Tactics in 'Napoleonic
Battles: Austerlitz'
Part III: 0900 to 1100 Hours
By Doug McNair
March 2007

Midmorning at Austerlitz is today’s installment of my ongoing Napoleonic Battles replay. As Turn 3 came to a close last episode, Napoleon’s I Corps had extricated itself from a very tight situation on the north end of the battlefield. General Rottermund’s Austrian infantry division had come down off the Pratzen Heights, annihilated the French General Caffarelli’s division near the village of Blasowitz, and then moved north to threaten I Corps’ flank.

But skillful coordinated maneuvering by I Corps and Marshal Lannes V Corps (with support from General Nansouty’s heavy cavalry division) allowed I Corps to pull back and retreat west across the Goldbach Stream, where it will shortly start to recover lost steps — if Lannes, Nansouty and other local forces can hold back an expected Allied advance.

On the other end of the line, the French have fared far better, with Marshal Soult’s IV Corps and General Kellermann’s 1st Light Cavalry Division having battered and thinned out the Austrian infantry and cavalry on the extreme Allied left wing. And while Soult had to retreat his corps across the Goldbach to mitigate damage to his divisions, the arrival of Marshal Davout’s III Corps on the southwest board edge means Soult can take some time to recover his troop strength before recommitting his full corps to mashing the Allied left.

The battle continues . . .

Turn 4 — 0900 Hours

a) Reinforcements Phase: Napoleon rolls a 6 against his HQ’s initiative of 4, so signals get crossed and he won’t be able to assign a cavalry division from Murat’s reserve to any corps this turn.

b) Command Phase: Everyone's within his leader's command radius, so everybody's in command.

c) Order of Battle: Kutusov rolls higher, so he gets to activate first.

d) Activation Phases:

The Allies roll a 5, meaning they can activate one formation. Since Kutusov’s best bet right now is a strong northern advance to hit the retreating I Corps at the Goldbach Stream, he has to make sure the French don’t slow his advance by flooding the road there with cavalry. Kutusov tells Bagration to take the road.

Bagration sends Chaplits and Voropaitzki’s Cossack brigades west to attack one of Nansouty’s brigades holding the road area just east of the Goldbach Stream, and Bagration’s infantry moves north onto the road at Krug. But the attack on Nansouty’s brigade at six dice to two scores no hits for either side, so Nansouty holds his ground.

Napoleon rolls a 4, so he too can activate one formation. With the northern defenses holding for now, he activates Soult’s IV Corps to the south. Soult’s heavy artillery fails to score any hits on Essen’s Cossacks at Pratzen, but Kellerman’s horse artillery wipes out the last step of Kienmayer’s Austrian infantry division on the Allied left flank!

Soult follows this up by sending Legrande’s divisions back east across the Goldbach along with Kellermann and Beaumont’s cavalry. At the same time, he pulls St. Hilaire’s elite division back to a distance far enough away from the action to start recovering lost steps.

Then Legrande, Beaumont and Kellermann attack the cavalry and unattached artillery guarding the flank of Dokhuturov’s Russian infantry division. Kellermann scores a hit on the Austrian cavalry, which retreats east to avoid the step loss (they can still screen Dokhuturov’s flank from that position). Then Legrande’s and Beaumont’s six-die attack with combined-arms bonus scores two hits on the unattached artillery, which surprisingly makes the roll to stand its ground. Instead of being annihilated (unattached artillery can’t retreat — it’s hard to drag those guns) it takes two step losses, leaving one artillery step remaining. The artillery does score one hit on defense, and Legrande pulls back across the Goldbach to avoid the loss.

The Allies roll a 1, so they can activate four formations. They start by activating the Russian Imperial Guard for the northern advance. After the Guard heavy artillery takes a long-range shot at a I Corps division and misses, the Guard cavalry rides to the area west of Blasowitz to try once again to clear the road of Nansouty’s cavalry.

Meanwhile the Guard infantry and attached artillery move northwest of Holubitz to attack Walthier’s cavalry screening Lannes’ front. But even against the powerful Guard cavalry, Nansouty’s brigade holds again! Not to be outdone, Walthier fights a delaying action against the Guard infantry, but he takes two hits to none for his trouble, and retreats across the stream at Bellowitz after taking a step loss.

With Bagration and Constantine advancing on his right, Prebyshevsky cannot sit idly on his hill. The Allied left activates, and Prebyshevsky’s heavy artillery finally scores a hit on Nansouty’s cavalry. The other surviving heavy artillery unit of the Left wipes out one of Beaumont’s cavalry brigades west of Pratzen, eliminating the cavalry screen for that part of the French center.

