Early Strategy for the Austrians.

[Jason Roach]

Hello,

This is another cross-post from Consim, but I wanted to start to get a feel as to what folks thought about the first few turns (From the NON-French Side!).

So here is my question:
Has anyone attempted the fast breach across the River as the Austrians in the first couple of turns? I am curious because in play-test, I found this to be a nail-bitter. I think at times, it could determine the pace of the Austrian advance in the middle, which depending on how fast your flanks move, really impacts the next few turns.

One thing that should concern the Austrians, is the trouble that you may have as you attempt to pursue the French in that initial stage in the center. (Of course, these skirmishes could always go very poorly as well.) You do not want to be too weak in the middle as you head up the roads, because you know that the French are regrouping just ahead and may be able to pummel the unsuspecting lead units of the coalition. Your scouts are invaluable in this respect.

Anyway, looking forward to some After Action Reports.

-Jason

[kzucker]

Hi Jason,

Could you describe what you mean by the Fast breach? It seems to have something to do with diverting away from the center?

[Jason Roach]

Kevin,

It does not exactly have anything to do with diverting away from the center. (I had to get the map out to describe this bellow.)

It really is a facet of the strength of the Austrian push from Landshut, out to Am Rennwege and then out to St. Nicolas, in the first turns. Do you throw out the III Corp and 1st Reserve Corp., which also contains Siegenthal’s Heavy Cav (one of my favorite units), to lead this almost Bulge style hit against the French positions ahead?

If so, then once you are able to do the damage, or at least get a foot hold on the other side of St. Nicolas, you then have to decide if you pursue, or lead a two pronged advance along those main roads that run parallel up to Pfeffenhausen and Rottenburg. Splitting these forces does not seem that bad, and in fact may be necessary. So how fast, and is the left able to at least keep up (which will require some luck.)? That left of the Center's advance, side can be vulnerable.


-Jason

[kzucker]

Jason,

The difficulty about the geography for the Austrians is that they have three main roads to advance over, but these roads diverge from each other (especially the Eckmühl road). Therefore the three columns soon go beyond supporting range of one another. This is what happened to Charles.

One strategy is for the Austrian player to keep a compact mass (or plan to mass where he thinks Napoleon will be met) and that could mean sending only a feint toward Eckmühl. Of course, the extra troops on the two remaining roads will slow the whole operation (aiding the Bavarians in their task).

[kzucker]

The Austrian player wants to try and get close to the Danube before Napoleon and the French can intervene. The French Player will have the Command and Initiative advantage. There aren't enough good Austrian leaders to press an offensive against Napoleon and a couple of Corps. If the Austrian Player is going to reach the Danube, a component of any winning strategy, he might try heading a task force of two corps under Charles for Kelheim. In fact Austrian forces arrived within five miles of there, historically.

He will have to leave his other Commander (J. Liechtenstein) with the rest of the army and allow them to catch up as best they can (using March Orders). He may have to sacrifice Hiller's Corps and others to buy some time.

[cmoeller]

The Austrian player wants to try and get close to the Danube before Napoleon and the French can intervene.

He will have to leave his other Commander (J. Liechtenstein) with the rest of the army and allow them to catch up as best they can (using March Orders). He may have to sacrifice Hiller's Corps and others to buy some time.

In our recent game, the French left the two primary N/S roads unobstructed between Landshut and Pfeffenhoffen/Rottenburg. Deroy kind off moved off to the side of the road and fought it out with Ludwig's division around Ergolding, while III Corps, with a march order to Siegenburg (!), flew past the fight and made it to its destination unhindered.

While he did that, Charles and the rest of the Landshut forces marched by more conventional means behind and alongside III Corps, shoving that 1 SP cavalry ahead of it.

Both Hiller and Rosenberg had March Orders (the former for Aiterburg: 0223, the latter for Eckmuhl).

That attack was very fast, and my opponent realized that he should have contested it (when I solitaire, I tend to cluster VII Corps just north of the stream at Siegenburg).

[kzucker]

In my opinion the French player will need to keep Deroy blocking the road to Pfeffenhausen, gradually withdrawing whenever he gets a lucky die roll and using terrain to avoid being surrounded.

[cmoeller]

In my opinion the French player will need to keep Deroy blocking the road to Pfeffenhausen, gradually withdrawing whenever he gets a lucky die roll and using terrain to avoid being surrounded.

I agree. And the cavalry on the other road (to Rohr)? The cavalry can, unless surrounded or confronted by faster cavalry, always retreat a few hexes back up the road.

Chris

[kzucker]

Agree. The cavalry is v. important to the Bavarians. You can usually get the cav. bde from Wrede's division as vedettes to help create a shell game. Mix the two, pluys Seydewitz's cav and the infantry to keep your opponent guessing as to which is the big division; try to make him Repulse the wrong unit. Always fun!

[cmoeller]

Agree. The cavalry is v. important to the Bavarians. You can usually get the cav. bde from Wrede's division as vedettes to help create a shell game. Mix the two, pluys Seydewitz's cav and the infantry to keep your opponent guessing as to which is the big division; try to make him Repulse the wrong unit. Always fun!

Plus retreat-before-combat and retreat-as-a-result-of-repulse are good ways to get those outflung units back to VII Corps (if they head out into the woods, odds are they'll never get back home).

Have a great holiday, Kevin!

Chris

[Alan Snider]

As "7 Days of 1809" was my first Napoleonic experience, I thought I look for some sound "general" strategy for the game. By way of explanation, someone at CSW had commented after seeing my AAR, that I'd lkely not had much experience with Napoleonics, as I'd spoken of "battlelines"...etc (which is true).

What I was keenly aware of was not permitting oneself to be outflanked, and attempting to use terrain to my best advantage. Since geograhical goals are not relevant to the victory conditions, it does leave things wide open as far as maneuvering strategy goes.... Here's my question: What sort of engagements were these?, in that what are the significant diffences to more modern warfare when it comes to gaming representation; and furthermore, how does this translate into the general types of strategy I should employ. I am not looking for step-by-step instruction here, but simply a conceptual framework within which I can try to fashion my own strategies, and still retain the elements of discovery and learning for myself.

[kzucker]

Alan,

It may help to think of this kind of warfare, based upon Task Forces, as akin to Naval Operations. At sea, there are no front lines. You may want to use your vedettes and some detachments to present the appearance of an unbroken front. If you look at a map from the West Point Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, you will sometimes see a division or a corps represented on the map by a "(" and on either side of that a dotted line "..." representing light troops and vedettes.