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Lincoln Graves
United States
Denver
Colorado
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Steve and I started work on Almeida et Bussaco 1810 by Frédéric Bey as our first game from this series. We have high hopes that some of these will be playable as 1 on 1 games for our public meets at Whittier. These games can easily take much longer. But with practice many of them seem playable in under 5 hours. After all, these get played at and annual competition in France Trophée du Bicentenaire.
We have had a delay though so I set up Raab from Triumph & Glory: Battles of the Napoleonic Wars 1796-1809 by Richard H. Berg which is essentially the same system. At some point there was a collaboration. The Raab scenario looks like it could be played in an evening.
As I go through the replay I will explain a number of the mechanics in the context of play. As this is a learning game I am sure there will be mistakes and I will note these as I find them. I have the first turn done and will continue to lengthen this post until all the detail is added. I will make future turns separate posts. When done I will add all these together for a long session report under the game
Opening Situation - The Commands (Activation Groups for which chits are drawn)
Note: R.A. is not an activation group but rather the Austrian artillery reserve. It can be assigned to any command. It's worth noting because artillery cannot combine in this scenario AND R.A. is the only artillery unit on the map by itself strong enough to disorder an enemy unit. The rest can only force a retreat, other than at point blank range, if the target fails a cohesion check. edit: Actually RW.
Reserve Eugene represents 3 different Activation Groups that the French player can bring on one at a time starting on turn 2. To the extent they are left off the board and in reserve the French player gains extra VPs.
Cohesion - The central number in the colored box at the bottom of every unit. Players must test against this number (equal or less) when called for by a combat result or suffer a disorder, a retreat, or both. The top unit in a stack tests against it to engage in Shock Combat. To recover from disorder or route. Some Overall Commanders can modify this test.
Victory ConditionsTo gain the 10VP for a road exit on the east side, a path must be traced west of the Pancza, free of enemy ZoC, with at least 1 friendly unit that has not been routed on that path.
The Austrian PositionThe Austrians are strongest in the middle where a banked stream and the Kismegyar farmstead provide difficult obstacles weakening any French Shock Attacks there. The entire Pancza stream provides good positions to the extent the Austrians can occupy them. Once across the stream the French have some fairly open going unless they intend to occupy the Szabtbegy Plateau. Most French players will likely try to get across on one or both of the flanks. Its up to the Austrians to do them some harm or at least significantly delay them while they are in pursuit of this endeavor. With luck and good timing there will be a moment where the French army is divided. At this point a toll might be exacted for the crossing. The Austrians must take heed not to weaken the center too much though as long as the French continue to threaten it. Considering the Cohesion weakness of the green Hungarian troops and the quantity of French cavalry things look grim.
How Things Go
Each AG has two chits. In this scenario the two leaders are able to place two of these AG in command per turn. This is marked secretly at the beginning of each turn. If not placed in command the AG must test against the number on the AG chit to determine if the group can function normally (in command) or if its actions will be limited for that Activation. If within the Command Range of the Overall Leader this die roll may be beneficially modified. In this scenario only Eugene the French leader has this capacity. At the start of each turn the leaders must roll against their Orders Delay Rating to see if they can adjust which AGs will be placed under command that turn. Finally, the players roll for initiative each turn and the winning player gets the first activation and can pick which AG goes first. The rest are placed in a cup and drawn one at a time. In this scenario the French automatically have the initiative on the first turn.
Turn 1
First Activation - The French Cavalry Goes Into Action On The Right
I have decided that Grouchy will cross the Pancza in force and hold a bridgehead for follow on infantry formantions. Pressure will be kept on the center and the left to make it difficult for the Austrians to respond in force. Advantage will be taken of any weakening in these areas. I have decided to bring on Pacthod's Division (the largest reserve formation) to cover the transfer of at least part of Grenier to the attack on the right flank. That's as far as I have gotten with the French. Markers
1. The French Orders Marker has been flipped over to show that Grouchy is Under Orders. Above, an Austrian Orders Marker can be seen that has not yet been revealed.
2. To the right the Grouchy marker (selected as the first activation of the turn) can be seen. Had Grouchy not had order then the circled number "5" would be the target the French would have to test against to function normally.
