AARs - post here all after battle comments and replay files

Miko wrote:I'm uploading the 4th part just now.

Ok! They are all linked in the Steam Guide now. XI Yun has already been watching and commenting on them.

Interesting to see the battle from a different perspective I must say.

I was amazed watching Miko's video's at how passive the French cavalry were in this game. Fernadez Division was walking right up to them in line and they were quite happy to sit there and let the Spanish fire volleys at them. It seemed to work far better than trying to get the artillery to kill them. If I had realised I would not have spent so long in square

By this stage of the battle they were probably spent. When cavalry are fresh they will not be so compliant.

Mr.Digby wrote:By this stage of the battle they were probably spent. When cavalry are fresh they will not be so compliant.

They do eventually turn tail (quite literally) at about 5:54, having brought up what looks like a fresh regiment.  I've been trying to synchronise what's going on in this video with what i recall happening in my part of the field just over Miko's left shoulder, but he doesn't look that way very often.  I certainly recall seeing his Spanish infantry moving along the top of the ridge to my right, and thinking 'that idiots going to get his men massacred by French cavalry.' But i think at the time Manningham was screaming for me to take the town, so I was only paying scant attention.  I wish seeing the video that I'd ignored my commander and just moved up and joining in the target practice.

Eventually at 17:47 you can see my boys heading towards Lerida, but by that time most of the French cavalry seem to have withdrawn and been replaced by a cloud of French skirmishers, which once again would have been a nice target for my riflemen but i don;t even remember noticing them.

I also noticed all the couriers scurrying about, has anyone else developed courier aversion?

Whenever, I see one heading towards me, my instinctive reaction is 'Bloody hell! Now What!'

18:48  Wow! We did have some cavalry....not only that but they knew how to charge stuff.  Can't believe I missed that.  Perhaps that was the point when I'd lost a detachment of rifles in the town and was having to personally search all the brothels for them.

25:15 At last the French seem to have worked out the Spanish for 'Giddy-up!' and manage to make the Spanish infantry pay for being too cocky.

I was also quite curious as to what happened to the other new guy last Wednesday, I think he took command of Anson's Brigade and I thought it was just ahead of mine on the road to Lerida, but then it disappeared into the wood and I never saw them again. I can't even remember his name now

Its Drew. He went into the big forest N of Lerida and came out of its south side well to the east of the town, down in a river valley. If you have the replay file and replay viewer you can see his entire battle was spent away from everyone else on the flank. Probably not a very exciting game from his POV

Yes, its funny how different the battle looks from someone else's perspective and how you miss really obvious things. Its a kind of "tunnel focus" syndrome that I'm sure psychologists are aware of and its one reason why eyewitness accounts in law courts are considered very weak evidence.

Makes you realise why so much battle history is wrong.

Sunday's debacle was a sad affair.  The AI dealt with 6 humans in very short order.  This report, written at the behest of the Court of Inquiry, gives an objective and unvarnished account of the recent battle.

The battle briefing was as follow:
No matter how rapidly the French army advances, the Russians manage to elude being pinned and forced to give battle.  Prince Eugene's corps is the avant garde and has been rapidly moving north along the Yakshino Road pursuing the enemy army.  Cavalry reconnaissance reports a Russian rear guard deployed in the vicinity of Yakshino.

The Emperor has designated the village of Murikovo to become a small depot and hospital.  As many troops have become ill on the long march east, this will be a welcomed facility.

Intelligence:
Light cavalry patrols report a corps-sized force in the vicinity of Yakshino.  The enemy's own light cavalry, of which there is an abundance, has prevented our own from approaching too closely. Nevertheless, out troopers have determined the force to be composed of two divisions.  They are deployed in line of battle and are probably determined to delay our advance until their main army can slip even further away from us.

Objective:
The first priority is to maintain the village of Murikovo and not allow the Russians to capture and burn it.  Although not much, it is one of the few villages the Russians have not destroyed during their retreat north.

The second objective is the capture of Yakshino and the destruction of the Russian rear guard.



General Miko was aware of the force arrayed around Yakshino, but not the one west of the French position.


Ten minutes into the battle, all of the units abandon Phil.  Apparently his deodorant wasn't working this day and his fellow generals, including the CinC, could not stand to be in the vicinity.


Martin tries to flee west over the ridge.  Unfortunately the Russians get to the top just seconds earlier.  There is now no escape for two of the French divisions.  Phil and Miko always believing there is never a situation where attack in not an option, advance.  As the battle proves, this philosophy has its flaws.  Mike's division is out of harms way and on an impregnable hill.  Desperate messages from General Miko come to him urging him to move NE and help slow the attack.


Mike dutifully moves his division NE to Yakshino.  Unfortunately in the fog, or perhaps by design, he misses intercepting the enemy and finds only an empty town.  Martin has successfully disengaged from the enemy to the west and prepares to defend a dubious position at the base of the ridge.  For Phil, the fat lady is in full throat.  The Russian juggernaut is unstoppable.  The only remaining question is whether he will die with honor along side his troops.


Kermit the Frog of the Muppets once sang, it's hard to be green.  For Phil that color would be blue.  With his B.O. still curling nostril hairs, no other division wants to come to his aid.  The Russians though, are made of hardier stock.  They don't seem to be deterred at all by Phil's odiferousness.  Under threat of court martial, Mike reluctantly moves his division south, with the unmanly vision of stabbing the Russian juggernaut in the back.


Martin displays the white feather.  Rather than trying to hold the western force away from Phil, he falls back.  More to the point, he runs away from Phil too, thereby avoiding all fighting, everywhere.  Now Phil and Miko are virtually surrounded.  Mike's skulking behind enemy lines ends in tears. Half his division is laid waste by a brigade of grenadiers, two regiments of hussars and a Russian battery.  Only the redoubtable MTG manages to keep his brigade intact.


