Moravia 2 - After Action Report
The following is an after action report of “Moravia 2”, an online 2-player game of Napoleon in Europe (NIE).
Curtis Kitchens (the Coalition) and Alan Richbourg (France) used version 1.6 of the Charge the Guns (CTG) variant rules. Move by move details can be found here.
Note that the dice produced some extremely unlikely results. In many actions described below, luck had more effect than the players’ skills.
September 1805
Tensions flare as the major European powers mobilize for war. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Sweden and Naples aim to crush Napoleon’s growing ambition, while France and Spain seek to upset the old balance of power. Prussia and the Ottomans watch cautiously from the sidelines. Which alliance will triumph in this deadly struggle of nations?
Sensing relief from the threat of French invasion, Britain makes the first move. Its expeditionary force lands in Portugal but fails to recruit the Portuguese, despite strong diplomatic support from Russia. Meanwhile the Austrians attack Switzerland and Bavaria. Spain responds by sailing from Corruna into the Bay of Biscay, but British sailors sink the entire Spanish fleet there. Demoralized by this naval disaster, Spain’s army redeploys to protect the remaining ships in Cadiz. Reacting quickly to the Austrian attack, Napoleon force-marches troops from Belgium through Hesse-Berg and onward into Bavaria, recruiting a Hessian corps along the way. Outmaneuvered by this lightning march, Ferdinand’s Austrians are scattered in Bavaria and retreat in confusion to the Bohemian highlands. Other French forces enter Denmark, Venice, and Switzerland.
Napoleon creates new Marshals to lead his far-flung armies, while Britain sends gold to Austria and Russia. The Austrians summon forces to defend Vienna, and Kutuzov is called back into service in Lithuania. Spain strengthens its artillery arm and appoints La Romana to command its troops on the Portuguese frontier.
October 1805
Spain launches a diplomatic initiative in Portugal which succeeds far beyond Godoy’s wildest dreams. Rumors of romantic liaison between La Romana and the Portuguese Queen are widespread but cannot be confirmed. The British position in Portugal becomes hopeless, as Spanish forces pour across the now undefended border. The Redcoats put up a respectable last-ditch defense, but Spanish artillery and the presence of Marshals Massena and La Romana are too much, and the British corps is driven into the sea. Even the complete loss of this army leaves the British government unfazed. [Britain passes the first of many commitment rolls. They’re shaken, not stirred.]
On the Austrian front, Baden also joins France, while a French detachment routs the Austrians in Milan. Napoleon wins a major set piece battle in the Tyrol, sending remnants of a large Austrian army reeling back into Illyria.
At this point, in accordance with the Coalition’s secret strategy, the Austrian Emperor voluntarily sues for peace with Napoleon. This protects Austria from further French aggression, but results in the loss of Venice, Naples, and Tyrol. Being at peace allows Austria to invest more in improving its army. [In retrospect, it would have been far better for France to annex Illyria instead of Tyrol, but the problems Illyria would cause France were still far off in the future.] While celebrating the victory over Austria, Napoleon makes diplomatic overtures to the Danish court, and Denmark joins the growing French alliance. With the Portuguese navy under Spanish control and the Danish fleet aligned with France, Napoleon can begin making plans for offensive action against the Royal Navy. Britain is not out of the fight yet, however, and successfully recruits Norway, taking advantage of intrigues there against Danish rule. A strong force of Russians, British, Swedes, and Norwegians begins assembling in Sweden.
November 1805
Austrian forces move into Thuringia and Saxony but do not have the political clout necessary to influence local governments there. Russia and Britain send troops to reinforce Sweden and Gibraltar. Spanish forces return to Spain and establish siege lines around the British fortress. France garrisons the coasts from Naples to Denmark, consolidates the Grand Army in Thuringia, and annexes Thuringia to the French empire.
December 1805
As the snow flurries thicken, armies across Europe start settling into winter quarters. The Austrians, Russians, and British make diplomatic efforts in Saxony, but the Saxons are less than impressed and are not afraid to say so. Archduke Charles returns to Bohemia in disgust. Napoleon rides to Paris to check on Josephine, after dispatching Massena to Rome to “negotiate” with the Pope. The Grand Army sets up winter quarters on the Westphalian plain.
The shipyards are especially busy in Spain, France, and Great Britain. Britain appoints a new Marshal, while Russia builds artillery. Austria raises new infantry divisions in Illyria. A minor revolt in Finland briefly threatens the Russians’ supply link to Sweden, but the uprising is soon put down.
