The Battle of Raab, 14th June 1809 – A Scenario for Napoleon’s Battles

Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Italy

Following my various game-reports, a few people have asked for the full versions of the scenarios, so that they can play them as well.  Until now, I’ve generally tried to give a rough outline of the scenario, in order to keep the article accessible to those who don’t play a particular set of rules, but people clearly want to try them out, so I’m going to start posting up scenarios, including all the rules-specific details.  I’ll generally try to keep these as separate articles from the game-reports, so that people can ignore all the ‘nitty-gritty’ if they wish.

Most of my WW2 and Cold War scenarios can be found posted on the Fire & Fury/Battlefront: WWII Scenario Page and my orders of battle and army-lists can be found on their Orders of Battle Page.  While Wargames Illustrated and Caliver Books have published a few of my Napoleonic and 18th Century scenarios over the years, they never paid me a penny for them, so as I retain the copyright I’ll post them up here, along with a load of unpublished scenarios, starting with this one…

I posted a battle report for our refight of the Battle of Raab last June, but didn’t go into great detail regarding the scenario details.  I’ve already covered the historical background in the previous report, so won’t repeat myself here.

The rules used are Napoleon’s Battles, originally by Avalon Hill, but now in its 4th Edition by Capitan Games.  Napoleon’s Battles is a ‘grand-tactical’ ruleset, where each unit represents a brigade or large regiment and each figure represents around 100 men.  This scenario could therefore be easily modified for rules designed for a similar level of play, such as Age of Eagles.

The Battle of Raab as it appeared on our table

French Objective:

You are to attack the army of Archduke John and destroy him or drive him from the field, with the intention of preventing him from linking up with Archduke Charles’ main army north of Vienna.  (In game terms, to achieve victory, the Austrian Army must be pushed below its Army Morale rating)

Austrian Objective: 

You are to hold your ground and resist the assault of Eugène’s army, with the intention of inflicting sufficient damage on Eugène to force him to break off his pursuit of your army and allow you to link up with Archduke Charles north of Vienna.  (In game terms, in order to claim victory, the Austrian Army must not be pushed below its Army Morale level before the end of the scenario.  A Total Victory will be achieved if the French Army is pushed below its Army Morale level).

Game Length and Sequence:

The game lasts 17 turns, starting with the French 0900hrs turn and ending with the Austrian 1730hrs turn.  While there is still plenty of daylight left at that time of day, both armies will have ground to a halt due to fatigue.

Terrain:

Each square on the map represents 1 square foot on the table, for a total table size of 6’x5′.

The Kis-Megyer Farm is strongly fortified with a +4 defensive modifier.  All other villages and farms have a +1 defensive modifier.

The Pancza Stream is not fordable to artillery at any point.  Artillery is therefore limited to crossing at one of the three bridges.  Cavalry may only ford the Pancza from a point 12 inches upstream of the Kis-Megyer, to the table edge.  Infantry and Generals may ford the Pancza at any point.  When fording, units class the Pancza as Rough Terrain.

The un-named stream bisecting Mescerys’ position is a very minor feature and may be ignored for game purposes.

French Light Infantry

French Order of Battle:

L’Armée d’Italie

Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroi d’Italie
13”G(10)+1D
[5 Free Rolls]
[13M]

VI Corps – Général de Division Grenier – 9”G(7)+1 [4F]

1st Division – Général de Division Seras – 3”G(5)+0
1er Brigade – 28 FrLN [14D]
2e Brigade – 28 FrLN [14D]
9e Chasseurs à Cheval – 8 FrLC [4D]

2nd Division – Général de Division Durutte – 3”G(6)+1
1er Brigade – 28 FrLN [14D]
62e Infanterie de Ligne (2nd Brigade) – 16 FrLN [8D]
102e Infanterie de Ligne (2nd Brigade) – 16 FrLN [8D]
6e Chasseurs à Cheval – 8 FrLC [4D]

XII Corps – Général de Division Baraguèy d’Hilliers – 8”P(4)-1 [3F]

1st Division – Général de Division Pacthod – 3”G(5)+1
1er Brigade – 24 FrLT [12D]
2e Brigade – 16 FrLN [8D]

2nd Division – Général de Division Severoli – 4”G(4)+0
1st & 2nd Italian Line – 24 ItLN [12D]
4th & 7th Italian Line – 28 ItLN [14D]
112e Infanterie de Ligne – 16 FrLN [8D]

Corps Grouchy – Général de Division Grouchy – 8”G(5)+1 [3F]

Reserve Cavalry Division – Général de Division Montbrun – 4”E(8)+2
Jacquinot’s Brigade (1er & 2e Chasseurs à Cheval & 7e Hussards) – 16 FrLC [8D]
Guédin’s Brigade (7e & 30e Dragons) – 16 FrLC [8D]
Italian Dragoon Regiments – 12 ItLC [6D]
4/2e Horse Artillery – Fr4#
6/2e Horse Artillery – Fr4#

