Austerlitz a la Morschauser: Setting up the table

In April I will be running a game at the Gardiner Public Library, in Gardiner, New York, under the auspices of HMGS Next Gen. The game will be based upon the battle of Austerlitz, December 2, 1805. 

Above is a view of the terrain from the North; the Pratzen heights are off in the distance to the left (East).

Jared tells me that this group are relative gaming Novices, so Field of Battle seemed like it might be a bit too complex. View is of the Northern third of the field from the East (Allied side). 

Jon Freitag and I played and enjoyable remote game using a version of Joseph Morschauser's rules about a year ago. It was clear the rules needed a bit of modification in a few areas, especially Morale.

View is of the middle third of the field, from the West (French side); the Pratzen heights are opposite. 

Gardiner, NY, is about an 80 minute drive from me, and is located near to both Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (where Joe attended Bard College, and was exposed to Miniature Wargaming by Professor Gerard de Gre ), and Poughkeepsie, NY (where Joe lived and wrote).. Gerry de Gre was also a frequent wargames opponent of Charlie Sweet . Thus the choice of the Morschauser rules seemed particularly fitting!  View is of the Southern third of the field, from the East (Allied) side; Tellnitz, Solkonitz, and the Goldbach stream are opposite.

View of the field from the South; note the lakes (fish ponds, really) and swampy ground, which was partially frozen over and obscured by snow at the time of the battle. Next steps are to add a few trees, and then prepare the Orders of battle and deploy them on the tabletop to ensure that they fit in a reasonable fashion, and then do a playtest game. 

Map is from Volley and Bayonet: Glory Road. I simplified the terrain somewhat,

especially considering the constraints of the 4" grid.