Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Ok, what will be out tomorrow? [:p]

No kidding, could be something good! [;)]

Colonel Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, Cavalerie du V Corps, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

It is about time for another Civil War game! It has been at least three months! Maybe the Wilderness Campaign! Or Shenendoah? Oops, wrong forum... [:o)]



Feldmarschall Jim 'Prinz' Pfluecke
Commander, Austrian Cavalry Reserve
3 Graf O'Reilly Chevauxleger Rgt
Hahn Grenadier Bn

http://www.hist-sdc.com/spotlights/austerlitz.html

<center></center>
<center><b>Eyo Imperatorskogo Velichestva Leib-Kirassirskogo polku
General-Adjutant Anton Valeryevich Kosyanenko
Commander of the Second Army of the West </b></center>

All I can say is, rarely has there been an easier decision for me on a purchase.

Curious to see how the hex grid renders the Santon...

Speaking of which...outside the Peninsula and the occasional skirmish tehre...that's got to be the steepest slope on a Napoleonic battlefield, no?

Best,

GdB Jim Owczarski
I Corps


Gentlemen songsters off on a spree, damned from here to eternity, God have mercy on such as we... -- The Whiffenpoofs

All I can say is, rarely has there been an easier decision for me on a purchase.

Curious to see how the hex grid renders the Santon...

Speaking of which...outside the Peninsula and the occasional skirmish there...that's got to be the steepest slope on a Napoleonic battlefield, no?

Best,

GdB Jim Owczarski
I Corps


Gentlemen songsters off on a spree, damned from here to eternity, God have mercy on such as we... -- The Whiffenpoofs

<font size="6">AH HUH!!!</font id="size6">

A wonderful sneak attack!!

No kidding Bill its something good!! [:D]

Col Mike Ellwood
Konig Regt
1 Bde, 22 Div
VII Saxon Corps, ADR

Fantastic Bill I was really hoping it was Austerlitz!
GOOD NEWS![:D][:D][:D]

Not on the HPS Site yet though

General de Brigade Knox
Grand Duc d'Austerlitz et Comte de Argentan



Escadron Mamelouks
Chasseurs a'Cheval
Division de Cavalerie la Vieille Garde.





CO. 1er Brigade, III Division Cavalerie Legere, III Corps Armee du Nord
http://www.aspire.co.nz/colinknoxnwc.htm

All I can say is YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![:)][:D]

Major General Ed Blackburn
Commanding Second Div, II Corps, AAA
3rd Bn / 1st Regiment of Foot Guards

Ok - finally, this thing has been on my desk for about two years. But because of some issues with work I was not able to get to it until April of 2008 and began work on it really in earnest last October.

The Playtesters were great for this one. They are:

Dean Beecham
Doug Fuller
Colin Gaskell
Marek Hlávka
Tomasz Nowacki
Paco Palomo
Bill Peterson
Jim Pfluecke
Marco Rietveld
John Sheffield

Gary McClellan began his own project and had to drop out but did do limited testing and deserves mention here. Atle Jenssen also had to drop out as did one other tester for personal reasons.

I must admit that without Robert Goetz's wonderful book on the campaign I never could have gotten it right. His maps on the battle were superb for both times and locations and units. Absolutely a must have book for this one guys.

David Guegan and I did up the new Piave to Sacile map - its very large and includes some terrain I wanted to have in the Eckmuhl/Wagram games but didn't have time to do then.

There is a campaign of course for the entire 1805 campaign as well as a campaign that lets you play the Austerlitz battle one section at a time (this one is solo - its the historical actions put together to form one battle). There is a campaign in Swabia on the HUGE map I did that includes from Ulm (and parts west of that) all the way to Augsburg (which has many details listed in the city - make sure you hit the Shift key when you view the city).

I added in a map I purchased from Andy Barnes of the Canterbury to Dover area. I then added in 8-9 more maps of England to form a campaign called Operation Eagle. There is a Solo campaign and a Head to Head (HTH) campaign.

