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I started a game under v305, as a test, and posted comments in this thread :

tm.asp?m=4297140

The situation became so interesting that I wanted to finish as an AAR, but Real Life intervened and it is only now that I have been able to finish the last turns.

Here are the final 10 turns picking up from the situation left in the above thread.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………



Returning to finish this scenario, which has just 10 game days to go, as I did not click the 'Campaign' box on the Start Screen, this would have given a longer playing period. No time now for deep strategy, but will have to fight it out.





After series of battles around STRAUBING and LANDAU, aimed at the Danube crossings the French fell back, leaving LIECHTENSTEIN and KIENMAYER 'shattered'. Both Austrian corps retreated to the North bank of the Danube and LIECHTENSTEIN recovered fairly quickly, but KIENMAYER took longer, whilst both corps commanders and some of their units were still wavering. BELLEGARDE had been shattered during the fighting at STRAUBING and was in panicked retreat and beyond orders, through CHAM, eventually towards BUDWEIS, well in the rear.

The French (revealed to be MASSENA and VANDAMME) moved off towards BRAUNAU, apparently heading for LAMBACH and VIENNA. I see that BRAUNAU has fallen, now showing blue, but LAMBACH is still in Austrian red.

This scenario covers the invasion of Bavaria by Austrian forces, therefore, CHARLES feels that, as the French have moved away from his immediate front at DEGGENDORF, he must advance over the river to continue with the Austrian War party plan. CHARLES, with ROSENBERG, proceeds towards LANDAU and LANDSHUT, meeting no opposition.

The IMPERIAL GUARD, joined by LEFEBVRE, were blocked by HILLER during the street fighting in MUNICH, but have now presumably headed for FREISING and LANDSHUT, to join the main French forces.

HILLER is now out of contact with CHARLES, as the French have moved across his communications at BRAUNAU, but he has left MUNICH on his own initiative and is returning down the North bank of the River Inn. Having captured significant amounts of supply at MUNICH (92 points), he should be able to operate independently for a few days.

HILLER's performance at MUNICH was outstanding, although he suffered loss and one unit 'shattered', he stood off two French corps, including the IMPERIAL GUARD. However, nothing is guaranteed, as out of interest, I replayed that situation again, as a test, and in the replay MASSENA appears at MUNICH and HILLER is toast.

Back to the story :

May 1st 1809

CHARLES was heading for LANDSHUT and captured the town by detaching cavalry and sending it forward. He had been hoping to restore communications with HILLER through LANDSHUT and FREISING, but the leading cavalry units of LIECHTENSTEIN, moving from SCHAERDING, have revealed that MASSENA and possibly VANDAMME have turned back towards LANDAU and are now threatening CHARLES' line of retreat back to the bridge at DEGGENDORF.

CHARLES had taken the precaution of detaching the two veteran infantry units of Hessen-Homburg (from ROSENBERG) and Dedovich (from CHARLES), with orders to defend LANDAU and the crossings of the Rivers Vils and Iser. These two units will not be able to hold back two French corps, but MASSENA and VANDAMME are stretched back along the roads to BRAUNAU, so these two Austrian divisions should buy some time. CHARLES has ordered a return of forces to LANDAU.

When the French fell back from the Danube at DEGGENDORF, after DAVOUT's hard won escape, CHARLES had yielded to the temptation to leave the protection of the River Danube and advanced along the North bank of the River Iser, but he was now regretting that move.

ROSENBERG has seven, mostly confident, units under his control (some from the other 'shattered' corps), but this is probably more than he can handle, so CHARLES has transferred Clary cavalry and Vogelsang infantry to his own command, to leave ROSENBERG with a more manageable corps. Clary is 'brittle' and Vogelsang has significant stragglers, but CHARLES may be able to restore these units more quickly, with his better inspiration attributes (new in v3.05, attachment of units to army commander).

CHARLES had considered the alternative strategy of continuing with ROSENBERG to LANDSHUT, crossing the River Iser and falling on the rear of MASSENA and VANDAMME, as they attempted to force a crossing at LANDAU, but that depended on HOHENZOLLERN moving from STRAUBING and LIECHTENSTEIN moving from SCHAERDING, whilst KIENMAYER is of little use when still beyond PASSAU, supposedly moving to close the battle area. CHARLES did not have that confidence in his corps commanders and there were too many other French units also likely to appear at any time.

The fog of war was hanging thickly over these Bavarian fields and the fear of the IMPERIAL GUARD, emerging from the mist, had made CHARLES reluctant to leave the protection of the great river.

Meanwhile, further up-river, BERNADOTTE (French IX Corps of Saxons) has appeared outside CHAM, where LOUIS has been given orders to defend the town, with additional units added to his command from the broken corps of BELLEGARDE, shattered and retreating via KLATTAU. However, where is LOUIS, reports have him chasing out along the River Regen, collecting the artillery unit transferred from BELLEGARDE, instead of staying in CHAM and preparing to repel BERNADOTTE.

If LOUIS fails, BERNADOTTE would be able to move behind the Austrian positions at STRAUBING and maybe even DEGGENDORF and the Danube River defence would be shattered. The only retreat would be through PASSAU, where the Engineers are waiting for the order to blow the bridge.

CHARLES sighed as he stopped the advance and turned back towards the East, it was going to be a long 10 days.

May 2nd 1809

BERNADOTTE probes the defences of CHAM, where the errant young archduke gets back to his post just in time to command the battle. LOUIS has an enlarged corps, having absorbed the good units from the shattered BELLEGARDE (the commander may have broken, but many of the troops are made of sterner stuff).

In the battle for CHAM, LOUIS chooses to 'Counter-attack', this is the most aggressive stance available when the march posture has been for 'Defend'. I usually keep corps orders to 'Defend', even when advancing, to avoid being drawn into battles at a disadvantage, however, if I had more confidence in the Austrian corps commanders, I might use a more aggressive stance, which would allow for more attacking options in battle.

After moving to the battle screen, it is revealed that BERNADOTTE has chosen 'Withdrawal', so this is not a serious attempt to capture the town, merely a exploratory action.

LOUIS has a cavalry and artillery advantage, although the battle is taking place in the town, reducing the effect of the guns. This effect had helped HILLER at MUNICH, but is working against us now. However LOUIS has a 2:1 advantage in infantry (46 – 22).






LOUIS beats off the searching action at CHAM, with some loss to BERNADOTTE, but not much, meanwhile LOUIS is unharmed and the artillery unit that he was trying to hurry into battle arrived as the battle ended and unable to have much effect in the town streets.

