Sambre-et-Meuse Late 1794

[MengJiao]

  This is the Clash of Arms game Lobosiztz (Battles from the Age of Reason volume V).  I'm using it to represent a hypothetical battle in the Ardenne in August or September 1794 between the Austrians of the First Coalition and the French First Republic's Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse.  Special rules are continual disorder for the French messing up their combat value but nothing else and special rules for French skirmisher deployment and all French infantry have light infantry options.  The theory is also that the Austrians were more interested in holding the Austrian Netherlands (and less interested in the Partition of Poland).

  The Austrians are attacking from the NW attempting to take 2 out of 3 of the two villages and the winery for the win by 9:20am (ten turns).

   At this stage of the war the French would usually get up at 3am for a stand-to since their cavalry was too crappy to have an adequate outpost line to guard against pre-dawn surprise attacks.  The hook formations represent the French skirmishers and can be deployed by any French infantry battalion.  The Austrians have two sets of skirmishers: specialists who are always in skirmish formation and grenadiers who are marked as being in skirmish formation.  For the French 3s show the number of skirmishers deployed by each battalion.

6am:

[MengJiao]

6:20 am:

[bayonetbrant]

Those counters look very busy.  I'm sure it's b/c I don't know everything that's on them.

[MengJiao]

Those counters look very busy.  I'm sure it's b/c I don't know everything that's on them.

  In this case most of the busy stuff means little or nothing in this scenario.  I'm using the Prussians of 1756 to simulate the classic French Revolutionary Army, the Sambre-et-Meuse, in its best six months -- the second half of 1794.  The Austrians are also from 1756 so most of the business on the counters means little.

   The theory of the scenario is that an Austrian Column of about 20,000 men and 20 guns is attempting to overrun a French force of about 30,000 men and 30 guns some time in August or September.  Up until the battle of Fleurus in Mid-summer 1794 (but before Thermidor 9), the French would often collapse when hit at such odds, but after Fleurus (where the French did okay for once), the Sambre-et-Meuse was invincible for about six months and overran the Austrian netherlands opening the way for Prussia to join Spain and leave the First Coalition and for the French to take over the Dutch Republic.

[MengJiao]

6:20 am:

And 20 minutes later (after two botched Austrian cavalry charges and mostly useless French artillery fire and some lethal bayonet charges):

[MengJiao]

6:20 am:

And 20 minutes later (after two botched Austrian cavalry charges and mostly useless French artillery fire and some lethal bayonet charges):

7:00 am: much quieter (after the French artillery scored some hits and the remains of the Austrian Cavalry withdrew to reorganize):

[MengJiao]

6:20 am:

And 20 minutes later (after two botched Austrian cavalry charges and mostly useless French artillery fire and some lethal bayonet charges):

7:00 am: much quieter (after the French artillery scored some hits and the remains of the Austrian Cavalry withdrew to reorganize):

7:20 -- Austrians attack on the French left: