Scott Muldoon - Apr 18, 2012 1:01 am (50528.) new Trying to juggle wargames with a one year old son, without dropping him too many times. The Last Success ON THE TABLE tonight at JR's... OSG's The Last Success, Abensburg Day of Battle scenario. I handled the Austrians while John Bays piloted the French. Davout's corps, with assistance from Bavarian and Württemberger contigents, runs roughshod over a few Austrian corps in a series of meeting engagements. True to form, a game-start "Mode" card strings out my strongest corps in road column, while Jon's Early Arrival card puts all of his far-flung units in command the first turn, allowing them to form a hard wedge in the empty center of my position. The initial weather roll produces a five-hour thunderstorm (heavy rain?) which gives us fits trying to keep the various trains and artillery units on the move. Nevertheless, by 1 pm, Davout's III corps supported by heavy cavalry surrounds and annihilates two of the three brigades on the Austrian right. The remaining brigade flees south with the baggage. We had to stop there after four turns, with the French piling through the center and the Austrian left slowly turning and stretching out to face the threat. Kienmeyer's small reserve is wending its way through wooded trails to reach the front (no good roads in that direction!) and Hiller is moving up in the rear to make sure the line of communications is protected. The situation on the map looks desperate for the Austrians, but once points are counted the French have a lot of work to do. They need to take all three forward VP positions (at least one will be a contest) and demoralize one corps and seize its baggage just to "break even". That's assuming casualties stay about the same for each side... I expect this will be a close one, unless he can break through to my supply source. As for the system itself (the Library of Napoleonic Battles) it's got a bit more grit than I was prepared for. Even having read the rules the day before, I found we had to go to the book quite often, and had trouble finding things that should have seemed obvious. The fate of units that are forced to retreat through enemy zones of control, for instance, is found nowhere near the retreat or combat sections, but rather in a section about determining whether losses are permanent or recoverable. Organization is not the forte of these rules, although we were able to answer most questions that came up (even if we couldn't believe the answer!) As far as how it plays, it has a pretty good feel if you look at it from a grand tactical perspective and not from the point of individual units (brigades). The sluggishness of Austrian command has really pinned me back, whereas Davout's corps is a terror of mobility and strength by comparison. Even the hidden unit rules, while cumbersome, prove their importance as John has to remember if that's a full infantry brigade he's facing across the stream, or just some horse artillery (we provide our own fog of war, wine and whiskey induced...) The lack of dedicated Austrian cavalry on the board is a severe disadvantage here. So far it gets a tentative thumbs up, but I'm going to get some answers in the game's folder, then make my own less cluttered play aids for our next session...