Field Commander Napoleon Italy 1796

Thomas Büttner  over at BGG: (Almecho) agreed to share is very well written and illustrated AAR. This is one of the FC Titles not in the Big Board library…yet.

Lets have Thomas begin:

Well, as anybody else here I decided to take pictures of my 1796 campaign, even if it was not my very first game.

So, this is what the Setup looks like:

In the upper right corner the austrian reinforcements are placed, until they come into play.

Turn 1

I sent a small force of three units to the north to take Turin (which is quite risky, since if I don’t manage to take the city, the game is over before it starts) and crushed the small starting force in Savona with the bulk of my army. My supply goes right into refitting of my troops.
The Austrians moved randomly and surprisingly to Mantua. Lucky for me!

Turn 2

I pressed on with two units to Milan and with the bulk of my force to Genoa. Even if this is no objective, it’s a city and generates supply. Also, it would spit out enemy troops in my back…
Executing the small battle in the north got me the Fog of War result: You may move Napoleon to this battle. Well, needing every support I can get, I did so, trusting that my main force would be victorious without Napoleon, too.
I won this battle, and also the battle of Genoa, and even better: I could raid a supply point to move Napoleon with one unit one region towards my main force.
Also, the Austrians now ran back to Genoa to take back the city, but were crushed hopeless, since I could afford some artillery while pillaging the city!

Turn 3

With Napoleon back to the main force, I took Mantua quite easily. But this meant, that the Austrian reinforcements came into play. Fearing for a massive attack on Milan, I reinforced the city with garrisons and fortifications.
But the Austrians decided to stay at their last objective, and only a small vanguard advanced towards Milan…

Turn 4

With Milan fortified I advanced the remaining infantry forward to stop a possible double-advance of the Austrians. Napoleon marches towards Klagenfurt.
The main force of the Austrians leaves Klagenfurt and joins with the vanguard, which decided to stay. Everything is set up for the deciding battle!

Turn 5

Napoleon joins forces with the troops from Milan at the battlefield of Adige! Taking advantage of the terrain, Napoleon decimates the enemy heavily before they can even reach the lines of his forces. Then he let his army surge forward, crushing the remaining troops and taking the victory!
Then he hurridly departs with a small force of mainly cavalry to take the now nearly unfortified city of Klagenfurt. He force-marched his troops to the city gates, which took the defenders of the city quite by surprise (using the insights of Terrain and Front placed the forces only one space apart; the infantry took the hits of the fortifications, and then the cavalry could shock the Garrison and, beeing in melee, prevent the Fortifications to fire!).

A superior victory by Napoleon!!