Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

April 16th, 1809

08:15 hrs: It is a clear, beautiful morning in the southern most stretches of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The sentries on guard at the broken remains of the bridge at Landshut are startled from their boredom by the commotion of Austrian lancers moving through the streets upon the opposite bank. These were no gendarmes upon routine patrols, but squadrons in full battle array.

The 3rd Div staff AdC on duty this day could clearly see a unit of pioneers treading below the fastness of Traunsitz Castle, which loomed over the town upon the high ground of the opposite bank. This bodes ill the officer thought to himself.

As he was busy scribbling a note, another soldier approached him in a hurry, and handed him a message. The staff officer read the contents quickly: Squadron on Duty at Moosburg reports that Austrian cavalry, light infantry, and horse artillery are deploying near the bridge remains at this location.

The staff officer began to issue his orders: Have the semaphore station send a message to Corps HQ: Osterreich Armee is deploying forces, including bridge repair units at both major crossing points of the Isar River.

Regards,

Ahhhhh yesssss!!! The Battle that will take place near Landshut!!!!

As we speak, I'm currently engaged in the Full Eckmuhl Campaign with one of your French brethren and we are just finishing up the battle in and around Landshut (Battle # 1 of the Campaign)!!


Good luck to all involved!!!!

Is it considered gamey for the Bavarians to fire on both bridges to deny the Austrians passage? (Just curious. Oberst Whelan did this to one bridge and decimated the pioneers repairing it, but I was able to get across the other and capture the battery commanding the other crossing, and eventually got the destroyed bridge passable to infantry).

I have never had so many artillery batteries available in a game with nothing to shoot at (1-hex visibility by the end).

The Austrian uhlans covered themselves in glory. They must have been Galicians

So drive him from the field of battle for another French Victory!

Battle On...

I destroy bridges when I can. If the enemy can't cross a river that's usually a good thing. You'll see me put units on both ends and melee the bridge, too. Anyway to drop them as fast as possible. Then kill off the engineer types when they try to repair them.

It is never gamey to fire on your opponent, or blow up anything that he might otherwise use to cause you harm.

Such is the nature of warfare, even when such confrontation is only virtual in nature.

Hey! Now watch it when you start talking about...gulp!...killing engineers!

Salute!

I cannot consider firing upon bridges or the brave pioneers who are trying to repair or destroy them as the case may be gamey.
The accounts of the Napoleonic Wars are nothing if not full of such stories, from Aspern-Essling, to Wagram, to Berezina (as recently recounted in another thread here), not to mention at Bautzen too. I am sure there are many many more, but these leap to my mind.

Melee those bridges! Sweep them with fire! And toast the engineers who brave such an onslaught, to get the job done, and the army moving forward again.

Regards,

Todd, I meant to compliment you on your initial post that started this thread. A most excellent compostion, my friend. Very good!

Yes most exceptional indeed - but only the tip of the iceberg of things to come I am sure

It ended at 788 pts, 12 away from a Major Victory. I'm surprised I got that far, Bavarian morale seemed to collapse for no apparent reason once I had two crossing points.

Definitely from Galicia. But you have to look at them carefully, if they come into contact with the Poles in the French Army, then Poles can convince them to change to the side.It was a very popular way to recruit to the Grande Armee run in the Austrian army ranks.
That is way we have, as Poles, so many volounteer units
But there is also something very sad, all of these volounteers have only one choice - fight to the very end, for them there were no return home. As officially deserters, they would be hanged. This was one of the source why Poles fight so long for Emperor.

I have had plenty of an opponent blow the bridges up on me....it is all about understanding the views of the person you are playing....

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April 16th, 1809

09:00 hrs: Rumours sweep through the countryside, spreading the fearful words, "the enemy has crossed the Isar River at Moosburg, and seized the militaire objective there!"

On the road to the village of Zieglsberg, a Bavarian cavalry squadron is drawn up.
Behind them, a crowd of refugees streams north out of the town of Moosburg.

The Captain of the squadron directed one of his Sous-Lieutenants to ride back and find out what was happening.

In short order the young officer had ridden off and then returned, fairly gasping out the tale he had learned, "I heard it from the folks fleeing, who heard it from another who claimed to have witnessed it!"

"Claimed to have seen what?" the Captain asks, growing impatient.

"They were seen coming across the water in their boats! Armed not just with guns, but hammers and saws, and they have begun repairing the bridges!"

"I see," the Captain mutters under his breath. "Elite companies of Pioneers have struck the first blow."

Regards,