CHAM is firmly held, removing the risk of a French move on DEGGENDORF from the rear, but might a more aggressive stance by LOUIS have resulted in a bigger victory. BERNADOTTE might have had the support of the units that MASSENA left near INGOLSTADT, after finishing off KOLOWRAT, but the French cavalry of Marulaz and Bruyer, from MASSENA's corps, can now been seen heading for LANDSHUT, therefore, BERNADOTTE is alone, but there is always the danger of more enemy troops entering the battle after it has started.

MASSENA seems to have pulled back away from LANDAU and be concentrating his units on LANDSHUT, whilst VANDAMME has disappeared. The leading cavalry of HILLER, returning from MUNICH, has reached the crossroads to BRAUNAU, but finds nothing there.

LIECHTENSTEIN and his units are showing as mainly 'confident' after the setbacks of earlier turns, KIENMAYER is still not fully restored, with one unit 'wavering' and one still 'brittle'.

BELLEGARDE has reached KLATTAU, but still 'shattered' and in retreat. CHARLES has sent orders for BELLEGARDE to stop at KLATTAU, but he is unlikely to react and is heading for BUDWEIS, well in the rear. With the corps commander himself 'shattered', he cannot restore the morale of his units and CHARLES cannot intervene at this time.

The Austrians have two corps out of action, KOLOWRAT completely destroyed near INGOLSTADT, whilst BELLEGARDE may recover and some of his units are still in action, transferred to other corps.

On the French side DAVOUT was badly damaged and hasn't reappeared, whilst BERNADOTTE was repulsed, but not with heavy loss, so he will still be in action.

CHARLES is encamped just outside LANDAU and, after the sparring of the last few days, the two armies are stabilising, with the Austrians restoring their line from CHAM to PASSAU and also covering the direct route to VIENNA though BRAUNAU. The impudent upstart emperor seems to be concentrating his army in the vicinity of FREISING. The infantry unit of Molitor, from French IV Corps (MASSENA), has moved back to the crossroads between the Rivers Vils and Roth, but not clear whether this move is part of the concentration on FREISING, or going to be an attempt to cut-off HILLER, whose trailing unit has only just left MUNICH.

Closer look at the map shows that BERNADOTTE has not fully pulled back from CHAM and two French infantry units and one artillery are still in the town. I couldn't see that initially, as the battle cursor was still on the hex and this freezes the shuffle feature, so you cannot see all that is in the hex. The fix is to save the turn, restart a new game with same scenario and then select the saved turn from the map screen and the hex should be free again.

I know from the last battle reports that LOUIS has a cavalry advantage over BERNADOTTE, which will make it more difficult for BERNADOTTE to dis-engage and there is unlikely to be any support for BERNADOTTE, with the other French forces seemingly heading for FREISING, additionally, LOUIS has good battle attributes (about all he does have). Now might be the time to aggressively pursue and try and finish off BERNADOTTE.

From the Victory screen, losses are about even, with the French having a slight advantage in lower casualties, translating into -10 VPs for me, which strangely means that I am ahead on points. Both sides have their confidence level fallen to (1), which seems unrealistic for the French.

Again, don't forget to LOOK at the map, LOUIS' cavalry (Schustekh) has suffered in the street fighting, having lost half is strength to stragglers and is 'brittle', but I think LOUIS must still aggressively pursue BERNADOTTE, opportunities like this do not come often.

LOUIS is ordered to 'engage' and advance on SCHWANDORF.

Added replacement artillery to IIRs Art. (KIENMAYER) and replacements given to Aspre infantry, whilst they were still close enough to LOC WIMPERK to allow this.

KIENMAYER ordered to LANDAU, as his units and KIENMAYER himself are mainly restored to confident/steady, although two units still wavering/brittle, but this corps is needed in action.

I am assuming that HILLER is back in communication, so ordered to defend the crossroads between BRAUNAU and LANDSHUT, however his Kottulinsk infantry division is 'brittle', showing 8 points stragglers and lagging behind on the road from MUNICH. HILLER's Nordmann infantry is 'shattered' and heading back to WIMPERK, no longer under orders, so HILLER will be short-handed when he gets to the objective.

LIECHTENSTEIN needs to get moving to cover HILLER's return, but the road net is not helpful, as it will initially send LIECHTENSTEIN away towards BRAUNAU. Then I change my mind, as it looks like any big battle is going to take place near LANDSHUT, so I can't have LIECHTENSTEIN heading off towards BRAUNAU, so sending him towards LANDAU instead, to support CHARLES and ROSENBERG, HILLER will have to look after himself.

HOHENZOLLERN was given orders to defend ECKMUHL, but he has stopped short, so CHARLES repeated the order.

Now that LANDAU is not directly threatened and LIECHTENSTEIN is moving in to provide cover, I have re-attached the two veteran units, which were defending the town, back to their original commanders. CHARLES has Clary, Vogelsang and Dedovich attached to himself to relieve the load on ROSENBERG, but as CHARLES is attached to ROSENBERG, they should all fight together.

I am using house rules and not using 'forced march', or march 'To the guns' for Austrian units, this is to represent the Austrians lack of co-ordination and slower marching rate, at least until the stress builds. I am expecting a French build-up near FREISING and LANDSHUT, so don't want to walk into anything unexpectedly, so I will wait a day and see want happens.

I have checked all corps for supply and all is good, HILLER and LIECHTENSTEIN have been set to take supply from LINZ, which is closer to them that the LOC at WIMPERK.

MASSENA has probed from LANDSHUT towards LANDAU and met the units that are attached to CHARLES, although ROSENBERG was credited with command in the battle, but I am still expecting that CHARLES will have added his attributes to the battle as he is attached with ROSENBERG.

It wasn't much of a battle, as CHARLES advises ROSENBERG on 'Withdrawal' for these exposed forward units and MASSENA came forward with a smaller force to 'Probe', but the French lost 2 points and the Austrian none, although the battle was counted a French victory, because the Austrians retreated.

However, CHARLES is reluctant to commit larger forces forward, until the French Emperor's intentions become clearer.

MUNICH has fallen back under French control, so there are likely to be units on this road and the IMPERIAL GUARD and LEFEBVRE are still unaccounted for.

