Lannes Is Still Dead

Last Monday, I wrangled Reject Lee and Reject Ray into taking their shot at the Montebello battle.  While Richard and I played the scenario twice in prior weeks, I was anxious to see how two new players would handle the situation.  If you recall, in my games with Richard, he wound up winning both battles despite us switching sides for game two.  Ray chose to command the attacking French leaving Lee to command the Austrian Army.  How would Ray and Lee fare?  Let's see!

As a reminder, the initial battlefield situation shows O'Reilly at Rivalta and Vogelsang at Montebello.  Schellenberg is on the march to Montebello from the west.  Elements of Lannes' command enter from the east along the highway.

Initial dispositions

View from the west looking east.

O'Reilly at Rivalta

Vogelsang at Montebello

Schellenberg on the march

Lannes' command

On to battle!

Watrin's Division arrives and moves on Rivalta.

French attack all along the front.
Austrian hussars are driven away to the north while 
two battalions of 22nd Line destroy grenz on the heights.

Following up on their success against the grenz, the 22nd
attacks the supported guns on the highway.

Roughed up in a lengthy firefight,
 the French are victorious and the enemy scattered. 
Austrian infantry in the rye north of Rivalta give way as well
but Austrian jaegers still hold firmly onto Rivalta.

The jaegers try to extricate themselves from Rivalta
but are caught before making it back to friendly lines.
Vogelsang orders his division to form up on the
heights to the south of Casteggio and in the town, itself. 

O'Reilly's command is broken but his hussars retire 
to reform and fight again another day.

Rivalta has already been cleared and O'Reilly is wrecked
 before Lannes and his command arrive on the battlefield.

Schellenberg arrives!

Victor and Chamberlhac arrive!

Vogelsang orders his division on reserve (red discs)
and awaits the attack he knows is coming.

Watrin has suffered losses in wrecking O'Reilly.
Still his division seemingly has plenty of fight left in it.
Even though pressing on is urgent,
Lannes makes a fateful decision.
Watrin is ordered to fall back while reinforcements come up.

Chamberlhac wastes no time.
Leading two battalions of light infantry, he attacks Casteggio.

Although the immediate foe is dispatched,
Austrians on the heights come out of reserve and counterattack.
With casualties heavy to both, the timely counterattack works!
Chamberlhac and his legere are driven back.

Seeing the repulse of Chamberlhac, Lannes leads a charge
into the Austrian guns in the rye to the north of Casteggio.
While the guns are overrun, Lannes' charge is met with
several volleys as the hussars enter the rye field.
Two units of hussars are cut down.
Lannes falls from his horse, dead. 
One remaining body of French hussars is attacked
 in a wave of charges from O'Reilly's hussars.
Lannes' third unit of hussars disintegrates.

Overview looking from west.

With all three of the French hussars destroyed and Lannes, himself, dead on the field, Lannes' command breaks.  Even though the French army has not reached its breaking point, Ray throws in the towel and admits that Lee has been victorious on this day.

View from Vogelsang's heights.

Congratulations, Lee, on a very fine victory.  You utilized reserve status effectively in some brilliant counterstrokes.  Ray, you put in a commendable fight.  I wonder if you could have pressed on with Watrin just a little more?  We will never no.

Attack on Casteggio halted.

As always, a most enjoyable contest.  On the Butcher's Bill, losses were distributed much more evenly than in the previous two outings.

Butcher's Bill

Ray and Lee, thank you for a very entertaining session.  Game duration was about three hours.  Afterwards, Lee said the game made his head hurt.  I hope that was a good thing!  And, yes, Lannes goes down a third time and he is still dead.

Next up, I try a four-player game of this battle.  Stay tuned to see how that goes.