothing, fleeing for their lives. I guess that's the effect of fresh concentrated troops stomping into tired and somewhat more dispersed ones.

Well for a large portion of the battle I was operating in conjunction to Kevin, and maintain a large reserve at the junction of our two divisions (6,500 men). I saw that I was positioned on that singular Austrian divisions flank and I imediately pitched in with my frontline: smashing that division and shooting up 10+ guns. I received messages from Pepe at this moment informing me that the west was under pressure. I deduced that the main Austrian attack must me heading directly towards the objective and that I may have the opportunity to roll up the entire position headed east to west. I saw a commanding rise where I could position my artillery and form my division for its main assault. Calling upon my reserves I advanced on that hill. Unbeknownst to me there were Austrians behind that hilltop. Lots of Austrians. Instead of mounting a battle winning flank attack on the Austrian battle line I found myself in a life or death struggle against20+ Austrian battalions and then some cavalry. I fought for time on that hill, figuring that every second the battle was there then the Austrians couldn't be close to the objective. I realized I was wrong. I pulled back and suffered over 1,000 casualties during the withdraw(only 800 in the actual hilltop attack). The first Austrian division came right at me and was mauled by my guns set up in a line in the center of my new position. I could see at least two brigades moving up behind this force as the battle ended. The fog of this field severely limited my command and control. With this game you cannot control your units to a reasonable degree of certainly once engaged; therefore, in future affairs I will have to modify my tactics. Aggression will still be the order of the day, however I cannot commit so much of my forces and I especially need to scout positions more thoroughly, as well as maintain communications with my fellow commanders. I do tend to commit without referencing my fellow commanders, in this game that is disastrous.