French Revolutionary Wars Campaign - Breakout from Courtrai goes into extra time.

It’s extra time in this important grudge match between the Hapsburgs and the French. It’s still all in the balance and could go either way. Many of the units have become pretty battered after a dozen or so turns of fierce fighting and both sides have deployed their ‘finishers’ leaving no available reserves to tip the balance either way. Conrad von Bredow's Death Ride from last time had overrun or driven off two entire brigades of French, including some of their best infantry and almost half their cavalry. Would this success be exploited? Well, read on to find out. Anyone needing to be reminded of the state of play at the end of the last session can click Here.

As usual the photos will tell the story of how the final stages of the game unfolded. Campaign time it was now noon, and the armies had been at it since 5.30 am.

The Austrians were suffering from gridlock on the road to Inglemunster, and were in danger of buckling under the relentless assault by the French.

Steve ordered his infantry to assault the French redoubt. The first attack was driven back.

A brigade of Austrian dragoons made a belated entry onto the battlefield.  They had been occupying Inglemunster but were summoned by Colberg to assist in the breakout. A brigade of hussars didn't receive the orders to return to Courtrai as they were almost 40 miles west at the town of Roeselare, in contact with the Anglo-Hannoverians.

French heavy cavalry had just lost their commander to a 'destiny' roll, and found themselves in combat with Austrian cuirassiers. Amazingly, the latter were ill served by the dice and were ultimately broken. However the brigade survived its faltering brigade test.

The two units of retreating Austrian uhlans. It was all very unfortunate for the Austrians really, as up to that point they were in the ascendancy. The dice had truly turned against them.

Dave had two position batteries attached to his grenadier brigade. They spent almost the entire game limbered up with nowhere to go as a result of the previously mentioned gridlock.

Despite this golden opportunity the Austrian heavy cavalry were unable to roll up the French infantry and were forced to withdraw.

A large gap had opened in the centre of the table.

The wholly anachronistic Polish Legion pressing hard against the Austrian line.

The Poles charged the Austrians and drove them back. At the same time the Austrian heavy cavalry and uhlans failed a 'faltering brigade' test and fled.

Retreating Hungarian infantry. The brigade this regiment belonged to was demoralised as half its units had dispersed.

The lack of space for the Austrian grenadiers to deploy is evident here. 

A second attack by the French captures the redoubt. The defenders broke and the entire Austrian 3rd brigade, together with the 2nd failed faltering brigade tests and ran.

The Austrian dragoons seemed less than enthusiastic, and were slowed by the terrain.

Two brigades of fleeing Austrians.

Dave unlimbered his position batteries to cover the grenadiers and bombard the French in the captured redoubt. 

The French were able to take on the Austrian grenadiers almost one at a time with superior numbers. Two grenadier battalions attempted to retake the redoubt but were forced to retreat. The others were taking heavy losses but just about holding their own.

At this point Conrad decided that the army and the campaign would be best served by retiring back into Courtrai as the attempted breakout had clearly failed. Campaign time it was 2.30 pm so we'd had a leisurely 15 turns over three Saturdays. Half the Austrian army was fleeing back to Courtrai. Casualties had been heavy, including the loss of many guns. I played through the retirement to see which Austrians would make it back to the safety of Courtrai. I decided that with French skirmishers within 6" of the baggage there was no way it would escape capture and return safely to Courtrai. The Austrian dragoons pulled back, covering the retreat of the 4th brigade, wisely not engaging with the French cavalry. The grenadiers found themselves cut off, and three battalions  and their supporting artillery were captured, as was their commander. Two battalions made it back to Courtrai. 

So, a decisive French victory, albeit a very costly one. The remains of the Austrian army are now trapped in Courtrai, licking their wounds. Fortunately many of the fleeing troops had headed for Courtrai so some if not all units would be able to reform, at much reduced strengths. The Austrians had also lost four batteries of artillery which will be hard to replace given that two of the lost batteries had only just been brought up to strength after the defeat several days ago on the other side of the river.

The French lost heavily despite their victory. One infantry brigade was ridden down by the Austrian cuirassiers and two regiments of dragoons were dispersed by the Austrian uhlans. The army reserve of four elite battalions of combined grenadiers and ex-regular chasseurs were particularly  badly hit. In fact many battalions were close to their dispersal point by the end of the combat. 

The technology worked well and certainly added to the fog of war. This in some way explains the strange moves of the grenadier brigade which managed to get itself totally out of position and unable to take any part in the battle until the very end, by which time it was too late. The baggage train also got in the way of the Austrian defence and perhaps ought to have halted to wait until victory was certain or if not, that it wasn't too far from the city to return. The Austrians were very unlucky that their impressive cavalry charge couldn't be exploited, but c'est la guerre I guess. It was a good plan let down in its execution through lack of support and some odd manoeuvring, with more than a pinch of good luck for the French.

