Blunders on the Danube: 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!