Austria-Litz, December 1805/2025

 We decided to do a fairly big Napoleonic game for December, 2025. After some discussion, Thomas and I settled on Austerlitz, December 2, 1805. I'm calling it "Austria-litz" berceuse I replaced some of the Russians in the OOB with Austrians. This had no effect on the game whatsoever, aside from more white coats on the tabletop.  

The scenario was adapted from that in the Volley and Bayonet scenario book, and played on a 6 x 12 foot table. The Pratzen heights are in the foreground. 

Northern end of the battlefield from the Allied side. 

Long view from the North...

and from the South. The Goldbach stream is to the left of the picyure. 

Tellnitz, Sokolnitx, Sokolnitz "Castle", the Pheasantry, etc. 

Center of the Battlefield from the French lines. 

North end from the French vantage point. 

Another view with the famous lakes (fish ponds) in the South./ 

Let's add some troops!  :-)

Both sides have significant additional troops that will arrive soon. The Russian LOC is way at the top right of the table. 

The Massive Allied attack threatening Tellnitz and Sokolnitz.

Some French artillery in the South. 

View of the deployed armies from the North; the road in the middle .of the bottom of the picture is the French LOC.

Orders of Battle

French Army - Emperor Napoleon I  #

Exceptional, LD  12    Sequence Deck: Superior  Morale points 51

# = [Starts within 18” of French Baseline]  @ = [Enters Turn 2 w/in 18” of LOC]

1st Corps, Marshal Bernadotte Skilled, LD 10

[Enters Turn 3 within 18” of LOC]

1st Division - General de la Raffiniere  Average  LD 8

3 Ligne  DD6  CD10

1 Foot Artillery  DD6  CD10

2nd Division General Drouet  Skilled  LD 10

1 Legere  DD 8, CD12

2 Ligne  DD6  CD10

1 Foot Artillery  DD6  CD10

3rd Corps, Marshal Davout Exceptional  LD 12+1

2nd Division, General Friant  Skilled  LD 12    (Arrives Turn1 along roads to Tellnitz/Sokolnitz)

1 Legere  DD 8, CD12

1 Ligne  DD6  CD10

1 Foot Battery  DD6  CD12

Dragoon Division - General Bourcier  Skilled  LD 12  #

1 Dragoons  DD6  CD12

4th Corps - Marshal Soult Exceptional  LD 12+1  #

1st Division - General St. Hilaire  Skilled  LD 10

1 Legere  DD 8, CD12

3 Ligne  DD6  CD10

1 Foot Artillery  DD6  CD10

2nd Division - General Vandamme  Skilled  LD 12

1 Legere  DD 8, CD12

3 Ligne  DD6  CD10

1 Foot Artillery  DD6  CD10

3rd Division - General Legrand  Skilled  LD 12

1 Legere  DD 8, CD12

3 Ligne  DD6  CD10

Light cavalry Division - General Margaron  Average  LD  12

1 Hussar  DD8  CD10

3rd Dragoon Division - General Beaumont  Average  LD 10

1 Dragoons  DD6  CD12

Corps Artillery Reserve (can be attached to any Infantry Division)

12# Foot Battery  DD6  CD12

5th Corps - Marshal Lannes  Exceptional  LD 12+1  #

1st Division - General Caffarelli  Skilled  LD 10

1 Legere  DD 8, CD 12

3 Ligne  DD 6  CD 10

1 Foot Artillery  DD 6  CD10

3rd Division - General Suchet  Skilled  LD 10

0 Legere  DD 8, CD12

3 Ligne  DD 6  CD 10

1 Foot Artillery  DD 6  CD10

2nd Dragoon Division - General Walther  Average  LD  12

1 Dragoons  DD 6  CD 12

Reserve Cavalry Corps, Marshal Murat  Skilled  LD 12+1  @

1st Heavy Cavalry Division - General Nansouty  Skilled  LD 10

1 Carabinier  DD 8, CD 12

1 Cuirassier  DD 8, CD 12

2nd Heavy Cavalry Division - General d'Hautpol  Skilled  LD 12

1 Cuirassiers  DD 8, CD 12

Light cavalry Brigade - General Milhaud  Skilled  LD 12

1 Chasseur a Cheval  DD 6  CD 10

Light Cavalry Division - Fauconnet  Average  LD  12

1 Chasseurs a Cheval  DD 6  CD 10

Corps Artillery (can be attached to any Cavalry Division above)