3. The first thing players do in an Activation is Artillery Fire. A fired marker is placed to show that the artillery unit is limited to moving half its movement factor (if Under Orders) Or not at all if No Orders were assigned to Grouchy. As it happens the Artillery Fire was unsuccessful
The Austrians begin with a single cavalry unit screening the bridge, however, I am unable to attack it this turn.
Cavalry - Can Charge if there is at least one and no more than two intervening hexes. However, they cannot cross any terrain that would cost more than 2 MPs total or into woods, marsh or built up hexes. A bridge hexside costs nothing extra, and the hex is clear, but using a bridge entails road movement and you cannot enter an enemy ZoC while moving based on Road Costs. Note: A Charge is simply a type of Shock Attack that allows cavalry a beneficial DRM. There are only two types of attacks Artillery Fire and Shock.
Additionally, if a cavalry unit is not charging it can only make a Shock Attack if it begins the Activation adjacent to the target of its attack.
I wound up moving as much of Grouchy's cavalry as I could across the river even though I was unable to make any attacks this activation. I tried bunching up on the exposed flanks in hopes of making any strong attack against my position at least a little less likely. I was quite concerned that he might roll up my line. I place my artillery in a position to attack any enemy cavalry attempting such a maneuver. Pretty Weak!! I have since figured out a better way of handling this.
Consider the following rule:
If the Charge route passes through an enemy cavalry ZoC, that it is not attacking, the charge is not allowed.
With this in mind I could have spread my units out differently and could have used facing to have had less exposure. This would have worked even though infantry and cavalry stacked together must all have the same facing.
As it happens fortune was with Grouchy...this time! The next three chits drawn were Jellcic-Grouchy-Jellcic! So, Grouchy got a chance to at least weaken Mescery before his cavalry could react and drive him back across the stream in disarray.
First let's deal with Jellcic. This AC on the Austrian right flank did not receive orders. The command spread out to its right and put a tentative bridgehead across the Pancza in front of the far Northern bridge. Here is how things stood at the end of their second activation.
Meanwhile, back on the Austrian left, Grouchy was miraculously drawn again.Only the circled units in the center are able to charge. The cavalry on the left must still cross the stream (3mps) and the cavalry on the right began the turn adjacent to an enemy unit. They can NOT Charge but they can Shock.
Facing is by vertexOnly the two hexes in the front vertex are considered to be faced. Everything else is considered to be rear facing.
When charging a unit can change it's facing by one vertex for each hex it enters. Below is shown how the frontal facing of a cavalry unit can stop the opponent from paring away a unit on the end of a line. The 3 strength cavalry formation could have targeted two units in order to allow the larger cavalry force to at the end of the line. But the large force is not faced in such a manner as to be able to roll up the enemy line. Not worth the risk.
Grouchy finishes crossing the Pancza and sets up a line that will at least stop an enemy charge on his left. He cannot resist a charge in the center though. Below are the commitment rolls tested against Cohesion.
Note: Charging cavalry do not move. They stay put and roll for commitment where they are during combat. Thus if they do not commit they do not move. However, their charge route should be marked during movement.Unfortunately for the French his large cavalry on the right did not commit. Additionally, I accidentally rolled commitment for a cavalry unit that shifted position.
The French are charging with both a heavy and a light cavalry unit. The light cavalry keeps the defending light cavalry from retreating and the heavy cavalry still gets the higher DRM for charging.
The Charge went as follows:Strength Comparison 7 vs 11 or 1-2 = -2 drm
Cohesion Differential 7 vs 3 = +4 drm
Charge Bonus (Heavy) = +3 DRM
Net +5 DRM
The die roll was a 1!! = 6 Defender Automatically Disordered + CDRThe defenders are disordered before testing Cohesion for the retreat.
Because of this the Austrians retreat both units. (Just Barely)The charging French cavalry MUST advance after combat but the combat result was not good enough to allow pursuit. Additionally, at the end of a charge (and only after any add on pursuit attacks) the cavalry that charged are also disorganized.
Over at the bridge only one of many units is able to attack but this is more than enough.
