Advance Guard - a tabletop teaser battle report

1809 - French and Austrian advance guards (roughly a Corps each) advance to some vital crossroads, trying to take control of both the bridge and the town, trying to get a better position for the main armies behind them. Both sides hope for reinforcements to arrive soon...

In order to playtest my new Napoleonics Simplicity in Practice variant, I've used the Advance Guard tabletop teaser from the old "Battle" magazine (you can find them all here). I adapted the scenario to a 3' x 3' setup (like the OHW scenarios), squeezing the map a bit and modifying the roads according to what I had at hand (very little changed in actual terms). 

The battlefield

I then partially reduced/modified the forces and scenario rules, according to this scheme:

The scenario is set in 1809 between Austrians and French.

Force near the town: French (army quality: Average - for the sake of playtest I wanted to check a middle situation for both sides)

4 x Infantry units (4 x Inf, all with skirmisher advantage)

1 x Light Cavalry unit (1 x LC)

1 x Artillery unit (1 x AT)

Force near the bridge: Austrian (army quality: Average)

3 x Infantry units (3 x Inf)

1 x Avant Garde unit (1 x Inf with skirmisher advantage)

1 x Light Cavalry unit (1 x LC)

1 x Artillery unit (1 x AT)

(Note: as usual, there will be many proxies and not all minis are painted)

Scenario length and reinforcements: The teasers were never precise regarding scenario length. In this case the number of game turns wasn't specified and it just said the reinforcements had to be rolled for at midday. I decided to roll for reinforcements on turn 7, and aimed for 15-20 turns. 15 is typical for OHW scenarios, but here combat is a bit slower and, with reinforcements, 15 turns may be a bit too few - a draw risks being the inevitable result just due to lack of time. I decided to play 15 turns and then see what was happening. If the game was still on the line, I would add some more turns (hey, after all I'm here to have fun, not do rule lawyering with myself!). The victory conditions are the same as in the original teaser: control both the town and the bridge.

Command rules: this is basically a meeting engagement and, at least at start, if units move too slowly the game won't reach an interesting phase until it's a bit late. So I decided that both sides have all their units In Command, due to previous orders, until one unit of any side fires and/or close combats. From the following turn, armies have to roll for command as usual.

Both sides started entering their units along/near the assigned roads, the French near the town, the Austrians near the bridge.

Austrian brigades advancing

French infantry advancing

Polish Lancers

Overall view at start

Both sides used road movement as much as they could, but soon both sides' cavalry started reaching far enough that troops had to avoid road columns and start deploying for battle.

Cavalry reached the middle ground as both sides cover their
closest objective

The Polish lancers threatened the Austrian Avant Garde brigade, but in doing so exposed their flank to the Austrian LC, which charged them and routed them. The Austrians then pursued them. The lancers tried to reform near the artillery, but were charged again and driven off from the battlefield.  Artillery then forced the cavalry to move away and keep distance, in a stand off that lasted most of the battle. Meanwhile, the French took positions all around the town in a defensive stance, while the Austrians deployed to attack.

The lancers have reformed near the French Artillery, with the
Austrian LC close in pursuit. The two armies deploy

The Austrian LC charges again and drives the Polish
lancers off the battlefield. On the French left, the Austrians
launch their flanking attack

Poor leadership makes the Austrians advance slowly on a wide front. The French have reserves but a narrower front, so the Austrians try to flank the French (French left), hammering it with artillery. The plan is simple: if the French reinforce their flank, they will be weaker at the centre and vulnerable to a frontal assault from the central Austrian division (2 units). If they remain put, they will be likely outflanked. Meanwhile, the Avant Garde and cavalry will force the French right flank to stay out of the main attack. The lack of reserves to sustain the assault is considered a minor problem as reinforcements will come soon... right?

View from the Austrian side. 

Unfortunately, the Austrian command isn't too efficient and the attack is slow to develop, while the artillery isn't as effective as hoped. To add to the problems, an aide gets to the Austrian Corps HQ informing that the Corps behind them is still nowhere to be seen - they are on their own now! The aide is sent frantically to find the reinforcements and speed them up.

On the French side instead army cohesion appear to have been better, as a new division (2 Inf units) arrives on the battlefield! The French commander takes the opportunity to reinforce the threatened left flank.

The newly arrived French division marches to the town,
while the brigade previously in reserve moves to the left flank

The Austrian attack continues to develop slowly and that allows the French to reinforce all positions. The flanking move is checked but in the centre the French are struggling facing superior enemy numbers.

