Tactics in 'Napoleonic
Battles: Austerlitz'
Part IV: 1100 to 1300 Hours
By Doug McNair
March 2007

It’s do or die time for the Allies in today’s episode of my Napoleonic Battles: Austerlitz replay. As Turn 5 came to an end, two French corps, two cavalry divisions and Napoleon’s Imperial Guard had swept across the Goldbach Stream south of Pratzen, forcing the Allied left flank to pull back to the village of Hostieradek. At the north end of the line, Marshal Lannes’ V Corps had stopped the Russian Imperial Guard at the stream east of Bellowitz, but General Bagration’s infantry division had finally pushed General Nansouty’s heavy cavalry west to reach the French infantry lines on the Goldbach.

But Napoleon himself has been busy in the French rear, rallying troops and rebuilding his damaged infantry divisions faster than the Allies can hurt them. The Allied infantry divisions have not had the same luxury and are taking damage on both flanks, so they’ve got to break the French north flank now if they’re going to do it at all.

The battle continues . . .

Turn 6 — 1100 Hours

a) Reinforcements Phase: Naploeon rolls a 3 against his HQ’s initiative of 4, and assigns General Hautpol’s 2nd Reserve Heavy Cavalry Division to the French HQ, whose one infantry division under General Oudinot needs cavalry support if it’s going to go on the attack and outflank the Allied northern advance.

b) Command Phase: The French lines (and thus their lines of communication) have gotten very long, what with their wide flanking maneuver to the south and the holding action in the north. Marshal Davout’s III Corps is southernmost and outside Napoleon’s command radius, but he easily rolls under his initiative of 5 and puts himself in command. General Fauconnet’s light cavalry division (holding the French center) is also outside the command radius of Marshal Berthier of the Imperial Guard, but Fauconnet rolls under his initiative of 3 and also puts himself in command. As for the allies, their line is shortening, so everyone is within their leaders’ command radii.

c) Order of Battle: Kutusov rolls higher than Napoleon, so the Allies get to activate first.

d) Activation Phases:

The Allies roll a 2 and can activate three formations, and they use this advantage to pound the French north flank. Grand Duke Constantine’s Russian Imperial Guard activates first, and its battalion guns on the rise near Blasowitz pound General Walthier’s cavalry brigade to the northeast (the one that stopped Constantine’s infantry from crossing the stream last turn) while its heavy artillery fire long-range at General Oudinot’s infantry division on the west bank of the Goldbach.

The battalion guns roll a 5 and just barely miss Walthier, but the heavy artillery hit’s Oudinot’s division for a step loss. Then Constantine’s infantry attacks Walthier’s cavalry brigade again, while General Kologrirov’s Imperial Guard Cavalry attacks Marshal Lannes’ valiant but weakened V Corps one zone west of Walthier. Constantine scores three hits, finally wiping out Walthier’s brigade and crossing the stream at Bellowitz (Walthier escapes west to Lannes’ position and the rest of his cavalry brigades). But Waltiher’s horsemen score a hit on Constantine before dying, taking his elite division down to its D step (one more hit and it shrinks to a remnant). And unfortunately for Kologrirov, his five-die attack on Lannes scores no hits, and Lannes scores a hit on defense, forcing Kologrirov to retreat northeast to screen Constantine’s rear.

With the Russian Imperial Guard failing to dislodge Lannes from his position on the extreme French north flank, Bagration can’t profitably attack Raffiniere’s I Corps division across the Goldbach (if he drove them back and advanced to the opposite bank, he’d immediately be outflanked on both his north and south flanks by Lannes and Oudinot). Lannes will also get a combined-arms bonus if he’s allowed to attack this turn, so Bagration splits his attack, letting Voropaitzki’s Cossacks make a token assault on Raffiniere while the rest of the Right Wing assaults Lannes.

The Cossacks score no hits and get driven back by one hit from Raffiniere, and Bagration’s attack on Lannes scores one hit for both sides. Lannes stays where he is and takes the step loss, and Bagration orders his troops to stand as well . . . but they flee eastward, rolling a 6 against their area morale of 5! Bagration keeps his C step, but the road east of the Goldbach is once again wide-open for the French cavalry to flood-into and outflank Constantine’s Russian Imperial Guard to the north!

