1809 Project: Hausen-Teugn-Dünzling Part Two - The first day's wargaming - 1000-1200 19th April 1809

 

Introduction

Better late than never, hopefully. Most readers have probably forgotten I am still in the midst of writing this report - too much 2D art, photo-sessions with a model for art commissions, and general family "real life" has prevented me getting round to it.  If you need a reminder here is part one Hausen-Teugn-Dünzling in which I gave a very brief historical context, explained the scale of the game we were attempting to refight, and gave a detailed "tutorial" on making the customised, sculpted terrain on the 12 feet x 6 feet table.

In this post I will attempt to give sufficient details on the forces and plans of the protagonists, and use loads of photos to help explain the run of play over the first couple of hours of historical time.  That actually took all day as I found that, somewhat ironically, I was doing the classic "holding action" not just as a gamer but for real, as the French players weren't arriving till the next day! We had allowed a whole weekend to play this out, and we needed it - this was back at the end of July 2023. In round numbers I was allowing for around 35,000 French and Allied to fight up to 55,000 Austrians, we had just over 2000 figures available but not quite all of them made it to the tabletop.

A light hearted candid shot of me worn out as the single French commander on Day One

Game context on the day

First I will regale you with some maps to help understanding.

Those who wish to see the detail can get the full briefings and orders of battle from the Napoleonic Download section on the right hand sidebar, or follow this link Hausen-Teugn-Dunzling briefings and orbats

Map given to Austrians -red areas correspond to particular Divisions or Brigades on the orbat. Blue areas are the very few French they are aware of around 10 am

Dillon's intended Austrian deployment. Hohenzolern's III Corps is on the left flank, still deploying through Hausen. Most are in the safety of reverse slope on the Hausenerberg in relation to the French at Teugn. But Stutterheim's light troops North of Schneidhart are expecting opposition in the woods ahead. Rosenberg's two Divisions of IV Corps are deployed side by side on the right, approaching Moosholzen, Westerholz and Dünzling.

The French map, pink areas are spotted Austrian units. All except areas A15 and A16 represent marching formations along the road towards Abensberg, through Teugn and Saalhaupt. A15 is a strong Light Infantry (Legere) brigade on the Hausenerberg. A16 is Montbrun's Division consisting of 3 strong regiments of Light Cavalry and a regiment of Legere.

Paul's actual deployment and attack intentions which had to be interpreted by me 

As a reminder, we were using my adaptations of "Honours of War" rules for Napoleonic Imperial  period warfare at a scale of 1 x 15/18mm figure representing 50 men (Abensberg to Wagram, A2W). So most tactical units are full regiments or small brigades, some Light Infantry (LI) units were just battalion strength, the artillery batteries were two gun models each. The rules are still a work in progress but most aspects are finalised. Although I had provided most of the troops (which are an eclectic mix, many bought painted from sellers on Ebay) I'm indebted to Paul B from Cheltenham in lending his wonderful AB Miniatures armies before the day for me to pick from. Nearly all the beautiful staff groups are Paul's as well as a lot of the cavalry and some of the Austrian infantry.

On this first day Dillon Browne and Guy Barlow had come from Buckinghamshire and Windsor to command the Austrians. On Day Two the French commanders,  Paul B and Steve Johnson, would be here, but until then it was up to me, as Marshal Davout, to do my best to carry out their orders, but be sensible and not lose too many troops before they arrived!

The plans 

Simple really for both sides, and somewhat dictated by my limitations placed on them driven by historical deployments adapted by my reading of the situation at about 10 am. Full credit to Michael Hopper's Hausen-Teugn and Dünzling scenarios in "Eagles over Bavaria" for focusing my mind on what was needed, and then enlarged a bit into "what-if" territory by opportunities shown in John Gill's "Thunder on the Danube" Volume 1. I had given both sides a lot of dummy units to help with "fog of war", and added Blinds, concealment and scouting to the basic HoW system.

French

Paul had grasped the nettle, and ordered all his forward units to attack. He intended to establish a battery on the Buchberg to protect Teugn while sending infantry up the Hausenerberg to try to secure the critical crest line. A dummy Division was all he had to give the impression of protecting the line of communication to the distant Divisions of Gudin and Morand, now on their way West to Abensberg. Gilly's LI brigade was to take and hold the extreme eastern end of the Hausenerberg overlooking Schneidhart village. Morand had a difficult job on the French left. Paul maybe had not realised the potential strength of Rosenberg's corps and he'd initially ordered Montbrun to secure the covering approaches to Westerholz through Paring and other off table villages, since safeguarding this flank of Davout's march from Regensburg was critical. I managed to temper this to sending only scouts and LI forward aggressively at first and keeping Pajol's cavalry Division back to await events. A reserve was provided by Saalhaupt village in the form of Guiton's Cuirassier Brigade.

