HPS Simulations Blog

Since the release of Jena-Auerstaedt there have been modifications to the engine that have helped to correct some of the "blitz" ability found in the fifteen minute turn versions of the scenarios. I went with a ten minute turn based on the fact that so many of the battles were not that long and I felt that a fifteen minute version of some of the actions would rob the players of opportunity for proper control of their army. For instance in a small sized six turn game the catostrophic rout of one brigade can have devastating effects on the outcome. Increase that scenario to eight or nine turns and that same brigade can rally back to shore up the line and perhaps change the outcome to one favorable to their side.

Cavalry is depicted in the order of battle files in squadrons. Each squadron can breakdown into two platoons. I still believe it to be the best way to depict the cavalry of this period. Any value we use in the parameter data file using a regimental-based scale would still distort some of the regiment's squadron breakdown values. Thus the squadron remains the basic cavalry unit.

Artillery is in batteries except for the Russians which I felt should be modeled in sections as I had done in Campaign Jena-Auersteadt. Each battery had 4 licornes and Campaign Austerlitz includes the ability for them to use indirect fire. Add to this the ability of the Russians to command more of the ground to their front with multiple fire thus causing more troops to disorder and their artillery arm becomes a formidable force to reckon with.

The French artillery of this period was well trained but weak in numbers when compared to the Allies. The concept of the large grand batteries of the later period had not become practice and while twenty to twenty four guns might be massed now and then Napoleon had not become fixed on locating a grand battery on the battlefield. Thus they will be doing well to keep up with the Allies more numerous artillery. The French players will have to remember this. While they have better range the Allies will be able to fire for better effect in a prolonged artillery duel.

The Allies of this period had fine cavalry. While the Russian line cavalry was not the best their Guard cavalry was mounted on good mounts. The Austrians and British had some of the finest cavalry in Europe. The French on the other hand were in need of good mounts and their light cavalry while not lacking in elan was still the underdog when fighting against the Allies.

Napoleon lacked horses for all of his dragoons so there was an entire division that was dismounted. Campaign Austerlitz features dragoon units that can dismount in several of its scenarios most notably Wertingen. The use of the Dragoon type was limited as the practice of dismounting was not something that was done very often. The players are free to make copies of the order of battle files and convert the their cavalry to dragoon types as they wish. It was not my belief that doing this in all of the order of battle files was wise. Players could use gamey tactics which I felt were not keeping with the period.

In preparing the Battle of Austerlitz scenarios I was greatly aided by Robert Goetz' work on the campaign. The numerous maps found in the book aided me greatly in determining where the troops were located at a given time. Many books I read merely gave a narrative but were remiss in giving the time of the action. Mr. Goetz' work is a veritable time table for the battle. Without it the scenarios would probably be very inaccurate.

My goal was to breakdown the battle into as many small to medium sized actions as possible. The battle was very complex to say the least. Tracking the movements of all of the units was a real chore. The end product I hope will give the gamer much to keep them occupied for some time to come while delivering a rewarding experience to those that enjoy history or just want to compete on the field of battle!

More care was given this time round to the Solo gamer. There are several solo campaigns included in the game and almost every scenario has a solo counterpart. The Playtesters in particular found many of the solo scenarios to be a great challenge. To enjoy the most out of these solo scenarios I highly recommend that the players leave the Isolation rules off and attempt to fight the AI as if it were a human player, each turn expecting that they could turn your flank. Rather than go at it in a blitz-style fashion the experience in playing the AI is more rewarding if you adopt a mindset that you are here to enjoy the battle more than see if you can destroy every one of the enemy's units. I purposely cut down the French forces in the Eagle Has Landed campaign in order to make it much harder on the human player. Campaign Austerlitz offers over fifty scenarios for solo players. Each of these was playtested at least four times. Some as many as twelve times. Each player has different abilities so there is no guarantee that everyone will be satisfied but I did as much as I could to offer up a good challenge for those that prefer to play solo.

Head to Head actions abound. Again not everyone has the same playing ability but our Playtest team is composed of varying playing abilities and by the time the game was finished each of the players had had a chance to engage every member of the team. I used the score as a benchmark but also weighed the respective abilities as well in determining the final Victory Conditions. Some of my players are some of the best on the web. Getting two of our best players to play each other gave me a good idea on how to balance the scenario. And getting two lesser players to engage in battle also helped me in determining the scale of victory.

I hope that this simulation has done a fine job in recreating the events of the turbulent period known as the War of the Third Coalition. For historical background please read the following works on the campaign which do a much better job of explaining the campaign than I could. The internet is also a great source of information on the campaign. The Napoleon Series in particular is a fine source of historical information on just about everything you want to know about the period.

Bibliography:

Napoleon and Austerlitz: The Glory Years 1805 - Scott Bowden

Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Eagles of Europe - Ian Castle

The Campaigns of Napoleon - David G. Chandler

Napoleon's Finest: Davout and His III Corps, Combat Journal of Operations 1805-1807 - Scott Bowden

1805: Austerlitz - Robert Goetz

The Ulm Campaign: 1805 - F.N.Maude

Austerlitz: 1805 - Christopher Duffy

Napoleon's Conquest of Europe: The War of the Third Coalition - Frederick C. Schneid

A Year at War 1805: The Army of the Tsar - C. A. Sapherson

A Year at War 1805: The Armies of Austria - C. A. Sapherson

A Year at War 1805: The Armies of Prussia and Saxony - C. A. Sapherson

Austerlitz: The Empire at its Zenith - F. G. Hourtoulle

Austerlitz 1805: Battle of the Three Emperors - David G. Chandler

A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars - Esposito/Elting

The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book - Digby Smith

Napoleon's Great Adversary: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792-1814 - Gunther Rothenberg