As far as the campaign is concerned the Austrians in Coutrai are out of it for a while but other Coalition forces are still in play. In every likelihood we shall find ourselves locked in battle again, very soon in fact. Will the French be able to exploit their success or will they crumble under the relentless pressure of facing fresh Coalition forces?

FRW Campaign. Breakout from Courtrai, part 1

The French on full alert and ready to counter attack.

Following on from the previous post here, the Austrians are trying to escape their encirclement within the city of Courtrai and have broken out on the left (North) bank of the Lys. By pure happenstance this sector was the weakest of the French besiegers, but the French sentries had been very alert and as a result all their troops were 'stood to' and ready to counter attack. The game ended up being another played down the length of the table, but nobody could complain (not that they would) as the scenario was one of the players' making. So, Colberg (Conrad), Clerfeyt (Paul) and von Klopff (Dave) were pitted against Shaun (Souham), Steve (Pichegru) and Richard (Jourdan). The characters Pichegru and Jourdan were elsewhere so Steve took MacDonald's brigade and Richard the Poles ( to my knowledge there wasn’t a Polish unit in the Armee du Nord but I had my Legion for the Italian campaign so just had to use them) and Bernadotte's elite Legere demi-brigade. I will try and let the photos (click on them to embiggen) and a brief commentary explain how things unfolded. The game started at 5.30 so the first two moves would be played in the gloomy light of dawn before sunrise at 6.30. During this time no close-up cameras were permitted. At 7am however the French launched their balloon and soon gained total air superiority (whatever that means).

The Austrians launched their cheveau legers towards MacDonald's brigade, forcing the two leading units into squares. The Austrians bounced.

MacDonald pushed his dragoons through to counter the Austrian threat, driving one regiment back in disarray but not without loosing heavily.

As it says, the Austrian Staff observing the battle atop the battlements of Courtrai.

The Austrian line holding a hedgerow against the French attack. Some of the units are a little flaky, being either recruits or still carrying losses from earlier encounters with the French.

Souham leading the army reserve forwards, a little slowly at times thanks to a perceived lack of enthusiasm among the army's elite.

Colonel Bernadotte as he was then advanced his three light battalions towards the enemy, but similar to Souham, experienced a few failed activation rolls early on.

Colberg brought on his reserve heavy cavalry, cuirassiers and uhlans. This brigade would be a serious threat to the French.

Now his cavalry reserve were on the table, Colberg decides to do a quick check on the 'Military Chest' to ensure nobody (but him, allegedly) has dipped their fingers in!

The Austrian cuirassier and uhlans ride past a bunch of cabbages. No, not the officers on the city walls!!!!

Dave in his GM von Klopff persona led the reconstituted and weakened grenadiers straight towards the Inglemunster road.

A battalion of Austrians (IR Graf Michael Wallis) collapse in the face of French artillery and skirmish fire. 

Bernadotte's light infantry remained in column in the face of Austrian artillery and  reached the ruins of a suburb demolished prior to the siege. One battalion took escaped taking heavy losses from the Austrian artillery thanks to some pretty poor shooting.

The grenadier brigade included two companies of artillery that could have been utilised elsewhere perhaps?

MacDonalds leading battalions redeployed into line and were pushing forward relentlessly. The Austrian Cheveau Legere were trying to pull out of danger as they had suffered high casualties from enemy fire and the earlier melee with the French dragoons.

Bernadotte's light battalions were now very exposed. Two battalions formed square and the other charged the Austrian artillery but failed and were forced to retreat.

The Austrian line facing the French onslaught. Would they hold? The Aerostatier Corps balloon can be seen in the background.

Another battalion of Austrians (IR Erzherzog Ferdinand) is routed after a vicious French bayonet charge. The  brigade is now faltering (for the second time actually. They survived the first time they had to test).  If they don't hold it could see the collapse of the Austrian right wing.

The Austrian supplies. Officers had been ordered to limit their baggage to no less than two carts and a dozen mules each. The other key baggage was the army war chest, and ammunition and all the stuff necessary to keep the artillery and wagons on the road. 

The leading and severely battered Polish battalion can be seen crossing the hedge into a gap in the Austrian line. 

The battle from the viewpoint of Richard (Jourdan/Bernadotte).

By 4pm we decided to halt proceedings (well I was knackered) and reconvene next Saturday to finish the game.  The game was very much in the balance as if the Austrians could make good use of their almost total cavalry superiority they would almost certainly give the French a drubbing and escape. But we will all have to wait. Casualties have been very high among units of both sides so it will be interesting to see how these much-weakened battalions and regiments impact on the end result. We used General d'Armée again and although I'm sure we did a few things incorrectly they worked well and we managed eight action packed moves.

One thing about facilitating a game by Skype is that the facilitator/umpire has to move ALL the troops, do ALL the measuring and do a great deal of talking and walking around the table. Next time I'm going to set my pedometer to see how far I walked. Walking of course is a killer for me and by lunchtime I was knackered. Talking about it over lunch with Katherine and Steve (and afterwards with everyone else) I now have volunteers willing to take it in turns to come to help move the troops which will be a massive help and I'm very touched by the offers to help.