1 Horse Artillery  DD 8, CD 12

Imperial Guard, Marshal Bessieres Skilled, LD 10  @

Guard Infantry - General Hulin  Average  LD 12+1

1 Old Guard Grenadiers a Pied  DD 10, CD 12+1

1 Old Guard Chasseurs a Pied  DD 10, CD 12+1

Guard Cavalry- Colonel Morland  Average  LD  10

Grenadiers a Cheval  DD 10, CD 12+1

Chasseurs a Cheval  DD 10, CD 12+1

Guard Artillery - Colonel Couin  Average  LD  10

1 Battery Guard Horse Artillery  DD 10, CD 12+1

Division d' Elite, General Oudinot (Grenadiers de la Reserve)  Skilled  LD 10

2 Grenadiers  DD 8, CD12

ALLIED ARMY - Tsar Alexander I, and General Mikhail Kutusov

Abysmal  LD 8    Sequence deck: Inferior   Morale Points: 57

1st Column  - Lieutenant General Buxhowden Abysmal  LD 8

[Starts 30” from Russian Baseline on the Southern 6 feet of the table]

Advance Guard - Feldmarschal-Leutnant Kienmayer  Poor  LD 12

2 Grenzer  DD 4  CD 10

1 Chevau-Leger  DD 6  CD 10

1 Hussar  DD 8  CD 10

1 Cavalry Battery  DD 6  CD 10

Main Body - Lieutenant General Dokhturov  Poor  LD 8

1 Grenadier  DD 8  CD 12

3 Musketeer  DD 6  CD 10

1 Russian 12 lber Batteries  DD 6  CD 12

2nd Column - Lieutenant General Langeron  Poor  LD 10

[Starts 30” from Russian Baseline on the Southern 6 feet of the table]

1 Jager DD 6  CD 12

1 Grenadier  DD 8  CD 12

3 Musketeer  DD 6  CD 10

1 Dragoon  DD 6  CD 12

1 6 lber Foot Batteries  DD 6  CD 10

3rd Column - Lieutenant General Prebyshevsky Abysmal  LD 8

[Starts 30” from Russian Baseline on the Southern 6 feet of the table]

3 Musketeer  DD 6  CD 10

1 6lb Foot Batteries  DD 6  CD 10

4th Column - Feldzeugmeister Kolowrat  Poor  LD 8

[Enters on Turn1, anywhere along Allied Baseline]

Russians - Lieutenant General Miloradovich  Poor  LD  10 [Use Austrians]

4 Line  DD 6  CD 10

1 Grenadier  DD 8  CD 12

1 Austrian 6lber Foot Battery  DD 6  CD 10

Austrians - General-Major Rottermund  Poor  LD 10

1 Jager  DD 8  CD 12

4 Line  DD 6  CD 10

1 Austrian 6# Foot Artillery  DD 6  CD 10

1 Austrian 12# Foot Artillery  DD 6  CD 12

5th Column - Feldmarschal Leutnant Prinz Johann von Liechtenstein  

Poor  LD 10

[Enters Turn 3, anywhere along Allied baseline]

Austrian Cavalry - Feldmarschal-Leutnant Prince Hohenlohe  Abysmal LD 10

2 Austrian Cuirassiers  DD 8  CD 12

1 Austrian Cavalry Battery  DD 6  CD 10

Russian Cavalry - Lieutenant General Essen II  Poor  LD 8

1 Uhlan DD 6  CD12

1 Hussar  DD 8  CD 10

1 Russian Horse Artillery  DD 6  CD 10

Advance Guard of the Army - Major General Prince Bagration

Poor  LD 8

[Enters Turn 1 within 12” of LOC]

3 Musketeers  DD 6  CD 10

1 Hussars  DD 8  CD 10

1 Cuirassier  DD 8  CD 12

1 Dragoon DD 6  CD12

1 Russian 6 lber Foot Battery DD 6  CD 10

1 Russian Horse Artillery DD 6  CD 12

Russian Imperial Guard - Grand Duke Constantine

Average  LD 10

[Enters Turn 3, anywhere along Allied baseline]

Infantry - Lieutenant General Maluintin    Poor  LD 8

3 Guard Infantry    DD 10  CD 12

1 Guard 12# Battery  DD 8 CD12+1

Cavalry Lieuteant General Kologrivov  Poor  LD 12

1 Guard Hussar    DD 10  CD 12

1 Guard Cuirassier    DD 10  CD 12+1

1 Guard 6# Horse Artillery    DD 8  CD 12

The villages of Tellnitz and Sokolnitz are each worth 3 AMP to whoever controls them

(uncontrolled at the start of the game) - can change from side to side.

Allied LOC is the Eastern road on the North Table edge

French LOC is Northernmost road on French Baseline

Lose 4 AMP (permanently) if the enemy controls your LOC at any time

Swampy terrain is impassable; any units forced to enter same are eliminated.