BELLEGARDE and the three units that I left with him all remain 'shattered', but he has accepted the order to stop at KLATTAU, instead of continuing the the rear. The importance of this is, that if shattered units continue to march, they suffer more loss and the further away the units travel the less likelihood there is that the stragglers will be able to rejoin. All three units with BELLEGARDE are down to strength (1), with all their other strength as stragglers, they can never regain their strength if they keep marching.

LOUIS is being slow, as usual, and taking his time in following after BERNADOTTE, whose IX corps cavalry is now at REGENSBERG, so maybe BERNADOTTE is bypassing CHAM and the dithering LOUIS. There are no French units left in CHAM, so BERNADOTTE has escaped. However, HOHENZOLLERN has finally taken ECKMUHL, which would block a move that way.

If CHAM is to be a side-show, then sending LOUIS to STRAUBING is a better move, closer to the potential action, but detaching and leaving Reuss-Plauen veteran infantry to defend CHAM, until we are sure that BERNADOTTE has moved South.

The Victory points are now at minus 4 (was -10), so slipping back with these little skirmishes and will it be enough to win the scenario. A big loss now would wreck everything.





There was a message that KIENMAYER had shattered ??? He has only just started moving after several days rest, but after the turn resolution had finished, I checked KIENMAYER to find him and his units as they were, unchanged.

HILLER is moving desperately slowly, perhaps held back by the lagging Kottulinsky infantry, but the French are making no move to block his way. Without the 'shattered' Nordmann infantry HILLER will be very weak when he concentrates on the crossroad near BRAUNAU, so CHARLES transfers Richter infantry from LIECHTENSTEIN to HILLER.

Some of the younger officers are becoming impatient with this 'wait and see' policy, but what are the French intentions. Is MASSENA the main thrust from LANDSHUT and what is now passing through MUNICH, maybe following HILLER. CHARLES has lost the use of two corps (KOLOWRAT and BELLEGARDE) and would like to have KIENMAYER back through PASSAU in support, but he is moving so slowly, with some of his units not yet fully restored.

CHARLES spends the night considering the position, after DAVOUT, MASSENA has become the spear-head of the French attack and units of his IV corps are around LANDSHUT. CHARLES decides to wait one more day, hoping that all will be revealed, whilst there is still time left in the scenario to act. The units on the LANDSHUT road should give warning and HOHENZOLLERN is well placed at ECKMUHL to fall on MASSENA's flank if he advances, if HOHENZOLLERN moves fast enough, if HOHENZOLLERN is not distracted by BERNADOTTE and if MASSENA doesn't come down that road in such numbers and so fast that it is all over before anyone can react. If Napoleon is with MASSENA, he could have the large French IV corps, VANDAMME's corps and the IMPERIAL GUARD. That would take some stopping and too many 'ifs' in this game.

Supplies at VIENNA were almost exhausted, nearly all the supply was now in the field, with the corps, in town depots, or in transit.

St Cyr of MASSENA's corps is just sitting, covering the crossing of the River Roth, but there doesn't seem to be any movement from that direction, whatever is at MUNICH has some way to go to become engaged.

Then in the hours of the early morning, another change of mind, HOHENZOLLERN is ordered to move South from ECKMUHL, leaving Vukassovic infantry, to delay at the rear of the column, detached to defend ECKMUHL against the French IX corps cavalry at REGENSBERG. ROSENBERG is ordered out of LANDAU and onto the LANDSHUT road to confront whatever MASSENA could bring up that road. LIECHTENSTEIN is now close enough to cover the vacated town of LANDAU. KIENMAYER's units have started to re-cross the Danube at PASSAU, with cavalry well in advance.

CHARLES went back to his room after giving these orders, NAPOLEON would not have waited and neither would he, but NAPOLEON wasn't commanding Austrian forces and the sun was just beginning to rise on a new day. Too many 'ifs'.

4th May 1809

Weather raining, not enough to affect the roads, but will have an affect on battle odds.

VANDAMME has appeared at LANDSHUT, opposing HOHENZOLLERN, who has started moving South from ECKMUHL.

CHARLES has moved out of LANDAU and onto the road to LANDSHUT, with the leading units encountering what appears to be leading units from MASSENA, where yesterday CHARLES had ordered his screening units on the road to 'withdraw' in the face of MASSENA's probe, what to do today.




The fog of war is lifting slightly, BERNADOTTE's corps is still North of REGENSBERG, whilst the mass of MASSENA's IV corps is suspected on the road from LANDSHUT and St Cyr is more than just a screen against HILLER, as the hex stack number shows 6 units.

Still no sign of the IMPERIAL GUARD, or LEFEBVRE, and where is NAPOLEON, as knowing where the ogre is might indicate the main French advance, but the decision now is whether to defend, or counter-attack, against MASSENA forcing his way up the road from LANDSHUT to LANDAU and CHARLES has now moved out onto that road to oppose him and do battle.

MASSENA has excellent battle attributes (shown on previous battle reports), but now CHARLES has taken direct command in battle of these Austrian advanced forces and also has high attributes. The three Austrian units initially engaged are fresh and confident, but the rest of MASSENA's corps is coming up the road and may join the action after it has started. The rest of ROSENBERG's corps is nearby and been ordered onto the LANDSHUT road, but under house rules I am not using 'To the guns' for Austrian corps, so they might come onto the battlefield in their march, or maybe not. LIECHTENSTEIN is just arriving South of LANDAU, KIENMAYER is reaching PASSAU and reports say that BELLEGARDE has rallied his troops at KLATTAU.

In the battle on the road to LANDSHUT, CHARLES has cavalry and artillery superiority and it is tempting to 'counter-attack' and to strike back at MASSENA, to do some damage in case he is merely probing again as yesterday, instead of another inconclusive action. However the rain will diminish the firing of his units and, during the earlier turn resolution phase, more French units could be seen on the road. Only six days left, but CHARLES decides that, if a larger battle is to develop, it would be better to wait, until his corps have closed up and maybe the fog of war will lift further. He orders a 'Defend' on the road.

The battle opens to reveal that MASSENA is coming forward in a 'Hasty Assault', with the French infantry attacking in open terrain with no cavalry, or artillery support. MASSENA seems to have anticipated pushing aside a screening force on the road, just like yesterday, but finds a prepared artillery defence and the French losses are high (7 pnts).

CHARLES takes post behind his guns and watches, with some satisfaction, as the French infantry is routed off the field, suffering casualties of nearly a third of the force. Austrian casualties are light (1 pnt), but no other forces have reached the field and a more aggressive 'counter-attack' stance may have wiped out the French force. However that is hindsight, which CotD does not permit.

