Austerlitz!

Hello!

A couple of weeks ago we refought the battle of Austerlitz using the DBN rules. While sometimes producing wacky results, the abstract nature of the DBx rules makes for very playable - and completable - games. There was no way we could have replayed Austerlitz in an afternoon with the club rules or any other rules set I know of.

The figures are all 1/72 scale plastics by various manufacturers (HaT, Italieri, and Zvezda mostly), painted by the good folks at Fernando Enterprises. The buildings are mostly by JR Miniatures, except for the huge granary building which is by Scenic Effects, now carried by Monday Knight Productions. The canvas is one of my hand-painted jobs, made specifically for this battle.

Before getting into the action photos, here's a link to the table layout. For some reason I could not get it onto this blog without it wanting to rotate inappropriately. I didn't like having it sideways here, so I left it out for sanity reasons. :)

http://s1008.photobucket.com/albums/af206/RLThomson/Austerlitz/?action=view&current=P1000416.jpg&t=1311608268409

The French deployment. I have a similar shot of the Allied deployment, but it too wanted to rotate incorrectly when incorporated into the blog, so I left it out.

Note: The number of villages on the DBN map of the battlefield, while accurate, makes for an unplayable layout. I reduced the number by about half, and even then the villages made for serious obstacles. I think the French suffered the most from their locations, although they made damn good use of one of them, as we shall see.

The Allied high command, complete with barrel of champagne... It's historically accurate! :)

Napoleon and his Guard, and the bulk of the French cavalry.


A lot of the action took place in front of Ol' Boney. The Allies rushed the high ground, leading to a back and forth cavalry engagement.

Far to the south, the French attempted to repulse the Allied attack. The fog kept them from using their artillery effectively early on. The Allied numbers down here were to tell too.

Back to the heights! The Russian and Austrian heavy cavalry is starting to tell, but the French have managed to get some infantry into the village. These turned out to be a huge thorn in the Allied attack: The cavalry could not attack them in the town, so they were free to shoot up nearby cavalry with impunity!

The French did their best in the center, where they were able to bring numbers to bear without being hampered by a bunch of villages. At the end of the game the attack above was starting to push through, although the Allies had managed to get some light infantry around their flank.

The French ultimately got the worst of things. Between the villages hampering their ability to coordinate maneuvers and the Allies getting lucky on the pip dice when they need to, eventually the French lost the field.

In spite of the ahistorical outcome, this was a fun game (says the Allied commander... I did it for you Mr. Worley!). It is nice to be able to play out a big battle in a single, reasonable sitting. The rules are easy and make for a nice afternoon of casual wargaming.

And one more thing Dave: Note that my buildings are now not all the same dull gray. :)

Finally...


Watson! Here he is in his favorite contemplation place: At the top of the stairs, one arm up on the railing, watching the world go by.

Cheers!

- Rod