Recent Play

[MHaggett]

Had a chance to try out Seven Days at our local game-a-thon this past Saturday. We started on the 16th and played through the end of the 20th. My opponent, Keith, took the Austrians while I played the French.

The Austrians had a tough time getting started until Charles made his entrance. The crossing at Landshut was delayed through unfortunate initiative rolls, made a little more complicated by Wrede being able to reinforce the French line in front of the river.

By late on the 17th, the Bavarians were being pressed hard, but had some good fortune in combat (including 2 1:3 attacks that actually threw the Austrians back!), but by the 18th, Wrede and Deroy were dispersed and VIII Corps was reduced to screening the Austrian advance with its 2 cavalry brigades, which were pushed off to the east.

The 19th saw Davout and III Corps holding the ground just north of Eckmuhl as the Austrian IV, II, and IR corps closed from the south. III Austrian (I believe, Hohenzollern's corps) and IIR were trying to trap the reforming French VIII corps--a rather desultory affair, as neither side could get much in the way of activations. Vandamme and Oudinot began to form up with the heavy cav brigades near Abensberg and Siegenburg, with Massena marching to join. Ratisbon fell to the Austrian II corps late in the day.

The 20th saw the Austrians blink, as they began to contemplate action with a concentrated French army. They began to disengage and ordered general retreat. At this point we were near to ending from time constraints.

A good experience watching the game unfold. My opponent has very little experience with Napoleonic warfare and was very pleased with the system and the nuances and subtleties it encourages. I think his aggressiveness will increase with his familiarity. We are hoping to try again soon :)

[kzucker]

The Bavarian Corps can get lucky or it can get steamrollered. Sounds like it bought valuable time for the main army to concentrate behind it. Don't switch sides...

[MHaggett]

Yes, the Bavarians delayed the Austrians this time around. I was also lucky that Lefebvre managed to put his men into command early on a regular basis, whereas the Austrians didn't have much luck until Charles kicked things into motion.

My opponent was a bit tentative regarding combat, as it was his first time playing the system. I don't think the Bavarians would be as fortunate in another play through! ;) He wants to try Austrians again in our next game, so we will no doubt get a different take on it then.

[MHaggett]

It took a few weeks, but Keith made it down for a rematch of 7 Days.

He took the Austrians again and immediately started with a better experience, getting good initiative with his on-map commanders and units. He also made better use of his initial march orders. Rosenberg's IV corps drove on Eckmuhl and VI corps under Hiller was given an offensive mission--march to Siegenburg, via Pfeffenhausen.

The center, at Landshut, also went better for the Austrians. Deroy's division had received early initiative and pulled back slightly--in retrospect, I should probably have had him maintain his blocking of the crossing for as long as possible. Deroy and one of the cavalry brigades ended up blocking the advance for a day or so, until finally destroyed south of Pfeffenhausen.

In the meanwhile, Lefebvre hustled east to bring up his last infantry division and cavalry brigade, while Wrede slowly moved south--his lateness in moving actually allowed him to block Hiller's advance at Pfefenhausen. Davout continued to concentrate his arriving divisions and could only watch as Rosenberg seized good defensive ground near Eckmuhl.

The next phase of the battle began on the 19th and continued through the 20th. Lefebvre finally concentrated his two remaining infantry divisions and 1 cavalry brigade (the 3rd never received initiative and spent most of the campaign in its initial bivouac) on a line centered on Ludmansdorf, south of Siegenburg. The fighting was intense, with Lefebvre's corps trying to hold a line while Vandamme and Oudinot raced forward with reinforcements. At one point, Napoleon himself led a charge of the heavy cavalry brigades to stabilize the line. With Austrian III, VI, and IR corps pushing heavily, the French managed to stall the advance by the nightfall of the 19th as Vandamme arrived, with Oudinot and then Massena following. Unfortunately, the VII corps was decimated and only able to rally Wrede's division.

To the east, Austrian V corps reinforced IV corps and they faced off against Davout, now at full strength. Davout spent the 19th beginning a march around the Austrian west flank, with the goal of interposing himself between the two Austrian corps and the main body under Charles. This was done successfully, and Austrian V corps was handled roughly.

At this point, with more and more dead units (of both sides, it should be added), the Austrians declared a general retreat. The Austrians, as noted in the rules, certainly do appear to move faster in the retreat! Davout managed to inflict some damage on the rear guards of IV and V corps as they retreated eastward, but sadly, Vandamme misinterpreted the situation and failed to act in time, much to the Emperor's displeasure (i.e., I had neglected to keep Napoleon within command distance), so the Austrian's were able to withdraw safely to Landshut.

At the end, the operation came out a draw, as the Austrians withdrew perhaps a day or so too soon. Perhaps justifiably, as what had been an Austrian edge in killed units had returned to a French lead (though still 1:1) and they only had 1 corps demoralized (V) to one French corps (VII). The French managed a large pursuit and even captured the V corps train, to keep the VP even.

All in all, I think this was a more satisfying session for Keith as several aspects of the system seemed to come together for him.

[kzucker]

Cool. Seems as though you are both getting a handle on the game and the intricacies of the situation.