Phil is destroyed and runs south to join Martin.  Miko is destroyed and flees SW.  Martin commits the unpardonable sin and commits the Guard to a hopeless attempt to stem the Russian attack, while he cowers in the south.  David, the Guard commander, foolishly obeys the order and takes the men, cherished above all else by the Emperor, into a suicidal position.


In an instant, Russian cavalry destroys the Guard.  David will have some explaining to do, I think.  Martin hides behind Phil's decidedly frayed skirt, still not wanting any part of this fight.  Miko tries to attack two Russian batteries.  Not surprisingly, he does not quite mange it.  The corps is destroyed.  The Russians are on an exultant march.

The verdict of the Court of Inquiry was as follows:
General Miko, CinC:  Guilty of the destruction of his Corps.  Executed.
General Phil: Guilty of an overabundance of B.O., thereby driving away the other two divisions.  Executed.
General Martin: Guilty of cowardliness before the enemy.  Executed.
General Mike: Guilty of disobeying direct orders from the CinC.  Executed.
General David: Destruction of the Old Guard.  Executed.
General Kevin: Exemplary conduct and stalwart defense in an impossible situation. Awarded Legion of Honor.

They say history is written by the victors.  It is also written by the guy who avoids the firing squad.

This thread should be renamed "AAF" - After Action Fantasies.

Mr.Didgby wrote:This thread should be renamed "AAF" - After Action Fantasies.

Indeed Mon General, I do in fact 'av, ze written proof zat you did indeed order ze Imperial guard to ze attack.  Not off course zat they truly were de Imperial guard of course, after all the true guard would not 'ave run at the sight of a green jacket no, and even 'aving done so would 'ave rallied.  These were just Russian conscripts dressed in worn out guard uniforms to fool the Russians.  But putting a bearskin bonnet on a coward merely makes him fall over more readily.

Evidence of General Michel to the Court Martial.

'At about half past four of ze clock I received an order from General Gudin instructing my brigade to change face to the north and move to assist a French Division under heavy attack by Russian columns moving south from Murikovo.

As instructed I deployed my brigade to face north and advanced immediately.  The 1ere Grenadiers driving off a Russian battalion at the point of the bayonet.

At 16:40 having secured the right flank and linked up with the beleaguer division to my left I perceived fresh enemy columns moving to attack them across my front and exposing their left flanks to my brigade.  I therefore ordered my brigade to advance and drive off the attack with due aggression.  This they did driving the nearest Russian columns back on their supports.
However, at 16:47 having secured the line and relieved the pressure on the division to my left it began to give ground rapidly and I was ordered by General Gudin to return to my original position guarding the Italian Batteries in the south.

I issued this order immediately but with the left flank of my brigade now exposed we were beset my massed Russian cavalry from that flank and several battalions became disordered  scattered.

The remaining two battalions still with the brigade after the withdrawal were deployed as ordered to support the Italian battery on the right of the French line.

Didz wrote:You know looking at the replay situation at the point that Mike's Division suddenly caves in and makes a dash for the impression of safety offered by the French guns beyond the stream.  I realised that trying to obey Martin's order and withdraw was a big mistake.  I may actually have fared better if I had just said 'sod it' and went bald-headed for our primary objective of Mirikovo.  There were no Russians there at 16:47, and none between it and my brigade.  I would still have had cossacks chasing me down, but that was going to happen anyway, and i think I was actually closer to Mirikovo at that point than i was to those damned Italian guns of his.

Kevin is on peyot again.......

I might have to go back to making my half assed scenarios again so we can get him off it.

Spoiler:

Graf von Franquemont, Duke of Westphalia, commanded the 3e Division of Gudin's II Corps at the Battle of Badenhausen.  His command consisted of two battalions of Infantry-Regiment Nr6 'Kronprinz', two battalions of Wurttemberg Infantry-Regiment Nr2 'Herzog Wilhelm' and one battalion of Fusilier-Regiment Von Neubronn.

Spoiler:

4pm: Franquemmont's Brigade was deployed to the north of the Austingen/Rohr Road with Becker's Brigade on its left flank and Brigade Lecour from Crown Prince Ludwig's division to his right.  Orders were as follows:

Spoiler:

4pm to 5pm:
4 pm: a messenger arrived requesting that Franquemont attend upon General Gudin for a staff meeting and glass of wine.  Here he was told that his brigade would be assigned the responsibility of supporting the divisional artillery (again), and that the first priority was to determine the intentions and location of the enemy.  To this end Franquemont was ordered to scout to the east with Fusilier-Regiment Von Neubronn and to accompany that unit personally to report on what could be seen of the Austrians.  
4:10 pm:General Franquemont returned to his command and after ordering it forward to a supporting position behind the Divisions artillery set off with the fusiliers towards a large wood he could see in the east.  
4:20 pm: The Fusiliers reached the wood but there was no sign of the enemy, however, Franquemont could hear cannon fire to the south and began scouting towards Rohr where he could see friendly cavalry.  He also sent couriers to both General Gudin and General Lacour informing them that no enemy was in sight to the east, but that he could hear gunfire to the South and was scouting towards Rohr.