Austerlitz Army stats: 

1 Infantry = 1800 men, 1 Cavalry = 1200 men, 1 Artillery = 18 guns

INFANTRY

UNIT TYPE	FRENCH	RUSSIAN	AUSTRIAN	ALLIED
Line/Musketeers	21	12	8	20
Light/Jagers	7	1	3	4
Grenadier	2	2	1	3
Guard	2	3	-	3
TOTALS	32	18	12	30

CAVALRY

UNIT TYPE	FRENCH	RUSSIAN	AUSTRIAN	ALLIED
Chasseur/ChvLg	2	-	1	1
Hussar	1	3	1	4
Dragoon	3	2	-	2
Uhlan	-	1	-	1
Cuirassier/Carab.	3	1	2	3
Guard Cavalry	2	2	-	2
TOTALS	11	9	4	13

ARTILLERY

UNIT TYPE	FRENCH	RUSSIAN	AUSTRIAN	ALLIED
6# Foot	5	3	2	5
12# Foot	1	1	1	2
6# Horse/Cavalry	1	3	2	5
12# Guard Foot	-	1	-	1
6# Guard Horse	1	1	-	1
TOTAL	8	9	5	14

We started the game the first Sunday in December; Unfortunately, one of the players had to cancel last minute, so that left me commanding the entire Allied Army; Thomas had Davout and Soult, whilst Thomas' freind, Sean, had Bernadotte, Oudinot, Murat, and La Garde. Sean had great MOVE rolls for 

the GUard Infantry and a Cuirassier Division, and great damage wuth them routing a bunch of Russian infantry and cavalry. Ouch!

French Cavalry Reserve and Guard Cavalry dominating the North Center of the field. 

Austrian infantry confronts one of Bernadotte's Divisions. 

Soult crosses the Goldbach, triggering a massive infantry firefight!

In the South, the enormous mass of Allied troops created a huge traffic jam, much as in real life, which impeded the progress of the attack. Meanwhile, Davout's timely arrival secured French control over Tellnitz and Sokolnitz. 

At this point, we had to end the session; both sides had lost about half of their morale points, and we had gone about 3/4 of the way through the sequence deck. We used Jared's FoB3 variant, FoB3T, with the movement card pulled out; each initiative, one and only one of the cards could be played anywhere in the sequence in lieu of another card, but the placement of the MOVE within that run of cards had to be determined before the first card of the run was turned. We also used the Tactical Advantage card as a one time re-roll of any die except an Army Morale Check. 

Sean is working on an interesting idea for a Napoleonic game where cards would pre-calculate most of the variables in combat. We'll see if he can develop it to the point of an actual playtest.  

With the table and troops all set up, it seemed a shame to waste all that effort, so we concluded the battle the last Sunday of this month. This time Mike and his son Sean (a different Sean!) were able to come along with Thomas. Mike played Davout, Soult, and Bernadotte, Thomas played Oudinot, Murat, and La Garde, while  I played the Southern 60% of the Allies, and Sean had the Northen 405 ( who, it will be recalled, were in a fairly precarious position). 

Fuzzy shot of Thomas and Sean #2. 

The Allied Left is more manageable now... mostly because about a half dozen Allied units had already routed back!

The Austrian gained the upper hand gradually in the continuing firefight and occasional bayonet charges in front of the Pratzen; the last cards in the deck were much more favorable for the Allies than the French!

The Northern 60% of the filed - The Austrian Grenadier unit (with the white Leibfahne) will wind up doing great work for the Kaiserliches!

Both sides suffering attrition from combat. 

Grenadier volley routs one French regiment. 

Clash of the Titans, as the Heavy cavalry of both sides is swept up in a massive cavalry charge launched by Sean. 

Close up.

Aftermath; overall, despite a slight advantage, the Allies took a little more losses than the French.

Allies are slowly gaining the advantage before the Pratzen. French turn 2 Army Morale Cards in the early sequences after the shuffle. 

"Sauve qui peut!"  The French have run out of Morale Points, and are starting to pay the Allies for each loss; never a good sign!

The third French Army Morale is turned. Napoleon rolls and *, but the opposing D12 roll is a 9; The French army must break off the attack and withdraw!

Lower quarter of the Battlefield at game's end from French vantage. 

Nert quarter

Next quarter (Allied artillery fire really picked up in effectiveness later in the game!)

A little further North

Northernmost part of the Field from the French lines. 

Southernmost part of the field from behind the Allied lines.

Situation at the Pratzen.

Further North. 

Northernmost sector; the Allies were probably lucky the French did not pass the Army Morale check, as their position here remained vulnerable. 

Overview of the end of the battle from the South. 

All in all, two great games of big battle Napoleonic goodness!

Meanwhile, a very happy and healthy New Year to all those reading the blog!