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After Action Report: CotD, - 3/27/2004 11:18:00 PM

Herr Colonel

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I am playing the first campaign, Ulm. The situation is as follows (and can be read by clicking on Napoleon's counter and selecting the Situation Report button):

In this scenario the Austrians under General Mack have advanced across Bavaria, pretty much unopposed but have outrun their supply. The French have crossed the Rhine and are situated to the north of Macks Austrians. The Russian forces under Kutuzov have begun advancing west along the Danube while another Russian column has arrived in Moravia.

** Reinforcement Schedule **

VII corps under Augereau
will arrive near Giengen in roughly 6 days

Guar corps under Bessieres
will arrive near Giengen in roughly 10 days

In the north, I have Bernadotte's I Corps and Marmont's II Corps. Bernadoutte has two divisions of infantry (under Rivaud and Drouet), a division of cavalry under Kellerman, and attached artillery. Marmont has three divisions of infantry (under Boudet, Grouchy, and Dumonceau), one division of cavalry (under Lacoste), and attached artillery. I plan on advancing both Corps to the south, through Nurnberg and ending at Neumarkt. If no Coalition forces are found, I plan on a line of advance that will take them through scenic Regensburg/Eckmuhl/Straubing, where each city is no more than two or three hexes away from each other. From there they will either advance continually to the southeast as the left wing of the La Grande Armee or swing southwards to trap any Coalition forces found in the area.

Davout's III Corps begins the scenario in the far northwestern corner of the map. Under him are the two infantry divisions of Friant and Gudin, as well as the cavalry division of Viallenes. The III Corps' artillery rounds out this unit. While smaller than the Corps of Bernadotte and Marmont, it still can provide a central 'hammer' if any Coalition forces are found in its path. Given the set-up, this corps will advance through Rothenburg to Gunzerhausen, with the objective of Dappenheim. From there, Ingolstadt or Donauworth on the Danube River are possible objectives.

Napoleon himself begins south of Davout, accompanying Soult's IV Corps, which is comprised of Vandamme, Legrand, and St. Hilaire's infantry divisions, Margaron's cavalry division, IV Corps' artillery, and a unit of Engineers. The Engineers will be useful, able to both build and destroy bridges as needed. This Corps, and Napoleon as well, will advance to Donauworth on the Danube, depending on Austrian troops in the area, if any.

Finally, Lannes' V Corps, Ney's VI Corps, and Murat's Cavalry Corps come in south of Napoleon and the IV Corps. Probably the most powerful grouping of troops on the field, these three corps will likely form the tip of any spear I point at the Coalition. Lannes' V Corps is comprised of infantry divisions under Oudinot, Gazan, and Suchet, a cavalry division under Fauconnet, and V Corps artillery. Ney's VI Corps has Dupont, Loison, and Malher's infantry divisions, Tilley's cavalry division, and VI Corps artillery. Murat's horse soldiers are comprised of divisions under Nansouty, dHautpoul, Klein, Walther, Beaumont, and Bourcier, as well as horse artillery. This large group will move with Murat at the lead, aiming for facing the large Austrian force immediately south at Ulm.

I issue orders to Lannes, Ney, and Murat to move south, but decide instead of sending Murat ahead to keep them together. The others I issue orders to move as I mentioned above. Since it takes time for the messengers to ride from Napoleon's headquarters, the farther out they are the longer it will take to receive an acknowledgement. I had better be sure of orders sent to far-flung troops, as conflicting orders can easily confuse the generals under my command, making them do something I did not want them to do.

The three corps to the south are issued orders, and I set their Retreat Point as well in order to specify a location they can run to if the Austrians bloody them too much (but of course, we will not think of such things before the first shot is fired). But preparation is always a good thing. I find it will take 14 hours to issue the orders to these men, so some waiting will take place before they move out.

The orders are sent. Most will take 14-20 hours, except for Soult, who will immediately receive them (as he is in the same hex as Napoleon). I keep in mind that Soult will be long down his road before the other commanders even come close to receiving their orders! Such things should be considered when issuing orders.

Here is the situation at the start of Turn 1. The crude red arrows (please forgive my drawing skills) indicate the path of advance for the three northern corps. More in a moment.

Attachment (1)

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD, - 3/27/2004 11:20:05 PM

Herr Colonel

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Note that the three corps to the south will advance as follows:

Attachment (1)

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/27/2004 11:24:38 PM

Herr Colonel

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At the end of the first day, Murat's cavalry is about to hit Austrian cavalry, but both are just out of reach enough to avoid contact.

To the north, the other Corps advance without any Coalition resistance in sight.

Below is a screenshot of the three corps to the south facing off against the Austrians:

Attachment (1)

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/27/2004 11:25:28 PM

Herr Colonel

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Please let me know if anyone finds this interesting and/or helpful. I love AAR's (I'm doing one on the Korsun Pocket game as well and plan on doing others)!

