Against the Odds #57 - A Crowning Glory: Austerlitz 1805

Even weeks before Trafalgar, by August 1805 the newly crowned Emperor Napoleon Ier, had come to understand his plans required action on land. More specifically, he had to defeat his continental enemies in order to secure his continued power. Britain, Russia and Austria (collectively known as the "Third Coalition") were allied against him and, since he couldn’t get at the British on their island fortress, and Russia was too far away to allow for the required quick victory, he was left with invading Austria.

Rapidly surrounding and capturing the main Austrian Army at Ulm, early December found Napoleon in southern Moravia facing east towards Austerlitz (modern day Skavkov u Brna) and at the end of a very stretched supply line. He also appeared to be slightly outnumbered by a Coalition army made up of the remnants of Austrian forces, plus a sizable Russian contingent.

Feigning weakness, Napoleon lured the Coalition force into attacking his own right flank (where he wanted them to), then counterpunched through the Coalition center to encircle most of them. Austria and Russia were crushed, and with this victory, Napoleon cemented his hold on his own throne. It was...a crowning glory for his new regime.

This two-player grand-tactical simulation by Ty Bomba presents the battle generally considered to have been Napoleon’s greatest victory. Both players have the opportunity to attack and defend, but the main burden of the offensive resides with the French player. His opponent, the Allied player, commands the Austrian and Russian units. Each hexagon on the map represents 600 yards (~550 meters) from side to opposite side. The infantry and cavalry units represent both brigades and divisions on each side. Each full turn represents one hour of ‘real time.’

Bonus Items Included: All copies of this issue contain a small expansion kit (rules and counters) called Enter the Dragon, which looks at a possible US intervention in our earlier Red Dragon: Blue Dragon Chinese Civil War game featured in ATO #45. Don't miss this one!

A Crowning Glory and issue #57 of ATO:

Map - One full color 22"x34" hex mapsheet
Counters - 216 full color 9/16" die-cut pieces
Rules length - 12 pages
Charts and tables - 1 page
Complexity - Low
Playing time - Up to 4 hours
How challenging is it solitaire? - Poor

Design - Ty Bomba
Development - Russ Lockwood
Graphic Design - Mark Mahaffey