Strength Comparison 4 vs 5 or 2-3 = -1 drm
Cohesion Differential 7 vs 3 = +4 drm (See how important cohesion is)
Position Bonus = +3 DRM (Defender attacked with both rear and front in an enemy frontal hex) - Its enough in this system to show up, you don't always have to fight.
Net +5 DRMThe die roll was a 10!! = 16 (Overkill) Defender Automatically Disordered and MUST Retreat
Because the retreat is into the frontal facing of an enemy unit an additional disorder result is incurred so the disorder is downgraded to a Rout (The unit must immediately retreat half its movement away from its current location) Additionally, cavalry that makes a regular Shock attack cannot pursuit.In this scenario the Austrians and French must retreat to the East and the West respectively. This unit was forced to route over a unit in good order.
This should have forced that unit to test against its cohesion or become disordered.
I forgot to do this at the time. I will assume it passed the test.
The next activation was Besan's Cavalry on the Austrian right. It had not been given orders and did not roll low enough to function normally. The cavalry moved up. Now I find the Jellcic infantry that moved up and formed a bridgehead on the far side of the Pancza is only in the way! This is a good cavalry formation with 2 elite, a heavy and a light, and a third less experienced light unit. There is also a small horse artillery battery.
Now d'Hiller was drawn, had no orders, rolled too high and moves up forming a line with cavalry screening its left flank and its artillery stacked with an infantry on the road.
Next Collerido is drawn and shifts slightly to the left. Later they shift back so this is the last time this turn I will mention this group.
Then the second activation for Besan is drawn and this time they roll low enough to receive orders. Having no idea what really to do with them, I try moving them right up to d'Hillers line to form a screen. Very, very stupid!Even just one hex further back would have been fine.
Next, Grenier gets its first activation, is Under Orders and spreads out. Part of this large group moves to support the right flank of d'Hiller while the elite Seras division rushes to the right to cross the Pancza and support Grouchy as quickly as possible.
Also, I made a mistake here. Extended Movement allows an Orders Group that IS Under Orders, and no closer to an enemy unit than three hexes, may double their movement so long as they do not stack (artillery excepted) My mistake was that I thought the distance to an enemy unit was five hexes. Oh the many miscalculations of the battlefield!
At last, Mescery's Cavalry goes into action on the Austrian left.
Here is the situation as we left it from the Austrian point of view.We have decided to target the overextended and disordered units that had just attacked the Mescery center.
Let's revisit the Sequence of Play for an Activation.
1. Artillery Fire
2. Movement
3. Combat (Both regular Shock and Cavalry Charge)
4. Rally
To Rally a unit may neither move nor can they be adjacent to an enemy unit. The player must test against the unit's cohesion to recover. A routed unit recovers to disordered but if they roll a number greater than twice their cohesion value they are eliminated.
I decided since Grouchy had already drawn both its activation chits that Mescery had the luxury of forming up in preparation for a mighty charge. This insures the demise of the units in Grouchy's center. Also, I am going to let my routed unit route away from danger for a turn before I begin testing. They do this after the activations.
It is important to note that regardless Grouchy's command has become fractured and must be treated as two separate orders commands where as Mescery has, with the exception of the routed unit, managed to maintain a single Activation Group. Additionally, none of Grouchy's units will be in a position to charge during their next activation, either because of proximity or due to their facing. With any luck, Mescery's charging units may get a chance to organize before they can be attacked.
You will note that some Cavalry are stacked three high.
Stacking
Infantry and Cavalry cannot mix. Either unit type can stack 2 high and a 3rd can stack if all are from the same brigade. A single artillery can join a stack with either infantry or cavalry. The maximum size stack is 3 though. Generally, two artillery can stack in the same hex by themselves. Scenario rules sometime permit more. When Infantry or Cavalry form a stack they must all maintain the same Facing. A retreating unit conforms. It is important to note that artillery are extremely vulnerable when not stacked with infantry or cavalry. It is important to place them correctly.
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Cohesion - The central number in the colored box at the bottom of every unit. Players must test against this number (equal or less) when called for by a combat result or suffer a disorder, a retreat, or both. The top unit in a stack tests against it to engage in Shock Combat. To recover from disorder or route. Some Overall Commanders can modify this test.