Campaign Austerlitz Scenarios

Scenario Name - Turns
#00. Getting Started - 12
#01A. The Action at Wertingen (HTH) - 33
#01H. The Action at Wertingen (HTH) - 33
#01H. The Action at Wertingen (Solo) - 33
#02A. The Action at Günzburg (HTH) - 18
#02H. The Action at Günzburg (HTH) - 18
#02H. The Action at Günzburg (Solo) - 18
#03A1. Haslach-Jungingen (HTH) - 30
#03A1. Haslach-Jungingen (Solo) - 30
#03A2. Haslach-Jungingen (HTH) - 30
#03H. Haslach-Jungingen (HTH) - 30
#03H. Haslach-Jungingen (Solo) - 30
#04A. Encounter at Memmingen (HTH) - 36
#04A. Encounter at Memmingen (Solo) - 36
#05A. The Battle of Elchingen (HTH) - 40
#05H. The Battle of Elchingen (HTH) - 40
#05H. The Battle of Elchingen (Solo) - 40
#06A. The Battle of Ulm (HTH) - 60
#07H1. Herbrechtingen: Prelude to Disaster (HTH) - 10
#07H1. Herbrechtingen: Prelude to Disaster (Solo) - 10
#07H2. Finale at Neresheim (HTH) - 6
#07H2. Finale at Neresheim (Solo) - 12
#08A1. First Day of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) - 60
#08A2. First Day of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) - 60
#08A3. First Day of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) - 60
#08A4. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) - 140
#08A5. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Alternate (HTH) - 140
#08H1. First Day of Caldiero - Historical (HTH) - 60
#08H1. First Day of Caldiero - Historical (Solo) - 60
#08H2. The Second Day at Caldiero - Historical (HTH) - 24
#08H2. The Second Day at Caldiero - Historical (Solo) - 24
#08H3. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Historical (HTH) - 140
#08H3. The Full Battle of Caldiero - Historical (Solo) - 140
#09H. Rearguard Action at Amstetten (HTH) - 10
#09H. Rearguard Action at Amstetten (Solo-Allies) - 10
#09H. Rearguard Action at Amstetten (Solo-French) - 10
#10H. Rearguard Action at Mariazell (HTH) - 10
#10H. Rearguard Action at Mariazell (Solo) - 10
#11A3. Strik Strikes! (HTH) - 8
#11A3. Strik Strikes! (Solo) - 8
#11A4. Finale at Dürenstein (HTH) - 12
#11A4. Finale at Dürenstein (Solo) - 12
#11H1. The Battle of Dürenstein (HTH) - 66
#11H1. The Battle of Dürenstein (Solo) - 66
#11H2. "The Russians Are Coming!" (HTH) - 18
#11H2. "The Russians Are Coming!" (Solo) - 18
#11H3. Late Morning at Dürenstein (HTH) - 6
#11H3. Late Morning at Dürenstein (Solo) - 6
#11H4. Finale at Dürenstein (HTH) - 12
#11H4. Finale at Dürenstein (Solo) - 12
#12A1. Battle of Schöngrabern (HTH) - 20
#12A1. Battle of Schöngrabern (Solo) - 20
#12H1. Battle of Schöngrabern (HTH) - 24
#12H1. Battle of Schöngrabern (Solo) - 24
#13H. On the Goldbach (HTH) - 18
#13H. On the Goldbach (Solo) - 18
#14H. Counterattack at Sokolnitz (Solo) - 8
#15A. The Assault on the Pratzen (HTH) - 12
#15A. The Assault on the Pratzen (Solo) - 12
#15H. The Assault on the Pratzen (HTH) - 9
#15H. The Assault on the Pratzen (Solo) - 8
#16H1. Lannes vs. Bagration Part 1 (HTH) - 18
#16H1. Lannes vs. Bagration Part 1 (Solo) - 18
#16H2. Lannes vs. Bagratian Part 2 (HTH) - 12
#16H2. Lannes vs. Bagratian Part 2 (Solo) - 12
#17H. The Main Show (HTH) - 18
#17H. The Main Show (Solo) - 18
#18H1. Guard vs. Guard - Part 1 (HTH) - 12
#18H1. Guard vs. Guard - Part 1 (Solo) - 12
#18H2. Guard vs. Guard - Part 2 (HTH) - 12
#18H2. Guard vs. Guard - Part 2 (Solo) - 12
#19H. Finale in the South (HTH) - 12
#19H. Finale in the South (Solo) - 12
#20H. The Decision in the Balance (HTH) - 12
#20H. The Decision in the Balance (Solo) - 12
#21A. Napoleon on the Pratzen (HTH) - 66
#21A. Napoleon on the Pratzen (Solo) - 66
#22_Cav. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) - 66
#22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) - 66
#22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (Solo) - 66
#23A. Battle of the Four Monarchs - 66
#24A. Campaign in Moravia (HTH) - 250
#M15-06H. Historical Ulm Campaign - HTH - 265
#M15-22H_Cav. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) - 44
#M15-22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (HTH) - 44
#M15-22H. The Battle of Austerlitz (Solo) - 44
#T1. The Armies Meet at Austerlitz - 250
#T2. Battle of Nordlingen - Mack Turns North - 64

For viewing the various Order of Battle files

1805_OB.scn
Austerlitz_OB.scn
Eagle_OB.scn
Italian_Campaign_OB.scn
Moravia_OB.scn

Standard Victory Points Schedule

Infantry 3 points per 25 infantry
Cavalry 5 points per 25 cavalry
Artillery 6 points per gun
Wagons 0 points