Spoiler:

4:22 pm: On breasting a rise on the road to Rohr Franquemont spotted an Austrian column consisting of horse, foot and guns moving west along the road from Kirchheim towards Legau.  He immediately sent a message to General Gudin stating that he was on the road to Rohr, and could see a large Austrian force moving on the road to Legau.  The message was repeated to General Lacour, with an addendum asking if the general was engaged with the enemy and if not if he knew where the firing was coming from.  Franquemont then began to head back towards his brigade in anticipation of being asked to advance against the enemy at Legau.
4:23 pm: Franquemont arrived at his brigade only to be chastised by his commander and ordered to return to his Fusiliers and to scout further East for the enemy.  He immediately set off once again for the wood to the east, arriving at 4:25pm and immediately order his Fusiliers back on the to the east.
4:34 pm: There were still no enemy in sight to the east, and General Franquemont's attention was once more drawn southwards where he could hear cannon fire and see Austrian columns on the road to Legau.  Once again he sent a message back to General Gudin informing him that there were no Austrians in sight to the east, but that he was at Rohr and could see Austrian columns on the road to Legau, and hear canon fire to the south.  The message was copied to General Lacour, once again asking if he knew who was engaged, and once more Franquemont began riding back to his brigade in anticipation of being ordered to move South.

Spoiler:

4:38 pm: Franquemont was convinced that the enemy were to the south and contrary to his explicit orders he continued to scout to the south from Rohr towards Legau, eventually being forced to retire by speculative Austrian artillery fire.
4:41 pm On his return journey towards Rohr he was surprised to be met by General Gudin on the road south, who had decided to check his reports of Austrian troop movements in person. Annoyingly at this point the Austrian guns which had been clearly visible towards the road to Lagau had just been chased off by cavalry from General Demont Division, and so there was no longer any enemy to see on the road.

Spoiler:

4:49 pm: In a brief discussion General Gudin seemed to dismiss Franquemont's claim to have seen a large Austrian column march into Legau, and instead ordered him once again to scout further east, and so Franquemont ordered his Fusiliers to take the road to Eurenbach, and followed them eastwards once more.
4:55 pm: Franquemont reported to General Gudin that he was on the road to Eurenbach, and that the town was in sight but appeared to be deserted.  There were no enemy in visible in any direction but that he could still hear cannon fire to the south.

Spoiler:

5 pm: Franquemont reported that he was now standing on the Eichstadt Strasse (the main north/south highway) and that there was no sign of the enemy in any direction.

Spoiler:

5.03 pm: A courier arrived with orders for Franquemont to return as quickly as possible as the division had been ordered to move south, and his brigade must escort the divisional artillery towards Austingen and then BadenHausen.  Ordering his footsore Fusiliers to retrace their steps as fast as they could Franquemont headed back towards his brigade worried at being late and delaying their movement.

5:15 pm: Franquemont arrived back at his brigade and immediately ordered them to march for Austingen. He could already see Beckers Brigade and the artillery on the road and moved his brigade into the column behind them.

Spoiler:

5:30 pm: By 5:30 pm Franquemonts Brigade were on the road south marching from Austingen towards Badenhausen, when a message was received ordering them to leave the road and to head for a small rectangular wood its the west.  The order was immediately passed to the battalions who left the road and began moving towards the wood, whilst Franquemont himself rode ahead to scout the area.

Spoiler:

5:37 pm: The brigade were still en-route for the rectangular wood, when fresh orders were received from General Gudin ordering them to deploy across the gap between the rectangular wood and a smaller wood to the south-east of it that bordered the road to Badenhausen.  The orders were immediately passed to the battalions who adjusted their advance accordingly and moved into battalion columns of division.

Spoiler:

5:43 pm: Once again as the brigade were moving into the positions specified covering the gap between the two woods, another courier arrived this time ordering the brigade to pass behind Beckers line and to form to it's right rear flank facing south to prevent any Austrian flanking movement.

Spoiler:

5:49 pm: It was at this point that Franquemont became aware of several Austrian infantry columns moving westwards towards a large wood beyond Beckers right flank, and concluding that their intention was to outflank and roll-up Beckers line he immediately ordered the two battalions of Infantry-Regiment Nr6 'Kronprinz' to form line and advance to create an extension of Becker's front angled to the west in order to engage the flanks of the Austrian columns as they advanced.

Spoiler:

5:52 pm: The nearest Austrian columns now deployed to face 'Kronprinz' and began to trade volleys with them, whilst those behind could still be seen continuing to move west into the wood with the obvious intention of outflanking Franquemonts new line.  To counter this Franquemont ordered the two battalions of Wurttemberg Infantry-Regiment Nr2 'Herzog Wilhelm' to continue moving south, passing behind the line formed by the 'Kronprinz' regiment and to engage the flank of the Austrian column moving through the wood.

Spoiler:

A fierce firefight now developed in and around the wood with the KronPrinz Regiment covering Breckers right flank from potential Austrian enfilade and the 'Herzog Wilhelm' regiment supported by the newly arrived 'von Neubronn' Fusiliers blocking the Austrian column from forcing it's way through the wood. The angle in the line meaning that whichever way the Austrian's tried to attack they would find at least one battalion threatening their flank.

6:01 pm: By 6:01 the Austrians had been driven out of the wood and were withdrawing over the stream and trying to reform on the far bank.  Franquemont sent a courier to General Gudin informing him that the Austrians had been driven off and were attempting to reform beyond the wood, and informing him that his brigade was moving through the wood to form a new line along the stream on the far side, and that his intention was to renew his attack as soon as his troops were in position.

Spoiler:

6:15pm: A brief lull then descended on Franquemonts sector of the front as both his and the Austrian battalions caught their breath and moved into their designated positions.  Franquemont now ordered his brigade into a two deep line with each regiment having one battalion deployed along the stream and other other sheltered in the woods behind.  the Austrians contented themselves with making occasional probing attacks with their skirmishers which were easily countered by the Fusiliers.  