Thanks

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 12:10:00 AM

Bis

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Very good.

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Jim Cobb

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 4:49:24 AM

kgsan

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I'm curious to see how the game plays and am enjoying the AAR. Please keep it going.

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 4:52:19 AM

VictorH

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Yea, keep it up.

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 5:43:07 AM

Herr Colonel

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Thanks all! I will continue tomorrow (Sunday).

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 8:05:16 AM

benpark

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Yeah, good work. I am interested in seeing the gameplay in action, so this is helpful.

Glad to see Napoleonic gaming making a comeback at Matrix.

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 3:53:21 PM

Herr Colonel

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I'm still relatively new at this game so hopefully I won't look like a complete idiot. I love Napoleonics, however, so I think my enthusiasm makes up for it.

Oops. The southern three corps almost immediately run into trouble. A giant stack of enemy appears just before my southern effort; intelligence at LGA headquarters says a force of about "7500 men" but that looks a hell of a lot more than that. Observe:

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Herr Colonel -- 3/28/2004 8:08:20 AM >

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 4:27:57 PM

Herr Colonel

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While the forces to the north advance relatively unhindered, the southern corps, I have a feeling, are going to have more than their share of fighting to do. I'm entertaining the possibility of redirecting Soult's IV Corps to the south to support them, but I'll wait and see what happens. If the Austrians win against this huge force, it will take major reorganzation of my other three scattered corps before I have a chance to bring them to bear against the Coalition forces.

Looks like a fight is brewing (see screenshot below). Here's how it breaks down:

French
81 Infantry (40,500 men)
51 Cavalry (25,500 men)
14 Artillery (equivelant to 672 pounds total of artillery)

Coalition
82 Infantry (41,000 men)
36 Cavalry (18,000 men)
8 Artillery (equivelant to 384 pounds total of artillery)

So the fight looks even, with a slight edge to the French in cavalry and a significant advantage in artillery.

Attachment (1)

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/28/2004 4:32:05 PM

Herr Colonel

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VIVE LA FRANCE!!!!

The battle goes far better than I expected. The French lose about 23 strength points out of the grand total of 130 or so - definitely not light - but the Coalition suffers a complete breakdown.

I selected a "Defend in Depth" strategy; I was thinking that my superiority in cannon and cavalry would suit me better in defense than attack, and if the Coalition forces were stupid enough to charge my cannons, more power to them. That must have been exactly what they did, for by Round 2 they had suffered 28 casualties (if these are only infantry and cavalry, that's about 14,000 men) to my 13 (about 6,500 men).

But the real zinger doesn't hit until Round 3: about eight to ten Austrian units surrender! That ups their casualty count to around 79, almost 40,000 men! My casualties are 31, or about 15,500 total. Not good, but in comparison to what my men inflicted on the Coalition, hey, I'll take it!

Attachment (1)

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 3/29/2004 6:10:29 AM

Herr Colonel

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I must mention before continuing that I experienced a few problems taking screenshots; the game crashed on me once after I entered a nice long post (figures) and tried to take a screenshot. While this occured, I had the 'chance' to replay this battle many times (three including the above result). The first time, Murat's cavalry had their hindquarters handed to them, with French infantry lagging in the background. The second time, with the same number of men on both sides as in the above battle, the Austrians barely eked out a win over my French forces.

So, the results above were needless to say VERY surpring, especially the bit about making almost ten major Austrian formations surrender! Very satisfying. I'm enjoying this immensely and shall continue tomorrow if work allows (sigh).

Regards all,

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 1:57:23 AM

Herr Colonel

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I shall continue tonight or tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, real life intervened for a brief moment.

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 2:18:59 AM

Herr Colonel

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My near-shattering victory ends up being a seemingly empty one. While my troops under Lannes and Murat manage to come away relatively unscathed, Ney is another matter entirely. Within one turn, Ney 'shatters,' leaving my southern wing torn asunder. No doubt this is due to the lack of preparation on my part. Supply is very important, but I despise having to control it (I don't like micromanagement). So, I let the computer run it by selecting that option from Napoleon's La Grande Armee headquarters. But it's been doing less than an admirable job. Ney's shattering doesn't occur until after a battle that Murat has with Jellacic's infantry and artillery force. Should be interesting.

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 2:21:45 AM

Herr Colonel

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As you can see below, Murat and Jellacic more or less trade casualties evenly, and the battle is declared a 'draw.' Soon after Ney shatters, but the Austrians quit the field and Murat parades triumphantly into Ulm. The remainder of the Austrians seem to be on the run, and I've already ordered my central wing (Soult's IV Corps) to advance on Augsberg in an attempt to capture/deny supplies to the Austrian army. Perhaps I have dealt it a more mortal blow than I have received. Ney will be missed, but I'll have to see what I can do. I can't let up on the pressure.