Meanwhile, HOHENZOLLERN is marching out of ECKMUHL onto the flank of the suspected French deployment and meets a large force of cavalry from VANDAMME, now revealed to be near LANDSHUT.

HOHENZOLLERN is advancing in a 'Defend' posture, as ordered by CHARLES, and it would be foolhardy to attack cavalry. HOHENZOLLERN has a mixed force of Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery, which should be able to form a stout defence, even though he has left some of his corps in ECKMUHL to defend against BERNADOTTE, in case he breaks away from LOUIS and moves through REGENSBERG. HOHENZOLLERN obeys CHARLES' strategic advice and orders his units into defence, his job here is to threaten the French flank and rear, and whilst the whereabouts of considerable French forces are still unknown, he does not want to expose himself to the fate which befell KOLOWRAT.

In the open terrain South of ECKMUHL artillery is king and Nansouty commanding the French cavalry has wisely decided on 'Withdrawal'. VANDAMME is no MASSENA and is suffering from communication problems, but the Austrian cannon speak loudly enough and the French cavalry suffer some loss, but do not leave the battlefield and stay close to HOHENZOLLERN's positions.

CHARLES is well satisfied with the results of the day, maybe in hindsight much more could have been achieved and in many other games it would have been possible, as your opponent waits whilst you take your turn. Here in WEGO-land the enemy is also moving and the situation could have been very different.

BELLEGARDE has restored himself and the three units left with him, but they are all still 'wavering', so are not yet ready to return to battle. He has obeyed the order to stop at KLATTAU, where there is safety and a small supply depot, sufficient for his purposes. It may be several days before he can resume operations, so some housekeeping. His Ulm infantry had detached itself and was intending to head further into the rear, so reattached to keep what is left of the corps together. BELLEGARDE has 172 supply points in hand, with another 91 at KLATTAU, and a supply convoy (40) just arriving, so he does not need supply from the LOC, therefore, is ordered to make KLATTAU his supply depot. I have ordered a 'rest day' to help restore the units and keep them resting until they improve.

Two points, if I had looked at BELLEGARDE's supply situation earlier, I could have avoided an unnecessary supply convoy being sent to him, not important now, but in a longer campaign it would not be good to have unnecessary supply distributed. Secondly, I stopped him at KLATTAU because the counters on two units were showing losses which I assumed were stragglers and it is best to keep units from moving too far, so that stragglers can re-join. A closer look at BELLEGARDE's info panel shows that the losses are wounded, not stragglers, which will have been sent to the hospital at WIMPERK. It might be better to have BELLEGARDE move closer to WIMPERK, but KLATTAU will have to do for now, because if he is to come back into action, it is most likely to be via CHAM, or DEGGENDORF, so KLATTAU is a good position.

I have described this in some detail, to show how much control you have and how much can be done to improve the state of your units. After a battle, there are likely to be units and commanders setting their own orders and heading to the rear, even when they are not heavily damaged. It's a good policy to check commanders and units, looking at objectives and march urgency to check that they are still doing what you need. Keep checking because even after sending re-orders, the panic effect can still last a for a few turns and the commands have to be repeated, until they come into line.

Again LOOK AT THE MAP, if a Frank Hunter game is showing you something, then it is important, a feature that I constantly fail to see.

Keep checking that Objectives, Supply Depots, Stance and Urgency, Retreat Points, are still as you want them.

The two units of MASSENA's corps, which assaulted CHARLES are still on the battlefield, but routed, so they should be easy meat, but where has the rest of French IV corps gone. I am avoiding looking at the stack numbers display as I mouse-over the map, so as not to see which hexes are occupied, to preserve FOW, unless hexes show unit counters.

HILLER is moving at glacial speed, he was out of communication, due to French movements, but should now be back in contact and is showing the objective which CHARLES has given, which is the crossroads on the road to BRAUNAU. The cavalry of Vincent is sitting on the crossroads, but HILLER is slow in bringing up his other units, but the French have withdrawn from this area to confront CHARLES, so the delay has not been vital. CHARLES repeats the order to get HILLER moving, in order to threaten the French Southern flank as HOHENZOLLERN is doing from ECKMUHL.

HILLER's Kottulinsky infantry suffered many casualties (8 pnts wounded) and is trailing in the rear of HILLER's column and maybe slowing the march.

The infantry of Nordmann from HILLER's corps is continuing its panicked flight to the rear after the battles in MUNICH. I had transferred this unit to CHARLES in hopes that it could be brought under control, but it is ignoring all objectives and the importance of this is that, as the unit continues to run, it is shedding more and more stragglers and slowly destroying itself and, the further it goes, the less the likelihood of stragglers being able to re-join.

CHARLES, with ROSENBERG, needs to press forward towards LANDSHUT to close up to HOHENZOLLERN, who is moving South from ECKMUHL and CHARLES also orders LIECHTENSTEIN to follow through LANDAU onto the same road.

LOUIS was given orders to march on STRAUBING to support HOHENZOLLERN, expecting that BERNADOTTE was heading for REGENSBERG, but BERNADOTTE has not moved over the River Regen and is still confronting LOUIS with some of his units. However, BERNADOTTE has the cavalry of Gutschmidt just North of REGENSBERG, which could quickly descend on ECKMUHL and cut off HOHENZOLLERN, so he must detach and post at least one unit in ECKMUHL, to protect his retreat, which is the infantry of St Julian, but that weakens the force that HOHENZOLLERN can use against VANDAMME. Luckily VANDAMME has a small corps and MASSENA is engaged against CHARLES, but where is NAPOLEON, the IMPERIAL GUARD, LANNES and LEFEBVRE. HOHENZOLLERN is in an exposed position.

CHARLES decides to stay with the plan of pressing in on the French forces near LANDSHUT, but cautiously. HOHENZOLLERN's units are all confident, but have suffered significant losses and the corps has 20 points of wounded.

Trying to co-ordinate the movements of several Austrian corps into an effective strategy, with commanders having their own fears, becomes very difficult, but that is what the game is all about and it does encourage a cautious approach, as a lot can go wrong.

----- Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult. - Karl Von Clausewitz -----

Frank has certainly hit the target.

CHARLES realises that the order for LIECHTENSTEIN to follow him through LANDAU, to confront MASSENA, will leave the flank vulnerable, until HILLER and KIENMAYER get into position. The calculation is that the main French forces are North of the River Iser and St Cyr is merely a covering force, so hopefully there will be no action in this area, until HILLER and/or KIENMAYER arrive at their objectives.

