We played our third game of Et Sans Resultant Version 3 (ESR). The scenario was The Battle of Laichling (21 April 1809), which we took from the ESR Version 2 Campaign Guide titled, “The First Battle Lost: 1809 in Germany”.
Adapting an ESR V.2 scenario to the ESR V.3 rules was very easy. We used the map, orders of battle, and the victory conditions straight from the scenario, and used the V.3 unit stats. The V.3 unit stats are available as free downloads from The Wargaming Company website, and are linked here for the Austrian and French armies:
As yet, there are no published stats for French Allies, so we determined that the Bavarian light infantry, line infantry, and light artillery units in the scenario would simply use the stats of the equivalent French units.
For the commander stats, some of the French and Austrian commanders in our scenario can be found in the ESR V.3 Campaign Guide titled, “Master of the World: 1812 in Russia” and we used those stats for our scenario. For the other commanders, we compared the stats of French and Austrian commanders as presented in the V.2 and the V.3 campaign guides that cover the 1812 Russian Campaign, and derived a formula that enabled us to convert V.2 commander stats to V.3 commander stats.
Historical Background: The Battle of Laichling occurred on 21 April 1809, one day before the more famous Battle of Eggmuhl that was fought on the same ground. On the 21st, the Franco-Bavarian forces under Marshal Davout, and the Austrian forces under Archduke Charles, jockeyed for position, each side knowing that they had significant reinforcements that would arrive the following day, but unaware that the enemy would also be receiving significant reinforcements! Thus the two armies in the game are trying to pin the opposing army in place. Most of the fighting occurred around the twin villages of Unter- and Ober- Laichling, hence the name given to this scenario.
Terrain: We played at the 100 yards per inch scale (18″ of table per mile). Our table was 12′ X 4.5′ with the long axis running north-south. The terrain was mostly open with some gentle hills and several villages. Significant terrain was the fordable Grosse Laber river and some marshy ground to its immediate north, which ran east-west about one mile north of the southern end of the table. The town of Schlierling is on the south bank near the western end of the river, and the town of Eggmuhl is on the north bank, near the eastern end of the river. The river impeded movement between the southernmost part of the battlefield and the rest of the field. Also, a band of dense woods running along the east-west axis of the table impeded movement between the northern and southern halves of the battlefield.
Victory Conditions:
The French, entering the table from the west, had to control the town of Schierling in the south, and the village of Kolbing located at the center of the western baseline. Additionally, neither of Davout’s divisions could be retreating or broken.
The Austrians, deployed along the eastern half of the table, had to control the village of Eggmuhl on the eastern end of the Grosse Laber river, the twin villages of Laichling and Hill 402 in the center, and the twin villages of Sanding in the north. Additionally, the Austrian Grenadier Division could not be retreating or broken.
These victory conditions reflected the historically limited goals of both sides, and the tentative nature of the fighting that occurred. Both sides could theoretically win this scenario without doing any fighting, simply by holding their own objectives while letting the enemy hold theirs. In our game, neither side was aware of the other side’s victory conditions, and thus our game was quite a bit more decisive than the historical battle!
Forces: The detailed forces can be found in the ESR Campaign Guide or in any good historical source. In general, the forces were:
French:
Army Commander: Marshal Davout
III Corps: Davout
2nd Division: Friant, with 3 Light Infantry battalions, 11 Line Infantry battalions, 2 batteries
4th Division: St. Hilaire, with 3 Light Infantry, 12 Line Infantry, 2 batteries
Lt. Cavalry Division: Montbrun, with 2 Light Infantry, 6 Light Cavalry squadron groups
VII Corps: Lefebvre
3rd Division (Bavarian): Deroy, with 2 Light Infantry, 10 Line Infantry, 3 batteries
5th Division: Demont with 9 Line Infantry
Austrian:
Army Commander: Archduke Charles
III Korps: Hohenzollern-Hechingen
Advanced Guard: Vukassovich, with 1 Grenzer, 1 Light Infantry, 3 Hussar squadron groups, 1 battery
Brigade: Kayser, with 6 Line Infantry
Division: St. Julien, with 10 Line Infantry
IV Korps: Rosenburg
Advanced Guard: Stutterheim, with 2 Grenzer, 2 Light Cavalry, 1 battery
Brigade: Vacant, with 3 Line Infantry, 1 Light Cavalry, 4 Hussars
Brigade: Neustadter, with 4 Line Infantry
Division: Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein, with 6 Line Infantry
Detachment: Steyrer, with 1 Line Infantry, 1 Light Cavalry
Grenadier Reserve (and Attachments): Hessen-Homburg
Grenadier Brigade: Rohan, with 12 Grenadier battalions
Heavy Cavalry Brigade: Schneller, with 6 Kuirassiers, 1 battery
Heavy Cavalry Brigade: Siegenthal with 6 Kuirassiers
Brigade: Vacant, with 3 Line Infantry
Austrian Deployment: Per scenario rule, the Austrians were deployed as follows:
III Korps was deployed with St. Julien’s division just outside of Eggmuhl, ployed in march column facing north; Kayser’s brigade and the Advanced Guard were south of the Grosse Laber facing west toward Schierling.
IV Corps was deployed in the center, facing west, with the left flank on Hill 402, the center astride Laichling, and the right flank resting on the central band of dense woods.
Hessen-Homburg’s Grenadier Reserve and attachments were deployed on the northern half of the battlefield, facing west.