January 1806
Napoleon makes a surprise visit to the troops in Westphalia and annexes the place for good measure. Bessieres similarly persuades the Saxons to attach their fortunes to the French empire. Marshals Hill and Kutuzov arrive in Sweden, and another infantry division embarks for Gibraltar.
February 1806
French troops arrive in Denmark and neutral Mecklenburg. Berliners fear a French attack in the spring! Russian and British troops continue reinforcing Sweden, and the last Austrian troops withdraw from Germany.
March 1806
As the freezing weather begins to subside, Russia assembles its main army in Lithuania. The cagey Russians have prepared a trap in Russia, and are trying to lure Napoleon into crossing their borders, where they believe they can encompass his doom. The plan seems to be working, as Napoleon positions armies to assault Prussia. Meanwhile, the Austrians move a large army to Hungary. Will they attack the Ottomans, or is this part of the Coalition’s elaborate strategy of deception? Massena’s negotiations with the Pope reach a critical impasse, and after a brief military exercise, the Papal States join the French empire. Napoleon returns to Paris to manage the administration of his vast domain, which now (together with Spain) has nearly the same level of income as Austria, Russia, and Britain combined.
Some of the French loot has been funding a Secret Naval Weapons Development Plan. This is now revealed to all Europe with the creation of a French Admiral in Brittany. The British react by building yet another new squadron in Yarmouth. Then Britain, Russia, and Austria all produce more cavalry (what can this mean?), while Spain builds a naval squadron in Cadiz.
April 1806
Like the ice melting in the Baltic, the armies shake off their winter chill and begin preparing for action. Anticipating a glorious career, the new French Admiral sets sail with his fleet from Brest, rounding the coast of Brittany, aiming to join the Danish fleet in the English Channel. But in a strange twist of fate, a fatal wind drives the French fleet off course into a fog bank near Cornwall, sending it directly under the guns of waiting warships of Britain and Russia. Surprised and outnumbered almost two to one, the French fight valiantly in their new ships, but are raked, splintered, and destroyed, while the British and Russian sailors have “their finest hour”. In one decisive afternoon, Britain regains complete control of the sea. Denmark’s fleet sails down to the English Channel and through the British blockade, then spends the rest of the year docked at Boulogne. Massena travels by sea to Catalonia, and Napoleon arrives at army headquarters in Burgundy, as the French armies, frustrated by the strength of the Russian defenses and their own lack of resources, cancel their offensive plans and begin taking up defensive positions.
A single French squadron survives the debacle off Cornwall, escaping into the fog. It leads the whole Royal Navy on a merry chase across the North Atlantic, but eventually Nelson’s armada sends the wily French squadron beneath the waves. Britain posts a newly minted General to Gibraltar. Soon after, the Spanish escalate their siege there into a full scale assault, taking the British by surprise. Four Iberian divisions are decimated in the bloody attack, but the British garrison is compelled to surrender. Once again the British government shrugs off the loss of an expeditionary corps and vows to continue the war. Taking advantage of the temporary British concentration in the North Atlantic, Spain occupies Sicily.
May 1806
The Spanish and Portuguese fleets join in Cadiz, while Spain formally annexes Gibraltar. Britain helps the Swedish King put down a minor rebellion in Sweden, which keeps the troops there preoccupied and unable to invade Denmark, Spain, or France. Britain requests Russian aid against “the vile Spaniards”; the Czar obliges by declaring war on Spain and raiding Catalonia, catching Massena on his way to Madrid. The French Marshal’s elite bodyguard and the local Spanish militia are not enough to fend off the Russians, so Massena, conqueror of Lisbon and Rome, is killed on the sharp point of a Cossack’s lance. The main Russian army moves north toward St. Petersburg, while Kutuzov is given a hero’s welcome in London. Austria positions its growing army near the port in Illyria. France sends the Grand Army to Bavaria to keep watch on Vienna and dispatches Murat to Spain, to organize a defense there against the impending assault on Madrid.
June 1806
Napoleon sends an army to the port in Naples, then goes to Paris to confer with Talleyrand. The King of Sweden must deal with another uprising, but British agents also stir up French royalist opposition in Vendee. The Coalition army in Catalonia invades Gascony, unexpectedly leaving Spain. A vast British armada enters the Bay of Biscay where it escorts large scale landings in Vendee. Kutuzov is one of the first to disembark at La Rochelle. Oddly enough, he then leads the force in Vendee away from Paris instead of towards it, joining the British forces in Gascony. The uprising in Sweden continues, further delaying the Coalition forces there. The main Russian army enters St. Petersburg.
