Thursday, July 9, 2020

Caldiero 1805, Turn 2: 3rd French and Austrian Initiatives


Massena wins the toss for the next  initiative...


and starts out with a MOVE!


Lacour rolls a triple magic move for his Dragoons ! (opposing roll, not shown, was a 4)


The dragoons move forward, turn to face the Uhlans, and with the third segment, charge them. They have a slight edge in the resultant melee, The Uhlans are pushed back 3" with the lioss of 1 UI; the Dragoons, having rolled even, maintain good order and elect rto "take the position, which leaves them still in contact with the Uhlans.


Meermet's Cuirassier brigade scores a triple magic move as well!
(I was surrpised that there actually was a brigade of Cuirassiers assigned to the Army of Italy in 1805).


Before the Cuirassiers move, a French foot battery shoots at the Grenadier square, but has no effect.

Positions after the sweeping move of the Cuirassiers and their supporting Horse battery.


Goulus gets a Double Magic Move!


First the horse battery fires at the battered Grenadier square at point blank range; only a hot die roll on their D8 defense die saves it from being eliminated!


The column charges the unloaded, battered Austrian battery, and eliminates it in melee!


Situation at the conclusion of the move by Goulus.


"There was magic in the air that night..." in fact, Double Magic for Camus!


The infantry attack columns launch several charges.

In the initial round, the French score a hit with a D12+2 roll of 1.


However, now being Disordered and no longer initiating Melee, they are throwen back 3" with the loss of a UI!


Using one segment to turn to the left, the French column charges the Austrians in the flank, supported by a second unit attacking out of Caldiero. The Austyrians are pushed back 3" with the loss of 1 UI; having rolled Odd, the French uinit is disordered, and cannot "seize the position".


Situation on the Southern ridge after both melees.


"Tsk, Tsk, Andre, are you forgetting to move your Routers again?"
 One unit, having already reached the table edege, is removed from play. No additional Morale points are lost for this, however.


"Got to believe, we are magic.." more Double magic, this time for Solinac's brigade, in fact.


The Italian Dragoons are within 24" of the opposing Hussars, and may charge them!


Before that, the brigade's horse battery tries to soften the target up, but to no avail.


Carica!


The Dragoons are repulsed in disorder, but the melee disorders the Hussars as well.


The irrepressible Grenadiers charge the unloaded and badly battered Austrian Line, dispersing them.


Situation along the Verona - Venice highway after Solinac's MOVE.


No Magic and no MOVE for Compere!


No matter what your opponent rolls, an LD roll of 3 is always one plain segment; such is the case with Valory's Brigade.


Situation following their MOVE. Two of his  units in column both fire at the unloaded Austrian battery, causing severe damage and throwing the crew into Disorder.


Some double Blue Magic for Launay's Brigade.


Another unloaded and crpipled Austrian battery is charged, and eliminated without much fuss!


Valentin's  small grenadier brigade will advance 1 segment.


Overview after Valentin's MOVE.


2 segments for Espagne's Light Cavalry Brigade, but no Magic Moment for them, sio they hold thier positions once again.


All of the French Batteries RELOAD, but none choose to fire at this time.


Talk about good timing!


The D12 is +4 (point blank range for Artillery UP 1. Target in square UP 1).
Karl scowl and tells Massena to take back one Morale point, meaning the Austrians had dropped to zero AMP prior to this fire!


A flash in the pan!


Al ot of smoke, as the wounded Austrian battery trades shots with the Grenadiers and Italian line, net result is only causing Disorder amongst the crew.


Whittling down the entrenched Grenadiers, one shot at a time.


Even with 2 battalions combining their fire there is no effect upon the already disordered battery.


MELEE - Massena can scarcely believe his good fortune!


The column charges the Austrian Grenadiers in line, and tries a little "melee con queso" (so called, because it's a cheesy tactic), firing upon contact immediately prior to resolving the melee. It has no effect here, but can be risky by driving the target unit back out of contact.


The following Melee throws the grenadiers back with losses.


The Dragoons charge again, but can only manage a tie in the first round of the melee, which effects neither unit.


Round 2 goes to the Uhlans, who push the Dragoons back in Disorder, losinga UI in the process.


Having rolled Even, this time it is the Uhlans who "take the position" and follow up.


The Italian column charges the unloaded and cripled Austrian battery dispersing its crew.


The two French columns charge another battery, which is similarly compromised...


with the same results.


