Friday Night DBN

Friday night, we played a little DBN. Big Battle DBN in fact. I am a big fan of Big Battle...give the feeling - in my mind - of a real battle. For example, I had three maneuver elements and a reserve.

In this battle, we pitted 1809 Austrians against a French and Bavarian army. Scott and I played the French while Colin and Rick played the Austrians. Rick played the commander of the Austrian forces and Scott of the French. The Austrians ended up being the defenders. The battlefield we set up was pretty random, we all just laid terrain down haphazardly.

I play the big battle setup a little different than the DBN rules state - I follow a procedure more aligned to the DBA big battle game and the NASAMW tournament rules. The players divide their elements into as many commands as they have purchased commanders. At that point, we determine who the attacker and defender are. Then the commands are deployed on the table as follows:

1. The Defender deploys all of his commands except for his C-in-C, a reserve command (if any have been so designated) and any 1 other command. At this time, the Defender may occupy any BUAs or Strongpoints on the battlefield that are not within the Attacker’s deployment zone.
2. The Attacker deploys all of his commands except for his C-in-C and a reserve command (if any have been so designated).
3. The Defender deploys any remaining commands and his C-in-C. The Defender may occupy any BUAs or Strongpoints on the battlefield that are not within the Attacker’s deployment zone.
4. The Attacker deploys any remaining commands and his C-in-C.

I made a poor decision in this game, because I brought a 4X4 game board, I used it as is (instead of 2X4), which placed the armies too far apart at opening - which while fun, ended up needlessly increased the playing time.

The breakdown of the forces were as follows (each side was allotted 36 points - I created the armies the day before the game):

French - Davout's Corps
Bavarian Division
1 Commander, Poor (-1 CAP)
4 Musket elements
1 Light Cavalry element
1 Foot Artillery element

Friant's Division
1 Commander, Average
8 Musket elements
1 Light Infantry element
2 Foot Artillery elements

Gudin's Division
1 Commander, Average
4 Musket elements
2 Light Infantry elements
2 Foot Artillery elements
3 Light Cavalry element

Reserve
1 Commander, Good (+1 CAP)
1 Baggage Train
1 Foot Artillery element
4 Heavy Cavalry elements

Austrian - VI Corps
1st Division
1 Commander, Average
2 Musket elements
3 Musket (Landwehr) elements
2 Light Infantry elements
1 Foot Artillery element

2nd Division
1 Commander, Average
4 Musket elements
2 Musket (elite) elements
1 Foot Artillery element
4 Heavy Cavalry elements

3rd Division
1 Commander, Average
6 Musket elements
2 Musket (Landwehr) elements
2 Light Cavalry elements
1 Foot Artillery element

Reserve
1 Commander, Good (+1 CAP)
1 Baggage Train
1 Foot Artillery element
4 Light Cavalry elements

From the above, and with the adjustments for a 36 point game, the French army would break at the loss of 15 elements and the Austrians at the loss of 16 elements. One thing I think is that playing the game with just a number of total elements lost to decide is not the best idea. I rather like the Big Battle DBA rules, where a command's losses demoralize it. To me, it plays well when a command can be demoralized due to its losses. I'll have to improvise a rules change in this area.

We then began the game! I commanded the Bavarian division and Friant's division. Scott, commanded Gudin's division and the reserve, and, of course, Davout! Colin commanded the 1st and 2nd divisions with Rick commanding the 3rd and the reserve.

The French begin the game by committing a deployment error - given the distance between the armies (due to me deciding to use too large a field) we should have deployed into march columns at the start. It wasted time and PIPs to reorganize on the fly. Nevertheless, when we got into the action, it was pretty fun stuff! We French really didn't devise any fancy battle plan, just move ahead and engage the Austrians except on the French left, held by my Bavarians, we decided that we'd sweep the woods.

Early in the battle, Rick committed the Austrian reserve cavalry to the far left of their line! There was an opportunity there for him as that would pit 6 Light Cavalry elements against 3. This clash of horsemen, was initially won by Scott's troopers killing one of the Austrian elements, but then the weight began to show and the French fell back. Soon the Austrians charged headlong into the French lines and Gudin's front became halted as it fought off the Austrian horse. A few elements on both sides were killed, with the French actually getting the worst of it! Gudin was now out of the main fight being engaged furiously to his front. This meant that Friant's right would be exposed except for a handful of light infantry that could cover it.

The Bavarians, over the course of the game were able to clear some of the woods of the Austrian light infantry but really became a non-factor in the main battle - meaning Friant's left would be vulnerable, especially with Austrian heavy cavalry in the area. So, Davout committed the French heavies to the center, specifically to the left of Friant and to engage the Austrian heavies.

Friant's infantry finally reached the Austrian line and several turns of tight combat took place - including heavy horse against heavy horse - but no progress was being made, and the Austrians could shift men into the fight from 3rd division. At that point it was clear to Davout that although not defeated, there would be no victory either - not that day. Davout called off the attack and conceded a minor victory to the Austrians.