Then Prebyshevsky comes down the hill to finish off Nansouty’s brigade and beat Bagration to the French lines, while Dokhuturov attacks another of Beaumont’s cavalry brigades screening his front. But the iron horsemen hold on, taking no hits while inflicting one on Dokhuturov, who retreats westward to avoid the loss (he needs to save his strength for Davout).

The French are being even more annoying than usual by refusing to give any ground on their flanks. And, while Liechtenstein’s cavalry could try hitting the French center across the Goldbach Stream, they’d probably get blown to bits by the elite units, heavy artillery and high-morale infantry there. But Essen is tired of getting shot at in Pratzen, and Liechtenstein can’t just sit there, so Essen and Hohenlohe try to drive off Beaumont’s cavalry screen on the left flank while Liechtenstein heads north for yet another go at Nansouty’s indestructibles. This time it works on Beaumont: Hohenlohe scores a hit on him and forces him to retreat, and then advances to screen the Allied artillery from cavalry attacks.

Liechtenstein then rides in — and scores three hits on four dice, wiping out Nansouty’s men before they even knew what hit them! Liechtenstein takes the road, which is finally open to the Allied northern advance (after the efforts of three entire formations).

Kutusov has no doubt that Lannes’ V Corps will immediately attack southward to drive Liechtenstein from the road, so after Center’s main artillery scores no hits, he orders Center’s horse artillery southwest to support Prebyshevsky (who’s right behind Liechtenstein). He then moves Rottermund’s infantry remnant north to support Chaplits’ Cossacks on Prebyshevsky’s left flank, and moves Repininsky’s division north to the rise near Blasowitz to protect Prebyshevsky’s rear.

Napoleon then rolls a 1, so he can activate four formations as well. Lannes could indeed drive Liechtenstein from the road with no trouble, but doing that wouldn’t buy him any advantage, since Constantine’s imperial guard could smash through Walthier’s cavalry screen to the northeast and outflank him.

With Toujours l’audace! ringing in his memory, Lannes attaches Walthier’s horse artillery to his infantry division, marches straight east to join Walthier at Bosenitz, and hits the Russian Imperial Guard in a combined-arms frontal assault across the stream! Because of Constantine’s defensible position, Lannes’ attack is at even odds with Constantine (they each roll seven dice). Each hits on a 5 or 6, because Lannes has combined arms and Constantine has elite troops.

The titans clash across the water — and Lannes scores three hits, killing one step of the Imperial Guard infantry plus its attached artillery, and forcing them to retreat to avoid the third step loss. But Constantine hits back even harder, scoring five hits on seven dice! Luckily for Lannes, he has lots of cavalry for cannon fodder, and his infantry division takes only one step loss and keeps its attached artillery as they retreat back west. Both armies take a moment to wait for the earth to stop shaking.

Liechtenstein still needs to be driven from the road, so I Corps activates, retreats Drouet’s nearly-dead division all the way down the road to the west board edge, and then moves Raffiniere’s division along with Nansouty’s two remaining cavalry brigades north to attack Liechtenstein across the stream. The seven-die attack scores two hits, wiping out Liechtenstein’s second-to-last Cossack brigade before he retreats south (going west would take him even farther away from his subordinates Essen and Hohenlohe than he is already). Nansouty advances with his two brigades and re-establishes the cavalry screen.

Next, Napoleon activates his HQ, pulling the HQ unit one area west to get some distance on the Russians, moving his artillery leader Coulin and the Grand Artillery Park east to where they can start pounding the Pratzen Heights, and then moving Oudinot’s division north to oppose Chaplits, Liechtenstein and Rottermund’s infantry on the other side of the Goldbach.

Finally, the Imperial Guard Artillery wipe out Essen’s last Cossack brigade in Pratzen, Napoleon himself moves south to help Vandamme’s division recover a step, and then Ordener’s Imperial Guard cavalry plus Soules’ Imperial Guard infantry division cross the Goldbach to attack Hohenlohe’s Austrian cavalry. The attack is across a stream but it has massive morale superiority, and if Caffarelli retreats before battle the Imperial Guard will cross and be poised to overrun most of the remaining artillery of the Allied Left. So, the cavalry stay and fight, but they take one hit and give none, and retreat anyway. They pull back into the same area as two Left Wing artillery units, so hopefully they can keep them alive long enough for the artillery to do some damage or move out of harm’s way.

