| Welcome to Part 1 of what will ultimately be a twelve-part series, following each turn in our club's latest Napoleonic campaign. Feel free to refer back to the introductory post for a quick overview of the rules and set-up for this map-based campaign. In this first part of the series, we'll briefly review the context of the situation in April 1809 and the objectives Napoleon and Charles sought to achieve. Then, it's time to see the deployments our players chose and their opening marching orders for Turn 1! |  |
Campaign Background
10 APRIL 1809. The Austrian army has crossed the Inn River and invaded Bavaria, a French protectorate. The timing of the Austrian operation pre-empts Napoleon's expectations--the emperor isn't even in Germany at this moment. Archduke Charles leads the campaign with a reformed and retrained army that is the best equipped force fielded by the Hapsburgs since the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars.
Napoleon has almost 150,000 men in southern Germany in the spring of 1809, but his corps are scattered and Austrian intentions are unknown. Without Napoleon's direct presence, considerable confusion reigns in the French command. En route from Paris, Napoleon urgently sends a series of marching orders to consolidate his corps into a coherent line, but the opening days of this critical campaign will open without the emperor's presence. Can Charles capitalize on this window of opportunity to destroy elements of the enemy army while still protecting the roads to Vienna?
Napoleon has almost 150,000 men in southern Germany in the spring of 1809, but his corps are scattered and Austrian intentions are unknown. Without Napoleon's direct presence, considerable confusion reigns in the French command. En route from Paris, Napoleon urgently sends a series of marching orders to consolidate his corps into a coherent line, but the opening days of this critical campaign will open without the emperor's presence. Can Charles capitalize on this window of opportunity to destroy elements of the enemy army while still protecting the roads to Vienna?
Initial Deployments
Multiple club members fill the high commands of the French and Austrian staff headquarters. The two camps privately discuss their deployments, which are restricted to certain map spaces. Within those restrictions, considerable freedom of deployment is allowed, which means we are not strictly following the exact historical set-up from April 15, 1809. Each army is allowed to divide its forces into a maximum of 13 hidden columns, the contents of which are not revealed until contact is made or scouting occurs (some of the tokens below reflect double-stacked columns, as up to two columns may occupy a single grid space).
Our actual campaign map on Vassal is much more detailed, but I will be using a much simpler map to illustrate the movement of each campaign day in our 12-part blog series. Below, you can see the initial deployment chosen by each army:
Our actual campaign map on Vassal is much more detailed, but I will be using a much simpler map to illustrate the movement of each campaign day in our 12-part blog series. Below, you can see the initial deployment chosen by each army:
APRIL 15th: Turn 1
WEATHER REPORT: Steady rain.
JOURNAL: Our campaign rules allow the Austrians the opportunity to get a jump on the French by taking some limited movement on April 15th, if (and only if) Charles rolls a "6" on a d6. Drum roll please....Nope. The Austrians fail to take this advantage and so our opposing armies spend the day bivouacked in the field. So much the better with the heavy rain, which would have seriously curtailed any potential movement.
JOURNAL: Our campaign rules allow the Austrians the opportunity to get a jump on the French by taking some limited movement on April 15th, if (and only if) Charles rolls a "6" on a d6. Drum roll please....Nope. The Austrians fail to take this advantage and so our opposing armies spend the day bivouacked in the field. So much the better with the heavy rain, which would have seriously curtailed any potential movement.
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