We needed to include alot more Solo scenarios in our games and this one really breaks the limits on this. Every scenario for the most part has a Solo version completely separate from the HTH version. These scenarios were HEAVILY tested for balance.

There is a campaign that allows the Solo player to play all of the major Historical actions of the campaign right up to and including the Battle of Austerlitz.

Another campaign is set in Moravia. It features Charles' army marching up from the south to link up with the Allies under Kutusov (basically the army at Austerlitz). Facing them is Napoleon with more troops (from Vienna). Set on a large map that includes the Austerlitz battlefield plus alot of terrain to the south and east it should be a great MP favorite.

Finally, I added in a short campaign in italy. Sorry I had to cut it down due to time. But its two branches starting with Caldiero and ending on the large map that David and I put together.

All in all this is my favorite game I have worked on. I used the vast experience I now have in game design along with helps from the guys on the team to assemble what I feel is one of our best titles from John Tiller.

"Ok, what format did you use Bill, 10 min. or 15 min. turns?"

Answer: BOTH! Yes, you will find 15 min. Campaign Waterloo/NRC style format scenarios along with my now-standard 10 min. versions. We had another convert to the 10 min. format in one of our playtesters (I will let him say something about this if he so desires) but I know that many of you prefer the 15 min. format. However, the campaigns are still using just the 10 min. format but that doesn't mean that someone can covert them too.

Now the icing on the cake: Joe Amoral's artwork, in its unreduced format, is showcased in its own PDF file. Each picture comes with a short text explaining each unit. Its my way of saying thanks to Joe for his glorious artwork that must unfortunately get reduced to a pint-sized picture. And folks slam him a bit too but one look at his originals and you will be in awe of his ability. No wonder John Tiller calls him Joe "Amazing" Amoral.

Mark Adams and Joe came up with an improved set of 3d icons.

So yes, the British are in this game! You guys that have been dying to push them around in a new game get your wish (though Peninsular Wars is still in the pipeline of course). But the showcase is the fantastic French army of 1805 and of course their opponents the Austrians and Russians.

Oh yes, I added in the Prussians of 1805 (with help from Warren Bajan, who is now a member of my team for another project - absolutely cant do without him) for a Alternate version of Austerlitz and they are also in a huge scenario that includes the entire 1805 OB (yes, the Brits too) set on the Moravia map.

Ok - enough promo! I have been dying to get this title out and it really may be my best one I do.

Some comments:

Austrians - this was not the best Austrian army to take the field. This has been reflected in some of the morale grades. Whenever I read that the regiment didn't do well (in particular one at Gunzburg) then it was downgraded from C to D morale. And the command/officer ratings may suffer at times as well.

Russians - generally a good army but again the Column mentality means that you will see a Army/Division/Brigade level rather than the Corps level.

French - ah, their cavalry was really weak in places. Along with fewer guns than the Allies this was the hardest thing we had to get used to in playtesting.

New Game Features:

Alot to mention but now you have command ranges for your Army, Wing and Corps commanders. This will take some getting used to. No longer will Napoleon (or Mack) be able to extend their command range to anywhere on the map. The Corps commanders will need to be in range of Napoleon in order to get his Command bonus for Disorder recovery.

Weather Lines - Fire Mod

Along with the Artillery Mod we now have a Fire Mod. What this means is that if the weather was heavy rain you can nulify any infantry fire.

Fire Codes - I got John to allow small letters (as used in the ACW series) for weapons. Thus its now A-Z and a-z. Really will come into its own in a future title but it helped out here too.

All in all guys, I know that anyone that likes this campaign will find that we did a good job here. Yes, you will probably point something out to me that I may have missed but I really did alot of QC before I let this one out.

Enjoy!

Colonel Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, Cavalerie du V Corps, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

Bill, congrats. I agree that this is probably your best title, and to date you have zero stinkers on your record.

Guys, get ready, there is a lot here. I have barely seen more than the historic campaign.

