The Battle of Stecken 1805 - A Polemos General de Division AAR

Battle of Stecken: The Battle of Stecken is the final scenario in Michael Hopper's Rise of Eagles 1805.  There isn't a really good account of the Battle of Stecken online that I could find, but there is a little bit about in John H Gill's A Soldier for Napoleon.  It was in effect a surprise Austrian counter-attack against a Bavarian position at Stecken a few days after Austerlitz.  Gill indicates that the Bavarian commander Wrede, had little choice but to withdraw after a sharp engagement.

The Forces:

Bavaria:

C-in-C: Wrede (Capable)

Marsigli's Bde: 1 base of Trained SK2 Infantry, 4 bases of Trained SK1 Infantry, 1 base of Trained Light Cavalry
Minucci's Bde:  1 base of Trained SK2 Infantry, 4 bases of Trained SK1 Infantry, 1 base of Trained Light Cavalry, 1 base of Trained 8lb Foot Artillery
Seydewitz' Bde: 2 bases of Trained Dragoons, 1 base of Trained Light Cavalry, 1 base of  Trained 4lb Horse Artillery

Austro-Hungarian Empire:

C-in-C: Ferdinand (Plodding)

1st Division: Schwarzenberg (Capable)
1st Bde: 4 bases of Trained SK1 Infantry

2nd Bde: 4 bases of Trained SK1 Infantry


Cavalry Division: Hohenzollern (Capable)
1 base of Trained 3lb Horse Artillery
1st Bde: 2 bases of Trained Cuirassiers
2nd Bde: 1 base of Trained Dragoons, 1 base of Trained Lancers, 1 base of Trained Light Cavalry


Set-Up:

The Bavarians start around and on the road to Stecken.  Marsigli's Bde is around the houses, Minucci's Bde is on the road.  The Austrian infantry is just emerging from the woods (top-right)

A closer look at Minucci's Brigade

And at Marsigli's.

Ferdinand accompanying Schwarzenberg and his division as they break cover to start the battle

The Battle:

Schwarzenberg forms up his troops for a steady, measured advance.  This is not caution so much as an appreciation that the distance between the woods and the Bavarian positions is a bit too great to achieve anything by rapid movement and surprise.

The Bavarian infantry's musketry proves more ferocious than that of the Kaiserlichs: the first Austrian battalion is in rout (centre-top)

Hohenzollern's Cavalry Division has arrived, but is faced by steady Bavarian infantry, supported by Light Horse.

The action begins more generally with a determined Bavarian counter-attack...

Although the Austrians have defeated the Bavarian push on the far right (right); the ther Austrian units have been pushed back in some disorder

The Bavarians renew their attack and Minucci's light infantry battalion (the 4th Light Infantry) has attacked in splendid style, creating a gap right in the middle of the Austrian line (centre); however, the Austrian infantry have shown great courage in holding out along the rest of the line, despite suffering heavy casualties

Although there is no stopping the attack of the 4th Light Infantry (top-centre), the rest of Schwarzenberg's Division presses forward, routing couple of Bavarian battalions and severely disordering a couple more..

A closer view

Schwarzenberg sees little but choice but to push on his attack (centre-right), driving the Bavarians back before him

Ferdinand (edge of woods) rallies the Austrians facing the invincible 4th Light Infantry, but elsewhere there is a stand off

Schwarzenberg pushes up the hill forcing back the Bavarian guns (left) but falling back in the face of withering Bavarian musketry

Another successful Bavarian attack, led by Wrede in person, (centre-left) routs another Austrian battalion.  Another Austrian battalion swings around ready to take it in the flank, but morale is wavering across the line..

...and everyone's morale collapses at the same time.  Minucci's troops and Schwarzenberg's troops collapse at the same time!

Bavarians running (bottom) and Austrians running (top-right)

A wider view.  The blue flags (centre-left) show where the remainder of the Bavarian troops are in retreat

Unfortunately for Ferdinand, his cavalry division can make no impression on the Bavarians and thus he calls of the action, his armys morale being weaker than the Bavarians (whose reinforcing cavalry brigade has now arrived)

Game Notes: An interesting scenario and a good game.  I played it three times and made more or less serious errors of set-up on each occasion which materially affected the result.  First time out, I forgot that the Bavarian sub-commanders were brigadiers and treated them instead as major-generals.  The extra order, combat and rallying capabilities led them to make short work of the French.  I can't remember what I did wrong in the second game, although it seemed to lead to the Bavarians collapsing almost instantly in that one.  In this one, although I don't think it made much difference, I forgot to give the Austrians the horse artillery unit which might have made them able to break the other Bavarian brigade - without it, they stood little chance against the steady Bavarian infantry.  There were no particular rules issues here although it did remind me of one thing that I don't think is very clear in the rules as written.  Support for attacks is calculated at the beginning of the attacking movement which is okay, although it does mean you have to remember a few bits of stuff.  This means that some supporting units 'go forward' with the attack (i.e. if you paid order points for them as the force they were in was directly attacking) and some won't (since they are giving support from their starting position because they weren't in the same force that 'attacked').  It works okay, but is a good example of the kind of thing where a new player could get confused.

This is the last game from this scenario book that I will be playing for the present time.  I am hoping to get the two biggest battles, Caldiero and Austerlitz, to the table in the relatively near future but I need to do a little bit of work on the terrain to make them work for a "big battles" rule set like Horse, Foot & Guns or Polemos Marechal de l'Empire (basically the terrain in the book doesn't cover sufficient depth).  The scenario book is great for the wargamer.  They are clearly written and have pretty much all the details required for your ruleset of choice, despite being firmly based on Shako II.  Within the confines of history, the scenarios are quite well-balanced too.  There is a very wide range of actions in terms of size of forces and size of battlefields too: truly there is something for everyone in it.  It is also a good way of following the events of the campaigns generally to get a feel for the history.