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< Message edited by Herr Colonel -- 4/9/2004 6:25:00 PM >

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 2:39:26 AM

Herr Colonel

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As you can see in the above screen, Beaumont is out of supply. So are a few other divisions. I knew the computer wasn't doing as well as I hoped in keeping up with my troops, but that can't be helped. It DOES help, however, to send supplies ahead to build depots before moving. Of course that can be dangerous as well if an enemy cavalry column comes flying in upon it.

I've send Soult south, meanwhile, to try to get into the rear of the Austrian forces. Unfortunately this will take something like 20 hours to get to him, making a quick Austrian withdrawl a bad thing.

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Michael Eckenfels
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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 2:42:26 AM

Herr Colonel

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Murat and company did indeed take Ulm, but at first I ordered him to stand firm - along with his other divisions. Since the time that it takes for a messenger to reach their headquarters is quite long, I expected them to move forward anyway - which they did. I sent the order anyway to his corps hoping that he wouldn't get into an Austrian trap. Their movements south of the Danube was rather confusing and I wasn't sure if they were moving men *into* Ulm or if that was a nice long line of retreating stragglers making their way to Augsberg.

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 2:45:17 AM

Herr Colonel

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Thankfully it DOES take time to arrive, because it looks like the Austrians were running. Murat took Ulm, but his corps is out of supply, so he won't be pursuing. I could do that, but he may suffer Ney's fate. Besides, a fresh corps under Augereau has just arrived to the north (the VI Corps, if I remember right), so they can help bolster the consolidation of Ulm. I'm also planning on delving a little more into the supply rules to see if I can run things a little more efficiently. For all I know the poor computerized colonel running things is at his wits end.

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< Message edited by Herr Colonel -- 4/9/2004 7:02:43 PM >

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 2:48:12 AM

Herr Colonel

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Further north of Davout, Bernadotte's I Corps and Marmont's II Corps is encountering no resistance and I order him to move on to Regensberg. I'm hoping the bulk of the enemy is running from Murat in the south and perhaps I can establish a forward depot in Eckmuhl or thereabouts to act as a base to move in on the Austrian's flank. Of course, it could also be used to block reinforcements, which are undoubtedly coming after word of their staggering loss at Ulm.

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< Message edited by Herr Colonel -- 4/9/2004 7:01:13 PM >

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/10/2004 3:26:30 PM

Caranorn

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Just a few notes on your campaign

Don't blame the ai on not supplying your forces. There is no way for your center of operations to send supplies down to the southern corps that fast. The same applies to Soult if he moves at hight speed towards the Austrians.

For the rest, a french victory at this point came as a shock to me. With just two infantry corps on an unprepared rush forward you should have experienced a devastating defeat

Though of course Mack was badly hampered by the nominal commander of the army (Ferdinand iirc) and his corps commanders. So I expect you ended up lucky enough to meet only the part of Mack's army retreating north of the Danube.

Napoleon's historic campaign avoided an early engagement around Ulm and instead crossed the Danube en force in the area of Donauwurth. The only way I have found to duplicate that movement so far (because of the confused Austrians retreating on the wrong side of the Danube) has been to force march the southern Infantry corps towards Ellwangen (a few hex south of that town actually) and on a subsequent turn send an additional order to rest and then continue on to Donauwurth (which almost certainly will hold some 500+ units of Austrian supply) where they would be joined by Soult. In the meantime Murat was to delay any Austrians North of the Danube, if necessary at the cst of losing much of the cavalry. Later Murat would fall back to cover the lines of communications.

The main goal of that strategy would be to advance from Donauwurth (as soon as it's captured move the hospital and possibly the enter of operations there) towards Augsburg (while Davout moves to garrison Donauwurth, Marmont would move to support Murat and the soon to arrive Augereau around Ellwangen). That move should lead to a cutting off of the Austrian lines of communications and if done at sufficient speed leave all of Mack's foces trapped around Ulm. The next step would then be to defeat Mack with the 3-4 corps around Augsburg (while the other hold the remainder of the Austrian forces). That should easily lead to a crushing defeat which can then be exploited by the remaining corps taking on the offensive towards Ulm proper and it's surrounding bridges.

During all that time Bernadotte would move unopposed in eastern and southern Bavaria taking control of the countryside (Wrede and Deroi operating independently to capture isolated towans). If any Austrians manage to straggle out of the Ulm area Bernadotte should be able to defeat them.