Later, checking the map, the hex stack number for St Cyr shows 6 units, so it's much more than a covering force.

I am still hoping and expecting that the main battle will take place between LANDAU and LANDSHUT, on the North bank of the River Iser and am intending to concentrate there. There is a possibility that some French forces are following HILLER from MUNICH (which is back under French control), but they should have become visible by now.

I am torn between continuing to bring LOUIS down through STRAUBING, to join the main concentration, providing a reserve and something to fall back on if things go badly in a major battle, or sending him after BERNADOTTE. Leaving the order at STRAUBING, but not convinced it is a good move.

Changed my mind on LIECHTENSTEIN's supply, as he joins CHARLES, I have set his retreat point as DEGGENDORF, so re-set his supply depot to WIMPERK, because if there is a retreat he will then be falling back on his supply line.

I have checked KIENMAYER's units and although the order to him is for march urgency - 'Regular', he has all his units moving on 'slow'. CHARLES is furious and considering a firing squad, but if he has to shoot all of his generals, who will be left to command the army. The order is repeated at 'regular' march, but without much hope of a change.

Historically, the Austrian army had a slow marching pace at the beginning of the campaign, but easily outpaced the French and Bavarians when it came time to escape back to Bohemia.

5th May 1809

Weather clear

Perhaps because of the losses, Victory points at +2 to the French.

During turn resolution there was a report that LIECHTENSTEIN was 'shattered', but he had not been involved in any combat and when the new turn opened, LIECHTENSTEIN's info panel showed him with morale as 'confident'. This happened in an earlier turn, during turn resolution when KIENMAYER was reported to have 'shattered' when he had in fact recovered. I replayed this turn several times and the report [LIECHTENSTEIN 'shattered'] came out each time, although LIECHTENSTEIN wasn't shattered.

The 'shattered' Nordmann finally moved towards CHARLES, but down to strength 2, with 15 stragglers, which illustrates the additional damage that can be done to 'shattered' units continuing to move. Nordmann has been attached to CHARLES to gain from his inspiration and is now close, see if it recovers.

Reports of 'Enemy units driven back', both coming from French IX corps at hex (26,07) outside CHAM (Polenz infantry) and at (24,11) ECKMUHL (Feilizsch cavalry), these are small scale skirmishes resolved by the AI, with no player input required. – Message Archive would help

BERNADOTTE has gone from CHAM, just leaving Polenz infantry

MASSENA has quickly disengaged from CHARLES, with 5 units now on the River Roth – saw Molitor and the French Engineers, but stack numbers show more, are they going to cross, or blow the bridges ?

BELLEGARDE ordered a rest day, hoping to restore the three units left with him.

KIENMAYER still reluctant to enter the fray, all units moving slowly, one still 'brittle'.

WIMPERK supply building up, consider moving LOC, meanwhile VIENNA is empty, with 300 supply points left at PRESSBURG to send forward. BUDWEIS has 1713 supply pnts.

Still don't know the whereabouts of NAPOLEON, IMPERIAL GUARD, LANNES and LEFEBVRE. Would the real NAPOLEON have given me this much time to prepare.

Have to get CHARLES, ROSENBERG and LIECHTENSTEIN, followed by LOUIS and KIENMAYER into action ASAP.




After the Battle of EKMUHL, CHARLES was reading the battle report, only VANDAMME's VII Corps of Wurtembergers was engaged with HOHENZOLLERN, the majority of MASSENAs IV Corps has moved to the River Roth, leaving only Legrand to watch CHARLES and ROSENBURG (confirmed by stack number for that hex).

In this battle Neubronn Inf. and VII Corps Art. of VANDAMME's corps were routed, Lusignan Inf. and Vukassovich Cav. of HOHENZOLLERN also routed (shattered). CHARLES is close enough to assist HOHENZOLLERN in the battle, but VANDAMME has solved his earlier communication problems and has outstanding execution and a large cavalry advantage. Units of BERNADOTTE's IX Corps and MASSENA's IV Corps are nearby, but do not take part in the battle.

I had considered 'Withdraw' for this battle, which may have reduced the casualties, but not sure if withdrawal was possible against such a large French cavalry superiority.

The French are manoeuvring quickly, which cannot be matched by the Austrians, especially using house rules. MASSENA quickly disengaged from CHARLES/ROSENBERG and appeared to be confronting HILLER. BERNADOTTE and VANDAMME are combining against HOHENZOLLERN, whilst CHARLES is intending to bring ROSENBERG and LIECHTENSTEIN into action together to help, but where is the rest of NAPOLEON's force.

I played the turn over several times to see how the situation at ECKMUHL works out with different orders and it comes out differently each time. A 'withdrawal' by HOHENZOLLERN might be a better choice, but the situation was never the same, sometimes MASSENA combines with VANDAMME to decisively defeat HOHENZOLLERN, sometimes even more of BERNADOTTE's forces appear. However, the opposite also happened, with a weak response from MASSENA and VANDAMME allowing HOHENZOLLERN to inflict heavy casualties on a lonely BERNADOTTE. The variability in this game is very significant.

The game variations also played out in the weather, where in previous running of this scenario, the weather was often raining and it was a major factor, this time the weather has been mainly clear and had little effect. Variability adds to a realistic uncertainty.

There is no doubt that, as the situation developed, that I have put HOHENZOLLERN in a dangerous position, but the game has shown varied results, which indicates that the AI is not running with easily predictable responses, but is nicely and realistically unpredictable. Obviously a human opponent would have the potential to be more challenging, but the AI is a worthy opponent, especially with house rules, and I could still select 'Favour French' in the game settings, to provide even more balance to help the AI NAPOLEON.

The French confidence level is as low at the Austrians at this stage (Level 1), which is barely creditable, as NAPOLEON's inspirational effect worked miracles on both French troops and the Bavarian allies. Historically his forces continued to perform magnificently, even after heavy casualties, which was in contrast to the overall performance of the Austrians, which despite some heroic actions, was generally lacklustre. I think that the French confidence level in the game should be more resilient.

The 'safe' plan would be as I intended a day, or two, previously and have LOUIS press BERNADOTTE and keep him away from HOHENZOLLERN, but I also want to concentrate forces if there is to be a climatic battle near LANDSHUT. The game teases you with these options and over which is the best strategy.