The Austrian flanking move is checked, but the centre is also
under attack.

The French counterattack on the flank routs the Austrian brigade there, not a moment too soon as the Austrian artillery has become effective and is pounding its opponents. In the centre, the Austrian attack is developing better and the French, despite a fierce resistance, are finally crumbling under the enemy pressure. Just a small further push is needed!

Meanwhile, action on the Austrian left/French right has so far been mostly a skirmishing battle between the Austrian Avant Gard and French troops, with the Austrian LC and French artillery facing off at distance. Both commanders thought this as the secondary theater of the battle and didn't concentrate efforts there, both seemingly pleased to keep the opposing troops there out of the main struggle. 

"Where are my reinforcements? We need those troops to sustain our attack!" the Austrian Corps commander thought, just as the Aide returned to confirm that they were coming, but they would still need time to reach the battlefield. "We don't have time! We need them now!" the commander shouted in return.

The Austrian left flank is repulsed but the French first line
is weakened too

The climax of the battle was being reached: with a final surge, the Austrians in the centre charged the French brigade, which crumbled and fled. The Austrians rejoiced, sure to have the road to the town open... only to find out a fresh French division was there waiting for them! If the French hadn't received their reinforcements, they would have been in real trouble now as they had 1 brigade broken, another nearby one on the brink and no reserves in place... while the Austrians were still in a relatively good shape. But it was not to be: in Napoleonic battles, having reserves and using them in the right place at the right time is often the key to victory!

The Austrian attack opened the road to the town... only to
show there were fresh defenders

Concentrated Austrian artillery fire finally broke another French unit, but the Austrian attack had lost momentum... so the French commander thought it was the right time to mount a general counterattack. The fresh division counterattacked the enemy in the centre, routing a brigade and effectively breaking through the enemy centre, while on the left (Austrian right) another unit marched towards the enemy artillery batteries.

The French counterattack

The Austrian general tried to reorganize his lines, pulling back the Avant Garde, but the French artillery had focused on it too, and the enemy infantry advanced too. The Austrians officers tried to make their men fall back in order, but the artillery shells exploding and the advancing enemy made all pretense of order disappear and the unit simply melted in rout.

As the Light Cavalry was trying to move back towards the bridge, what remained of the main Austrian line collapsed as both the remaining infantry and artillery were attacked and routed, just as a single fresh Austrian brigade finally reached the battlefield, too late to be of any use.

Victorious French infantry move to face the newly arrived
Austrian brigade.

The victorious French were now making a general advance and the Austrian LC tried one last charge to stop the enemy advance on the bridge, but was repulsed. Long range artillery fire shelled the ranks, almost routing the cavalrymen: they bravely stood fast, but there was very little they could do alone now. The battle was effectively over.

The Austrian LC is still between the French and the bridge,
but is subject to long range artillery fire.

Final situation, end of turn 15

At the end of turn 15, the lone Austrian LC had 3 DPs and would not resist another turn: charging the enemy infantry would be risky, and even if successful it wouldn't survive much longer anyway due to superior enemy numbers closing in. If it stayed put, it would be targeted both by artillery and by infantry and likely suffer the remaining DP next turn. Retreating would be the best - and most realistic - choice, and yet it would effectively hand the bridge, and victory, to the French, because the newly arrived Inf unit was effectively screened by a French unit and, alone, would never be able to get close to either target.

Therefore, according to my initial evaluation on scenario length, there was no point in going on, and yet this couldn't be classified as a "draw" just because the Austrian LC was still closer to the bridge than any French: the Austrians had realistically been beaten and were unable to hold any target. I rated it as a French Victory!

Final considerations

It was fun! The rules worked well and were simple enough to allow me to concentrate on (mostly) realistic tactics: (concentrating fire and troops when attacking, use of reserves). The command rules worked well, forcing each side to make choices on where to concentrate the main effort, while the Out of Command rules still allow OOC units to still act realistically. I never used the square rules, but when it charged, the cavalry unit faced a mostly fresh unit, and rolled so badly that no amount of disadvantage for infantry was going to make it a successful charge.

The scenario was great and the random reinforcements made it really fun and tense, even in solitary, despite it making quite lopsided once the French got 2 Inf as reinforcements and the Austrians had their units delayed - two times! It made for a great game narrative.

So far I'm satisfied with these rules, and I'm sure to playtest them more to see if they're really solid even in different scenarios!