The Allies have nothing left to activate but their HQ, and the HQ unit moves northwest on the road to keep the advancing Allied north flank within its command radius. Kutusov himself moves southwest to Dokhuturov’s division, because they are going to need all the help they can get with Davout and Soult poised to cross the Goldbach again, and the Imperial Guard already having done so . . .

Except that Napoleon rolls a 6, which is more than his Initiative, so he can’t activate Davout! The activation segments end with Davout telling his officers to ignore the Austrian partisans in his rear and get the damn corps moving tout de suite.

e) Recovery Phase: It is well that Napoleon moved south to help IV Corps recover, because with Davout inexplicably immobile it’ll be a while before he can help.

Napoleon and Soult help Vandamme and St. Hilaire’s divisions both recover a lost step. Due to the Imperial Guard crossing the river, no Allied division is far enough away from enemy divisions to recover.

So the turn ends with Napoleon’s army rallying, the allied left flank threadbare and torn, and the Russian northern advance stopped cold by a combination of brilliant French cavalry maneuver and a massive clash of arms across the stream at Bosenitz.

Turn 5 — 1000 Hours

a) Reinforcements Phase: Napoleon rolls a 1, so his HQ assigns Fauconnet’s 5th Light Cavalry Division to the Imperial Guard, to help screen the French center and protect the Guard’s northern flank.

b) Command Phase: Soult’s retreat to recover St. Hilaire’s division puts his cavalry commanders Beaumont and Kellerman outside of his command radius (they’re still on the east bank of the Goldbach, harassing the Allied flank). Beaumont puts himself in command by rolling a 3 (equal to his initiative), but Kellermann rolls a 4 and is out of command. All other French leaders and units are in command.

As for the Allies, Kutusov’s move to his south flank puts his HQ unit outside his command radius, so the HQ’s initiative drops to 2. All north-flank leaders are within the HQ’s command radius, but it can only put two of them in command. So it puts Bagration and Constantine in command, leaving Liechtenstein to roll against his own initiative of 4 to put himself in command. He rolls a 3, and does. Other than that, Essen and Hohenlohe are outside the command radius of their formation leader Liechtenstein, and both of them roll over their initiatives, so they and their last cavalry unit (guarding the remnants of the Allied left-wing artillery) are out of command.

c) Order of Battle: Napoleon rolls a 6 to Kutusov’s 1, so he activates first.

d) Activation Phases:

Napoleon rolls a 2, so he can activate three formations. IV Corps’ heavy artillery wipes out the isolated, unattached artillery hanging out on the Allied far left flank, allowing Beaumont’s two cavalry brigades to dash through and envelop Dokhuturov’s division on its front and flank. At the same time, Legrand and Vandamme’s divisions recross the Goldbach. Beaumont attacks with five dice (he gets bonuses for superior morale and outflanking) and scores a hit, and Dokhuturov has to stand his ground and take the step loss, because retreating would leave General Langeron’s infantry division on the Pratzen Heights open to an immediate flank attack by Napoleon’s Imperial Guard. Dokhuturov does a hit in return, and Beaumont’s cavalry retreat to avoid the loss.

The Imperial Guard activates next. Fauconnet’s light cavalry division fills in the French center, and then Bessieres and more of the Guard infantry move across the Goldbach. Meanwhile, the Guard’s advance infantry and cavalry units hit Hohenlohe’s last cavalry unit and the last of the Allied left-wing artillery south of the Pratzen Heights. The five-die attack scores just one hit, but that’s all it takes — cavalry can’t stand against infantry, so they flee up the Pratzen Heights, and if there’s unattached artillery in an area where other units retreat, the artillery are overrun and die. They score one hit before they die, but the Imperial Guard simply retreats south to Beaumont’s position and avoids the loss.

With things going very well on the French south flank, Lannes on the north flank does not want to be left out. He hit Constantine hard last hour, so now it’s Prebyshevsky’s turn. He moves southeast to attack him with two of Walthier’s cavalry brigades, while Walthier and the other two move east to screen against Constantine. Prebyshevsky has support from attached Russian artillery, unattached Austrian horse artillery, and General Kologrirov’s Russian Imperial Guard cavalry, but Lannes still has the combined-arms bonus.

Lannes’ 10-die attack does three hits, while Prebyshevsky’s 12-die defense does two. Prebyshevsky’s infantry and the Russian cavalry both lose a step, and they across the stream to the southern part of Blasowitz to avoid the third. Lannes’ infantry takes one step loss and retreats back north of the stream west of Bellowitz, leaving Nansouty’s as-yet-unactivated cavalry on the road to guard his retreat.

