Battle resumes with the fight for the village of Marengo. The Austrian fire had been ineffective, so in they went with cold steel.
They were repulsed, but the French defenders are being worn down. French reinforcements, Dessaix's first division, can be seen in the distance, top right-hand side of the photo.
But the French were never going to be in time to save the brave defenders who were subject to a second, massed attack lead by the Austrian General Hadik which finally carried the village.
The Austrian cavalry making a spoiling attack, but it fails.
The Austrian Grenadiers attack.
On the left flank Ott continues his cautious attack on Castel Ceiolo.
The Austrian Grenadiers had mixed success, but now find themselves charged by Murat. A desperate Austrian counter charge proves futile and the French ride down the grenadiers.
Only Murat remains. There is nothing like winner's losses to eat away your elite units. Worse, there is nothing like losing a unit at the moment of victory to have it push you over your morale limit.
Luckily Dessaix and his second division arrived just in time to restore French confidence.
The Consular Guard and a legere demi-brigade attack Kaim's division. The Austrian's break and flee.
As it was late we paused the game. It was proving to be an epic and we hope to complete it on the weekend.
This morning I took a few more photos. It is 17:00 in game time with the French to move.
Napoleon and what is left of his army.
Lannes has gone to cheer up the defenders of Castel Ceiolo, but it looks rather hopeless. Ott's command is still relatively fresh.
The Austrian perspective. O'Reilly's division is to the right, but it is just about dispersed and so best left out of the fighting.
Dessaix is on his way.
For the record, the Austrian morale is 12 and they have currently lost 8 units. The French morale is 12 (going to 13) and they have lost 10.
The small units, which are a feature of this scenario, mean units are more readily dispersed (permanently eliminated).
Nice report so far. Sounds an interesting game... did I miss what system you were using?
ReplyDeleteIt is literally in the fine print. The rules in use are Napoleon's Battles, first published by Avalon Hill in the early 1990s. There have been two editions since then and a fourth, the Marechal Edition is due to be published this year.
DeleteOf course - you've mentioned them before and I did look them up though couldn't find a copy. There's another 'Napoleon's Battles' which also confused me!
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