Sous le Soleil d'Austerlitz : Victory and Glory: Napoleon 1805-15 Campaign

[Drakken]

The map of Europe at the start of the campaign


Port of Boulogne - May-June 1805 (Turn 1)

L'Empire is facing a third coalition against my humble person for two years now.

I am, as everyone know, a man of peace. I didn't want this war. But England, renegating their signed word and solemn oath at the peace of Amiens by continuously provoking me, left me no choice to stave its mercantile paws off Europe. With my ally Spain, I am standing isolated, threatened by the net weaved by the perfidous, treacherous England, having bribed or cajoled Austria, Russia, and Sweden in their mischievous plan. I cannot let this coalition unite and coordinate. I may be the most fearsome man in Europe, I will be crushed by the sheer weight of these four powers if I do not take the initiative.

I must strike hard and fast. Only Prussia remains Neutral, but already I can feel the English lackeys wooing them against me. A swift, uncontestable victory will cool them down. Trouncing Austria will put a wedge between England and Russia and open the way to seek an honourable peace with Tsar Alexander.



My starting cards


My Grande Armée, my "Seven torrents", lies in front of Boulogne. Invading England is currently impossible, while my other divisions are spreaded wide throughout France, Flanders, Naples, and as far as Bavaria.

My immediate plan is threefold :

1. Bring myself and my Grande Armée to Bavaria and strike at Vienna as fast as possible. I am starting with Forced March, which I will use to move my Army two provinces this turn. Plus, I have the Berthier as Chief-of-Staff card, which when I use it allow me, Napoleon, Emperor of the French, to take personal command of those divisions in Bavaria to bring my force to 25 divisions against the Austrians

2. Unite the forces of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr in Naples and Masséna in Piemont, and create a defensive front to pin the Austrians.

3. Have Davout in the North reunite with the detachments from Belgium and Britanny and camp defensively in Picardie. His role will be to defend the French soil and pin the British in their island, or meet up with them and defeat them if they ever attempt an invasion.



Marching to the distant sound of the guns...

[Drakken]

Turn 1

I have only 4 activations this turn. Land armies may be ordered to move only when commanded by a General.

- The Franco-Spanish Mediteranean Fleet passes Gibraltar and successfully evades the Royal Navy fleets in the Atlantic. It reunites with my Squadrons mothballing in Britanny.

- I play the Forced March card, so Napoleon swfitly moves through Lorraine into Baden-Wurtemberg, a neutral Minor Nation. I play one of my "Minor Nation joins the Empire" card to 'personally convince' the Dukes of Baden and Wurtemberg that remaining neutral is not an option. This, alas, gives 2PP to Britain to spend.

- Masséna moves into the mountainous terrain of Piedmont to join with the 2 Divisions left there in garrison.

- Marmont moves from Belgium to Picardie, joining with Davout.

[Drakken]

Turn 1 (Coalition AI)

- The damned British have spend their PP on Prussia, bringing their Diplomatic rating from 4 to 3. Starting down from 2 Prussia has a % chance of declaring war to me, with as high as 25% if it reaches 0. They have also played a card to muster in allied reinforcements and using its marine supremacy in the Channel and the North Sea, sent the Royal Expeditionary Force into Sweden, now 12 Divisions strong. Its options are clear - either join together with the Prussians if they declare war on me, or invade Denmark and use it as a beachhead to cross their former fief of Hanover.

-  Elements from the Mid-Atlantic RN Squadron have moved in the Channel to reinforce the Home Fleet. 12 Royal Navy units now stand in the Channel, ostensibly to block its Southern coast and prevent me to gather all my fleets together.

- 20 Divisions under Archduke Charles lay in Tyrol, with 3 other Infantry Divisions that aren't relevant since currently the maximum Divisions in a single battle is 20. The Russians have started to move into Galicia, racing to the help of the Austrians.