The Allies roll a 3, so they can activate two formations. They are in trouble on the left now. Beaumont’s infernal ability to put himself in command let him drive a cavalry brigade into Dokhuturov’s flank, and that brigade plus the Imperial Guard Cavalry brigade right behind it have nothing between them and the Russian rear. Add to that the fact the Allies have no artillery left south of the Pratzen Heights, and that there are now four French divisions on the wrong side of the Goldbach, and it’s time to start pulling in the flank.

One of the last two Left Wing artillery units up on the Pratzen Heights scores a step loss on the Imperial Guard cavalry following Beaumont into the breach. Then, Dokhuturov pulls back southwest to the village of Hostieradek, while Prebyshevsky moves northeast again to make one last try at pushing Nansouty’s cavalry off the road. Prebyshevsky is weak, but if he scores a hit the cavalry have to retreat, so he attacks at three dice to six — and doesn’t score a hit (but neither do the French).

To the south, Dokhuturov and the two remaining Austrian left-wing cavalry brigades hit Beaumont’s advance brigade from opposite sides. The reduced-strength cavalry brigade has little chance and isn’t occupying a particularly strategic position now that Dokhuturov has moved into Hostieradek, so it rolls less than its morale and retreats northwest to join the Imperial Guard cavalry. The Austrian cavalry reunites with the Allied left flank.

With the situation stabilized on the left, the Allies can think about one more push to the north before they have to start falling back on that flank as well. Once again, it’s all about Nansouty on the road, so Bagration moves west and hits Nansouty with everything he’s got. The 13-die-to-five attack scores four hits, and for once Nansouty’s horsemen retreat at a full gallop to avoid being annihilated (both cavalry brigades take a step loss and avoid the other 2). But they do one hit before leaving, and Bagration takes it on the chin and advances west, finally putting an Allied infantry division on the Goldbach Stream!

Napoleon rolls a 5, so he can only activate one formation. Right now, holding the line in the north so the southern corps can smash the reforming Allied left flank is the top priority. Napoleon activates I Corps but doesn’t attack, leaving Raffiniere’s and Nansouty’s divisions on the west bank of the Goldbach to oppose Bagration, and moving Drouet’s division south so he can help it recover at the end of the turn.

The Allies also roll a 5 and can activate one formation. Furious that Bagration beat him to the stream, Grand Duke Constantine orders the Russian Imperial Guard infantry westward while bringing Kologirov and the cavalry north from Blasowitz to hit Walthier across the stream at Bellowitz (where he and Lannes clashed last turn). Walthier’s one brigade holds the river line as best it can — which is good enough! The Imperial Guard scores no hits on 10 dice, and Lannes will be free to deal with Bagration next turn.

Napoleon rolls another 5, and with his one activation he activates Davout, whose infantry reaches the Goldbach Stream and whose cavalry under Bourcier crosses it east of Sokolnitz Castle.

The Allies roll a 4 and can activate one formation, so the Allied Center activates and Jurczik’s division moves west and attacks Napoleon’s Imperial Guard horse artillery and cavalry units that crossed the Goldbach at Puntowitz. Neither side scores any hits.

Napoleon rolls a 4 and activates his last formation, the HQ. Oudinot’s division doesn’t want to have to retreat with Liechtenstein still unactivated and in his front. So he holds the line, the HQ stays in place, Napoleon moves into the same area with Frere’s division, and the Grand Artillery Park takes a long-range shot at the Pratzen Heights and scores a step loss on Langeron’s division!

The Allies roll a 2 and can activate their remaining units. Liechtenstein moves south to fill-in the center of the Allied line where the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry vacated it, and the HQ stays where it is.

e) Recovery Phase: Napoleon helps Drouet’s I Corps division recover a step, and Soult helps St. Hilaire’s elite division recover up to its B step. All Allied divisions are too close to French divisions to recover.

So the turn ends with the French on the march in the south and recovering infantry steps faster than they’re losing them. Lannes has done an outstanding job of hammering the Russian divisions marching west, and Walthier and Nansouty’s cavalry have kept the Russian advance moving at a crawl.

The French cavalry have taken a beating in the process, but with the Allied south flank about to be hit by four infantry divisions and numerous cavalry, Bagration and Constantine will have to break the French north flank fast if they want to avoid calling a retreat to Austerlitz.

Can they do it? Tune in next time and find out!

Order Austerlitz now!