Austrian

Although I was given some mild criticism after the battle for making the Austrian objectives too difficult, all I was trying to do was provide strong incentives to advance as far as possible - even off the northern roads! That was in keeping with Archduke Charles' historic orders, and I did not want to give our Austrian players any excuse for the dithering shown by their historic counterparts. So Dillon ordered all Hohenzollern's units to advance over and down the northern slope of Hausenerberg and onto Teugn; Vukassovich on the left was tasked with trying to block off the Abensberg road. Guy ordered Rosenberg's infantry to advance straight ahead with the Westerholz, Moosholzen, Saalhaupt and Gattersberg in mind, while he hoped cavalry would be able to advance through Dünzling. Stutterheim was to take that vital shoulder of the Hausenerberg above Schneidhart. I had given Dillon, as Archduke Charles, the potential to command  personally the strong (10 battalions of Grenadiers) I Reserve Corps from it's off table position at Grub, but there were restrictions of course......

The situation at the start - all units, real and dummy were represented by a blind of some sort - different sizes helped balance out real versus bluff formations.

The Blinds help to demonstrate one of the key elements I waated to represent to get across the character of the April leg of the 1809 campaign - the diverse and close terrain of Bavaria. A lot of the mess, confusion and apparent ineptitude of both sides was due to lack of visibility and knowledge of the enemy and their own troops. Each side had "squadrons" of scouts attached to the key commanders (Corps level and above) and we had a scouting phase at the start of each move. We simplified things somewhat with a die roll to indicate if "spotted" enemy figures were revealed this turn or next. Scouts had no fighting role except in defence of their General and his staff, and to fight or push away/evade from enemy scouts.

Let Battle Commence - 10am 19th April 1809

Play commences - here Guy brings Rosenberg's Corps through
 the woods, while Dillon is thinking about which of
Hohenzollern's units are revealed

The majority of my French stay back as yet unrevealed

There were some "what-if" elements to this refight.  Dillon's first thought, as Archduke Charles deployed off table at Grub, was to despatch his squadrons of scouts forward across his front up and over Hausenerberg.

I had set a condition that at least 50% of French units/dummies had to be revealed before Charles could issue any orders to the Reserve Grenadiers. I hoped that would take about 3 or 4 moves. This was to build in the kind of reticence experienced by an Army C-in-C deep inside enemy territory up against an unknown enemy. Players don't usually show this kind of hesitancy unless you impose it as Games Master. After all, Dillon would be driven safely afterwards to a nice pub dinner, whereas Charles would have to face the wrath of Emperor and country if he lost the Grenadier Corps gratuitously!

Carrying out Paul's orders I am pushing regiments from St Hilaire's Division up the Hausenerberg even though Rosenberg's troops are deploying on the crest already

Dillon's second option was as Hohenzollern, to send an ADC to recall Thierry's Brigade. You'll recall from Part One Thierry was part of III Corps sent westwards to shadow the Bavarians. By Move Two Dillon felt he needed to call up those reinforcements so despatched the ADC but the mandatory dice rolls could hardly have been worse - they would not arrive not till Move 10! Neither side knew that, as a balancing factor, the arrival of the Bavarians on the French order-of-battle was dependent on the Austrians getting Thierry.

Although his commanders were generally poor quality Guy kept rolling 6s for his critical Command Initiative which gave him much faster movement than any of us had expected

Above and Below: Austrian scouts (foreground) reveal Pajol's
Light Cavalry Brigade just West of Dünzling. I had pushed forward
his Horse Artillery battery and began very long range harassing fire

This is the situation in the centre above Schneidhart village. An Austrian Grenzer Regiment has pushed up the Hausenerberg to take on similar numbers of Gilly's French Legère. The taller dark evergreen trees denote dense woods only passable by skirmish infantry

At the main crest I have pushed in a regimental column attack on the right and formed an elite regiment in line left of the road to take on the Austrian mass with fire. Note the Austrian Grenz marksmen in the woods on my right flank - Ouch!