Spoiler:

6:17 pm: Having deployed his first line along the stream Franquemont ordered them to advance screened by the Fusiliers and drive off the Austrian infantry on its far bank. However, no sooner had the Wurttemburger's splashed across the stream and reformed on the far bank than two columns of Austrian cavalry emerged from the wood ahead of them. The problem which now faced Franquemont was that the appearance of the Austrian cavalry had coincided perfectly with his planned assault on the last of the Austrian infantry. He had informed General Gudin of his intention to continue his pressure on the Austrian's convinced that the troops opposite was the Austrian's left flank guard and that if they could be routed then the opportunity would exist to swing eastwards and roll up the entire Austrian Army.  Gudin had not replied and so Franquemont had assumed that his failure to veto the attack was a tacit acceptance.  Consequently, his brigade had already crossed the stream and had begun to drive back the Austrian skirmishers across the open ground when the cavalry suddenly appeared.  The perfect timing of the cavalry's appearance had all the hallmarks of a carefully timed trap, and Franquemont's first reaction was to contact Gudin and request cavalry support from Pajol.  While he waited for a response he recalled his skirmishers and had all his battalions form square.  He then watched bitterly as the Austrian skirmishers stopped retreating, turned about, and began to close on his impotent battalions.

Spoiler:

6:20 pm. The response from General Gudin when it arrived a few minutes later was terse and uncompromising.  The cavalry were too busy to assist, and Franquemont was told to retire to his former position and await further orders.  The courier was stone faced and Franquemont suspected that there was more to his orders than he was saying, but Franquemont resisting the temptation to ask and simply dismissed him.  The underlying message was clear 'You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out of it.'  So be it, thought Franquemont but if I'm on my own I'll do it my own way.

The only good news at this point was that main thrust of the enemy cavalry had been focussed on their left meaning that there was still a chance to retire the KronPrinz square quickly back over the stream and bring it closer to the supporting second line.  It was a small window of opportunity but as long as they didn't panic they might make it.

He ordered it to move immediately and stayed close by to provide encouragement.  The Austrian cavalry had been waiting for just such a move and as the KronPrinz turned their backs and began to march away their right hand regiment spurred their horses and closed on them rapidly.  'Watch your front keep calm, keep moving, don't look back.' he shouted at the soldiers as they shuffled past him feeling the ground shaking under their feet as the cavalry came ever closer.  Then as the cavalry came level with their square the 'Herzog Wilhelm' brought their muskets to their shoulders in one smart movement and fired the left face of their square into the cavalry's flank toppling men and horses and creating chaos amongst them.  The Austrian's didn't wait for a second volley but went three's about and withdrew rapidly.   Their left hand regiment which had also moved forward in support also went about taking a volley from the squares front rank into their backs that emptied a few more saddles.   The 'KronPrinz' splashed through the stream scrambled up the far bank and reformed in square before looking back and seeing the bodies of the cavalry lying heaped beside the 'Herzog Wilhelm's' square they gave their rescuers a rousing cheer.

Spoiler:

6:23 pm: Franquemont bit his lip and stared into the musket smoke as it dissipated after the Herzog's volley.  The Herzog had reloaded but were isolated and at least 100 paces on the far side of the stream. Also, being the only current target in the open were they now receiving the full attention of the Austrian skirmishers.  But where were those Austrian cavalry?

Franquemont couldn't see them, they were gone, he racked his brain trying to remember if he'd noticed a fold in the ground as they advanced that might be hiding them now. But he couldn't...no they came out of the wood and that was it, there is no dead ground between the wood and here where they might be hiding.  They must have gone.  He quickly spurred his horse forwards and jumping the stream galloped over to the Herzog's, several shots flew passed as the skirmisher's saw a more novel target to shoot at.  'Move back now! Back over the stream smartly now.'  The Herzog's quickly formed column and moved back, the skirmishers suddenly realising they were losing their easy target became bolder and rushed forward even closer, eager to score a few more kills while their victim's backs were turned.  Franquemont waved his arm to the Fusiliers lining the edge of the wood and they scrurried forwards and began dropping the enemy skirmishers that had now themselves come too close.  The Herzog's splashed over the stream and reformed into square at the edge of the wood, Franquemont breathed a sigh of relief, then looked back to see yet another crisis developing this time to his left.

The hasty retreat of the Austrian skirmishers to his front created a lull in the firing which was suddenly punctuated by several loud volley's to the north and Franquemont rode in that direction to investigate.  This time it was the 1/HW's sister battalion that was in trouble.  Franquemont had left the 2nd Battalion of the 'Herzog Wilhelm' Regiment behind his left flank to maintain the link with Beckers Brigade and the rest of the division which at that time was formed along the line of the Augsberg to Badenhausen Road.  But looking in that direction now they were no longer there, instead 2/HW were standing in an isolated square in the open beset by Austrian cavalry just like their first battalion had been.  Not only that but bereft of any other easy targets the Austrian skirmishers were already being drawn in that direction.   Franquemont had no idea where Beckers Brigade had gone, although he could see French flags further to the North, and it looked as though Beckers Brigade had been driven in leaving his isolated in the wood.  He could also see more Austrian units in the distance to the East.  Was the Army in retreat, had he been abandoned?

These could not be the same cavalry that had attacked along his front, could they?
They seemed to be moving North suggesting that they had been attacking Beckers Brigade and now saw the isolated battalion of 2/HW as a easy kill?
But it looked as though 2/HW had already given them a bloody nose for their impertinence and they were now moving off rapidly to the North leaving their skirmishers to exact revenge for their losses.  As with their 1st Battalion Franquemont rode over and took personal command 'Move south now, stop for nothing, reform in the wood behind the 1/KR.'  he watched as the 2/HW formed column and marched safely south in the wood and reformed, and then stared East again 'What the hell was going on over there?'

Franquemonts Brigade were now safely ensconced within the confines of the wood and reasonably safe from the Austrian cavalry.  They were in fact, deployed in a Brigade square of squares with one battalion guarding each corner of the wood and the Fusiliers acting as a floating support to deal with the hovering enemy skirmishers.  But it was the situation beyond the wood that now worried Franquemont, had the Army been defeated, had the Austrians driven them off to the north and had they left him behind to face the full might of the Austrian Army alone.  Or were we victorious, was the army marching east in glorious pursuit having forgotten he even existed.  Should he be trying to extricate his brigade and marching North to rejoin the troops he saw in the direction of Badenhausen, or should he remain in this wood and await his fate.