Took a sneak look 'over the hill' at the French side, without displaying any units, just did a 'find' on Army Commander to see that NAPOLEON is reported to be at LANDSHUT, which makes sense, as this is where the situation is building. I had not seen any indication of NAPOLEON for so many turns, that I was wondering if he was dead, or the AI was doing something strange, but all is as you would expect and I should not have doubted the AI.

HILLER is still moving slowly in his return from MUNICH, but now has his units closed up and is nearing the ordered objective, which is the crossroads between BRAUNAU and LANDSHUT. He's in good shape with plenty of supply, 'steady' morale and little stress, with only one unit 'brittle' the rest are OK. MASSENA seems to be massing against HILLER, which is good if it is splitting the attention of the little Emperor.

CHARLES, with ROSENBERG, is holding on the road between LANDAU and LANDSHUT, LIECHTENSTEIN, who is just passing LANDAU, has been ordered up to join them there, expecting action with whatever NAPOLEON has with him at LANDSHUT, whilst VANDAMME faces HOHENZOLLERN and MASSENA opposes HILLER. LOUIS is moving to the concentration via STRAUBING and KIENMAYER is crossing the Danube at PASSAU.

It would be better if KIENMAYER was closer, but now moving through PASSAU and he could eventually cover the flank South of LANDAU, being vacated by LIECHTENSTEIN.

6th May 1809

No great battle today, but it has started raining and the French have mainly faded in the mist.





VANDAMME and HOHENZOLLERN have fallen away from each other at ECKMUHL, with HOHENZOLLERN having two units 'shattered' and himself 'brittle'. CHARLES orders him to stop outside STRAUBING, where LOUIS is moving to support from CHAM. BERNADOTTE has disappeared, but LOUIS still has one infantry division detached to defend CHAM, where BERNADOTTE may reappear.

HOHENZOLLERN now has high stress and, under my house rules, I could order a 'forced march', but I do not want him moving quickly now, but merely to wait for LOUIS. When they meet near STRAUBING, I could reorganise the two corps to give LOUIS, as best commander in battle, the most effective units and most striking power. HOHENZOLLERN's cavalry (Vukassovich) has 'shattered' and is headlining back to BUDWEIS in disorder, CHARLES had taken command of the cavalry of Clary from the debris of earlier battles and now transfers him to HOHENZOLLERN, to replace his lost cavalry unit.

The game provides for the attachment and detachment of all units to all corps, which gives great flexibility, provided you remain within the command capabilities of each corps commander. The game always had some units starting the scenarios attached to the Army Commander (CHARLES, or NAPOLEON), but new in v3.05 is that units can be attached to the Army Commander during the game. You may want to do this to create a bigger reserve to use later, or relieve the weight on suffering corps commanders, by using the Army Commanders' greater attributes to restore broken units. However, whereas there is a 'view units' feature for corps commanders, there is not one for Army Commanders, you can only remind yourself by scanning the units to see which is attached to CHARLES. Nordmann was attached to CHARLES when almost destroyed and down to strength (1), but ordered to be near LANDAU to be closer to CHARLES, this unit is now recovering strength, now at (8).

The only French force visible are two units of VANDAMME, but the stack numbers show that there are 4, presumably his whole corps, but we don't know how damaged it is from the brush with HOHENZOLLERN at ECKMUHL. I could mouse-over the map and see where the French units are, from the stack numbers, but resist the temptation.

FOW has descended with a vengeance !

Forgot about BELLEGARDE last turn, as he is waiting near KLATTAU with 3 damaged units. He is still 'wavering' so I order another 'rest day' and he is unlikely to be back in action before the scenario ends. They are close enough the LOC WIMPERK to receive replacements, so I add several to each of the three units.

HILLER is almost at his objective and now the option is to keep him closed up to confront MASSENA, if MASSENA is still nearby at the crossing of the River Roth, or send out the cavalry of Vincent to seize back BRAUNU and open supply lines back to VIENNA, also maybe get some victory points for the town. The French have a wafer thin margin of +2 VP. Maybe try and do both things, with only four days left to the end of the scenario.

Meanwhile, back on the main front outside LANDSHUT, which is believed to be the ogre's lair, there has been another day's grace to allow LIECHTENSTEIN to close up to CHARLES. The rain is pouring down, but not yet long enough to affect the roads and KIENMAYER's already slow approach. CHARLES has no choice, but to wait anxiously, watching the road towards LANDSHUT, not knowing what French force awaited them and when it might move.

Any trumpet sound caused every head to turn to look down that misty track.

Checking on LIECHTENSTEIN, CHARLES finds that he has dropped to 'cautious' march and has set his own retreat point to BRUNN, well in the rear. CHARLES repeats the order to advance to join ROSENBERG and reset the retreat point to DEGGENDORF, to match the rest of this part of the army. LIECHTENSTEIN is indicting as confident, but that does not seem to be the case.

How much of this is WAD ? That is, working through subordinate commanders who have their own attributes and fears, with other ideas of what is best to do next. The French commanders are certainly more reliable and can be more trustworthy in carrying out their orders.

The Austrian army is slooowly concentrating around LANDAU and the French army is believed to be around LANDSHUT, CHARLES feels that he has no option, but to wait and hope that all will be revealed and that the wings of his army can close in.

Final check found that KIENMAYER's objective had changed to the hex he already occupied near PASSAU, which would be no movement, must be finger trouble on my part, so corrected back to the original objective, the crossing on the River Vils, to cover the main army's left flank against MASSENA

Push the button for the next turn, with an expectation that anything could happen.

7th May 1809

The rain continues to fall, not affecting the state of the roads yet, but will have an affect during battle. If the rain continues, the roads will become muddy and make it difficult to move quickly if any battle goes badly.

The French have vanished !





I take the precaution of shuffling through all of my stacks of units, that have previously been engaged, to ensure that there are no French units are closed up and in the same hexes and find nothing.

BERNADOTTE is no longer threatening CHAM, where LOUIS has been ordered to leave an Infantry division to guard the town.

BELLEGARDE is still 'wavering' and only his cavalry has regained 'steady' status, but CHARLES can wait no longer, ordering BELLEGARDE to move to defend CHAM, to backup the protection of this flank.

CHARLES could continue to wait, as a defensive battle would be to his advantage, but this campaign was supposed to be an invasion of Bavaria and the War Party in VIENNA is demanding action. CHARLES also knows that NAPOLEON won his greatest battle in tempting the Allies to attack him at AUSTERLITZ and was he about to fall into a similar trap ?

