Bavaria Campaign 1809 Solitaire mode (II) Turns 7-10

We continue with the campaign of Bavaria 1809, which will be resolved in the last turns. A positive experience (more positive than expected) and hoping to repeat it in the future in another Napoleonic campaign.

The dice rolls were not digital, trying to preserve the old wargaming spirit a bit. Now I need a decent dice tower, and stop collecting dices on the ground...

 

TURN 7

04/21/1809 - Clear weather

Event Card: Initiative: The initiative for the turn passes this time to the Austrians.

No reinforcements.

Davout with 5PO awaits the arrival of reinforcements to attack the forces surrounding Regensburg, Masséna (3 PO) regroups his army corps before heading north. Lefevbre (5 PO) with his body of Bavarians is also heading north. Vandamme (3 PO) will continue north towards Eichstedt. Napoleon (7 PO) goes with Oudinot's body towards Neudstadt. Lefevbre (5PO) is concentrated in Neudstadt. 

 

Three decoys ("d","b" and "e") head north and attack Lefevbre's body, which turns out to be Rosenberg's IV ArmeeKorps, a rumour without effect and an aggressive action decoy, so the Austrian general attitude now will be to directly attack the French units. In Abensberg the fight will take place between Rosenberg's IV Corps, Hiller's VI and Lefebvre's VII. The French player chooses a Skirmish option and the Austrian player does battle. 

 

The result is the defeat of the French player and losing 5 FP.

 

As stated in the home-made rules, if one of the sides rolls a "1" it becomes an own loss to be discounted.

Five casualties (freely distributed) and two fatigue points for losing the battle are discounted, this was a last minute addition based on the Napoléon 1806 rulebook by Shakos.

 

TURN 8

04/22/1809 - Clear weather

 

Event card: “Estafette” so another event card is chosen, which turns out to be “Conseil Aulique” which only allows the Austrian player to move only 2 bodies or decoys on the turn.

 

Masséna (7 PO) makes a forced march to try to join Lefevbre's body. Napoleon (8 PO) with Oudinot's corps also heads towards Abensberg with another forced march. Vandamme (6PO) in turn makes a forced march to join the Emperor. Davout (8PO) heads towards Regensburg, to attract the units that surround the city. The outposts of the Friant Division (II Corps) contact 3 decoys which happen to be the Austrian III Korps in Hemau, the V Korps, 10 km behind and a decoy with “Aggressive Action” that is retired. 

 

In the South, Napoleon with part of Oudinot's corps, part of Lefebre's corps, Nansouty heavy cavalry and Wollwarth's cavalry, face the Austrian IV and VI Corps at the Battle of Abensberg. The battle of Abensberg ends with a minimal Austrian victory that causes the French to withdraw provisionally and the Bavarian divisions of Deroi and the Royal Prince with the heavy cavalry of D'Espagne reject the II Austrian reserve Korps in Sigenburg.

TURN 9

04/23/1809 - Clear weather

Event card: “Au son du canon” so that a unit with a valid connection to the combat zone can join the action, as long as it is not fighting itself.

 

Davout (6PO) accumulates his troops near Hemau to attract the units that surround the city. Napoleon (7 PO) concentrates his troops in Neudstadt, hoping to finish concentrating the corps of Oudinot and Vandamme with their artillery reserves. Vandamme (5PO) brings his units closer to Neudstadt to accumulate them with Napoleon's. Lefebvre (6PO) does the same with his Bavarian corps and Masséna (3PO) arrives from the south as well. With the event card we add to the Rouyer Division that has a direct connection and is not fighting in any combat. 

 

The 2nd battle of Abensberg ends with a clear Austrian victory that makes the French withdraw to the other side of the Danube and in the battle of Hemau Davout they defeat the Austrian III and V corps.
 

 

 

 

 

TURN 10

04/24/1809 - Clear weather

Event card: "Munich" has been occupied by an enemy corps, which provides the Austrian team with victory points. 

 

The "G" decoy which was the closest one is moved to Munich.

Napoleon (7PO) decides to knock down the bridge after the troops have passed and head towards Kösching, near Ingoldstadt, followed by Vandamme (3PO) and Lefevbre (4PO). Masséna (4PO) must retrace his steps over Munich and try to regain the city. Davout (3PO) concentrates his forces in Hemau to try to conquer Regensburg, hoping that Napoleon will support him. 

 

The decoy in Munich turns out to be "Aggressive Action" so the French take over Munich again. 

 

Hiller's VI Korps (5PO) heads north, followed by Rosenberg's IV Korps (3PO). The rest waiting, being able to continue along the southern bank of the Danube towards Ingoldstadt or accompany Hiller and Rosenberg north.

END

 

CONCLUSIONS:

- The solo campaign has been a more positive experience than I expected. Several mechanisms have worked quite well, though with some small mistakes. To repeat in the future...

- Better implement the function of supply units, and to limit the distances between units and their respective supply wagon.

- The action of the decoys with some adjustments, quite positive, a great idea based on an idea of  the blog of General Nuisance.

 
- Improve the passage of decoys to regular units.

 

- The player has to be careful with the direction of the units to be able to concentrate them if it is necessary. Moving a unit very far from the rest (Masséna's corps in Munich), conditions its evolution and how it happened to me, makes it impossible to use it in time.

 

- A best option, the campaign could have been played on for a few more turns, hoping to conquer Regensburg on the French side or finish off Napoleon's army on the Austrian side.

 

- The resolution of the battles was quite positive, system based on "Les Marechaux", by Vae Victis, with some small adjustments, as in heavy cavalry.

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