6:30 pm: Recalling some sage advice from his tutor that 'the failure to make a decision, is a decision in itself', Franquemont decided to to return to his original plan to drive the Austrians eastwards and to seek to turn their left flank.  At the time all he could see to beyond the wood was a thin screen of Austrian skirmishers, and it seemed incompetent to allow such a small threat to hold down a whole brigade.  Once again he ordered his first line forward across the stream and out into the open and sent another message to General Gudin informing him that the enemy opposing him appeared to be the enemy's flank guard, that he could see no Austrian troops further to the west and that the enemy cavalry had withdrawn his intention was to drive in the Austrian skirmishers to his front and then swing east to attack the enemies flank.

However, no sooner had his troops splashed back through the stream and began driving off the enemy skirmishers than two Austrian cavalry columns once more emerged from the wood on the far side of the clearing.  'Clever bastards!' thought Franquemont, then corrected himself 'No! not so clever. They should have waited and let us stick our heads right into their trap.'  

The Austrian's seemed more confident this time, or perhaps just more desperate, they made several determined advances on the 1/HW's square leaving bodies behind on each occasion.  they even seemed obsessed with trying to capture Franquemont himself making a couple of desperate dashes towards him that forced him to spur his horse and escape back into the tree's.  Franquemont imagined that his riding instructor would have been horrified to see him dash into the tree's at full gallop risking injury to both himself and his horse from low hanging branches and twisted roots, but sometimes the rules can't apply, and each such gamble left more empty Austrian saddles.

It was during these attacks that a messenger finally arrived from General Gudin congratulating Franquemont on his skilled protection of the army's right flank and informing him that artillery support was on the way.  Franquemont thanked the messenger informing him once again that there appeared to be no Austrian troops to the west, and that the enemy appeared to be their flank guard.

The messenger had only just left when Franquemont noticed movement in a field of tall rye grass to the north west and using his telescope confirmed that the Austrian's had infantry sneaking through the crops towards his right flank.  'Clever bastards!' he muttered again and rode off to talk to his Fusiliers.  So, the cavalry were sacrificing themselves to keep our attention whilst they moved infantry through the crops to descend on our right and roll us up.  Franquemont could appreciate the boldness of the plan, but the execution had failed, and now he sent his Fusiliers to make the Austrian infantry column in the rye field pay for that with their blood.  

And to make the Austrian position even more uncomfortable at that moment the first shots from the Divisional Artillery support promised by Gudin ploughed in the flanks of the Austrian Cavalry whose job it was to keep Franquemont's Brigade pinned in square whilst their infantry moved into position.  Franquemont smiled 'Now whose caught in a trap?' he thought as he imagined the enemy cavalry commander trying to decide whether to stay and suffer the losses to support his infantry or withdraw and leave them to their fate.  'Making no decision, is still a decision.' he felt like shouting at the Austrian commander as the cavalry stood passively just out of musket shot of the 1/HW's square and continued to take the punishment from the French guns.  A glance to the right confirmed that the Austrian infantry in the rye were now struggling to cope with the flanking fire he had ordered from the Fusiliers and were not able to complete their flanking movement on the 1/HW.  A grim smile crossed Franquemont's face, 'Check! Your move I think.' he was beginning to enjoy himself.

Eventually, the Austrian cavalry commander made the decision and withdrew his cavalry to the safety of the wood to his rear, and the Austrian infantry attack through the rye collapsed and fell back.  Franquemont sent a note to Gudin thanking him for his timely support.

6:40 pm:  The divisional artillery continued to fire but there were fewer targets now and the results amongst the Austrian skirmishers were less spectacular.  Franquemont had abandoned his plan to advance eastwards, aware that the Austrian cavalry were still lurking in the woods and that moving too far forward would mask the fire of the supporting guns.  He was happy to sit and watch the Austrian's suffer. He recalled a brother officer who once commented that 'It was always a good day to see someone else die.' and this was a good day.

6:47 pm: There was movement once again from the Austrian's, another move in the game, this time their cavalry were moving through the rye towards the right flank and their infantry were coming across the field to attack the front.  Franquemont was almost disappointed, the cavalry were easily visible above the rye, did they really expect him to fall for that.  

Nevertheless, he penned a quick note to General Gudin informing him that Austrian Cavalry were attempting to turn his right, and commenting that they were probably not visible from the position of the divisional artillery.  He then made his way over to the Fusiliers again and informed them that had had a another job for them to do.  This time he moved them forward between the squares of 1/KR and 1/HW where they could take a steady toll on the Austrian infantry trying to cross the stream.  He also ordered 1/KR to form line, a calculated risk, but he was certain all the Austrian cavalry were over on the right, and if they tried to exploit the situation the square of 1/HW would make them pay dearly as they had before.

Spoiler:

6:55 pm:  The Austrian Cavalry continued to hover menacingly in the rye field off the brigades right flank.  Franquemont was no longer concerned about the threat they might pose to his brigade, only a fool would charge cavalry against a square deployed in a wood.  However, he was concerned that they might decide to circumvent the wood altogether and try to attack the Divisional Artillery. Franquemont was not entirely sure where the Divisional Artillery were, but judging from the angle of the fall of their shot he assumed they must be deployed somewhere just to the North of the wood, possibly along the Badenhausen stream, and he had no idea what if any support they had.  There was just a chance that a bold cavalry commander could circumvent the wood and take them by surprise.