LOUIS is outside STRAUBING ready to back up HOHENZOLLERN, who is still 'brittle'. CHARLES detaches the two units of HOHENZOLLERN's corps which have 'shattered' and leaves the orders to HOHENZOLLERN unchanged, to defend STRAUBING, also with the retreat point as STRAUBING, in an attempt to keep him there and not retreat further. CHARLES would like to grant HOHENZOLLERN a rest day, but decides to delay that until, LOUIS has passed through to take over the front.

The French are in ECKMUHL, although not visible, as the change of control is shown in the town name. LOUIS is ordered to ECKMUHL.

HILLER has finally closed up his corps on the crossing of the River Roth, covering the road to BRAUNAU. The Engineers at PASSAU are ordered to forced march to BRAUNAU to retake the town, ensure that no French units are still in that area and prepare to blow the bridge if necessary.

HILLER is ordered to cross the River Roth to see if MASSENA is still there, however the supply that he brought with him from MUNICH is running low, but his supply line back to LINZ is blocked at BRAUNAU and is having to route via PASSAU, where a convoy is on the way. It would be good to have sent his cavalry to reopen the supply line, as the horsemen have been sitting idle on the crossroads for several days, waiting for the rest of the corps to catch up, but HILLER cannot be expected to move into the unknown without cavalry cover. The alternative is to send the cavalry over the river towards MASSENA, as a probe and hold the rest of the corps back, but it is too late in the scenario for that, however HILLER has been given a 'cautious' advance

KIENMAYER is still working his way slowly forward, although some of his cavalry have almost reached the objective on the flank.

LIECHTENSTEIN is just joining CHARLES and ROSENBERG on the LANDSHUT road, where CHARLES decides that he can wait no longer, as the French can move quickly and could appear anywhere, as the information on their whereabouts becomes stale. With some foreboding, CHARLES sets the army of two corps into motion through the rain towards LANDSHUT.

8th May 1809

Message 'I Corps out of supply', but I Corps, BELLEGARDE, has (128) supply points !

Rain has stopped, so the roads will not be affected and the mud map has not shown.

Victory Points still give the French a very slender lead of +2.

Two days to go in the scenario and have we fought the Emperor to a standstill ?





CHARLES' advance has reached 6 miles (9 kms) from the river crossing into LANDSHUT and nothing is seen across the river, the town where NAPLOEON was two days ago seems empty. A quick shuffle though the Austrian stacks to ensure no French units are hidden in the same stack, but nothing.

LOUIS is advancing from STRAUBING, having passed HOHENZOLLERN, revealing a unit of BERNADOTTE's IX corps in ECKMUHL, which is part of a stack of 6 units. Deroi of VANDAMME's VII Corps is seen, alone, just outside REGENSBERG.

BELLEGARDE has not moved, so repeat the order to defend CHAM.

Nordmann infantry, although still 'brittle' has regained much of it's strength and was attached to LIECHTENSTEIN, but has taken a long way round to join that corps and is now marching into the area where MASSENA was seen, so that may reveal something. ROSENBERG would have been a better corps to take this extra unit, as he has an Administration level of (6) over LIECHTENSTEIN with only (4), HILLER is now closer, but he has only Administration level (2).

Dedovich and Vogelsang which were detached to defend LANDAU, whilst the Austrian forces moved into place, need to be re-attached. This should have been done earlier, as these are two good veteran units, which cannot be left out of any fighting. Vogelsang to ROSENBERG and Dedovich to CHARLES, as a reserve.

LOUIS now has a large corps of 6 units, but has a inspiration level of (7), second only to CHARLES himself, with battle skill (5) and is facing 6 French units at ECKMUHL, but with more French possibility coming from REGENSBERG. The French seem to have sidestepped to the North and CHARLES, with ROSENBERG and LIECHTENSTEIN, may be punching empty air.

St. Julien and Vukassovic infantry, both still steady and from HOHENZOLLERN's corps, are detached and tasked with defending the crossroads out of STRAUBING towards REGENSBERG. This is to cover LOUIS as he advances on ECKMUHL and in case Deroi is not alone on that road. I would have liked to used HOHENZOLLERN's full corps, but he is 'brittle' and likely to break, taking down the good units with him, best that they work alone. Also sending Clary cavalry that way by 'forced march', but unlikely to get there in time. Under house rules I can issue 'forced march' orders to detached units, outside the restraining influence of the Austrian commanders. Allowing HOHENZOLLERN and the remainder of his corps to a 'rest day' at STRAUBING, hoping that the French do not break through.

I still have the valuable unit of Reuss-Plauen infantry, fresh and veteran, possibly wasted, guarding CHAM, but I don't know where the rest of BERNADOTTE's corps has gone.

CHARLES has two corps concentrated, but no enemy in sight, which way to turn? On to FREISING ? Turn towards ECKMUHL ? Send HILLER back towards MUNICH ?

Still no sign of DAVOUT (mainly destroyed ?), LEFEBVRE, LANNES, the IMPERIAL GUARD and NAPOLEON. Are they retreating, or is this all a trap, a ruse to pull me away from the protection of the River Danube line, is the AI that clever ??

So many questions and only two days left.

CHARLES decides to detach Somariva cavalry to investigate LANDSHUT by forced march and then what …......

What to do with the rest of the army ?

CHARLES decides to stay with ROSENBERG and await developments at LANDSHUT, whilst sending LIECHTENSTEIN against ECKMUHL, to support LOUIS' advance. He does not like breaking up the concentration, but the only visible enemy is at ECKMUHL.

During turn resolution you see enemy units not initially visible and whilst they move, for instance, Wrede from LEFEBVRE's corps is seen back near INGOLSTADT, are they retreating ?

The Battle of STRAUBING





LEFEBVRE moves out of ECKMUHL and REGENSBERG to attack STRAUBING, the battle is taking place in the town neutralising artillery, but the French have an advantage in infantry and cavalry. I have chosen to 'defend', but the battle opens to reveal that LEFEBVRE is only launching a 'probe'.

LEFEBVRE is commanding the battle for the French, but he has units from both his own VII Corps and BERNADOTTE's IX Corps.

I expected a low level of battle intensity with 'probe' against 'defend', but things seem to have gone out of control in the confusion of street fighting and there has been a clear Austrian victory with significant French losses (22), against Austrian losses (8). I could have chosen a counter-attack and maybe inflicted more losses, but that is being wise after the event.