This is . . . intolerable! It is also extremely inconvenient and frustrating, but the Allies make the best of it by sending Liechtenstein’s cavalry (which were supposed to help secure the far bank of the Goldbach) onto the road to guard Constantine’s flank.

Once again, superior French troop discipline trumps Russian numbers, and the French north flank holds . . .

Naploeon rolls a 3, and can activate two formations. He has a target-rich environment, and it’s tough to decide who to hit first. But given the severely limited capabilities of the Allied Left Wing, it seems appropriate to let the rock-solid north-flank corps have their revenge on the Russians. Raffiniere’s I Corps begins by attacking Liechtenstein’s cavalry screening the road ahead of him. Both sides score one hit, and Raffiniere takes the loss while Liechtenstein retreats southeast to join Prebyshevsky. Nansouty’s cavalry advances to retake the road.

Then Lannes orders Walthier south onto the road Nansouty just cleared, and he sweeps into the flank of Constantine’s infantry while Lannes attacks them frontally. Lannes’ seven-die-to-three attack scores two hits, shattering the Russian Imperial Guard infantry division and shrinking it down to a small remnant counter, which retreats across the Bellowitz stream along with a reduced brigade of Imperial Guard cavalry. But the Imperial guard scores a hit before they go, and Lannes retreats back across the Goldbach to Welatitz to avoid it (since the Allies have all but shot their wad on the north flank, he loses little by doing so).

The Allies roll a 1, and can activate the rest of their formations. They start with the Left, whose heavy artillery up on the rises hits the French cavalry screens on the north and south flanks. The northern barrage does very well, scoring two hits and wiping out two reduced-strength cavalry brigades belonging to Walthier and Nansouty. The southern barrage misses, but the sight of exploding French horsemen spurs Prebyshevsky to attack Walthier and Nansouty’s remaining two brigades on the road ahead of him. Unfortunately, neither side scores any hits, and the horsemen hold the road.

The Center has flank security issues — Area 102 south of Blasowitz is held only by cavalry and horse artillery, and if the French storm across the Goldbach and take that area, they’ll be right in the rear of Prebyshevsky to the north AND the flank of Jurczik’s division to the south. So, after the Center’s artillery fails to score any hits, Repininsky’s infantry division moves down off the rise in area 104 and into area 102, and he and Jurczik both attack the Imperial Guard cavalry and horse artillery units in Puntowitz. The eight-die attack scores two hits, and the Guard horse artillery is eliminated (it would have been anyway even if the cavalry retreated before battle), and the cavalry retreats across the Goldbach to Lapanz Markt. Jurczik doesn’t follow, as that would put him out ahead of the line.

Napoleon rolls a 1, so he can activate everybody. He starts at the north end of the line, activating his HQ. The Grand Artillery Park takes a long-range shot at the Pratzen Heights and scores another step loss on Langeron’s division there! Then, Oudinot’s infantry and Hautpol’s cavalry attack the remnant of Rottermund’s division across the Goldbach. They score one hit, forcing Rottermund to retreat east to Prebyshevsky’s position, but Rottermund scores a hit as well, which Oudinot retreats to avoid. That opens a gap in the French line, but Fauconnet’s reserve cavalry can screen that when the HQ activates.

Moving to the south end, Napoleon activates IV Corps, whose heavy artillery takes another long-range shot and scores another hit on Langeron! Manliness under fire aside, the Pratzen Heights is rapidly becoming too hot to stand on. Soult then orders his infantry and cavalry forward, and while they can’t get to Langeron’s position, they swing south and attack the Austrian cavalry screening the front of Dokhuturov’s division at Hostieradek. With the French combined-arms bonus on a 12-die attack, there’s no sense in the Austrian cavalry sticking around. They retreat east to Hostieradek before combat, and Kellermann’s cavalry moves in after them (the French infantry stays back to keep the Russian heavy artillery on the Heights at maximum range).

Then, with Langeron having been cut to shreds on the Heights and his morale down to 3, it seems a perfect time for the Imperial Guard to knock him off the hill. The Imperial Guard artillery misses him, but Soules’ infantry and Ordener’s cavalry pound up the rise and attack. They’ve got double his area morale, so even with the Rise’s defensive bonus they roll four dice and hit on a 5 or 6. They score one hit, and Langeron makes a roll of 3 (exactly his area morale) to stand and takes the step loss and keep the Imperial Guard from taking the Heights and breaching the line. The defenders score one hit in return, but the Imperial Guard infantry just retreats to avoid it.