Napoleon decides he has just enough soldiers to protect Paris and Madrid, and with his navy in ruins, he commits the entire French treasury to supporting high level diplomatic intrigues. Britain, Austria, and Russia prepare for Austrian re-entry into the war and amphibious invasions of France. It is finally time for the drive on Paris! Godoy adds to Spain’s already impressive artillery arm, after Talleyrand informs him of secret plans for a possible amphibious invasion of Russia via the Black Sea.
July 1806
As the days lengthen in the hot summer, Napoleon considers the events leading up to this point. The early Austrian withdrawal from the war disrupted his original plans for invading Russia. Too much time and resources were then spent recruiting and annexing provinces in Germany and Italy, resources needed instead for campaigns in Prussia and Poland. Sweden blocked the land route through Scandinavia, and the Franco-Spanish navy collapsed on first contact with the warships of Great Britain. Perhaps the best option now to end the war on good terms for France is to draw the Coalition forces into battles near Paris, and hope for victories decisive enough to alter Napoleon’s declining fortunes. But he realizes there are other, more proactive options. In fact he dares to risk his hopes on the difficult task of forming an alliance with his former enemy, the Ottoman Sultan! With the Royal Navy occupied in the Atlantic, an Ottoman alliance would enable a sudden strike against Russia’s unprotected southern border, and the Black Sea would provide a safe harbor for the remaining Franco-Spanish fleet. So Napoleon instructs Talleyrand to make whatever deal can be made with the Ottomans, and commands him to prepare for a voyage to Constantinople.
In Napoleon’s council chamber, after enduring hours of his emperor’s insistent lecturing, Talleyrand casually suggests “you know, you could just ask the Czar to end the war.” Napoleon glares angrily at his diplomatic minister as Tallyrand gets up to leave, but the idea has been sown. He dismisses the idea at first, but after several days considers writing to the Czar. Why not? Et voila! He is delighted to find Czar Alexander is very tired of his British alliance! It is surprsingly easy to persuade Russia to dissolve the Coalition; in fact Alexander immediately declares war on his former British ally. Due to daring and great luck, the tables are completely turned, and events will take on a radically different character for the rest of the campaign. Talleyrand is smugly satisfied when his dangerous journey to Constantinople is quickly and quietly cancelled.
Perhaps the realization of his vulnerability to a southern invasion convinced the Czar to switch sides, but in any case the Russians immediately turn on the nearest British troops they can find. A vast naval battle erupts in the Bay of Biscay, with nine Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Russian squadrons battling ten British squadrons. The smoke and fire rival an Atlantic gale as both sides struggle to bring thousands of guns to bear. The combined fleet is slightly worsted, losing one French squadron before retiring to Brittany. The British army in Gascony is surrounded, routed, and captured, but again this hardly discourages the government in London. Instead, Britain forms a new alliance with Austria, then Austria rashly declares war on both France and Spain. The Austrians split their forces, sending half by sea to invade Vendee and Brittany, while half deploy around Vienna with Charles. The successful invasion of Brittany drives the French and Spanish squadrons in Brest out into the strangely empty North Atlantic.
The Russian treachery has clearly rattled Britain, because London is unprotected both by land and sea. Also, the Redcoats in Sweden are vulnerable to being surrounded and destroyed. These unusual opportunities are not wasted on the Russians, who land in Norway, force march through Finland, and after another bit of good luck, obtain the complete surrender of the Swedish King. The turncoat Czar also concludes an alliance with Spain, then sends a small but hardy band of commandoes around Scotland to Bristol. These fight their way across the English country side, taking serious losses, but eventually capture the Tower of London! But even this does not shake the British government’s resolve to fight. The war continues, even though there is not so much as one coherent British army division remaining in active service anywhere in Europe.
[The British player had plenty of opportunity to defend London by land and sea, so it is not the fault of the game design that the British capital was captured so easily. For example, the army in Sweden could have been moved to London prior to the Russian landing, and the British fleet deployed around the North Atlantic, North Sea, and English Channel.
At this point, the dice went from very bad to, well, just plain astoundingly bad for Curtis. Oh boy, did they get bad. Totally “jumped the shark” kind of bad.]
Nelson feels a crushing regret at allowing these disasters to ensue, and in a fit of depression, sails a small detachment of his fleet onto some sharp rocks off the coast of Norway. The Russian navy is occupied with a freak summer storm, and cannot come to the aid of the foundering British sailors. Tragically, all are lost at sea. The rest of the British navy finds the Franco-Spanish fleet near Wales and exacts their revenge, sending half the fleet to the bottom. The remaining defeated ships take shelter in the Russian controlled port of Bristol. Finally the Russians declare war on the hapless Hapsburgs, and a battle ensues in French Vendee, resulting in the rout of another doomed Austrian force.