9th May 1809

CHARLES reads the reports of the battle, it was not where he expected and he is still fighting only part of the French forces, with still no sign of NAPOLEON himself. However, LIECHTENSTEIN has reached ECKMUHL, moving surprisingly quickly and the rain has stopped, keeping the roads clear. The debris of LEFEBVRE's probe on STRAUBING could now be trapped, although the battle cursor is stopping me examining the stack left at STRAUBING. Saved game.

Re-started a new game with the same scenario, used the game save, which clears the battle cursor problem, to find the French units of Gutschmidt cavalry apparently trapped outside ECKMUHL, whilst VII Corps Art., Zezschwitz Inf., Polenz Inf., Feilzsh Cav., IX Corps Art., from BERNADOTTE's IX Corps still in STRAUBING. However, LOUIS all by himself, is left at crossroads to REGENSBERG !

The rest of the Austrian units will have to move quickly to save LOUIS and destroy these French units before they escape, UNLESS there is more coming down that road, where is NAPOLEON and the IMPERIAL GUARD?

Victory Points have moved to (-5) in my favour and the battle has inflicted damage on two French corps, LOUIS has performed well in battle, as his attributes indicate and this time he moved as ordered to take over the flank from HOHENZOLLERN. LOUIS just can't seem to stop riding off by himself, as his enthusiasm gets the better of him.

The wandering Nordmann has reached the LANDSHUT/BRANAU road finding nothing, MASSENA has gone, therefore, sending HILLER back towards MUNICH.

Sending LIECHTENSTEIN on to REGENSBERG, with ROSENBERG staying near LANDSHUT, to cover the rear and LOUIS and HOHENZOLLERN to close on the crossroads to REGENSBERG from STRAUBING. All is a little chaotic, but see how this shakes out when the smoke clears, moving into the last turn. CHARLES rides on to attach to LIECHTENSTEIN, where the action is hottest.

LOC and Hospital moved to DEGGENDORF.

10th May 1809 – Last Turn

LANNES' II Corps appears, moving towards LANDSHUT and DAVOUT'S III Corps returns to the battlefield moving towards REGENSBERG and probes near ECKMUHL, in support of the retreating LEFEBVRE and BERNADOTTE.





With DAVOUT and his III Corps probe near ECKMUHL, I have chosen to 'defend' as DAVOUT has artillery and I don't. The Austrians have Cavalry superiority and taken with the expected low intensity of the probe/defend battle, it keeps losses low, but still 7/5 in DAVOUT's favour.

I cannot examine the final battle stack as the battle cursor is blocking it and, as this is 'end of scenario', I cannot save and restart to clear the block.

This is the last conflict of the scenario and the scenario end screen shows the final positions of all the units.





Enemy stacks only show on the map as one unit, but the stack number read-out will show how many units are in each stack and the French unit at INGOLSTADT is actually a stack of (19). There is no indication of the state of these units, but the Emperor has a substantial force left.

I win a Marginal Victory with (-5), which I initially misunderstood, as I thought that the minus points were counting against me, but the minus figure is counting against the French side.

NAPOLEON turned out to be massing around INGOLSTADT and attacked towards my advance on ECKMUHL with three corps, sending LANNES' II Corps to distract CHARLES and ROSENBERG at LANDSHUT. It's shame that I did not select the 'campaign' option to be able to play on and see how this would work. I was initially disappointed that there seemed to be so little reaction from the French in the latter turns, but I see that when I started to stretch out my forces, to meet the probe at STRAUBING, the Emperor was ready to strike.

Not visible in this image is the IMPERIAL GUARD near MUNICH.

End Piece

The corps of LEFEBVRE and BERNADOTTE were mainly shattered by the battles around STRAUBING and ECKMUHL, but managed to escape as the Austrians were too slow to react.

As CHARLES approached LANDSHUT, the French seem to be moving back to INGOLSTADT, with NAPOLEON moving to ULM

Looking at the objectives set for the French corps, in the penultimate turn, the Emperor's plan seemed to be a push through ECKMUHL and STRAUBING to encircle and close in on the Austrian forces around LANDSHUT, with LANNES completing the pincers, by closing in from the INGOLSTADT road. Most of the French corps are set for the objective of LANDSHUT from different directions, with DAVOUT striking out into the Austrian rear towards VIENNA and the objective PRESSBURG.

During the last turns I suspected that there where large French forces around LANDSHUT and NAPOLEON himself was there a few days previously. CHARLES waited on the LANDSHUT road for LIECHTENSTEIN to catch up, before moving forward. In that time those large French forces moved, unseen, towards INGOLSTADT and out of a potential trap between the rivers. By the time Austrian forces got into the area from different directions, the French had gone, but then attention moved to ECKMUHL/STRAUBING were a new French advance commenced.

In the final turn LOUIS and HOHENZOLLERN broke the attack through ECKMUHL and drove the French back out of STRAUBING, vindicating the decision to re-route LOUIS to STRAUBING, rather than chase BERNADOTTE towards SCHWANDORF.

I had thought at first that NAPOLEON was retreating and so it turned out, as he was repositioning to INGOLSTADT and I wondered if the AI was leading me on. Was it that devious. Well, the AI NAPOLEON had no intention of giving up, as the final objectives set for the French corps show, Why pull large forces out of LANDSHUT, just to send them back again, after CHARLES had advanced into the centre of a French ring of forces. Just chance, or a cunning plan.

When CHARLES approached LANDSHUT the French were stretched out along the road back towards BRAUNAU, where I had seen them earlier. The two day wait, to close up LIECHTENSTEIN with ROSENBERG, allowed the French to move out unseen, so that when the trap was sprung it was found to be empty. The speed the French move will not allow such a delay. LEFEBRVE recoiled from STRAUBING just as quickly and escaped after being repulsed.

This started as a test game, but developed into a short, but interesting campaign. I will add a conclusion to this, especially looking at how the AI behaved. I need to re-run the turns from the French side and see what the AI was doing, as this was mainly hidden during the game by the very effective FOW.

The fact is that, at the end, a considerable French force marched unseen across the front of CHARLES' army, but it looked later more like a tactical retreat, as the AI has every intention of coming back.

I should have taken the precaution of sending a detached cavalry unit out earlier to probe and avoid the embarrassment of missing a major enemy move, but I was in a defensive frame of mind and the AI 'humbugged' me, by stealing a march.

More later.[8D]

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