We played the Battle of Abensberg (20 April 1809). With only a short amount of time to prepare for the game, we simply adapted the scenario published in “The First Battle Lost”, a supplement book for the Et Sans Resultant (ESR) rules, for use with the Bloody Big Battles (BBB) rules that we used for the game. Each battalion in the ESR order of battle was converted to two bases in BBB, each cavalry squadron group in ESR was converted to one cavalry base in BBB, and every 10-12 guns in ESR were converted to one battery in BBB. These conversions were easy to do and worked well in the game, and a post-game check of the sources showed that the unit strengths were roughly historical.
Terrain: The Abens River, which runs through marshland along the NW side of the table, is impassible except at the two bridges. The other streams on the table are crossable as linear obstacles. Villages and Towns are modeled with hedges and walls, respectively. Main roads are modeled with two lines of ballast, and provide a movement bonus of 50%. Secondary roads are modeled with a single line of ballast, and provide a movement bonus of 33%. (Due to heavy rains before the battle, the roads in this scenario provide less of a movement bonus than BBB typically allows). The table size was 12 X 4.5 feet
Scale: One base of infantry equals 400 men, one base of cavalry equals 200 men, one artillery battery is 10-12 guns. Each inch on the table is 100 yards. Each turn is 1/2 hour. Game length is 16 turns.
Orders of Battle:
V Korps (Austrian) — Archduke Ludwig
Advance Guard: Radetzky, 4/1 4S (Grenzers), 4/1 Uhlans, Battery, Half-Battery (deployed near Siegenburg)
Division: Reuss-Plauen, 6/2 (Hun.), 4/1 (Ger.), 6/2 (Hun) (deployed near Kirchdorf)
Division: (Mesko), 4/1 4S (Grenzers), 5/2 Hussars (deployed near Ober-Horlbach)
Division: (Thierry), 6/2 (Ger.), 2/1 Dragoons, Half-Battery (deployed near Offenstettin)
Division: (Hammer), 6/2 (Ger.), 2/1 Dragoons, Half-Battery (deployed near Unter-Horlbach)
VII Corps (Bavarian) — Lefebvre
1st Division: (Prince Ludwig) 4/1 2S, 4/1, 4/1, 4/1, Battery, Battery (deployed in North corner)
2nd Division: Wrede, 6/2 2S, 4/1, 4/1, 4/1, Battery, Battery (enters Turn 1 in column on road NW of Biburg and/or on road NW of Siegenburg)
3rd Division: Deroy, 6/2 2S, 6/2 2S, 4/1, 4/1, Battery, Battery (enters Turn 1 in column on road from Abensberg in North corner)
3rd Light Brigade (Wurtemberg): Hugel, 4/1 4S A, 4/1 4S A (deployed near Bruchhof; may attach one unit to Wrede)
Notes on Orders of Battle: Only effective commanders are named in bold for use in BBB. Units are shown with two numbers, representing their starting number of bases followed by the number of bases when they disperse. Special abilities are superior Skirmishers (S) and Aggressive (A). Small Austrian batteries are represented as half-batteries.
Objectives: The Bavarians/Wurtembergers (Allies) must capture the town of Niderumelsdorf or the road exit in the South corner of the table, or drive the Austrians from the field. The latter objective is a subjective umpire decision, based on how many Austrian units are eliminated or spent. The Austrian must prevent the Allies from attaining either objective.
Game Report: Given the situation, the challenge for the three Austrian players was to conduct a mobile defense, trading space for time, while avoiding heavy losses. The task for the three Allied players was to attack aggressively with their superior army, forcing the Austrians to make a stand.
The Allies opted to have Wrede’s entire division enter on the road NW of Biburg, to cross the undefended bridge over the Abens River (this is historically where Wrede’s division arrived, after failing to cross further upstream at Siegenburg). Wrede’s column was led by an attached unit of elite Wurtemberg light infantry. This move gave Hammer’s dragoon detachment an opportunity to charge the Wurtembergers while they were still in column, but the dragoons failed their roll to move. Turn 2 saw Wrede’s division still crossing the bridge in column, and this time Mesko’s Hussar regiment was able to charge. Unfortunately, this charge was halted by defensive fire, and then the Hussars took heavy losses in the next Allied turn. These failed charges set a pattern that was to last all game. Every Austrian attempt at charging to disrupt the Allies’ advance was a failure, either due to not passing the movement roll, effective defensive fire, or poor rolling in combat.
Wrede’s division was eventually joined by the rest of the Wurtemberg light brigade and Deroy’s division, and the combined force pressed south on a broad front, confronted by the bulk of the Austrian army. Meanwhile, in the north, Thierry’s detachment remained near its starting position in order to threaten the Bavarian line of march from the flank and rear. This weak threat drew the attention of most of Prince Ludwig’s Bavarian division, which eventually eliminated Thierry’s detachment, but left Ludwig’s division out of the main battle. The middle and end game saw the main Austrian force steadily taking losses and withdrawing in the face of constant Allied pressure, then being caught and destroyed in a final series of combats. The last turn of the game saw one Austrian infantry unit with two batteries defending the objective, with very little else left on the table, while Bavarian losses had been relatively light. The umpire judged that the Austrian army had been effectively driven from the field, for a historical Bavarian victory!
- TJ