[Drakken]

July-August 1805 (Turn 2)

5 Activations :

- I move to Bavaria to unite with with the German Corps. I play Bethier's Event Card, immediately bringing Napoleon's maximum command range to 25 Divisions. L'Empereur is now a marching Death Star. From Bavaria, I could go for Tyrol but instead I'll seek a decisive victory right there and then in Vienna, which would surely Austria out of combat should I win as it is Austria's capital.

- Given the British army threatening our lines via Sweden and Denmark I order Davout to join with Bernadotte in Belgium, aiming to seek battle with Sir John Moore and his British-Swedish should it move further in.

- Gouvion-Saint-Cyr marches to bring the Napolitain contingent in toward Piemont, passing by the Papal States. Not that the Pope will bother us thanks to the Concordate.

- Augerau's Corps is ordered from Britanny to Normandy.

[Drakken]

Hmmmm... choices, choices, choices.

I choose Continental System. I want to bring the Godons begging on their knees. :french:

[Drakken]

Well fuck you too, William Pitt.



Good news, however. King Friedrich Wilhelm Queen Louise of Prussia is no fool, and Britain's ambassador's pleas fall into dead ears. Prussia decides to stay Neutral. For now. Thank God.

The Russian Moujik army under Kutouzov crosses into Hungary to have tea with this fiendish game's producer Tamas, while Archduke Charles moves into support the defence of Vienna, The GOOD news, Austria is abandoning Tyrol with the road to Venice now wide open for Masséna and Gouvion Saint-Cyr. The BAD news is, to win Vienna I must now beat the TWO Austrian armies, one by one, with Napoleon's Grande Armée. This is where I must show my tactical genius.

Sir John Moore moves his English-Swedish forces in neutral Denmark, making its move toward Hanover.

[Valmy]

Is this an actual good Napoleonic campaign game? On the computer?

[Drakken]

September-October 1805 (Turn 3)

5 Activations this turn.

Gouvion-Saint-Cyr and Masséna are brought together in Milan, threatening both Tyrol and Venice. Meanwhile, Davout and Bernadotte assimilates the 2 Dutch Regular Infantry Divisions and moves in Holland to contain Moore.

Finally, I grandiosely advance Napoléon in Vienna, despite being outnumbered 1.5-to-1. Neither Austrian armies retreat. After much manoeuvering Archduke Charles and I face up right in the outskirts of Vienna... in the Battle of Vienna. (Landmark names are chosen at random for flavour).


Starting deployment...

Archduke Charles deploys his three flanks smartly, with infantry, cavalry, and artillery each in mutually supportive positions on each flank. This provide a combat bonus to his units until elements are removed either by routing or being destroyed.

However, I have two avantages - Napoleon's Genius Card, Napoleon's 12-rating CR which basically guarantees me the Initiative and more Activations, and lots, lots of local reserve. So I deploy my lines with my own, emulating his frontage with either equal or better quality units, keeping the Imperial Guard in reserve. The only exception is on my left flank, where Charles' artillery is of less quality. I place my remaining two Artillery units there.

My immediate plan is to weaken or destroy Charles' sole local superority - his Artillery. I play "Napoleon's Genius" card and choose Grand Battery. This gives my Artillery one free round of pre-battle artillery barrage, which I will aim directly at the Austrians' cannons.

This proves to be... a spectacular dud. 

Only one Artillery Division is disrupted by the whole pre-turn barrage, while one of mine is disrupted on my right on first round. I quickly bring in the Cavalry to charge at Disrupted or Tired Austrian artillery, eliminating both from the game... in exchange of a French Line Infantry Division destroyed on my left flank later on the first round.


After round one...

My forward line is in tatters, but all is not lost. I quickly rally most of my disrupted units and one immediate Austrian cavalry charge on my leaves it disrupted. I charge back, wiping it off the battlefield. On my right another bombardment followed by a quick charge destroys another artillery unit.  However, Charles continues to feed in more reserve and counter-attack, eliminating one Cavalry and one Line infantry.


After round two...

