An Italian Diversion

Rather than return to my version of the Italian campaign of the Seven Week's War, I now turn my attention to Napoleonics. This recent distraction occurred because of this post on The Wargames Website.

Because I'm just getting my feet wet with the Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte rules, I decided to use one of the published battles. The first one in the book includes Austrians, so there we go.

Battle of Montenotte (1796)

The Austrian general Count Argenteau leads his corps in an attack on a French position. The French are in redoubts.

Notes: I used gray markers for defensive advantage; I could have put down some walls instead.

The initial Austrian attack (right) routs the French infantry. An attempt to rally fail.

But the French line infantry rout the Austrians in the center. Argenteau fails to rally his men.

A disaster for the Austrians! The French rout two infantry units.

Argenteau brings up his reserves and launches his Hussars against the French line infantry. The French break and flee. Alas, an Austrian infantry column on the right also breaks.

The Hussars flank the French position and drive the infantry away.

A bloody victory for Argenteau and the Austrians!

GAME NOTES

• This was actually a fairly long battle. There were 2-3 turns where nothing happened, so I did not take photos.
• Just realized that I should have marked the Hussars as unreliable after their first  victory. Oh well, fog of war.
• This reminds me that I need some more counters and markers:
• I used light infantry counters for line infantry. But I should make some dedicated line infantry counters.
• I should make some markers to indicate unreliable infantry.