This loosely reflects Napoleon's historic campaign as I applied it to the game. Using this strategy I achieved an astounding victory in my first attempt (with enemy FoW settings) (at the end of the scenario, 2 Austrian divisions of the Danube army had survived, mainly because I had failed to spot them in their rout, the Russians had apparently halted their march in the Vienna area, about two days distance from Bernadotte's advance guard at Passau or Linz). In my full FoW games on the other hand the campaign did not go quite as well (the first time Murat surrendered on first contact leaving my whole plan open to Austrian attacks on my LoC, the second attempt with slightly modified march orders (I had exausted the troops too much by force marching and the marshals did not rest as ordered) I achieved a decisive victory early on, but let much of the Austrian army slip away (in game that was a victory, but I considered it a defeat as those Austrians would unite with the Russians and I'd have to fight them again aroudn Vienna).

So in short, a frontal assault, especially early in the game is not the best of plans. If it works in game I expect it's either due to extreme luck, or the Austrians have been neutered too much (as I'm sure despite all the command problems Mack could have organised a coordinated defense of Ulm proper) in the game.

despite all that, it was great to read your AAR (I did not do too well in my first attemmpts either, and even this strategy is largely based on Napoleon's actual campaign).

Marc aka Caran...

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 4/19/2004 3:20:12 PM

Herr Colonel

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Oh, I realize all that. I am familiar with the campaign history as well but could care less, honestly, how it went historically. When I play this game it is about creating history in a way different from those that were really there. Oh, I'll refer to it on my own time, perhaps getting more of an insight as to what was going on, but this AAR is meant as just a means of showing off a game I enjoy, not necessarily to be a treatise on history or accurate in that regards.

The AI indeed is not to blame for a lag in supply; I know it takes time to get where it needs to go. But some of the routes taken by the supply wagons seem odd; it takes a little bit of research to understand. For example, in the screenshot before last you'll see a supply wagon with Augereau's name on it. I wondered what the heck it was doing so close to the Danube and why it wasn't approaching him from the north instead of the east. Then I realized it was because I had captured an Austrian supply dump in the area, and that was the AI creating supplies for the newly-arrived corps.

As I said before, I don't generally like supply rules. I just don't like messing with the allocation, distribution, or other aspects of it. Yes, yes, I know, an army marches on its stomach and logistics are one of the most important aspects of warfare, but I don't want to mess with it in my games. Perhaps, though, I need to try. ;)

Thanks for your feedback, I do appreciate it. I don't think I could have recapped the campaign better myself.

Oh, a note - yes that battle where the Austrians lost so many troops IS indeed just one of many outcomes possible. I had trouble getting a screenshot at that point and had to re-do the battle several times. Each time I got a different result. It just so happened that this wild outcome coincided with my machine deciding to cooperate and take a decent shot. ;)

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RE: After Action Report: CotD, - 5/2/2004 3:47:51 AM

Didz

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Herr Colonel

The orders are sent. Most will take 14-20 hours, except for Soult, who will immediately receive them (as he is in the same hex as Napoleon). I keep in mind that Soult will be long down his road before the other commanders even come close to receiving their orders! Such things should be considered when issuing orders.

Historically, this sort of situation was compensated for by issuing Corps commanders with a schedule of step-off and arrival times for each of their divisions at various map locations. This ensured that all the Corps/Divisions of the army operated in a co-ordinated fashion.

I used this same approach successfully in a multi-player moderated refight of the Eylau campaign but it does require sub-ordinates to exercise proper march discipline as some units need to delay their march whilst other have to force march to reach their objectives.

Is a similar system provided in CotD or do units just march willy-nilly as soon as they get their orders?

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RE: After Action Report: CotD - 5/28/2004 4:55:03 PM

Henri

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IN my first game with this scenario plaing the French it went somewhat the same as you did and I used essentially the same strategy. I had the computer control the supplies and used minimum FOW.Napoleon would move the COD forward and center as well as the hospital whenever it seemed opportune.I used no preparation for attacking Ulm, just ordering the 3 cors to move to the city and attack.

I attacked Ulm piecemeal and won the battle, but Murat shattered instead of Ney did for you. Since the Austrians seemed to be retreating in disorder towards Augsberg, I pursued them with the cavalry initially, then with all the units that had a bit of supplies. I either won or got a draw every battle.

I managed to get a detached cavalry from the North to Augsberg before the retreating Austrians got there, which probably helped hamper their supplies, but I had him set to disengage because I was afraid that he would be wiped out if I tried to hold Augsberg with a single Cavalry division. it is unclear what effect he had, as he held on for one day then retreated, leaving the austrians to pass through the city.

I kept pursuing right through Augsberg through Munich, having added the newly arrived Corps. After Augsberg I dispatched some of them Eastto take objectives there and to try to flank the retreating austrians.

In the meantime, Bernadotte fought the Russians around Chem and drove them away, but some of his units got a bloody nose.

I won the scenario with a marginal victory.I don't consider that this makes me a Napoleon, but I did manage to muddle through on my first game to a victory, although it was only marginal.

Henri

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