For once the technology didn't fail us. One fixed camera/iPad went off about half way through, but the main fixed camera and the roving iPad kept going throughout. We have a second phone line into the house now as the original one was on overload trying to cope with three laptops, two tablets, three phones, Sky tv, the house alarm, 'ring' door bell, Alexa and security cameras. A bit of juggling and everything has since worked so much better.

Thanks to everyone for playing the game which I believe was enjoyed by all, and again thanks for the offers of some socially distanced help for future games.

I think I'm playing in a late Victorian era naval game via Skype on Thursday, then roll on Saturday! Once this game is over we already have another possible battle situation to resolve. Its certainly heating up quickly!

FRW Campaign update #3 The battle at Hondschoote

So, following on from the previous post, in ‘Campaign Time’ the game today commenced at 9.30 in the morning on 3 September 1793. Only those Campaign players directly involved in the battle had been invited to The Burrow; as I’ve said before I need to at least try and keep the anonymity of the players secret for as long as possible, which everyone seems happy about. That being the case I will not be naming the players and any photos in which they appear will have been suitably edited. Of course if I wanted to keep everything under wraps there wouldn’t be much of a blog post, so that bit of the secrecy has been ditched. It won’t matter so far as the campaign goes.

Feld-Marshal-Leutnant Von Freytag deployed his Hanoverian and Hessian infantry around Hondschoote. The cavalry brigade was held in reserve. I decided that due to the closed nature of the terrain the Hanoverians and Hessians could deploy using the ‘Fog of War’ rules and large pink cards were used to mark the locations (or not if they were blanks) of their units. A couple of Freytag’s units were already carrying casualties, received during the skirmishing earlier that morning as they withdrew from their outposts at Warum, but none critically.

General de Division Jourdan ordered his forces boldly down the main road, the brigade of General Colaud taking  the lead while the other brigade of infantry under d'Hédouville pushed on through the massed hedgerows between the road and the marsh. The artillery and cavalry supported the right of the main push. This was not good cavalry terrain. In a way this factor favoured the French as their cavalry were outnumbered and outclassed by their Hanoverian counterparts.

In time honoured style I will let the photos take you through the key stages of the battle. Suffice to say it did not go at all as I had expected and has posed me some interesting issues to resolve before we move on to the next day or sets of orders and stuff.  As is now usual we used General d’Armee, and the 28mm figures and terrain are all mine. Each turn represented half an hour of ‘Campaign Time’.

The French massing to advance down the road towards Hondschoote.

This was the better of Jourdan's two brigades of infantry, tasked with advancing between the road and the marsh.

Hessian defenders quickly revealed themselves to open fire

The French advance on the left moves steadily forward.

The road to Hondschoote packed with French infantry.

Jourdan's cavalry had nowhere to go due to the closed nature of the terrain.

Hanoverian skirmishers of the 14th Light Infantry Regt.

The French put all their cannon on the right. Their fire was largely ineffective although the horse battery did inflict  four fatigue casualties on itself during the game!

The French on the road get closer to their objective.

DISASTER! Gen d'Hédouville is killed by a stray cannonball. His brigade immediately falters.

The following turn, the French have to roll on the 'faltering brigade' table and manages a 1. Sauve qui Peut! The brigade retreats rapidly, taking more casualties in the process. They did however rally the following turn and were in a position to advance again.

In the centre a charge down the road is bundled back by Hessian musketry and canister. A second charge met the same fate.

The Coalition right flank was held by the Hessian brigade

French line up dinner in their sights

Hessian infantry and artillery threw back two assaults by the French, inflicting heavy losses.

The Hanoverian left flank. 

The Hanoverian brigade 

The French horse artillery galloped to a more advanced position.

The French had the upper hand in the skirmisher duel on their right but it was to make little difference.

By now the French were exhausted. Two attacks down the road had been bloodily repulsed and two battalions were close to breaking. The other infantry brigade had recovered after failing their 'faltering' test but with losses mounting among his artillery (mainly fatigue casualties thanks to some dire dice rolls) Jourdan ordered a retreat, covered by his cavalry. It was 4pm Campaign time, and we'd played 14 turns.

The Hanoverians and Hessians  defended the town with relative ease as the French were dogged by bad luck from the start. Nothing worked for the French. But, it was a fun little battle and the outcome will certainly provide me with some interesting problems to throw at both sides. I had my fun during the game by sending both players a few emails from messengers arriving with news from elsewhere in the vicinity, namely around Dunkirk and Bergues. While the battle had been raging the Dunkirk garrison had sortied out to distract the Anglo-Hanoverians, and York had ordered troops south along the causeways over the marsh to try and cut off the attack on Hondschoote from Bergues, but these were driven back.

I shall now send a flurry of messages to the players as we start day 4 of the campaign.