Dragoon Division – Général de Division Pully (from V Corps) – 4”G(6)+0
23e, 28e & 29e Dragons – 16 FrLC [8D]

Cavalry Brigade – Général de Brigade Colbert (from II Corps) – 4”A(6)+1
Colbert’s Brigade (7e & 20e Chasseurs à Cheval & 9e Hussards) – 20 FrLC [10D]

Unattached Formations

Italian Royal Guard – Général de Brigade Lecchi – 4”G(6)+1 [2F]
Italian Guard Infantry – 16 ItGD [6D]
Italian Guard Cavalry – 8 ItGCV [3D]
1st Italian Guard Horse Battery – It6#

Light Cavalry Division – Général de Division Sahuc – 3”G(5)+1 [1F]
8e & 25e Chasseurs à Cheval – 16 FrLC [8D]

Baden Contingent (Independent) – Général de Division Lauriston – 4”G(7)+1 [1F]
1. Leib-Infanterie-Regiment Grossherzog – 16 BdLN [8D]
2. Linien-Infanterie-Regiment Erbgrossherzog – 16 BdLN [8D]
Reitende-Batterie – Bd6# (Half)

Général de Division Grouchy

Notes

1. The original ‘Corps Grouchy’ was split up prior to the battle. Grouchy was then placed in command of the massed cavalry on the right wing.

2. Lauriston’s Badeners arrived after the start of the battle (Game Turn 2). They had marched down from the main army at Vienna and were not attached to any particular corps. They arrive in march column on the road at Point A.

3. Colbert’s cavalry brigade arrived after the start of the battle (Game Turn 2). They arrive in march column on the road at Point B and are assigned to Grouchy’s Corps.

4. Marshal MacDonald (V Corps) arrived with Lamarque’s infantry division at around 4pm, when the battle had effectively finished, so these troops are not included in this scenario.

Hungarian Insurrection Hussars

Austrian Order of Battle:

Armee von Innerösterreich

Feldmarschall Erzherzog Johann
11”G(10)+0
[5 Free Rolls]
[14M]

General Wing Commander
General der Cavallerie Erzherzog Josef Palatin
9”G(6)+0

Left Wing – Feldmarschalleutnant (FML) Mescery – 4”G(7)+1 [3F]
Husaren-Regiment 2 Erzherzog Josef (Andrasy’s Brigade) – 12 AsLC [6D]
Husaren-Regiment 5 Ott (Gosztony’s Brigade) – 12 AsLC [6D]
Gosztony’s Insurrection Hussar Brigade – 16 AsILC [10D]
Andrasy’s Insurrection Hussar Brigade – 16 AsILC [10D]
Hadik’s Insurrection Hussar Brigade – 16 AsILC [10D]
Cavalry Half-Battery – As3# (Half)

Centre – FML Graf Colloredo – 4”A(8)+1 [2F]
Infanterie-Regiment 61 St. Julien & Infanterie-Regiment 62 Franz Jellacíc – 16 AsLN [8D]
Infanterie-Regiment 27 Strassoldo – 16 AsLN [8D]
Marziani’s Insurrection Brigade – 20 AsILT [12D]
Lutz’s Landwehr Brigade – 20 AsLW [14D]

Right Wing – FML Baron Jellacíc – 4”A(6)+1 [3F]
Infanterie-Regiment 32 Esterházy & Infanterie-Regiment 45 De Vaux – 16 AsLN [8D]
Grenze-Infanterie-Regiment 10 (1. Banal) (Sebottendorf’s Brigade) – 20 AsGRZ [12D]
Legisfeld’s Landwehr Brigade – 16 AsLW [11D]
Eckhart’s Insurrection Brigade – 16 AsILT [10D]
Besan’s Cavalry Brigade – 12 AsLC [6D]
Siegenfeld’s Insurrection Hussar Brigade – 12 AsILC [7D]
Cavalry Half-Battery – As3# (Half)

Reserve Corps – FML Baron Frimont – 3”G(8)+0 [3F]
Infanterie-Regiment 16 Lusignan (Gajoli’s Brigade) – 16 AsLN [8D]
Infanterie-Regiment 19 Alvinczy – 20 AsLN [10D]
Kleinmeyer’s Grenadier Brigade – 16 AsGN [6D]
Ottingshausen’s Light Infantry Brigade – 16 AsGRZ [10D]
Position Battery – As12#
Position Battery – As12#

Notes

1. Erzherzog Josef (Archduke Joseph) is a general Wing Commander and may take command of any division.

2. The Austrian order of battle is very complicated, with units of various types frequently being mixed together within the same brigades.  I’ve therefore applied a healthy dollop of ‘fudge’ for playability; for example, separating out line infantry, landwehr and insurrection infantry units and grouping them in distinct ‘brigades’.