Facing harsher resistance than expected, I play it conservative on round three, moving back both my center and right flank to regroup while pushing forward on the left. Light exchange of fire ensures, with one French Line and one Austrian Regular eliminated before Charles decides to retreat. This victory was hard-earned, and wishing to preserve what I have for the next battle and facing an important Austrian cavalry rearguard screen, I decide not to pursue.



And... another battle is due. This time... in Hollabrunn!

While I am confident our Gaillards will stand fast against the Austrian counter-attack, this time I will have to pull my silken gloves off.

And this time, I have the advantage in firepower. 

[Drakken]

I deploy like my opponent, this time Archduke John, on the field of Hollabrunn. Like always, I keep the Imperial Guard behind (as an aside, as long as you keep one Imperial Guard unit in reserve Napoleon cannot die in battle. If no Imperial Guard guards the reserve Napoleon may die, resulting in an immediate game over).

Except with better trained units.

Except with heavy guns.

I intend this to be a slaughter of Habsburgians, so I immediately start the first round by a barrage, immediately destroying two Austrian Regulars and disrupting a third!


So beautiful... 

The fate of the Empire lays here on this sacred field! To protect our wives, our children, our properties! En avant, Français!

I advance my lines over the whole front, my Cavalry charging either tired units or the opponent's Cavalry. John feeds in his reserves and lays a defensive fire, eliminating one Line and routing another.


After round one...

Round two is chaos and mayhem for the Austrian camp. Ferocious bombardment and assaults on the center almost breaks his front wide open, save for a long Regular division saving the battle. John brings it his whole remaining reserve to hold the line, at the cost of 4 Dvisions destroyed and 1 routed for him against 1 Line infantry lost for me.

Sadly, the other routed unit still refuse to return to combat, despite the Emperor's desperate pleas.

I thus decide to bring in the inexperienced German Infantry in. Not the Imperial Guard, no. Use up the Germans.


Archduke John facing me going to dinner in his baggage train!

For this last (I expect) round, before Archduke John decides to retreat, I decide to hit him square in his balls.I systematically savage his Cavalry to a rout. His infantry columns fire sporadically on some of my disrupted or exposed Infantry, destroying one of my German Infantry and another of my so-called better French Line infantry. But now I have Archduke John square where I want him - on his tail, exposed with NO cavalry screen. 



Ready... set... charge!!!!!!



5 Austrian fleeing units are cut down by the pursuing cavalry. Archduke John's army is thoroughly and soundly beaten! Vive l'Emperor! Vive moi! Vive la France!    



And what do I get as Event Card for this win? Napoleon's Genius again!

[Drakken]

Left with 16 Divisions near Vienna, after losing no less than 8 Divisions in this offensive, I fully expect the Austro-Russian under Archduke Charles and Kutousov to coordinate and counterattack to prevent my imminent capture of Vienna next turn. In preparation, I immediately play both the Skirmishers and Horse Artillery cards on Napoléon, adding two Skirmishers to 2 Regular Infantry and converting 2 Light Artillery to Horse Artillery.

Finally, with my last remaining Activation I launch the Franco-Spanish squadron to raid in the Atlantic. The smaller RN squadrons scatter without a fight and the fleet ports to Cadiz. Hopefully, this may cause the Royal Navy to spread his Home Fleet around a bit to attempt to cover me.

Thus, at the end of this eventful turn Napoléon has beaten the Austrians twice, although Archduke Charles has retreated in good order maintaining a powerful Austrian force in good order, and both armies caused 33% losses to the Grande Armée.

Costly victory.


The situation at the end of September-October 1805

[Drakken]

Is this an actual good Napoleonic campaign game? On the computer?

If you accept this is a board game adaptation, with only the French currently playable by the player, but with a lot of historical and musical flavour then yes, it is a very good game. And as you see the AI is no cakewalk. It attempts to tear me apart where it hurts.

Sadly, it is not another Empire in Arms or Wars of Napoleon. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

It is a pity that you can't have two human players, with a hotseat option as well as playing with two computers.

[Berkut]

That is a travesty more than a pity. Who in the hell produced this game?

[Tamas]

 

[The Brain]

What's a Hollabrunn girl?