Rear Guard at Heidenheim - Part 1 Game Setup

 Battle 2 – During Turn 7 of the Campaign, late afternoon.

Attacker: French

Objectives: Take the town of Heidenheim. Capture or destroy as many Austrian units as possible

Defender: Austrians

Objectives: Withdraw from the battlefield with more than 60% of remaining troops intact.

Special Objectives: Should General Mack arrive with sufficient forces, hold Heidenheim until game ends after turn 12.

Battle End conditions: 50% or more of the remaining Austrian brigades are routed off the field or after 12 turns.

Figure 1 - Battle Layout.

This battle takes place immediately after the end of Battle 1 – The Battle of Donauworth & Heidenheim, that was fought using the Blucher rules. At the start of this battle portions of both the French and Austrian armies are engaged in combat based upon where the previous battle ended. The French are still attempting to capture the town of Heidenheim and destroy as many Austrian units as possible while the Austrians are attempting to withdraw from the battlefield since there have been no reinforcements from the rest of the Austrian III Corps.

Reinforcements

Reinforcements are classified in two ways for this battle, off table reinforcements and marching reinforcements. The French will start with the II Corps Dutch Division and the II Corps Artillery Park as off table reinforcements. Off table reinforcements can be called on the battlefield as normal with the General d’Armee rules as they are just outside of the current battlefield for this game. Under normal General d’Armee rules, off table reinforcements are called onto the field through committing ADCs to bring them up. Marching reinforcements are those troops that are in marching distance of the battlefield. This would include the other half of the Austrian III Corps under General Mack and the French III Corps 1^st Division if it is called into action. For these marching reinforcements to arrive for a particular army, that army will roll 2x D6 dice and attempt to score a roll of less than or equal to the current turn value. This means such reinforcements will not be able to arrive until after turn 1 unless the roll is modified (see below). Once marching reinforcements have arrived, they will then be treated as off table reinforcements.

Since the French III Corps 1^st Division was already in the area of Donauworth, sections of this Division may be called upon as Marshal Davout was also in need of support for his continued assault.

General d’Armee Basics

Turns General d’Armee are considered to take place simultaneously with both sides taking turns to execute each phase of the game turn. Each turn consists of an activation, charge, movement, shooting, and melee phase. The order of these phases will influence the narrative of the battle report. The side that goes first within each phase of the game turn is determined at the start of the game turn via an initiative roll-off between both sides. General d’Armee also uses a basic activation system for each brigade to determine if the battalions or squadrons/regiments in that brigade will follow orders that turn. These activation attempts can be improved by the use of Aides-de-Camps (ADCs) that can help motivate or issue special orders to the brigades. Since I am adding an extra layer to the reinforcement system in General d’Armee, I have also added a rule where ADCs can be used to reduce the value of the roll for marching reinforcements by a value of 1 for each ADC committed to the attempt to call upon marching reinforcements. ADCs must be committed to each task before rolls are made.

Conversion between Blucher and General d’Armee

In the previous game using the Blucher rules, damage to units was recorded as a loss of Elan. In General d’Armee such loss of combat effectiveness is recorded as casualties, with each unit having fewer or more max possible casualties depending on the troop quality and unit size. I have used the troop quality classifications of units being either Elite, Standard, or Recruit for this battle as provided by the General d’Armee rules with each classification having its own number of max possible casualties (15 for Elite, 12 for Standard, and 10 for Recruit). There are more classifications provided by the rules that I may make use of in the future. To properly translate the effects of the previous battle on to the current battle, I did a simple conversion based on the max Elan of the unit in question, its assigned classification in General d’Armee with that associated max possible casualties, and the damage to the current unit. Any unit broken from the previous game was considered dispersed in this game (the General d’Armee term for units removed from play).

Example Conversion

Unit is Standard and lost 4 Elan in battle. Max Elan was 6. As a Standard unit it would have a maximum number of 12 casualties in General d’Armee.