6:57 pm: Franquemont made a decision, he turned to his Brigade-Major and grinned broadly 'Time to show a leg I think.' he quipped 'Follow me, but be ready to run for your life.'  With that he made his way to the southern edge of the wood and emerging from the tree's less than one hundred paces from the Austrian cavalry he removed his telescope from his saddle pouch and made a big show of studying the horizon to the south.  In truth he was really curious if there were any more Austrian troops trying to move around his flank, but mainly it was to convince the Austrians that he was distracted, (and an idiot, he thought).  But in fact he had both eyes open and was watching the Austrian reaction carefully.

As Franquemont hoped there was a brief moment of indecision and then greed overcame prudence and the entire Austrian cavalry force spurred their horses and came straight for him. He immediately spun his horse around and galloped back into the tree's, His riding master would be having apoplexy he thought as he dashed through the branches past the hidden squares of the 1/HW and 2/KR.  He heard the expected crash of the volleys and the screams of dying horses and men and reigned in his mount to inspect the damage.  'Well done lads' he shouted to the 1/HW, who were jeering the Austrians as they scrambled away to safety. he cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted 'CHASE ME! CHASE ME!' after the fleeing Austrian's affecting a provocative pose.

Spoiler:

One of the soldiers looked up from the corpse he was looting amongst the ferns of the forest floor 'I rekon our General's 'aving a bit too much fun, Ernst.' he commented to his friend 'Oi! hanz off I saw that first.' he added snatching the gold fob watch out of his friends hand and stuffing it into his waistcoat. 'Bit of a toff this one.' he observed looking at the body of the Austrian officer lying at their feet. 'Just a corpse now.' said Ernst swiping the blade of his dirk on the dead officers sash. 'If yer 'avin the watch then I'm 'avin his ring.'. The other soldier smirked 'Stuck on iz finger I've already tried.'.  'Nah! problem.' said Ernst reaching for his dirk again 'Ave! yer checked iz teef?'.

Spoiler:

7:00 pm: The soldier was right of course Franquemont was having fun, the nervousness he had felt earlier in the day had dissipated slightly with each successful decision he had made, and he felt that he had faced a worthy opponent in the Austrian commander and bested him.  His men had behaved admirably and had not let him down once, he was almost sorry to see the Austrian's pulling back, but dusk was now falling and the soldiers were beginning to pick their way amongst the bodies looking for loot and fallen comrades.  

Even at the academy, Gudin was an uncaring perfectionist. He was never satisfied with another's accomplishments and always quick to criticize. You moved east, but not far enough east. You probably didn't get back to your troops fast enough after he sent you on a reconnaissance his cavalry should have been doing... You get the idea. Had you put a pistol ball in the back of his head, I doubt there would be any mourners at his funeral.

"A pupil learns faster at the hands of a harsh teacher".

Dunno who said that, but it sounds good.

Great report David, you only omitted the part where my guns slaughtered the Austrians in front of you assisting your attack. "Never be ungrateful to a gunner, as someday he may repay your attitude by buggering off somewhere else when you most need him."

Can't recall who said that either. Wise words though.

Mr.Digby wrote:Great report David, you only omitted the part where my guns slaughtered the Austrians in front of you assisting your attack. "Never be ungrateful to a gunner, as someday he may repay your attitude by buggering off somewhere else when you most need him."

I haven't forgotten, i just haven't got to that bit yet, there's still more to add but it got to 1am and I thought I'd finish the report this morning.

But yes...you are right in what you say I was able to put into practice in this battle those lessons I've learned the hard way in the previous two.  In particular when ordered to withdraw my brigade to the line previously occupied I did not, as previously rush to obey the order, but chose to take my time and wait for the right opportunity to extract my men.  The timing of the retirement of 1/HW was particularly tricky as unlike 1/KR it would not have another square to support it.  But I used the TC function as you suggested and managed to get them back without losing them.

I am waiting on my accolades from you guys on my superb plan. Even Kevin said it was in a dispatch. In so many words he said my superb leadership created a salient and we were going to crush them.*


*I do understand that you have to consider source of the dispatch I received...All I really want is a cookie.

Digby and David saved the day by swiftly coming down from the north forming on the right and slowly destroying the enemy also Phil and Miko held the left to make their favorable position possible. Kevin was there sounding the alarm every time he saw a flag when ordered to do something he did remind me that I called him useless in the battle briefing and I well I got to watch the battle unfold from my superior position on the battlefield.

Well done.

Well, French forgot the "safe word" and that caused David almost to rage quit

Miko wrote:Well, French forgot the "safe word" and that caused David almost to rage quit Smile

That was last night, not the Badenhausen scenario, that was fun. What's the 'safe word' anyway?

What's the 'safe word' anyway?

As the last scenario was of the SM type...
I think there is something like "safe word" or similar code which "M" side uses to signal to the "S" side to stop.

So are you saying that Mike is a double agent with secret control of the AI responses?

While we are on that subject do other players in the game use the map to keep track and check whats going on during the game.  I have mine set to 'Blank', so I literally can't see a damned thing except whats going on around my commander.  But some of the comments and orders I receive seem to have almost psychic qualities and refer to events and things completely beyond my vision or knowledge.  Just wondered if some players have a watching brief to make sure the scenario doesn't go completely off the rails.

A few examples:
'Why are you advancing in line across the face of the enemy batteries, is it some sort of atonement?' (Reason - because I couldn't see any batteries, and I was not under fire, I was moving to support another brigade (from a different division) which was in a fire fight with enemy infantry to my front.  In fact, never did see this battery I was supposed to be passing in front of.)

'Move towards the barn with the red roof.' - Complete blank on any barn with a red roof, I have grey roof's, white roofs, brown roof's, no roofs, but red?, no sign' I was still looking for it when the battle ended.