French Deployment: Per scenario rule, the French were deployed, just off table to the west, as follows:
III Corps had St. Hillaire’s division south of Kolbing and the central band of woods; Friant’s division was north of Kolbing and the central band of woods; and Montbrun’s cavalry division was one mile off-table to the northwest of Friant.
VII Corps had Deroy’s Bavarian division ployed in march column along the north bank of the Grosse Laber, heading toward Schierling; Demont’s division was ployed in march column on the south bank of the Grosse Laber, heading toward Schierling.
Objectives and Initial Orders:
The objective of Lefebvre’s corps was a small hill in the south, about one mile to the east of Schierling. Both Demont and Deroy were ordered to Move to the objective, with Deroy crossing the Grosse Laber at Schierling. Both divisions had started to deploy while they were waiting for orders, and moved out quickly once their orders were activated.
The objective for Davout’s corps was placed in the center of a line of low hills about halfway between the western baseline and the villages of Laichling. St. Hillaire was ordered to Move forward directly to the objective. Friant was ordered to Support this move by moving his division around the rear of St. Hillaire’s division to take up a position on St. Hillaire’s right (southern) flank. Montbrun’s cavalry was ordered to Move to enter the table, then to move south along the western edge of the table to link up with the left flank of Davout’s infantry.
The objective of the Austrian III Korps was placed in the town of Schielrling. Kayser’s brigade was ordered to Attack to this objective, deploying as it moved, with Vukassovitch’s Advanced Guard moving on its left in Support. St. Julien’s division north of Eggmuhl was ordered to deploy facing west and remain in Reserve.
The formations of the Austrian IV Korps remained on Defend orders, spread out in front of Laichling. Rosenburg started using Leader Actions to combine some of his smaller formations in order to form a larger formation with more Cohesion.
Hessen Homburg’s force in the north was given the village of Sanding as its objective. The brigade of line infantry was ordered to Attack to this objective. The two Kurassier brigades were ordered to Support this attack, and the Grenadier brigade was ordered to remain in Reserve. Given the distance of this force from Archduke Charles, the activation of this objective was delayed by forty minutes (two game turns), which delayed the issuance of orders to the formations. The attacking brigade was the last formation to activate, so the whole force stood by until it was ready to advance.
Moves:
The action started quickly in the south when the units of Kayser’s attacking Austrian brigade ran headlong into the leading units of Demont’s French division in the center of the town of Schierling. This combat resulted in both sides taking one fatigue. Both sides inflicted another fatigue on the other during the following turn’s Ranged Threat Assessment. This balance of power changed drastically when the leading units of Deroy’s Bavarian division crossed the Grosse Laber and entered the combat, along with more units from Demont’s division. In very short order, Kayser’s brigade was broken.
The following turn, the III Korps commander performed a Reform & Reorganize leader action on Kayser’s brigade, and removed the two routed units. That removed four fatigues, and the brigade converted to Defend status. Being out of the threat range of the French and Bavarians, Kayser’s brigade regained one more fatigue during the following combat step, and was back in action, but with only four remaining battalions. Being outnumbered and outgunned, Kayser’s brigade and Vukassovich’s Advanced Guard prudently converted their orders to Withdraw away from the enemy, withdrawing in the general direction of Eggmuhl.
The French and Bavarians took a few turns to pass all of their units through and around Schierling, and Lefebvre used the time to move his corp’s objective to Eggmuhl and to issue Attack orders. Once clear of the town, both divisions pressed the withdrawing Austrians, and it looked like Eggmuhl would soon fall to Lefebvre’s force.
In the center, St. Hillaire’s division occupied its corp’s objective on the hills, converted to Defend, and unlimbered its artillery, which fired without much effect at long range. The Austrians on the receiving end of this fire eventually chose to withdraw out of range, and removed their fatigue.
Once Friant’s division finally moved into position on St. Hillaire’s right, Davout changed his corp’s objective to Laichling. Friant’s Support oder was converted to Attack, and St. Hillaire was ordered to Support Friant. St. Hillaire’s order required one turn to activate, thus Friant made contact first. Friant’s large division caused multiple fatigues on the opposing Austrian formation of IV Korps.
To reinforce IV Korps, Charles ordered St. Julien’s reserve division to attack toward Schierling on the north side of the Grosse Laber, which put it just behind the left flank of IV Korps. Unfortunately, St. Julien’s units were blocked by III Korps and did not have sufficient room to move into combat with the nearby French. Charles also changed Hessen-Homburg’s objective to a point near Laichling and called for the Grenadier Reserve to move south and join the battle in the center, but the grenadiers would need about an hour to reach the ighting, and III Korps did not have an hour.
The following turn saw the full might of both of Davout’s infantry divisions attacking the formations of III Korps. The combat assessments shattered all of the formations of III Korps, which were sent reeling back to Laichling.
At this point, which was roughly Turn 12 of the game, Charles threw in the towel. His forces in the center and in the south had been overpowered by a superior concentration of French and Bavarian formations, and the elite Austrian formations in the north were too far away to assist. To avoid disaster, Charles ordered his army to quit the field.
Unfortunately, Napoleon had wanted Davout to fix Charles’ army in place, not drive it away! By retreating from Laichling and Eggmuhl, Charles was able to avoid the massive blow that Napoleon had planned for the following day. Napoleon was not at all pleased with Davout’s decisive victory…!
- TJ
A miscommunication or a rare ‘fit of pique’ from the Iron Marshal?!
Clear and interesting write-up. One gets a feel for the level of the rules.
Regards, James