All that leaves is Davout, whose infantry crosses the Goldbach northeast of Sokolnitz Castle, and whose cavalry under General Bourcier ride northeast to join Kellermann to make ready for an assault on the Heights. That ends the activations for the turn.

e) Recovery Phase: Napoleon bring’s Drouet’s once-nearly-dead division back up to its B step, kisses Drouet on both cheeks, and mounts up to ride east for the glorious storming of the Pratzen Heights.

Turn 7 — 1200 Hours

a) Reinforcements Phase: Napoleon’s HQ rolls a 3 and assigns the last unit of the cavalry reserve — General Milhaud’s light cavalry brigade — to Lannes’ V Corps. Since Walthier’s cavalry is almost gone, V Corps will need extra horsemen to harass the Allied north flank as it begins its panicked retreat toward Austerlitz.

b) Command Phase: Kutusov is at the extreme Allied south flank in in Hostieradek, having surmised that it’s in more need of assistance than the more defensible Pratzen Heights. But he underestimated Napoleon’s artillery and only Langeron’s brave stand on the Heights has kept the Allied center from being cut off from Kutusov’s command radius. The only unit that has any command radius issues is the HQ, which is outside Kutusov’s command radius. That drops its initiative to 2, meaning it can only put two formations in command. It puts Constantine and Bagration in command, leaving Liechtenstein to roll against his own initiative of 4 to put himself in command. He rolls a 6 . . . and he and his two cavalry units are out of command.

On the French side, only Davout is outside Napoleon’s command radius, so he rolls against his initiative of 5 . . . and gets a 6, meaning he’s out of command as well (more reports of Austrian partisans eating the baggage train). But his cavalry commander Bourcier is having none of that, and exactly rolls his initiative of 3 to put himself in command so he can be in on the taking of the Heights.

c) Order of Battle: Napoleon rolls higher than Kutusov, and activates first.

d) Activation Phases:

Napoleon rolls a 3 and can activate two formations. IV Corps activates and its heavy artillery doesn’t score a hit on Langeron’s division (targets are getting fewer by the minute). Then Legrande’s division sweeps up from the south along with Kellermann’s cavalry and hits the Pratzen Heights, while Soult comes up behind with Vandamme’s division and Beaumont’s cavalry, and hits Kutusov and Dokhuturov’s position on the Allied flank at Hostieradek.

Soult’s seven-die attack on Hostieradek scores no hits, and Kutusov mounts a brilliant last-ditch defense, scoring four hits on seven dice and forcing Soult, Beaumont and Vandamme to retreat into the swamps to the south with two step losses. But Legrande’s seven-die attack on the Pratzen Heights scores a hit — which Langeron holds his ground against with a roll of 1 (his area morale is just 2)! He also mounts a brilliant defense, scoring two hits on five dice and driving Legrande and Kellermann northwest to Pratzen Village’s south bank after a step loss to Legrande’s infantry.

That means it’s all up to the Imperial Guard. The Guard artillery can’t find any targets up there, but Lecchi’s infantry division and Morland’s cavalry move through Pratzen Village to the attack, Soules’ division and Ordener’s cavalry come up from the south, and Napoleon rides in from the west to join Hulin’s rearguard division. Marshal Bessieres rides up to Soules’ division to lead the assault — and scores four hits! Langeron’s division and the Left Wing heavy artillery are obliterated, and Soules and Morland take the Pratzen Heights and gain the flanks of both Dokhuturov’s division to the south and Jurczik’s to the north!

The Allies roll a 1 and can activate four formations — a gift from God at this point. The Allied Left activates, with Prebyshevsky’s heavy artillery way to the north firing on the Imperial Guard units on the heights to the south. They hit, taking a step out of Soules’ division! Thus encouraged, Kutusov sends the Austrian cavalry out to screen his rear and grab the Heights area to the northeast of the one the French took. He then tells Dokhuturov to pull his division back behind Hostieradek (to get out of French artillery LOS) and attack.

Dokhuturov rolls under his area morale of 3, pulls back and changes facing toward the Heights, and then his division, its attached artillery, and the Austrian cavalry hit the Heights in a combined-arms attack. They do one hit, forcing the French back off the Heights — but Bessieres sells that precious ground very dearly, scoring three hits on six dice!