Even though the term used in General d’Armee is casualties, the authors notes describe the value in similar ways to that of Elan from Blucher. Where the number being recorded is a loss of manpower, moral, ammunition, accumulated fatigue, and loss of unit cohesion.

Order of Battle – French

French units currently on the field, unless stated otherwise. The numbered grids next to each battalion indicate the number of casualties currently held by the battalion based upon the effects of the first part of the battle. 

French off table reinforcements. French off table reinforcements have accrued casualties via exhaustion due to forced marches.

French marching reinforcements. These troops are part of Marshal Davout’s III Corps and could be called upon to aid in the battle in the same way that General Mack’s troops could.

Order of Battle – Austrians

Austrian units currently on the field, unless stated otherwise.

Austrian marching reinforcements under General Mack.

Battlefield Overview

At the start of the battle von Werneck is faced with a major dilemma, his 4^th Infantry Division has been badly mauled by the days fighting and both of the remaining brigades in the division are on the verge of breaking. Only the 1^st and 2^nd Brigades of the 4^th Infantry Division remain active on the field, but they are not in supporting distance with one another. The 2^nd brigade is almost at the bridge by the Danube River, while the 1^st brigade is currently attempting to hold back the oncoming French infantry. Both brigades are of elite grenadiers, so they are still a dangerous target, but their ability to stay on the field as an effective force has nearly been exhausted.

Figure 2 - Overview of the Battlefield. Arrow in the Lower Righthand Corner Points North.

Further north of the town of Heidenheim, the fresh and more capable Austrian 3^rd Infantry Division is engaging the flank of the French attack. Even though this may seem to be an advantageous position, the 3^rd Infantry Division is in danger of being cut off and separated from their line of retreat due to the advancing French Cavalry Reserve (CR) and the remains of the French II Corps Cavalry Division. The only troops that von Werneck might be able to use to halt the French Cavalry are the depleted brigades of Austrian Dragoons from the 2^nd Cavalry Division. Von Werneck’s goal will be to try and have his 3^rd Infantry Division disengage and withdraw towards the Danube River crossing. This division cannot retreat towards Donauworth, as French cavalry had already cut the road in the previous game. Which means that escape via that direction is impossible.

The only thing that might turn this battle around is the arrival of General Mack with the rest of the Austrian III Corps. Von Werneck will be dedicating as much effort as he can spare to possibly bringing General Mack to the battle to save the situation.

Figure 3 - 1st Brigade Grenadiers Holding off the French

Figure 4 - Austrian 3^rd Division facing off against the French.

Marshal Marmont on the other hand is very determined to continue the attack. Marmont knows he is racing against the clock in several regards. He needs to drive the Austrians off the field and hopefully inflict more casualties before night fall (game end on turn 12), but he also needs to do this before General Mack arrives with reinforcements. While Marmont does not know the full extent of the possible Austrian reinforcements, he is aware that any reinforcements could severely alter the flow of the battle by either giving a massive boost in available troops to the Austrians or just even dragging out the battle. Both are eventualities that the French want to avoid.

Figure 5 - French Cavalry on the Move to Break the Austrian Lines.

Marmont’s best bet to inflict the most damage on the Austrians is to continue with his planned heavy cavalry assault along with the remains of his II Corps Cavalry Division. The plan will be to pin the Austrian infantry in place with French infantry and hit them in the flanks with cavalry charges, causing the entire Austrian flank to collapse. He will be performing these maneuvers under the watchful gaze of the Emperor Napoleon. While this cavalry attack goes off, Marmont plans to bring up his newly arrived artillery and use his 1^st Infantry Division to drive towards the town of Heidenheim.

Marmont also has more reserves on hand that he can call up to influence the battle. These troops are operating as off table reserves and are able to be brought up more easily since they are already on the field. The only issue Marmont faces is that there is not enough room to deploy all of the available reinforcements at this time. Which means that the Austrian grenadiers in front of the French 1^st Infantry Division need to be pushed back to open up room for the rest of Marmont’s Corps to deploy.

Figure 6 - View from Behind Heidenheim.