Our progress to this refight can only be described as “A
marathon … and then a sprint … and then a game!”.
This is the first in what will be 3 parts covering our experience of firstly preparing for and then playing what turned out to be a fun game.
Our project to refight the Battle
of Raab has been in progress for literally years. This is evidenced by the age
of my blog posts with the label ‘Raab’ (see them all here – including
this one!), which stretch back to 2010!
Well, a few months ago, we
committed to putting it all together. The original plan was to hold the game
over the long weekend adjacent the Melbourne Cup Day holiday as a part of a
regular annual event for our gaming group. For various reasons this event
didn’t happen (we were not ready in any case) and we ended up organising an
ad-hoc, short notice outing for the scenario version 0.1 in mid-December. What
follows is the preparation, the refight itself and the wash-up.
Preparations
The Rules:
We have used Napoleon’s Battles for
many years. The recently released version 4 was used for the first time by us in
this game. As we had a noob, we opted for using the standard rules (with a few
minor, but playable optionals, but importantly no Initiative or Re-rolls) and played the
slightly less onerous interpenetration rules. We own NB2 and NB3 and used
various items from these rule sets, such as markers and templates, as these are
not changed in NB4.
The updated NB4 Built Up Area and
Fortification rules are relevant for Kis Megyer and forces the French to
attempt a cold steel approach to taking it.
For those not familiar, these rules
are designed for Army and Corps level actions and the basic unit is a brigade
of infantry or cavalry. Only Heavy and Horse artillery are present, with medium
guns abstracted into the brigades. A heavy reliance on command and control
exists in the game and as will be seen, is a problem for the army structure of
the Austrians which without Corps.
The Painting:
While we didn’t quite achieve what
we were hoping for in terms the painted figures in the order of battle, we
fielded the full scenario OB.
The original goal was to field a
pair of armies consisting entirely of only AB (Anthony Barton) figures from
Eureka. In our collections are significant numbers from the Hinchcliffe,
Minifigs, Empire and Battle Honors ranges, and these filled the gaps where our
painting plans fell short.
These two brigades of French
Cavalry were painted on commission by Gunner Dunbar - my basing.
 |
| Reinforcements by (Australia) Post courtesy Gunner Dunbar and 'benefactor' |
Some last minute ring ins (more French
Cavalry and the Baden Brigade) came from Hinde’s.
However, I have to say that the 4
weeks leading up to the game saw significant personal production output,
including the completion of painting of 5 brigades of Insurrection Hussars, the
basing of 9 brigades of Cavalry and one of Infantry, and the painting and
basing of two divisional commanders and a limber. This is a record for me, and
likely never to be matched. I was helped by the earlier mass
painting of the horseflesh.
 |
| WIP Insurrection Cavalry – ready for basing |
 |
| Basing Production Line |
 |
| Austrian Divisional Commanders - WIP |
 |
| Cavalry Panorama – that is a LOT of (extra) cavalry! |
The Battlefield:
This was the most prepared part of
the event. Details of the terrain board can be found here.
Below is taken from Gill (my grid
pattern, slightly compressed scale, 1:1.2, with each square, 1.2km square to
fit into a 6’ by 5’ table). Note: Raab city is to the NE.
A couple of additional shots are
below which include the entire final setup including the 30cm modular extensions
are below. Note that the fields and trees are cosmetic.
 |
| A French perspective of the field. |
From the Austrian side, with Kis
Megyer in the centre. The town of Szabadhegy is 3 Built Up Areas.
 |
| From the Austrian side |
The Scenario:
We drew inspiration from the
official NB3 Raab scenario, but also from the works by Bowden & Tarbox, and
the more recent trilogy from Gill. Gill was used heavily for the OB. Bowden
(and also Gill) for the terrain and initial dispositions.
A link to the Scenario Card we used
is here.
It is somewhat in draft! As this was a first attempt at the scenario, we were
guided by the NB3 scenario for Victory Conditions, based on control of the
major battlefield features being Kis Megyer, Szabadhegy, etc.
Three key elements of the
battlefield that strongly impact the balance are Kis Megyer (a fortified farm),
the historical difficulty the French cavalry had crossing the Pandza on their
left and the movement penalty presented along the length of the Pandza. How
much of an impediment and protection these are for French and Austrians is key
to a balanced game. Gill referred to two items which we incorporated into the scenario
terrain, i.e. the discovery of a small bridge that enabled the French left to
finally cross the Pandza, and the way in which the Viscay (a rivulet) disordered
the inexperienced Insurrection cavalry. There are many options for the scenario
in relation to the terrain itself, however we settled for the following special
rules (and adjusted as below):
"All buildings have a +1 combat
modifier, except Kis-Megyer, which is a +3 fortification.
The Pandcza stream is fordable
by infantry and generals at all points, although infantry must be in column or
march column formation to cross. It is fordable by cavalry and artillery only
at a ford and they must be in column, march-column or limbered formation to
cross, or at a bridge.
The Viscay rivulet is a minor
obstacle and the following scenario special rule applies: Inexperienced Cavalry
are disordered crossing this obstacle unless they do so in column or march
column using a ford. No movement penalty applies for crossing this obstacle
(Designers note: historically, the Insurrection Light Cavalry were disordered
by this obstacle and this rule is present to represent this)."
We also opted for a D10 roll for
the French to find the crossing. On arrival at the location (1), a 1, then 3,
then 5 etc per movement phase spent searching for the crossing, before being
able to cross on the subsequent movement phase. The crossing was deemed a
Bridge (after Gill) rather than a ford. This makes a difference under NB4
rules.
A similar approach for the arrival
of the RD Austrian reserves was taken. Neither of these updates are in the
draft scenario card.
(Next up the refight itself)
Drop any questions in the comments below, or just let me know what you think!
