Ratisbon Campaign - Battle of Kofering

Campaign Map

9th Bavarian army, commanded by Marshal Ney, attack Kofering
3rd Austrian army, commanded by General Merveldt, defend Kofering

Losing the first battle at Abbach disrupted Ney’s campaign plans
By winning at Nittendorf he regained the initiative and is back on track
A victory at Kofering will give him command of the border towns
It will also force Merveldt to retreat to a new defensive line at Ratisbon

The Bavarians have 12 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery
The Austrians have 12 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery

Table at start of battle

Both armies on the table at the start of the game
Austrians nearest to the camera, Bavarians far end of table

There are three objectives and the Austrians are deployed on all three
Farm on the left, small woods in the centre and hill on the right
The army which occupies at least two at the end of 12 moves will win the battle
The river can only be crossed using one of the three bridges

Bavarian CinC has taken command of half of 25th corps between the hill and the farm
Austrian CinC has taken command of half of 8th corps between the woods and the hill

Table at end of battle

On the left 27th Bavarian corps have occupied the farm
9th Austrian corps have held the farm throughout the battle and suffered few casualties
They have been forced to withdraw because the rest of the Austrian army is in retreat

In the centre 26th Bavarian corps have occupied the woods
8th Austrian corps were forced to withdraw when they lost their artillery
They have suffered light casualties and redeployed in front of the town

On the right Ney led the infantry attack on the hill resulting in a convincing victory
All three Austrian infantry brigades were routed with casualties of 20-30%
The Austrians continued to hold the area to the right of the ridge
However they also retreated in line with the infantry.

Summary
The attacker must expose his artillery if he is to gain an advantage over the defender.
The guns deploy at long range of the enemy infantry and cavalry.
Before they can open fire they receive enemy artillery fire
They must achieve a roll of six using 1D6 to hit enemy gunners
This is considered an acceptable risk, and usually results in the defenders retreating out of range
The attacking artillery then manhandle forward to force another retreat.

The usual answer to this is cavalry, which has the same charge range as long range artillery
The cavalry advance half a move and the gunners roll 1D6 to determine what they will do

1 or 2 - gunners rout with 10% casualties
3 or 4 - gunners must stay with guns and fire at close range
5 or 6 - gunners can fire at close range, or seek shelter within 4”

If the gunners evade the cavalry can complete their charge or half disordered.
If there are cavalry supporting the artillery, they are at a severe disadvantage

The attacking player has a maximum of four moves to soften up the enemy with artillery
He must then send his infantry forward to avoid running out of time.

There are 12 moves in the game and the distance to the objectives is about 4 infantry moves
Two moves are used to advance into artillery range and deploy
Four moves of artillery fire leaves four moves to reach the objective
There is then only two moves to win the infantry combat and capture the objectives

If the artillery fire fails to cause enemy casualties it is much more likely the attack will fail.