After reading Goetz's Austerlitz, I modified my OBs to reflect his revised orders of battle for the combatants. Having enough figures to fight the engagement, a map was created, terrain laid out, and troops deployed.
My Austerlitz map was built in Campaign Cartographer (I don't recall which version; perhaps, v2 or v3). Campaign Cartographer is a very powerful CAD program with a steep learning curve. In fact, it takes considerable time to relearn the mechanisms for manipulating objects every time I use the program.
First, Austerlitz is a big game. The table below is 12 feet by 6 feet and the battlefield spreads over the entire surface. A larger area would have allowed the Allies more flexibility in initial deployments and maneuver plus removing the constraint of defending the edge of the earth. Adding an extra two feet to the eastern board edge would relieve this constraint but make the game unplayable. I cannot reach midway across an eight foot table. Translating game map to the tabletop produced this result:
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| Austerlitz Overview from South |
The stacks of paperwork should have been removed from the table before shooting the picture but c'est la guerre.
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| French deployments on northern battlefield |
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| French positions looking from Zuran Hill |
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| French positions around Girzikowitz looking east |
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| Allied positions on the Pratzen |
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| Pratzen Heights as seen from Puntowitz |
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Allied positions on Pratzen Heights
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| Sokolnitz-Telnitz showing Davout's reinforcements |
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| Southern portion of battlefield showing Pheasantry to Telnitz |
So is this your favourite, or at least one of your favourite Napoleonic battles?
ReplyDeleteMighty fine table set up you have there, really looking forward to maybe a shot of your entire forces just to see how many (hundreds!) I have to paint to match you!
Keep it up, very much looking forward to your next update. Take it easy, roll 6's and I'll see you later.
Austerlitz is almost too big to be enjoyable by a small group. While deploying all of your figures on a huge table is satisfying to see, I prefer battles having less unit density to refight. Favorite Napoleonic battle? Well, based on the number of times I've refought Vimeiro, I guess that would be among my favorites. Marengo, Rivoli, and Albuera also come to the top as would would the opening clashes in the 1809 campaign in Austria. Oh, I enjoy the 1813 campaigns as well.
DeleteI'll have to recheck my painted figure tally but I show about 6,000 15mm Napoleonics in my collection. Get cracking!