The Battle of Eckmuhl 1809 - the Opening Moves

Yesterday I took a trip to Chris Gregg's to play the opening moves of the Battle of Eckmuhl, 1809. Normally the weather has been wonderful, but not this time, as it was 'bloomin' grim' to say the least. Despite that I arrived on time and met up with Paul and Richard, familiar faces from previous games, and Tony a new acquitance. Paul and I would take the part of the Austrians, with Paul in overall command as Archduke Karl (Chaz to his friends), with myself as FML Hohenzollern (Dave to his friends) and in charge of III Corps. Richard was in overall charge of the 'French' as Napoleon and Tony as Davout (?). 

As always Chris had done sterling work on the table, the OOB, maps, info etc, to allow us the players to get out plans in place before the action started. I say 'we', when in fact Paul brilliantly (to my mind) gathered it all together and came up with a plan and deployments for the myriad of troops available. I'm sure Richard did the same. See below the overall map and a detailed section of where the opening actions would take place

The main action for the opening moves took place from A-K and up to row 8, to help give you an idea when looking at the photos below. I was at Ober and Unter Laichling, facing Tony's troops, with Paul at Eckmuhl across to Pfakofer. The mass of Davout's Corps arrived from the South East, pushing towards the gap between the Laichlings and Eckmuhl

To begin with, both sides had the room on their own to familiarise themselves with the terrain, where the troops were (mostly blinds at this point) and to come up with a plan of action. This took some time but was nescessary, given the nature of the terrain and the sheer number to troops involved. Also there was off table movement to be considered, which was controlled by written orders which were passed on to Chris, to allow him to move those units as required before they appeared on the table.

Right, so onto the game itself. Our plan as the Austrians was to hold onto the the Laichlings and Eckmuhl for as long as possible, sacrificing the troops to try and slow the French down as much as possible and to create a traffic jam which would take time for them to sort it out. We only managed 2 Turns, but broadly speaking our plan was working out as we had hoped, but the French were poised to breakout with their cavalry, from the line between the Laichlings and Eckmuhl, into the wide open spaces beyond. However our bastions of Eckmuhl and the Laichlings we still held and so the French troops had the risk of exposing their flanks if they moved past

Given how much time we spent on the game, I snatched photos as and when I could, to give you an idea of the action and the terrain. Most of these are after the first Turn.

A view from the North West table, with the Laichlings in the right angle corner of the table. Richard (Napoleon) surveys the terrain.

A bad shot of Austrian troops in Ober Laichling.

Davout's Corps begins to arrive.

The Austrian gun line with Eckmuhl to the left of the line. Not quite a 'thin red line' ...

Columns of French troops arrive on the Austrian left flank.

A few guns are all that can be seen to oppose them.

Some of Chris lovely terrain and 3D printed buildings. You do get a much better sense of how the terrain affected a battle when you play on a table such as this.

A view from the Austrian left, with Eckmuhl in the centre, with Davout's Corps arriving from top left.

A view towards the secondary Austrian defensive position, but no troops are visible yet, only blinds and markers. This really does add to the fog-of-war.

The final defensive line along a river valley.

More very nice 3D printed buildings.

Clouds of French skirmishers.

The French begin to try and take Eckmuhl. Despite Napoleon's urgings, the troops do not move quickly enough on the first Turn, much to the Austrian's relief!

A worrying sight as lots of French cavalry begin to arrive.

Bavarian (?) troops being to arrive from off table to threaten Ober Laichling.

Skirmishers clash along the Laichling stream, which the Austrians have reinforced with abattis.

The French cavalry charge the Austrian guns and cavalry along the ridge. Amazingly the guns managed to defeat one unit of French cavalry and force another one to retreat, before themselves having to do likewise. Still a moral victory and it did the job of slowing the French down, which was the aim!

A massed cavalry clash, with honours comeing out about even, but the French had plenty more in reserve, wherewas we had none!

The French are in Eckmuhl, but it is still contested by Austrian Grenzers.

The French skirmishers have crossed the Laichling stream, but come up against formed Austrian Line Infantry.

The Austrian position here is very weak and the plan was to make a covered withdrawl towards the next line of hidden troops.

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was fun, but pretty intense, due to the sheer number of troops involved, both on and off the table. As always the game was played in the right spirit, with plenty of jovial banter being bandied about. It was great to play with Paul again and we certianly had the same ideas in terms of what to do as the Austrians. Tony was a great laugh and we had good fun battling against each other by the Laichlings. I didn't get to play against Richard in this game, as his troops were far away from mine, but a wonderful opponent as always. Of course many thanks to Chris from making the terrain, which was glorious as always, and for creating the scenario, getting the forces together etc.

There as still two days play left, so I, like you, will have to wait and see what unfolds. Chris will not doubt put up several excellent reports on his Blog in due course, which I will add a link to on mine as and when they appear.

I hope you enjoyed the above and as always comments greatly appreciated:)!

TTFN.