'One of your battalions has stopped on the road, you need to TC it and force it to keep moving.'  This was true and commanding these Russian elite troops was more like herding cats or rather leading a bunch of slow noisy ducklings, but the battalion in question was my trialing battalion and about 1/2 mile back down the road.  I had no idea it had decided to stop, and couldn't see it from the wooded ravine I was trying to persuade my leading battalion to cross and the rest of my brigade was heading towards.  So, I then had to leave the rest of my brigade to wander off again and go hunt for my missing duckling,  I still don't know why it stopped following 'ducking syndrome I suspect' I eventually spotted it standing in the middle of nowhere on the horizon and sent a courier to TC it.  But as the courier approached it simply broke and disappeared over the ridge in the general direction of Moskow.  I couldn't help but compare the behaviour of these so called elite troops with those in my Westphalian Brigade two days before, where I was forced to abandon the 'von Neubronn' Fusiliers on the far side of the map in order to return to the rest of my Brigade, and these faithful german troops made their way alone right across the map to rejoin the brigade in it's new position.  These Russian Grenadiers however, couldn't even follow a road and panicked at the sight of a single horsemen galloping towards them waving nothing more lethal than a message slip. So I thought 'sod it' and went back to the four ducklings I still had remaining.' in my brood, who were now hiding in a wooded ravine.

Why are you over there, you are supposed to be attacking through the wooded ravine into the flank of the enemy battery?  First of all how the hell did he know where I was, secondly where was this battery, there seemed to be a lot of talk of batteries but none visible to me, thirdly there was a huge mass of French infantry in the wooded ravine, which my men were flatly refusing to shoot at for some reason.  I concluded that they must have thrown away their cartridge pouches to lighten their load on the march and so switched to ordering bayonet charges instead, with similar lack of response.

General why are you over here? - Answer: I have orders to attack a battery on the far side of this wooded ravine somewhere.   Hmm! wouldn't it have been better to have attacked them from the other side of the ravine? [Shrugs] - I have my orders General. and orders another bayonet charge, with equal lack of interest from his troops.  By now I'd decided to ignore the French massed in the ravine and try and moving around its end through the open ground and back down the other side.  However, some French skirmishers were blocking my path and my men refused to close or fire on them.  Whilst I was trying to herd cats into skirmisher fire a brigade from another division (not Guards/or Grenadiers) successful cleared the ravine of French troops to my left and another one pushed past my right to attack something beyond the wooded ridge, but I was still trying to get my four remaining battalions to deal with a single skirmisher screen when the battle ended.

To make matters worse, the replay didn't work so I still have no idea what happened, and I never found a barn with a red roof, or discovered the mysterious battery I was supposed to be attacking, or the one that was so scary but never fired at me.  And at the end of the game Chalons was still in the same place it had been earlier, despite having swapped places with Mareuil at some point during play on Martins map.  In fact, I notice looking at the map now that by the end of the battle my brigade must have been very close to the road from Mareuil to Chalon which runs past the head of the wooded ravine where I was struggling with the battalion of French skirmishers, and I wondered if this was the Chalons Road Martin had been referring to earlier.  I couldn't see it at the time because it was beyond the horizon from my position at the road junction on the Baconne to Chalons Road to the north east, and it was masked by about six regiments of French cavalry.   At the time I just assumed that Martin was looking at a different map to the one I had been issued with that his had the place names in different locations.

All players have a bare minimap - that setting is determined by the host's options, the clients can't change it.

I do have pretty good awareness of a tactical situation and you'll see most of the seasoned players stay still for a long time, commanding from one spot (which will usually be the highest point for some distance around). As you're a new player I also took care to give your things to do, and send you on missions etc, and made sure I kept an eye on you. So in every case I could see either you or the battalion(s) in question.

In addition commanding a division is quite a lot different from commanding a brigade because your brain has to consider so many more tactical elements - both your options and the enemy's options. You just get experienced at being more aware.

I tend to be a fanatic for details as well so if I see a unit of another players command that has stopped I'll usually tell that player. I know how frustrating it is to have a unit miss a courier order and get left way behind.

When I saw you taking your Russian grenadiers too far away I actually could just see your general's flag over the tree tops and checking the minimap I knew you'd gone across the right ravine but then veered too far right (west-ish) instead of left (south). The red-roofed barn was in the clearing I was in so you probably couldn't see it from where you were... though you possibly may have just over the trees.

I also noted that your answers to my messages had a very long delay - another good clue you were not near me!

Us seasoned players also know most of the maps we play on very well. I've fought around Baconne before and around that red-roofed barn! To be honest its not really bright red, but more a wine red. A person might even think it was brown, but since at the time I expected you to come out of the ravine within a couple hundred yards of me a colour-matched accurate description wasn't necessary - or so I thought!

But it will all become easier, I promise!

In the Chalons game, in defence of your grenadiers, they had been in battle for quite a long time and I know that my hussars on your left flank took about 60 casualties just stood there a while so I'm guessing your squares suffered quite a bit? Taking losses steadily like that can take away a units appetite for heroics and your last battalion of course would also have had the "unsupported" penalty since it was miles from anyone else. When you are marching from A to B across a map, units will also simply halt if they perceive a threat and infantry will halt if they see enemy cavalry even quite a long way off. If I'm shifting men past a section of battle I don't want to be involved in I will TC the units to force them to ignore any threats. I also try to move in defilade even if it means a longer route. Parts of the Chalons map, as you now know, have atrocious visibility and it can be worse for players since our eyes can't see through the tree sprites but the software defines a visibility distance through woods so the AI knows a cavalry regiment is sitting beyond that group of trees when a player might not.

'Why are you advancing in line across the face of the enemy batteries, is it some sort of atonement?' (Reason - because I couldn't see any batteries, and I was not under fire, I was moving to support another brigade (from a different division) which was in a fire fight with enemy infantry to my front.  In fact, never did see this battery I was supposed to be passing in front of.)

