15mm battle of Durot 1809

Over the past few weeks Neal, Scotty and I have been playing out a 15mm Napoleonic game in my garage. As the temperature is rapidly falling and there is little heating in there then this may be the last game this year before we go into winter quarters, but it has to be said that it was a quite memorable one to end the campaigning season with.
The general idea was that the French rearguard (Scotty) were to defend the village of Durot and surrounding area while Neal with the Austrians were to force the French out and put pressure on the French lines of communication during their successful advance along the Danube. I was umpire.
Forced were about two large infantry divisions and one cavalry division each, while the rules used were (as usual) General De Brigade.

The gaming table with the village of Durot in the centre:

The Austrians will enter to the left table edge with the French right centre:

The Austrian cavalry on their right:

The French cavalry opposite:

I must admit I do love watching a good cavalry scrap though I have to say the two lads were a bit reluctant to get stuck in:

The Austrian advance guard flanking force arrives on the French right:

A general view of the French position (the cavalry are bottom right off screen). I thought Scotty would push forward and occupy the fields to his front, this would give him depth and more room to maneuver, he decided to keep thing tight and would come to regret this decision!

Two brigades of Austrian infantry arrive:

Meanwhile a general cavalry melee develops with the Austrians coming off slightly worse, this was followed by the crappiest moral throws ever from Neal which resulted in the Austrian cavalry streaming from the field. The man was not happy:

At the same time the Austrian infantry pour across the fields towards the French center:

Austrian reinforcements arrive to plug the space were their cavalry should have been with French counterparts on the opposite side of the table:

Back in the centre after a heavy musketry duel the Austrian mass infantry columns crash into the French line causing moral tests all round:

A general view of the field:

 After forcing the Hessians from the woods next to Durot the Austrian artillery do great damage to the French in the village:

 Brunswick hussars crash into a French infantry battalion which failed to form square in time(the white counter denotes the fact that the unit fired last turn thereby incurring a minus 2 penalty for firing again. In General De Brigade if you fail to stop the cavalry charge and don't form line your screwed!

Many French units routed or dispersed at this point, the pressure from the Austrians was simply too much and withdrawal was the order of the day as can be seen from the huge hole in the French defences in this picture:

With fingers (and other extremities) getting colder by the minute we all decided that enough was enough, the Austrians had broken through, the French would withdraw what they could and would cover the retreat with their victorious cavalry division.
Great game enjoyed by all.
Another write up can be found on Scotty's site here
Dave.