Dokhuturov rolls less than his area morale to stand fast, and his division takes a step loss while his attached artillery and an Austrian cavalry unit with him both die. Retreating would have saved him a step, but it would have left the entire south flank of the Pratzen Heights wide open to a French cavalry advance. And with Liechtenstein’s cavalry out of command, there’s no way the Allies can get cavalry there fast enough to block it, so Dokhuturov has to stand there and do the blocking himself.

Prebyshevsky rounds out the activation by attacking Walthier and Nansouty’s cavalry on the road ahead of him, but scores no hits while taking one. He retreats up the rise at Blasowitz.

Kutusov sends riders out with orders to pull the line back and reoccupy the Heights ahead of him. The Center activates, and after its horse artillery inflicts a step loss on Fauconnet’s cavalry screening its front, Jurczik’s division rolls less than its area morale and retreats up the Pratzen Heights to block the French Imperial Guard’s advance. Meanwhile, Repininsky’s division pulls back east to line up with Jurczik. The remnant of Rottermund’s division has to stay where it is to protect Bagration’s south flank.

The Allied south flank is hanging by a thread and there’s an infernally large amount of French cavalry ready to ride around it. So, with no other options, the Allies pull Liechtenstein’s two remaining cavalry units up onto the rises north of the Pratzen Heights to screen the Allied rear, and Bagration sends Chaplits and Voropaitzki’s Cossacks to the rear to setup a picket line west of Austerlitz. Bagration’s infantry then attacks Walthier and Nansouty’s cavalry one more time, and at least gets the satisfaction of driving them back across the Goldbach.

Napoleon rolls a 2 and can activate three formations. Davout’s III Corps activates, and while his Out of Command infantry division slowly slogs forward, Bourcier takes his dragoon division straight northeast through Hostieradek and frontally assaults Dokhuturov’s all-but-gone infantry. Though they be but cavalry, they have double the area morale of the exhausted Russians, so they attack at eight dice to four and hit on every 5 or 6. They score three hits, wiping out Dokhuturov’s division before it can retreat, but staying in Hostieradek so as not to outstrip Davout’s command radius. Kutusov survives and escapes up onto the Heights where the last of the Austrian cavalry are.

Then the French HQ activates and sends Hautpol’s heavy cavalry division across the Goldbach to wipe out the remnant of Rottermund’s division. Murat takes personal charge, but they score just one hit on five dice even though they hit on a 5 or 6 (due to double Rottermund’s morale). Rottermund retreats southeast to where Center’s horse artillery is, and Murat advances and gains Bagration’s south flank.

That done, I Corps activates and Raffiniere’s division crosses the Goldbach to hit Bagration in the front, while Nansouty’s one remaining cavalry brigade sweeps southeast to Murat’s position and hits Bagration in the flank. They do one hit to none, forcing Bagration back to the village of Krug and opening a breach behind Constantine. Milhaud or Walthier will be able to ride right into it if Constantine doesn’t get out of there fast!

The Allies roll a 4 and can activate one formation, so Constantine withdraws eastward one area, then hits Nansouty with everything he’s got left. His seven-die attack scores two hits and wipes out Nansouty’s last brigade (Nansouty escapes west to Raffiniere’s division but is now without any units). Kologrirov sends one cavalry unit southwest to screen the road, keeping his heavy cavalry with Constantine since the French can still get to him.

Napoleon rolls a 3 and can activate his last formation, which is Lannes’ V Corps. His infantry stays put in Welatitz (four areas away from the nearest Allied infantry) so that it can recover a lost step, but his cavalry under Walthier and Milhaud ride out to smash the Russian cavalry unit screening Bagration’s front. The five-die attack scores two hits and wipes out the cavalry before it can retreat, and the French cavalry push ahead to Bagration’s front.

The Allies roll a 2, but they have nothing left to activate but their HQ, which gets nervous and pulls back one area southeast while sending the two emperors and the Kaiser cavalry southeast to Austerlitz.

e) Recovery Phase: Lannes’ infantry division recovers a lost step, but the Allies all have cavalry in their face and can’t recover anything.

