Sunday, December 21, 2014

Teugen-Hausen Take 2! Volley & Bayonet Action

Ken hosted a Volley & Bayonet game of Teugen-Hausen (1809) at his house this afternoon with his outstanding French and Austrian 15mm troops, and I'm pleased to report we got through 6 complete turns of battle.



I played the French and Ken played the Austrians.  This battle was a real meatgrinder, and probably characteristic of the French campaigns against the Austrians at this time.

The Austrian advanced guard deployed on the high ground overlooking Teugen.
One of the aspects of the game that struck me was the importance of morale and its effects on formations.  This became apparent during and after melees when the French won most of the tie-breaking die rolls in melee due to their high morale (all French formations were Morale 6) and the presence of Elites.
The mighty 57th deploys for action along the Teugen-Hausen road!  


French troops move into the attack while the Austrians give ground grudgingly!

THe Austrians of Lusignan's Division deploy to stop St Hilaire's rampaging Frenchmen!
St Hilaire advanced up the heights overlooking Teugen and pushed the advanced guard back somewhat.  Ken threw out his skirmish troops to my flanks and not only threatened my flanks but presented obstacles to any further advances.  This wasn't going to be a walk in the park getting to Hausen!


Austrian reinforcements and the main line of resistance!  Hausen - a tough nut to crack!

Friant's division shows up and immediately is sent to the heights.  Davout wants them to try and outflank the Austrians!

The 57th on the left under the tree needs a rest and, aside from being out of command, will wait for their detached skirmisher to show up and bolster their fledgling strength!
Ken is amassing quite the forces behind the marshy creek in front of Hausen and with St Hilaire's division getting more beat up as the turn clock moves on, I'm not looking forward to launching the assault across the creek!

Friant executes a forced march through the woods!

Duty calls as troops of Gudin's Division, under the direct command of Marshall Davout, launch another grueling assault!


You have to be careful after a melee because sometimes occupying the ground held by a brigade after a melee may put you out of command.  I could seldom spare the time it would take to get them back into command!

Ken's main line of resistance!  Bristling with guns and bayonets.  By the way, the dedicated guns of the Austrian brigades  were also an unpleasant surprise!

More and more Austrians blocking access to Hausen.

Friant's Division attempts the crossing and is stopped by an Austrian Brigade.  They'll have to fight from the marshy banks!

Meanwhile, St Hilaire's Division is quickly approaching exhaustion but the assault goes on as planned.


Meanwhile an entire brigade is taken out of the grand assault to deal with a Cavalry skirmisher detachment Ken threw in their way!  

After heavy fighting, 1 French brigade on the far left secures a toe-hold on the other side.

Meanwhile the 10th Ligne routs from heavy fighting!

The battle is broken by the sudden appearance of a giant hand from the sky.

Ken's Austrians counter-attack the bridgehead!

Meanwhile Gudin's Flank march finally arrives and begins its attack.
At this point we started rolling to end the battle (which ended with the timely arrival of a thunderstorm).  I did not make the roll to end the game so we will fight another turn!  Can Gudin knock the remaining Austrians out of Hausen?  Can the Austrians exhaust a French Division in time to win the battle?


All in all, a fun battle and I'm looking forward to the conclusion.  I personally feel like this will be an Austrian victory but time will tell as there are still 2 powerful French divisions on the Austrian flanks.  Although they might not have enough time to dislodge the tough Austrian forces in Hausen, it's going to be fun to find out!

8 comments:

  1. You reminded me... I LOVE NAPOLEONICS!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John - with the colors, the densely packed formations of troops, and the legends of the great captains? What's not to love?

      Delete
  2. A great report with great looking armies...and beautiful buildings...love Nap too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phil,
      The troops and the buildings belong to my friend Ken. It's always a joy to get to fight with his collection!

      Delete
  3. Agree with Phil !
    Happy Christmas !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a nice looking table! Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
    MP

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice wargame!
    A good example of how to play the Volley & Bayonet rules.
    Also very beautiful figures.
    best Regards
    Simmy

    ReplyDelete