I'm giving fire support though from St Hilaire's heavy battery on the Buchberg by Teugn village

Here is the view on the French extreme right. Skirmishers engage in the hilly area to the right but what is ahead of my columns is still to be revealed...except all those skirmishers in the dense woods on Hausenerberg

A good view of the Teugn-Hausen road through the pass with a desperate struggle taking place for the summit. Austrians have higher ground advantage and "large' unit status here.

The Westerholz is in the centre of this photo.
Two French Hussar regiments are chasing away Austrian LI before
 they can do much damage. French LI approach Moosholzen
 and the rest of Pajol's brigade has withdrawn to a safer position at the left

This overall view from the SE shows that Rosenberg's right hand Division has reached Dünzling, which is why I retreated Pajol. (see below for a closeup). The Austrian IV Corps left hand Division is getting a toehold on Westerholz 

It's causing me a lot of problems but it was all good-natured historical
 fun............

.........even though things had gone badly at the Hausenerberg crest. My elite infantry had been depleted to 5 hits and broke! (Yellow marker), however I've forced their opponents to retreat (red marker)

Stutterheim's Grenzers had been pushed back by superior fire from Gilly's LI brigade (who have retreated to concealment) and thus I had achieved one of Paul B's objectives by securing this end of Hausenerberg. Guy used Stutterheim to keep the French guessing here but never caused a serious threat again.

This is the Austrian regiment that the elite French infantry
pushed back from the crest - soon to be spending a couple of moves
 reforming in front of Saladorf village

Afternoon sunshine spoils the photo at the Austrian left  flank -
time to close the blinds!

This overhead shot shows Hohenlohe's Division consolidating a position from Dünzling up the slope towards Westerholz. Montbrun is continuing to play a waiting game by refusing the flank while using the 7th Legère and Hussars to keep the light elements of Somariva's Division at bay through the woods. The latter's infantry and artillery have reached Moosholzen

Dillon is boldly pressing his advantage at the main Hausenerberg
 slope. One French regiment has had to retreat back behind Teugn to reform,
the others are now desperate just to defend the road line.
 Marshal Davout can be seen to right of the Buchberg

Two views of fighting around Moosholzen hamlet. Above: I've had to pull Grandeau's Brigade  of Friant's Division across to plug this gap. They are gamely trying to take on Somariva's Division, with their left flank protected in Westerholz by Pajol. Below: Guy's big dice rolls for movement have now ceased (he's using high scores for firing instead!) but he's yet to uncover the strong, experienced 7th Legère still concealed under Blind Nr34

Here they are revealed, and can cause losses if I can keep them out of musketry volley range

Gilly has come near the edge of the forest on Hausenerberg and it's a stand-off with Stutterheim just extending his skirmish line (the "1 stand lost" marker just means 1 Hit in HoW terms)

Along the ridge Hohenzollern is bringing up more regiments,
and LI are now in the forest. From now on both sides will
 try to use skirmishers in the dense woods to outflank the lines
 fighting at the crest.
Way in the distance Dillon has taken the battle towards Teugn.......see below

.....and finding it is not easy. The heavy guns on Buchberg have turned to give enfilading fire. Together with volleys from the French infantry, that proves enough to see off this already weakened regiment.

We'd battled till about 6.30pm and I could breathe a  sigh of relief. Although we only had done 4 Moves, (Two hours tabletop time) on behalf of Paul and Steve I had held all along the line where it mattered. Though my attack on the Hausenerberg pass and crest had caused the French losses it had blunted the Austrian advance.....for now. Better yet I had only lost one unit - the "Experienced"  3rd Regiment de Ligne (unit 20), and a few others were in need of pull back and reforming. On the left flank Montbrun was directing his "Experienced" Horse Artillery battery to cause considerable discomfort to Guy's troops. The next hours of battle would bring a lot of excitement in that area in particular.....

So I will leave you for now with a new painting I did, loosely inspired by the action yet to come in our game. I've called it "Montbrun's Division retakes the Westerholz high ground" 

Original Acrylic painting on board, 20 inches x 8 inches. Late afternoon 19th April 1809 - Montbrun takes advantage of Hohenlohe's hesitation to let loose the 7th Hussars (painting for sale please email me if you'd like more info. Chris Gregg)

A Captain of the 7th Hussars Elite Company leads the charge
(inspired by the memoirs  of Jean-Nicolas Curély
"The Life of a General in Napoleon's Light Cavalry")

The 7th Legere in Westerholz are inflicting damage on the 8th Infantry Regiment, including its leadership. Smoke rises from a hasty volley but they are now unloaded...do enough senior officers remain standing to organise a battalion mass to resist the cavalry.......?

Part Three very soon!