Schwarzenberg with 200,000 men against Napoleon with 155,000, accepted the 4:3 odds and a chance to capture Napoleon's main base, breaking the agreed-upon Fabian strategy to avoid the battle with the Emperor in person, known as the Trachtenberg plan.
BATTLES SIMULATED:
The first of three battles, Löwenberg, took place two days before the Battle of Grossbeeren, covered in "Four Lost Battles." During the pursuit after Dresden followed the Battle of Kulm. In early October, Wartenburg led directly to the epic "Napoleon at Leipzig." With all three games you can contemplate a ten-battle Grand Campaign.
Löwenberg
A Game of Cat and Mouse, 18-21 August
Marshal Ney, forming the French left, advanced on Bunzlau. The V and VI Corps advanced through Löwenberg while the XI formed the French right and the Guard moved into reserve. Easily capturing Löwenberg, the French were delayed repairing the bridge while the Prussians made good their escape. Blücher determinedly avoided combat according to the Trachenberg principles, and played cat and mouse with Napoleon.
Dresden
The Attack from Bohemia, 26-27 August
Schwarzenberg made the error of leaving his left wing miserably weak in both guns and cavalry in the pouring rain, with the infantry unable to fire its muskets. This fault was redoubled by the tardiness of Klenau, who was slow due to the weather, and due to taking the dismal forest road to Tharandt. The Prussians began their attack on the outskirts of Dresden early in the morning of the 16th. The battle opened at 5 AM when Kleist's Prussians moved into the Grosser Garten.
At 7 AM Wittgenstein's Russians on the right flank pushed forward, but French artillery across the Elbe forced them back to their starting positions. Napoleon galloped across the bridge and into town between 9 and 10 AM. He received an ovation from troops and citizens alike, and after visiting the King of Saxony he rode off to inspect his lines.
Jomini persuaded the Tsar that the opportunity had passed and the time for withdrawal was at hand. Unfortunately, no one was sent to change the three-shot signal for the resumption of the attack, and a fresh wave of Coalition troops moved forward all along the front. Redoubt III fell by storm; violent attacks on redouts IV and V failed. Beyond the Weisseritz, the Austrian attack ground to a halt before Friedrichstadt.
Wartenburg
Blücher's River Crossing, 3 October
Here a crossing had already been attempted on September 20th, and General Bertrand had studied the locale and placed his defending forces so as to dominate the terrain. Unfortunately he had not considered the dropping water level of the Elbe, which had been running over its banks because of the heavy storms but now subsided.
After several hours of fighting the Prussians discovered a passage to flank the French position, and by nightfall Bertrand had been forced to pull out. Yorck's Corps, which started the battle with 12,000 men, lost 1,600.
Game Maps and Counters
Napoleon's Counterstrike
Each game includes three high quality 22" by 34" maps, one 17" by 22" map, and 560 counters.