I apologise for this... was probably wrongly timed and assumed tactical awareness of an experienced player.

Surely I did't mean you were marching 100 yards from the enemy battery... but you must have seen my guns and your brigade blocked the line of sight of it...
The enemy guns were on the other side of the woods - that puzzled me, because you came from the other side and now marching towards where the "killing zone" of this battery was. My comment would be probably different if I saw the rest of the Digby's division... I didn't know where the French guns were facing - it looked like it was Mike's troops...
I'll make a short video from recording of this part of the battle - You'll see what I saw and, you'll get where my confusion was coming from.

I think Digby explained your questions in general.

'Why are you advancing in line across the face of the enemy batteries, is it some sort of atonement?'

Welcome to the KS School of Tough Love! Martin described things pretty well. It takes awhile to develop the situational awareness needed to move efficiently around the battlefield. The fact that you were able to keep your 1807 Russian brigade mostly intact is a victory in itself. The first few times we used these early war armies, we were slaughtered very quickly.

Playing from HITS with a bare minimap and couriers is the highest level of FOW the game allows, so right now you are learning to swim in the deep end. There are players who play with unlimited camera helicopter view, a partial map showing at least their own troops and those enemy they can see and instant orders and if you are used to that style then our style of play is extremely hard to adjust to.

You'll pick it up pretty quickly though and you won't even realise you're learning.

The accounts we are reading here about other officers asking what you are doing and you not being aware of other events is very typical of accounts of black powder battles. In SoW the battle smoke is 95% sanitised away in the name of playability - imagine what the game would be like if most of the time your visibility was limited to under 400 yards by smoke?

I remember reading an account some years ago from an officer at Waterloo - it probably was Mercer who was commanding his battery and saw, coming out of the smoke, up the rise at his guns a column of infantry. The infantry were cheering and coming on at a good pace. He could not identify them and at under 300 yards was about to fire on them when he finally identified them as Brunswick troops (the shako shape is similar to French and a lot different to the British shako). So we have accounts from men on the spot that identification of friend from foe was difficult. I am sure there were dozens if not hundreds of "blue on blue" incidents in those battles.

I understand you got frustrated in the Chalons battle but please don't give up. It'll get easier with time.

You probably should try commanding a small division - maybe 1 brigade, 1 battery and 1 regt of cavalry - Kevin, could we set up such a command for David?

Miko wrote:I apologise for this... was probably wrongly timed and assumed tactical awareness of an experienced player.

Surely I did't mean you were marching 100 yards from the enemy battery... but you must have seen my guns and your brigade blocked the line of sight of it...
The enemy guns were on the other side of the woods - that puzzled me, because you came from the other side and now marching towards where the "killing zone" of this battery was. My comment would be probably different if I saw the rest of the Digby's division... I didn't know where the French guns were facing - it looked like it was Mike's troops...
I'll make a short video from recording of this part of the battle - You'll see what I saw and, you'll get where my confusion was coming from.

You have to realise I had just herded my brigade along a defile all the way from the Chalons Road losing a battalion of Grenadiers to a courier attack en-route.  I had finally managed to get them into the wooded ravine, despite it being occupied by routed French infantry which my Grenadiers didn't like the smell of (Russian Grenadiers apparently hate Garlic)  and had managed to extract what at the time looked like two of them by repeated orders to move.  

They were in a ravine, I was in a ravine.  My view to the left was just tree's, my view to the right was of a steep slope with what looked like Russian guns on it, and further down the ravine I could see more French infantry partly in the woods being attacked by a Russian Brigade. My attention was therefore divided between trying to persuade the rest of my Brigade to leave the tree's and follow me, and trying to move the two that had emerged to within firing range of the French Infantry, to support of my fellow Russians.  

It never occurred to me that I was masking your battery.  My men were in a defile, well below the batteries line of fire and as I had just emerged from the tree's I was not aware of anything behind me which your guns might find more useful to fire at other than the French infantry right in front of me.  So, when your message arrived my first reaction was to look for an enemy battery, but as already mentioned the only enemy I could see were those ahead of me.  I then checked to see if I was taking casualties from guns that were perhaps firing blindly through the tree's, but didn't seem to be, in fact, for once my men seemed calm and doing as they were told,  with the exception of not firing for some reason.  So, having responded to your query by informing your that my brigade was ordered to attack an enemy battery on the far side of the wooded ravine, and that in preparation I was about to attack and hopefully clear the enemy infantry to my front I dismissed the threat and concentrated on ordering bayonet charges to try and drive the French infantry off.  Which was partially successful, in that they fell back into the wooded ravine and I was able to move past them to look for an alternative way through.

Under normal circumstances I might have galloped off to find some high ground, so I could assess the tactical situation, but by now I had lost all faith in my troops doing anything without constant supervision and feared that if I moved too far away from them they might take fright at another courier and decide to go home.  In short I was trying to keep my command bonus yellow on them at all times.  Even then they seemed reluctant to move too close to an enemy, or to provoke them by firing at them, and later when trying to drive off the enemy skirmishers repeated orders to advance and drive them back with the bayonet were simply ignored.  I think they were waiting for them to run out of ammunition first.

It was a very frustrating battle, which began with an exercise in trying to attack massed cavalry with infantry that didn't know how to move in square, over terrain that seemed to have some weird pathing issues that resulted in a battalion ordered to shuffle forwards 50 paces doing a major loop to the rear and back again to avoid some imaginary obstacle, and ended with a long period of herding reluctant ducklings through woods to attack a target I couldn't see.

I understand your frustration... but now please see the situation from my perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke7s87gag4s

When you appeared next to my position you had a red thunder symbol over your head - I wonder if this impacts commanding abilities... I think if that happens to an AI commander he suffers some penalties... maybe Kevin can clarify this...