The long, brutal days of July are finally over.
August 1806
The Russian fleet retires to St. Petersburg. Kutuzov makes a return visit to London, although this time his presence is not quite so well received as before, for some reason. Murat leads a French and Russian army into Brittany, capturing the Austrian artillery park at Brest, which leaves France free of invaders. Napoleon marches a combined force containing swarms of Cossacks to the gates of Vienna, where he fights the largest set piece battle of the war against the Austrians under Archduke Charles. The Austrians maneuver well, and Bessieres is grazed by a bullet and nearly killed, but the Austrian line is irretrievably shattered when the Russian cuirassiers finally fall on the Viennese militia. Charles retreats with the remaining divisions to Illyria. Despite the loss of these armies and the capture of Vienna, the Austrian Emperor stubbornly refuses to discuss peace terms with Napoleon.
Austria makes a desperate appeal for aid to Prussia, but the Prussian King maintains his cold neutrality. Then, with a vengeful gleam in his eye, Charles embarks the remaining Austrians on a mission to London, where he lands unopposed. Charles, with five infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade, closes in on Kutuzov’s two infantry divisions and an artillery battery, barricaded in the streets of London. Kutuzov was overconfident and did not consider the possibility of an attack from the port of Illyria; else he would have brought troops with him from France. With support from the local population, Charles knows exactly where the Russians are, and advances confident of victory, given his two to one numerical advantage. London expects to be liberated soon, and the Spanish fleet in Bristol prepares to sail out and meet its doom among the warships of the Royal Navy.
As the first Austrians come into view, the Russian battery fires off a ragged, ineffectual barrage. In close formation and high spirits, the Austrians keep advancing. The Russian position is cunning though, and constricts the Austrian attack. Their columns bunch together in the streets as they approach the Russian barricades.
Suddenly a deafening “Urrah!” erupts on the Austrian left flank as thousands of fanatical Russian commandos burst out of every window and door, falling headlong onto the Austrian columns. An Austrian column is immediately crushed beneath their savage charge. As the rattled Austrians turn to meet this unexpected attack, the barricades on their other flank are torn aside by a second vicious Russian assault preceded by a violent storm of exploding hand grenades. Another Austrian division falls, leaving most of its officers dead or dying. The Austrian cavalry presses their infantry from behind, while the Russian artillery lets loose a full cannister barrage on the Austrian center at short range, sending another Austrian column fleeing for shelter. [The dice rolls were unbelievably harsh to the Austrians in this battle, read on . . . ]
One Austrian line manages to form and fire at the advancing Russians, but the Russian attack is hardly slowed. The Russians return fire and the once proud Austrians break and run. In desperation, the remaining Austrian infantry grapple hand to hand with the Russians, but are overwhelmed and cut down by the Russian steamroller. Charles attempts to rally his troops, but has no luck stemming the panicked tide. The Russians advance, harrying the Austrian rear guard.
The Austrian cavalry deploys near Charles, who finally manages to rally one infantry division. The cavalry bravely charges, but the elite Russian battalions form square. Kutuzov unveils his artillery, and the Austrian Hussars are routed by a brief cannonade.
The rallied Austrian infantry division advances only to meet a hail of deadly musket fire from the waiting second Russian division. It staggers under heavy losses, then melts away in the general rout. Charles is almost killed by friendly fire as he tries to rally his fleeing army, and barely survives the chaos after the battle. A few Austrians eventually rejoin their surviving officers and retreat to a cozy pub in Wales.
Despite the abject failure of the relief effort, the British government staunchly maintains its resolve to continue the war. From its hidden headquarters in Northern England they proclaim “We shall nevah surrendah!”
September 1806
Mop up actions occur in Scandinavia, Vendee (suppressing the royalist uprising), and Austria. British ships attack Bristol but are repelled by the port fortifications without either side taking serious losses. The resilient governments of Austria and Britain still refuse to sue for peace. Active campaigning has ended, but soon enough peace will break out under the new order established by Russian, France, and Spain.
[Britain passed an amazing 11 commitment rolls, and Austria passed 4. Since the Coalition nations were still at war with France at the end, the game was technically a draw. This prompted a change in the commitment roll rules in version 1.7, where each failed roll makes it harder to pass the next one, unless a suitable amount of time has gone by. Even given the wild luck involved, both Curtis and I really enjoyed this game. Send an email to chargetheguns at sbcglobal.net if you would like an advance copy of the 1.7 rules or would consider joining a future CTG NIE game.]
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