Situation at the end of the French initiative from the North...


and from the South.


Eagerly anticipating his own initiative, Karl turns the first of his 4 cards; ARTILLERY FIRE. He shakes his head, noting this would have been much more useful had he gone first, before the French eliminated three of his batteries!


Shooting DOWN 3 (2 UI lost, and disordered), the battery fails to make any impression upon the accursed French Grenadiers, even with the UP1 for both short range and a column as target.


The sole remianing Austrian battery, this one unscathed, shoots at the Chasseurs, to no discernible effect. So much for that card!


Karl heaves a deep sigh; INFANTRY FIRE./ Once again, would have been more useful before the destruction of several front line units.


The Hungarians inflict some losses on the Legere, but fail to drive them off. 


Puff!, but no magic Dragons (or even Dragoons)  here. 


The accurate fire of the badly wounded Grenadiers manages to drive back the French column .


 Another shaerply delivered volley causes heavy losses on the French, but they hold their ground.


 Second verse, same as the first!
Karl is not pleased to turn another ARTILLERY FIRE card; a MOVE would be nice, so that he could bring up the reinforcements that entered the end of turn 1, not to mention more expected but yet to show up upon the Field of Battle...


The battery's fire manages to push the Grenadiers back a bit in Disorder; not nearly decisive enough at this juncture, though!


 The other Austrian battery pops off at the chassuers, who shrug off the fire again.


"Was für eine Scheiße ist das?", explodes Karl! True, he doesn't lose the initiative to the enemy, but Massena turns 4 cards and uses them to break his defensive position, whilst he turns 4 cards, only one of which is really at all useful. The day is not looking like one he is going to look forward to writing about to the Aulic Council! 

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful looking table and action, Peter. The Austrians need to learn how to support their guns!

    For the French cheesy melee tactic, should that not be "melee avec du fromage?"

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    1. Or Frappe avec fromage; the Spanish term is generic for us, at least in the US! The problem the Austrians are having is bad luck (ineffective artillery fire early in the game, and a huge drought in MOVE cards compared to the French. At this rate, buy the time they get one it may be too late. Also, their inability top use Attack Column makes bringing their numbers to bear difficult, and makes the infantry unable to use immediate melees on a double move. This is turning out to be more significant than I had anticipated.

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  2. Great stuff a lot of ‘Magic Moves’ for the French and a good sequence of cards, a stark contrast to the less than optimum Austrian initiative.

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    1. In FoB3 their is much less difference between the sequence decks than there was in FoB2, and with only 3 grades, and just one grade difference in this battle, not a huge factor. But the play of the cards - if ever there was an example of "All 4 card runs are not the same", surely this was it!

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  3. I always feel as though Austrians need a bit of luck, so to see this run against them does not augur well.

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    1. There is no question that at this point Karl and his boys could use some good luck to balance out their overall bad luck thus far in the battle. After Massena's last run, and now paying the French Morale points every time they lose a UI in combat, they are definitely behind the eight ball. Plus, as long as they have zero AMP's, whenever they turn an ARMY MORALE card they will have to check for ending the game, and rolling a D10 vs a D12 and having to win the roll to continue play, their odds of success are only 45/120, or 37.5% Fail the roll, and it's game over!

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  4. A turn with action a plenty!
    Good to see that the threat of some 'Lasalle medicine' (a few years early) had the desired effect on the French cav.!

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    1. Indeed; the French cavalry is finally having some impact on the action, as is the non appearance of the Austrian reserve Dragoon Brigade!

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    2. Even watching your game from afar, I have blue eyes Peter. The Austrians are getting the luck that they deserve!!

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    3. ",,, as the paid lackeys of that nation of shopkeepers, perfidious Albion" to insert some French Imperial propaganda to be included in the post battle bulletin! :-)

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  5. French cracking the nut of this position I see! I wonder if they'll finish the job!?

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    1. Yes, they are. The Austrians desperately need to be able to make some adjustments,m but that hasn't been happening for them as yet!

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  6. Austrians getting all the bad luck it seems!
    Best Iain

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    1. They have been exceptionally unlucky thus far!

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  7. Oh Peter - you never cease to inspire me when you put on games such as these. I'm heading back to the start to re-read the entire thing again tonight. So much wargaming "candy" to please the eye. So well done Peter.

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    1. Thanks so much for the kind words, Carlo, and I am glad you're enjopying it! I hope to post an update by tonight.

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