Another Great Battle

I've had the chance to stage a larger scale battle on one of the last warm days at the beginning of the month, at the same time testing the 2x1,5m table setup.

French OOB
CIC (5)
Subcommander (2)

1x Voltigeurs (4 base) É2 FI2 FP2 Skirmish
3x Ligne btn (4 base) É2 FI3 FP1 Skirmish marker
3x Elite btn (6 base) É3 FI2 FP2

1x Cuirassiers (4 base) É2 FI3 FP0
1x Guard Lancers (4 base) É2 FI4 FP1
1x Dragoons (4 base) É2 FI2 FP1

1x Horse bty (2 guns)
1x Foot bty (2 guns)

Austrian OOB
CIC (4)
Subcommander (2)

1x Grenz (4 base) É2 FI2 FP2
1x Grenz (3 base) É2 FI2 FP2 Skirmish
3x Line btn (6 base) É2 FI2 FP2
1x Grenadier btn (4 base) É2 FI3 FP2

2x Cuirassiers (5 base) É2 FI4 FP0
1x Uhlans (4 base) É2 FI3 FP1
1x Dragoons (4 base) É2 FI2 FP1

Cavalry bty (2 guns)
Foot bty (2 guns)

The initial French deployment.

French on the move.

The Grenz and the cavalry artillery aim for the rocky mountains on the Austrian right. The French send a superior force.

The French center advances through the wheat fields, limiting their movement.

One French cannon has to retire after exchanging shots with the Austrian battery.

The Voltigeurs and Grenzers engage in a fierce firefight.

The main French thrust arrives at its goal.

The Austrian foot unit, although suffering heavy casualties, holds its ground.

Time for a counter-charge - the Uhlans are brought up to prevent the French dragoons' flanking move.

The French left swings into action.

French gunners hard at work.

The main attack is thrown back, but fresh units are entering the fray.

The French dragoons charge the Austrian horse, and the veteran foot is lining up for support.

The French battle cavalry completes their flanking move through the forest.

Things are looking bad.

The heavy cavalry's charge fails to break the Austrian light horse, but they're out of the fray for a good while.

The Austrian front wheels and the reserve cavalry is lined up for a charge.

The French center attack flushes the Austrian defenders out of the farmhouse.

The Cuirassiers' countercharge fails to cause much harm to the Austrians.

The cuirassiers destroyed and their General taken captive, the Guard Lancers now stand little chance.

On the left, the veteran French foot routs the reserve Hungarian battalion, while another group captures the cavalry guns.

With mounting losses and their lines badly battered, the French commander orders a retreat.

The veteran foot does not heed the orders, and launches after the routing Hungarians instead.

The other big battalion forms square, and multiple enemy charges and grapeshot from the guns both fail to break it.

The fate of the two veteran units is quite unclear, or would be in a campaign situation. The square on the right would have surrendered, already taking six casualty markers, and the one on the extreme left would most likely have been cut off from the main force. The Austrians remained masters of the field, but took heavy casualties, nor did they pursue the retreating French - a marginal victory to them.

The award for best appearance goes to the Austrian cuirassiers again - intervening in a risky situation, and sending the elite French horse flying.

The award for worst appearance is given to the freshly painted Hungarian battalion, routing after receiving a single volley, straight off the field.