Lawrence Hung  - Dec 11, 2006 10:26 am (#16307 Total: 16538)  
Now playing Silent War,7 Days of 1809,RAF,Here I Stand,Carthage,Rise of
the Roman Republic,6 Days of Glory,Twilight Struggle,Band of Heroes,ATS
1a Screaming Eagle,Rommel at Bay,Triumph of Chaos,Blue vs. Gray,Sword of
Rome,Empire of the Sun,ASLSK1 

AAR - 7 Days of 1809

Austrians marching to the Danube under Archduke Charles! This game
portrays the battles of Abensberg, Eckmuhl, from Landshut to Ratisbon in
6 days in mid-April (16 - 23), 1807 on a grand operational level. The
game utilizes the system from 6 Days of Glory but with several changes
to increase the level of fog of war. One of it is the use of inverted
counters instead of the reduced size on the back of the counters. I
prefer the 6-Days more because it plays smoother with less of a check of
who is who on the map. Reduced size units, now enters as reorganized
units after they were eliminated, or exchanged, on the CRT. 

Both sides also got to write down "March Order" secretly on an "Order
Slip", for units arriving as reinforcements (all) or during night turns
(for any one force on the map). They would avoid combat and choose the
shortest path to the objective hex as determined by the player. This is
particularly useful for those units falling a lot behind the main body
of the army. 

We played the 7-turns (20 to 21 Apr) scenario the battle of Abensberg.
Napoleon is on the west side of the Danube river at Vohburg and he
should march as fast as he could to reinforce the center where it was
thinly held by scattered forces of Davout III Corp and Vandamme VIII
Corp. I took up the Austrian side and had no idea where Napoloen was, as
we played the game the first time. 

The 4 set-up player aids are functional for anyone to place the counters
on first and then move them to the map. This is an OOB in a sense. The
games come with 3 scenarios and a campaign game with variable start
dates on any one of the 7 days, allowing you to examine any particular
segments of the grand campaign. So the game essentially comes with a
total of 10 scenarios for you to play all days and years. Best value for
money on this concept alone and other wargames should prepare the same!
A downside is that the Turn Record/ Reinforcement Track is back-printed,
meaning that you have to set up the reinforcement on 2 separate
occasions. 

The counters are colorful and each leader now has a portrait on his own!
They are detailed and give a sense of being there. they are, however,
covered all the time so you don't see their faces unless you want to
tell your opponent where the commanders are, something you shouldn't do
as a unit has to be in the command range of a commander to be in command
(an "in-command" and on the back side "out-of-command" counter is
available for players). For those out-of-command units, they could
always be rolled against their own initiative rating (less than or equal
would pass the check) or their immediate Officer within range. If they
failed the initiative roll, they cannot move or advance after combat. 

The supply is handled by tracing hexes free of enemy ZOC back to the
supply source, or to a baggage train with line of communication back to
the supply source with a maximum of 27 MPs ("movement points"). The
terrain in the area is heavily forested so you should ensure there is
always a clear line on a road back to the supply source. The baggage
train should also be well defended as they worth 1 VP in any scenario
but they could not be used by the side which captured it. 

We had a weather of rain and mud for a consecutive 3 turns and a fog on
turn 4 and fair on turn 5. Imagine the bad weather all over the sky when
the Austrians and the French moving on the road and trial in the woods.
Baggage train move at doubled costs and no advance after combat is
allowed. 

I moved the Ludwig's V Corp into the Durnbucher Forst to defend the
trail to the city of Abensberg. Being cut-off from possible
reinforcement from Napoleon, Lefebvre made a final stand at the city of
Neustadt to defend Danube! Naturally, he was surrounded by Ludwig,
Hiller and Kienmyaer's forces and was eliminated in an exchange result.
No leaders was wounded though. 

On the far right, Austrian forces were force-marched to Danube river.
Kolowrat II Corp began the scenario at Stadt am Hof to attack French
garrison at Regensburg cross the Danube. Despite the garrison ignored
all retreat result and defense doubled, it had surrendered eventually on
turn 2 even before Austrian Rosenberg IV Corp arrived from the south.
Rosenberg went on to cross the Danube via Regensburg (the stone bridge
could not be burnt over there) and started to cruise along the river's
north bank to meet up Charles' forces in Kelheim. 

By turn 5, the French conceded the game (poor Simon again) as the
Austrian captured 3 bridges and 3 French baggage trains, 1 supply source
(Regensburg) and demoralized 4 French Corp. The French could only
inflict less than 30 Austrian Strength Points so the Austrian was
awarded 2 more VPs. As a consolation VP, the French earned 1 for the
1.5:1 loss ratio between the Austrian-French total combat strength
losses. Where was Napoleon? He was attempting an assault on the newly
arriving Austrain reinforcement Reinwald’s brigade from Beilngries near
Mindelstetten in the north, hoping to inflict more blood and losses on
the Austrian.

There is no dice provided in the game of "7 Days of 1809". I am
embarrassed to find this when we started the game and had to borrow 2
dices from fellow wargamers in the club. Also, I find the no. of 'in-"
and "out-of-command" markers generally inadequate to cover all the
forces on the map for marking them whether they are in command or not.
While some other markers are not as often used as expected, e.g. Repulse
markers, reorganization marker, bridge burnt/ repaired markers. OSG
should make use these sides for the command status as well. The markers
could save us from always counting the range again from the commanders
or officers for a complete turn, especially they are always inverted.
Some independent forces and those outside the leader’s command range
need the markers too. Otherwise, they could get easily mixed up with
that of those within the command range. 

Aside from the above minor quibbles, I am very well prepared to play the
campaign game which should have much more maneuver room and thus more
interesting. Looking at the map alone wets my appetite already! It
should be an excellent operational study of the campaign.