Although I am suprised Bill would work with someone so A-Moral, the unit pictures and leader portraits are amazing and way better than anything else in the series. Totally different level of quality (no offense to past artists). And the pdf feels like a throwback to the days when you bought a historical wargame and got lots of neat extras...

So Bill, any truth to the rumor that you will now finish Les Grognards? [B)][:p]

Feldmarschall Jim 'Prinz' Pfluecke
Commander, Austrian Cavalry Reserve
3 Graf O'Reilly Chevauxleger Rgt
Hahn Grenadier Bn

Jim - OH STOP!!!

No, not working with JMM. Sorry to hear he lost his "front end" company.

Colonel Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, Cavalerie du V Corps, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

So Bill, since you have neither confirmed nor denied the rumor!

But seriously, it is good to have Austerlitz and if JMM can ever get it together, well, we shall see.

It is tough when a release of a great game coincides with the postponement of an unknown.

Feldmarschall Jim 'Prinz' Pfluecke
Commander, Austrian Cavalry Reserve
3 Graf O'Reilly Chevauxleger Rgt
Hahn Grenadier Bn

Here is some additional info on the game from the Notes.hlp file:

Bibliography:
Napoleon and Austerlitz: The Glory Years 1805 - Scott Bowden
Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Eagles of Europe - Ian Castle
The Campaigns of Napoleon - David G. Chandler
Napoleon's Finest: Davout and His III Corps, Combat Journal of Operations 1805-1807 - Scott Bowden
1805: Austerlitz - Robert Goetz
The Ulm Campaign: 1805 - F.N.Maude
Austerlitz: 1805 - Christopher Duffy
Napoleon's Conquest of Europe: The War of the Third Coalition - Frederick C. Schneid
A Year at War 1805: The Army of the Tsar - C. A. Sapherson
A Year at War 1805: The Armies of Austria - C. A. Sapherson
A Year at War 1805: The Armies of Prussia and Saxony - C. A. Sapherson
Austerlitz: The Empire at its Zenith - F. G. Hourtoulle
Austerlitz 1805: Battle of the Three Emperors - David G. Chandler
A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars - Esposito/Elting
The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book - Digby Smith
Napoleon's Great Adversary: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792-1814 - Gunther Rothenberg






