Wertingen, 1805

The Command & Colours supplement for the Austrian Army has recently been released, so last Wednesday seemed an opportune moment to unleash my previously underemployed 15mm Austrians.

This, the first scenario, saw a chunky but rather strung out Austrian force facing a French cavalry corps.  The Austrian line infantry units - as can be seen in the photo - are 5 stands (or blocks) strong.  So things looked a bit sticky for the French.

The field of battle - seen at the start of the game from the French left/Austrian right.  The clump of troops nearest the camera are Austrians!

French light cavalry.

The Austrians - mostly acquired already painted at a show some years ago - made for an impressive sight.

When faced with enemy cavalry (the French had 2 light and 4 heavy cavalry units) the Austrian line infantry can form 'battalion mass'.  Basically a solid square.  This saw off the first French attack.

By now the main Austrian line looked very neat.

The French LC were soon in action...

...and the (rather colourful) Austrian LC moved to head them off.

The dice you don't want in a cavalry battle.  Four infantry.  This rather blunted the Austrian attack!

On the French right, grenadiers were in action, supported by cavalry.

Some messy fighting ensued.  Here we have a weakened French Grenadier unit forming square as it is attached by Austrian Cuirassiers!

The decadent Austrians.  Emperor Mark and Empress Kayte.

The Frenchies were full of revolutionary zeal.  John and Martin.

As the Austrian right prepared for another sortie from the French LC....

...Lannes took some of his chaps on a mad dash against the enemy guns.  And failed to score any hits!

The surviving Austrian LC were soon run to ground and the French clinched a hard fought victory.  While the Austrians may have lost the battle, they are clearly an army to be respected.  Their thinner command structure is balanced out by large (if slightly brittle) infantry units and good quality specialist units - the grenadiers and Cuirassiers.