Turn 8 — 1300 Hours

a) Reinforcement Phase: The entire cavalry reserve has been assigned, so play proceeds to . . .

b) Command Phase: To put it kindly, the Allied line is quite compact now, so nobody’s far enough away from their leaders to be out of command. But Soult got driven into a swamp to the south, and that puts him outside Napoleon’s command range. Nevertheless, he rolls a 3 and keeps his wits about him. Fauconnet is also way north of Marshal Bessieres (who rode south to lead the charge up Pratzen Heights), and he rolls a 6 and is out of command (but since the Allies are fleeing east that won’t hurt anybody).

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

d) Activation Phases:

Napoleon rolls a 3 and can activate two formations. After the Guard artillery misses, Napoleon himself leads the Imperial Guard’s envelopment of Jurczik’s division on the Pratzen Heights. The Guard cavalry rides through Hostieradek and into Jurczik’s south flank, while two Guard infantry divisions attack the Heights simultaneously. Disgracefully, the eight-die attack scores just one hit, but Jurczik can’t afford to retreat because that would let French cavalry swarm over the Heights next activation and into the Allied rear. So he makes the roll to stand his ground and takes the step loss.

At which point IV Corps activates, attaches artillery to Legrand’s division and goes for a combined-arms attack on Jurczik. This attack does much better, scoring four hits on nine dice and sending Jurczik’s division skittering eastward on the Heights after taking two step losses. They do two hits in return, and Legrande’s division actually shrinks to remnant size before retreating to avoid the other loss. But Beaumont and Kellermann’s calvalry take the Heights again.

The Allies also roll a 3 and can activate two formations. The northern divisions need to stay in place for now to prevent French cavalry from breaking through to the Austerlitz road, so Liechtenstein and Hohenlohe ride south and counterattack the French cavalry on and southeast of the Pratzen Heights. Hohenlohe’s attack goes nowhere, but Liechtenstein’s attack scores one hit for each side, which both retreat to avoid (leaving the Heights open).

This latter bit is not good, because it will act as a bypass to the Allied rear should Bourcier eject Hohenlohe from his blocking position at the village of Krzenowitz. So, with little to lose, the Center activates and its artillery bombards Napoleon’s position at Pratzen Village, scoring one step loss on Hulin’s division! Repininsky’s division would love to move forward and hit Napoleon, but he can’t do it without exposing one of his flanks, so he stays put, as does Jurczik.

Napoleon rolls a 5 and can activate one formation, so he activates Davout, who moves northeast with his own division while Bourcier’s dragoons ride up onto the Pratzen Heights and attack Jurczik’s infantry division and the last of the Austrian Left Wing cavalry. Bourcier has double their morale and hits on a 5 or 6 — and his six-die attack scores three hits, wiping out all but the last step of Jurczik’s division. But much more importantly, BOURCIER ROLLS AN 11 + 1 (FOR ONE EXTRA STEP LOSS OVER THE FIRST) TO KILL THE ALLIED ARMY COMMANDER, GENERAL KUTUSOV! Jurczik’s last remnant flees off the Heights, Bourcier advances to gain Repininsky’s flank, and Napoleon sends word to HQ to have a Marshal’s baton engraved with Bourcier’s name.

News of Kutusov’s death spreads down the line, and the reality sets in that Tsar Alexander I will be the new Army Commander starting next turn. His initiative is only 2, which means that two thirds of the time, the Allied army will be able to activate no formations at all.

Napoleon will crush them.

He still has 10 divisions while the Allies have only three left. He’ll be able to hit the Allied line at any point he wishes and force a retreat. Then, with the Allied formations reacting slowly if at all, Napoleon can send his cavalry through the breach to take the Austerlitz road, cut the Allied armies off from their HQ and the Tsar, and cause a complete breakdown of unified command and control. Some of the individual formations may give a good account of themselves, but Napoleon will force the Emperors to flee and will take Austerlitz.

Le Grande Armee has taken a lot of damage; too much to recover enough steps to get back down below 20 steps lost before game-end. So while Napoleon won’t achieve that objective, he will achieve the other two (taking Austerlitz and inflicting at least 25 step losses on the Allied armies). And while the Allies will have done more than 25 step losses to Napoleon, they’ll have lost Austerlitz and won’t be able to keep Napoleon from taking a third Rise area, so they’ll have only achieved one objective of their own.

At two objectives to one, the French score minor victory and Napoleon wins!

Order Austerlitz now!