Start of Nuremberg Campaign Phase

Austrian and Bavarian positions at start of campaign

Our new campaign is set in southern Germany, where the Third French Army hope to halt the Austrian advance.

This is the twenty seventh campaign phase of the current 1813 campaign which began in March 2015.   It has produced 116 battles to wargame so far.

It is also the sixth campaign phase dealing with the conflict between the Austrian army of Marshal Schwartzenberg and the Bavarian and Baden army of Marshal Oudinot.   The Austrians have won all five previous campaign phases.  Out of 16 battles fought the Austrians won 11 and the Bavarians 6.

The Bavarian army started the campaign at Augsburg on 1 March 1813 and has retreated to Nuremberg at the start of the current campaign on 1 August 1813.

There are five campaign areas and Southern Germany is my favourite.  I enjoy the sight of the white uniformed Austrians and the light and dark blue of the Bavarians and Baden armies.   Both armies are evenly matched in combat ability and should produce good battles to wargame.

However as a campaign area the poor performance of the Bavarians is a disappointment, and a cause of some confusion.   In the other four areas the allied and French armies have a more even record of victories and defeats.  Even the Spanish have won 7 of the 17 battles fought in Southern Spain.

There is no logical reason why the Austrians should have done so well.   In my armies each nationality has strong and weak fighting abilities.   But the wargame rules rely sufficiently on luck to allow either side to win.   Marshal Schwartzenberg has obviously had a five month run of luck.

I don’t have any plans to change the balance of the two armies, nor to change the wargame rules.   However I may play a very cautious campaign in my role as Marshal Oudinot!

It will be interesting to see whether the dice continue to support the Austrian cause.

You can follow the progress of the campaign on the campaign diary blog here

http://1813pbemcampaigndiary.blogspot.com.es/