Ingolstadt Campaign – Day Five

 

Campaign Map

16 August 1813 – Southern Germany – Day 5

French attack Buxheim and occupy Manching
7th French army – attack Buxheim
8th French army – regroup and resupply
9th French army – occupy Manching

Austrian defend Buxheim and retreat to Emsgaden
1st Austrian army – defend Buxheim
2nd Austrian army – regroup and resupply
3rd Austrian army – retreat to Emsgaden

Battle of Buxheim – End of Battle

Seventh Bavarian army is commanded by Marshal Massena
First Austrian army is commanded by General Schwartzenberg

On 13 August Massena was defeated at the first battle of Buxheim
He retreated to Lauf and the Austrians occupied Buxheim

The remainder of the Austrian army has retreated east
As a result Schwartzenberg is isolated at Buxheim
Whatever the outcome of this battle he will have to retire east

The Bavarians have 10 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery
The Austrians have 9 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery

The Bavarians were winning this game until move 9, when the reserve cavalry charged the Austrian artillery in the centre. If they could take the guns the cavalry would dominate the centre and allow the Bavarian infantry to take the T junction. They already held the farm on the right, and would thus hold two of the three objectives and win the game.

The gunners caused casualties, the cavalry rolled 1 on their morale test and routed. The rallied Austrian cavalry charged the reserve Bavarian brigade, which was disordered by the rout, causing them to rout as well. It was now the Austrian cavalry who dominated the centre, and caused the Bavarian centre to halt and form square.

The Bavarians took the farm, but lost it to a counter attack.

They attacked the hill, but lost the skirmish battle and were forced to retreat.

A convincing and well deserved Austrian victory

Comments

Another game when the apparent winners lost everything in just three moves, and all due to the luck of the dice. In fact we had to play an extra move to determine the winner of the final battle for the farm on the right.

Some wargamers may not like this type of result, in which victory can turn to defeat in the last three of twelve moves. But we really enjoy this element of luck, which makes a game interesting right up to the last move.

It can be annoying if one side has a long series of good, or bad, dice. But when it is evenly balanced, but the critical dice throw is the decider it heightens our enjoyment of the game. “Horses for courses” as they say