AOE: Battle of Katzbach 1813

 

Second Night of Battle

After the first night things were not looking great for the French. The rainy weather had taken its toll on French infantry firepower and most of the French front line brigades had been hammered relentlessly by the Prussian columns. The heavily restricted terrain was also posing problems for the French in that there was simply no way to get reserves or any fresh units to the left flank. When the second night began the Prussians continued to press forward and despite a few obstacles, pretty much rolled over the reformed French line. On the far right the French tried to cross the bridge for an attack, but it was counterattacked by the Russian defenses on that side of the stream and pushed back. By the start of turn 6 the French were hopelessy outclassed on the left and could do nothing meaningful on the right. The game was called at this point as we couldn't leave it up for a third night and clearly the Coalition was going to win.
This game did feature a number of interesting things and taught us a few lessons. First, just because a battle looks interesting doesn't mean it is! Katzbach is a major battle with a lot of stuff on the board, but basically there isn't much the French can do to stop the Prussians from running over everything on the French left. The Coalition also won the initiative on each turn, which did not help the French in establishing new defensive lines or withdrawing damaged units from danger. Also, trying to play what is essentially a six player game with only three of us was taxing to say the least. Opportunities were missed, your focus shifted too many times, and there was too much to move which slowed the game down. Next time we do a big battle, we need plenty of players and a full day!

The Friday Night Update is sponsored by Trenchworx.