Hungarian Insurrection Infantry

 

Napoleon’s Battles Unit Information Chart for Raab 1809:

Austrian Grenadiers

That’s all of it, so have fun and let me know how the scenario plays!  It’s certainly a tough one for the Austrian defender, but the French certainly didn’t have it all their own way in our game.  Please comment below if you’d like a copy of the unit-labels.  For some reason I’m struggling to import the labels (set up as a MS Word table) into this blog-post, but I can always e-mail them if you want them.  I can automatically see your e-mail address when you post on here, so can e-mail it straight to you – no need to post your e-mail address.

Edited to add unit labels (now that I’ve worked out how to do it!):

This entry was posted in Napoleon's Battles (Rules), Napoleon's Battles Scenarios, Napoleonic Wars, Scenarios. Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to The Battle of Raab, 14th June 1809 – A Scenario for Napoleon’s Battles

  1. Christian says:

    Jemima

    Thank you for posting this Scenario and the link to your battle report could I ask you to send me your labels, I would love to try this scenario.

    Christian

    • jemima_fawr says:

      Cheers Christian!

      Labels are on the way now. I’ve also thrown in the other game files to save you having to cut’n’paste from this page.

  2. Miltiadis says:

    thank you for posting this. I used to play Napoleon’s battles and I will try it someday. However, I see too many houses for Kis Megyer and no houses at all for the much bigger towns [as they appear in the map you have]. I guess the other two twons were of no importance in the battle? Most gamers in my club use the “volley& bayonet” set of rules. I think this game may be adapted for this set also. Cheers, Miltiadis

    • jemima_fawr says:

      Ah, I’m glad you spotted my deliberate mistakes… 😉

      I used a walled farm model for Kis Megyer (actually La Haye farm from Waterloo), simply because it looked good as a fortified farm. It still only counts as one building for game purposes.

      Re the other villages – they were very spread-out, straggly settlements of huts, hovels and gardens, so I didn’t really want to make them as solid walls of buildings, as apart from Kis-Megyer, urban fighting wasn’t really a part of the battle. However, I think that I should have put the gardens in as woods/rough-going, which would at least give the Austrians a bit more terrain to defend, without turning it into too much of a fortress.

  3. Miltiadis says:

    Thanks for answering my comment. I think the game looks perfect the way you have it. The terrain is nice and your figures are very well painted. I thought they were 20mm when I saw them. A very good scenario.

    • jemima_fawr says:

      Cheers Miltiadis! AB Figures are stunningly well-sculpted, which does make it somewhat easier to make them look good! 🙂

  4. Matt says:

    Jemima, just discovered your blog. Great stuff, wonderful miniatures and compelling write ups and scenarios. I would be interested in receiving the Raab unit labels if it is not too much trouble.

  5. Gordon says:

    Hi Jemima,
    We have a big Xmas game at our club. This year we are hoping to do RAAB. Love the detail in the scenario. Any chance of getting the labels, please.
    Thanks
    Gordon

    • jemima_fawr says:

      Hi Gordon,

      I love a big Christmas game… Funnily enough, ours will probably be an 1809 one as well. I was thinking perhaps Massena’s counter-attack on the left flank of Wagram…

      Anyway, yes, they’re on the way! I’ll also chuck in the map, unit stats and orbats, so you don’t have to try to print them off from here. Let us know how it goes! 🙂

      Cheers, JF

  6. Mark says:

    Magnificent timing! I was looking up this battle yesterday and found I only have parts of what I think was a NB III scenario. I last fought this battle in 2011 and having just picked up some new Austrians thought I might use it as a project to raise a few more units (I am very short of cavalry and collecting for this scenario will certainly fix that).

    Excellent post.

    • jemima_fawr says:

      Cheers Mark!

      Yes, you certainly need a few Austrian Hussars and French Chasseurs & Dragoons for this one. While painting lots of Insurrection Hussars is probably the way to madness, two such regiments (the Neutra and Paltinal Insurrection Hussars*) are handy for Aspern-Essling and Wagram and you can happily mix in regulars masquerading as Insurrectionists. You also don’t need very many Insurrection infantry and they do look good…

      * N.B. The uniform for the Palatinal Insurrection Hussars is simply unknown by even the top experts in the Austrian army, so you can happily use whatever you like for those chaps – I just did a second random Insurrection Hussar regiment.

    • jemima_fawr says:

      I’ve now added the unit labels to the scenario (having finally worked out how to do that). I’ll also add them to the Neumarkt scenario.

  7. Rodolfo Verginella says:

    Wonderful
    Did you have a list of battles in your blog? thanks

    • jemima_fawr says:

      Cheers Rodolfo!

      If you have a look on the right-hand side, there are a load of links. ‘Scenarios’ brings up all the scenarios I’ve posted (all periods) and ‘Games’ brings up the game reports. ‘Napoleonic Wars’ pulls up everything Napoleonic. Does that help?

Leave a Reply to jemima_fawr Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.