Another game from Roger Grafton's wargaming scenarios for the Polish-Austrian War of 1809. Like his previous scenarios prepared for the General d'Armée 2 rules, I adapted them to the Black Powder rules.
This time, we decided to play out the battle won by the Duchy of Warsaw against the Austrian forces. This victory prevented the Austrian troops from reaching the right bank of the Vistula River, allowing the Poles to launch an attack on Galicia and rapidly double the size of their army. Coupled with Napoleon's victory at Wagram, this led to the conclusion of the war in favour of the Polish, resulting in a Polish victory and a significant expansion of the Duchy of Warsaw's territory, which included the entirety of the third partition annexed by the Austrians after the fall of the Polish -Lithuanian Commonwealth. Would we be able to repeat that success? Details in this report.
UMPIRING: Bartek Żynda
1. Forces.
This time, Roger included all the units on the Polish side in his scenario. Still, he made slight changes to the Austrian side's units, with only Baillet's regiment and four supporting guns participating in the real engagement.
General Sokolnicki (9) (Bartek)
Mojaczewski Brigade (enter on turn 2 in Kossomce)
Mojaczewski (8) (Alasdair)
1 x Skirmishers
1 x Combined Voltiguers (small)
2 x Regular Infantry
1 x 6pdr Gun
Bogusławski Brigade (enter on turn 1 in Glinki)
Bogusławski (8) (Tim)
1 x Skirmishers
1 x Combined Voltiguers (small)
1 x Dismounted Chasseurs (small)
1 x Regular Infantry
1 x 6pdr Gun
Blumer Brigade
Blumer (8) (David)
1 x Skirmishers
2 x Regular Infantry
1 x Combined Grenadiers (Small) (Bartek)
AUSTRIA
Lt. Colonel Strauch (8) (Michael)
Stauch Brigade
Stauch (8) (Jimmy)
1 x Skirmishers
1 x Grenz Infantry
1 x Regular Infantry
1 x 6pdr Gun
Kottulinsky Brigade
Kottulinsky (8, High Agression) (Andy)
1 x Skirmishers
2 x Regular Infantry
1 x 6pdr Gun
Szekler Brigade (Reserves)
Szekler (8) (Michael)
1 x Skirmishers
1 x Grenz Infantry (Small)
1 x Regular Infantry
2. The Game.
Because the entire battle took place at night, I had to establish specific rules for it. I based these rules on Roger's assumptions and adapted them to the Black Powder system. First, full movement was permitted only on roads; movement in other areas was limited to half. When a unit moved two or three times, the entire brigade had to test for possible marching losses. Each roll of a 1 on a D6 resulted in one loss, which the commander could assign to any of his units. Additionally, the enemy had a chance to react: if they detected an enemy unit moving and rolled a 5 or 6, they could shoot at it with an additional -1 modifier to their shot. However, this also made their unit visible to the enemy, allowing the enemy to shoot back without that modifier. During the night, the initiative was reduced to 6''. These rules were in effect until round 8, when dawn broke, after which normal rules applied from rounds 8 to 12. Regarding the bridge over the Vistula, I rewrote Roger's rules; the units tested the bridge's destruction during the melee phase.
The confrontation began with two Polish columns, commanded by David and Tim, though Tim was advancing much more quickly. Andy heard movement from the enemy side and fired an artillery shot; he missed his target, but the noise alerted the Austrian reserves. As a result, they were able to cross the bridge to the opposite bank of the Vistula in the following round. Thus, the battle had begun.
The Austrian reserves filled the gaps in the defence, especially as Alasdair's column advanced cautiously on our left. However, his movement was slow at that moment, and Jimmy, who was defending the southern fortifications of the Austrians, found himself temporarily idle. Although they heard a noise nearby, they couldn't yet identify its source.
Time was running out, so we had to take more decisive actions. David, along with my Grenadiers, was the first to launch an attack on the Austrian northern fortifications. They engaged the enemy, but the outcome was disastrous for my unit. After losing the battle, their morale collapsed, and they fled the battlefield, dragging one of David's regiments along with them. The situation looked grim.
Alasdair was carefully advancing toward the southern Austrian defences, which worried Jimmy and Michael. This indicated that they still had troops available to reinforce the fight on the northern flank.
A second Polish assault on the northern defences commenced. Tim successfully shot the Austrian gun crew, creating a gap in their positions that his voltigeurs exploited. Tim and David united their forces to launch an attack on the Austrian troops. Intense hand-to-hand combat erupted as dawn broke over our troops, and all nighttime rules were disregarded.
Alasdair seized the opportunity presented by this sudden clarity and launched an attack on Jimmy's retreating troops, who were attempting to support Andy in his fight against Tim. Despite their efforts, Alasdair successfully destroyed Jimmy's forces, causing the Austrian southern flank to collapse. However, this event was not the decisive factor in achieving victory.
The joint attack between David and Tim didn't go as we had imagined. David's last regiment was routed by Michael's Grenzers. Tim held his own thanks to his voltigeurs, even managing to rout one of the Austrian infantry units. However, his forces were in terrible shape, except for one small voltigeur unit...
I then had the idea to order Tim to do a 'follow me' order with that unit of voltiguers to the bridge, where a gap had opened. If Tim couldn't manage it, I would take action with my Sokolnicki. Fortunately, Tim succeeded in reaching the bridge and rolled a 6 on the bridge destruction roll! The bridge was destroyed!
The game concluded with a Polish victory, mirroring the outcome in real life. I must say, this scenario is probably the best one I've experienced in this entire campaign Roger created. We still have one more battle to play, but we'll have to wait for that since I need to paint a few more units. This will take some time, though.
3. Links.
SESWC:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/631841809210352
FLICKR:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720332429933