Campaign Austerlitz Scenarios
Scenario Name Turns
#00. Getting Started 12
#01A. The Action at Wertingen (HTH) 33
#01H. The Action at Wertingen (HTH) 33
#01H. The Action at Wertingen (Solo) 33
#02A. The Action at Günzburg (HTH) 18
#02H. The Action at Günzburg (HTH) 18
#02H. The Action at Günzburg (Solo) 18
#03A1. Haslach-Jungingen (HTH) 30
#03A1. Haslach-Jungingen (Solo) 30
#03A2. Haslach-Jungingen (HTH) 30
#03H. Haslach-Jungingen (HTH) 30
#03H. Haslach-Jungingen (Solo) 30
#04A. Encounter at Memmingen (HTH) 36
#04A. Encounter at Memmingen (Solo) 36
#05A. The Battle of Elchingen (HTH) 40
#05H. The Battle of Elchingen (HTH) 40
#05H. The Battle of Elchingen (Solo) 40
#06A. The Battle of Ulm (HTH) 60
#07H1. Herbrechtingen: Prelude to Disaster (HTH) 10
#07H1. Herbrechtingen: Prelude to Disaster (Solo) 10
#07H2. Finale at Neresheim (HTH) 6
#07H2. Finale at Neresheim (Solo) 12
#08A1. First Day of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) 60
#08A2. First Day of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) 60
#08A3. First Day of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) 60
#08A4. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) 140
#08A5. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) 140
#08H1. First Day of Caldiero - Historical (HTH) 60
#08H1. First Day of Caldiero - Historical (Solo) 60
#08H2. The Second Day at Caldiero - Historical (HTH) 24
#08H2. The Second Day at Caldiero - Historical (Solo) 24
#08H3. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Historical (HTH) 140
#08H3. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Historical (Solo) 140
#09H. Rearguard Action at Amstetten (HTH) 10
#09H. Rearguard Action at Amstetten (Solo-Allies) 10
#09H. Rearguard Action at Amstetten (Solo-French) 10
#10H. Rearguard Action at Mariazell (HTH) 10
#10H. Rearguard Action at Mariazell (Solo) 10
#11A3. Strik Strikes! (HTH) 8
#11A3. Strik Strikes! (Solo) 8
#11A4. Finale at Dürenstein (HTH) 12
#11A4. Finale at Dürenstein (Solo) 12
#11H1. The Battle of Dürenstein (HTH) 66
#11H1. The Battle of Dürenstein (Solo) 66
#11H2. "The Russians Are Coming!" (HTH) 18
#11H2. "The Russians Are Coming!" (Solo) 18
#11H3. Late Morning at Dürenstein (HTH) 6
#11H3. Late Morning at Dürenstein (Solo) 6
#11H4. Finale at Dürenstein (HTH) 12
#11H4. Finale at Dürenstein (Solo) 12
#12A1. Battle of Schöngrabern (HTH) 20
#12A1. Battle of Schöngrabern (Solo) 20
#12H1. Battle of Schöngrabern (HTH) 24
#12H1. Battle of Schöngrabern (Solo) 24
#13H. On the Goldbach (HTH) 18
#13H. On the Goldbach (Solo) 18
#14H. Counterattack at Sokolnitz (Solo) 8
#15A. The Assault on the Pratzen (HTH) 12
#15A. The Assault on the Pratzen (Solo) 12
#15H. The Assault on the Pratzen (HTH) 9
#15H. The Assault on the Pratzen (Solo) 8
#16H1. Lannes vs. Bagration Part 1 (HTH) 18
#16H1. Lannes vs. Bagration Part 1 (Solo) 18
#16H2. Lannes vs. Bagratian Part 2 (HTH) 12
#16H2. Lannes vs. Bagratian Part 2 (Solo) 12
#17H. The Main Show (HTH) 18
#17H. The Main Show (Solo) 18
#18H1. Guard vs. Guard - Part 1 (HTH) 12
#18H1. Guard vs. Guard - Part 1 (Solo) 12
#18H2. Guard vs. Guard - Part 2 (HTH) 12
#18H2. Guard vs. Guard - Part 2 (Solo) 12
#19H. Finale in the South (HTH) 12
#19H. Finale in the South (Solo) 12
#20H. The Decision in the Balance (HTH) 12
#20H. The Decision in the Balance (Solo) 12
#21A. Napoleon on the Pratzen (HTH) 66
#21A. Napoleon on the Pratzen (Solo) 66
#22_Cav. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) 66
#22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) 66
#22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (Solo) 66
#23A. Battle of the Four Monarchs 66
#24A. Campaign in Moravia (HTH) 250
#M15-06H. Historical Ulm Campaign - HTH 265
#M15-22H_Cav. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) 44
#M15-22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) 44
#M15-22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (Solo) 44
#T1. The Armies Meet at Austerlitz 250
#T2. Battle of Nordlingen - Mack Turns North 64

(H = Historical, A= Alternate in the scenario #)

For viewing the various Order of Battle files
1805_OB.scn
Austerlitz_OB.scn
Eagle_OB.scn
Italian_Campaign_OB.scn
Moravia_OB.scn

And of course the campaign scenarios are found inside of their respective folders.

One comment: I used the Snow terrain set sparingly as most folks do not like it. The colors of the ground make it harder to tell whether a hex is higher or lower than the surrounding terrain. Players are always welcome to copy any scenario, go into the editor and change the terrain set, save the file and play with the snow terrain.

It doesn't bother me but several folks commented on it when used in playtesting or in Jena scenarios.


Colonel Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, Cavalerie du V Corps, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)