10AM: The Austrians orders to his divisions were for O'Reilly's command to maneuver around Gardanne and attack his flank. Hadik was to attack across the river and pin Gardanne. Kain was to swing around to the right and follow O'Reilly. Morzins Grenadiers were to move up and attack and take Marengo. Pilati's cavalry brigade was to look for a ford to the north of Marengo and cross the Fontanova. The French all began with defend orders. The Austrians are set up as indicated on the map. They have brigaded all their battalion guns to form numerous batteries placed well forward, facing Gardanne. The attack began with the artillery firing on Gardanne. The effect was numerous disorders on Gardanne, which were quickly recovered using command points (command points are rolled for, each turn for each divisional commander and the resulting command points range from 0 to 6, the average is 2. The command points can be used at various times to accomplish certain tasks, such as reduce disorders, allow passage of lines of brigades, help rally brigades, detach battalions for garrison and other duties, etc.) Both Victor and Lannes having defend orders maintain their position. However, even with a defend order the units may adjust their facing, counter charge and react to any enemy moves as long as they stay within their defined defend area. Chambarlhac detaches one battalion to garrison Marengo, which cost 1 command point. Gardannes brigade is attacked by Hadik's Division. Gardanne manages to hold Hadik's attack, however, due to the artillery and infantry attack the French quickly reach 50% casualties, at which point a morale check is made. The French failed this roll and Gardannes brigade routed and were moved 1500 meters to the rear. A brief description on combat: Only artillery has "ranged" fire. Infantry declares an engagement move and moves up to 100 meters of the enemy. Then during the combat phase the combat value of the attacker is compared to that of the defender and the appropriate odds column is found on the combat results table. This column can subsequently be modified by column shifts or die roll modifiers, if they apply. The attacker then rolls a single d10 and the result is given for both the attacker and the defender. The result indicates disorders, casualties and any forced movement. Chambarlhac's brigades moved up. At this point a specific scenario roll was made. If the French player had rolled under 95 on 2d10 Chambarlhac would have run away, which is what happened in the historical battle. However, the roll was 98 and Chambarlhac stayed to fight. At this point Chambarlhac's brigades were committed and the Austrians attempted to get O'Reilly around the French left flank. Kellerman launched his cavalry brigade to stop this advance and forced the Austrian infantry to halt and prepare to receive the cavalry. Which represents the battalions forming square or closed columns. This formation has no affect on the frontage of the unit but it does force it to halt for up to two turns, this delay can be reduced by using command points. The charge of the cavalry slowed O'Reilly down, which caused problems for Kain who was behind O'Reilly. To move through O'Reilly's troops, Kain must use Command points to perform a passage of lines. However, faced with the cavalry within charge reach, made this maneuver too dangerous to attempt. The result was that Kain was stuck behind O'Reilly and could not deploy. While Kain was bottled up behind O'Reilly, Chambarlhac with his fresh brigades had no trouble halting Hadik's worn down brigades. Pilati found a ford north of Marengo and began to cross the Fontanova. Morzin's grenadier brigades were now in position and began their assault on Marengo. One brigade attacked over the bridge and the other over the Fontanova just north of Marengo. Pilati could only send one base over per turn ( his large dragoon brigade had 8 bases). Once over the river, his combat value was halved, he had a 2 column shift against him for being unformed and another column shift for the disorders he received for crossing the river, which left the dragoons very vulnerable. Champeaux's cavalry brigade was launched against Pilati and the French light cavalry made short work of the few dragoons that managed to cross the river. Seeing a grenadier brigade move over the Fontanova north of Marengo, Lannes moved Watrin's Division closer to Marengo. Even though his formation had a defend order he was still allowed some leeway which he took advantage of. While the combat raged around Marengo, Gardanne's brigade had reached it's rally point, were they had remained for an hour (or four turns). At this point the French player attempted to reform some of the 50% damage inflicted to the combat value of the brigade (each unit receives a combat value, damage to the unit is indicated on the combat results table in 10% increments, as the unit takes 10% increments loss its combat value drops). The recover roll is modified, by time spent at the rally point without being engaged in combat, command points, etc.. Gardanne rolled low and he recovered 20% of his combat value. He then started moving his brigade towards Marengo with only a30% reduction in his combat value. The process of reforming, represents the unit recovering and rallying disrupted units. This can only occur successfully away from the front lines. If the gamer is lucky or has many command points he is able to recover a portion of his combat value. Around 12noon Ott's column was seen, by the French, approaching Castel Cerilo. The bridge was guarded by a light cavalry brigade which was quickly pushed out of the way. Ott advanced into the town and out the south edge. Reacting to his cavalry being pushed back, Lannes turned Mainoy's week brigade and Gency's brigade to face this new threat. Ott launched Nimch's strong dragoon brigade against Lannes. The French brigades adopted a prepared to face cavalry formation and launched Champeaux brigade against the Austrian cavalry. The French cavalry was steamrolled over and routed. While the cavalry combat was fought, Ott's infantry and artillery moved up and engaged the French infantry. Mainoy routed and Gency was forced to retreat. Gency's Brigade and Mahler's Brigade both had to roll for the effect of Mainoy's rout and both French brigades failed. The morale roll takes into effect the losses that the units had. One brigade was down 50% and the other 30%. The 1:30pm turn saw Watrin's Division routing. Back in Marengo the Grenadiers finally took the town and routed the three French battalions that were defending the town. Chambarlhac was killed leading Rivaud's brigade in an attack on Bellegard's brigade. Herbin's Brigade routed when it was hit by the Grenadiers. Gardannes brigade took a Morale check and retreated, the rest of Victors units also failed their morale rolls and routed. The 1:45 PM turn saw the entire French army in retreat or rout. Hadik's, Kain's and O'Reilly's divisions had fulfilled their orders and reverted to defend orders. At this point the first elements of Monnier's Division and the Consular Guard arrived on the battlefield. The guard cavalry was launched against Nimsh's Dragoons and forced them back. The Austrian gamer decided wisely to reform in his present position and brought up his artillery which was left on the west bank of the Fontanova. Here the French player issued a general retreat to what remains of Victor's and Lanne's troops. He issued a sequential order for Dessaix. He was to hold until 2.30pm, then to withdraw towards St. Giuliano where Napoleon was trying to rally his shattered army. The game ends with a rousing victory for the Austrians, without them being in a disorganized pursuit of the French. More Marengo Historical Narrative Marengo Order of Battle Wargame Comparison Introduction Age of Bonaparte From Valmy to Waterloo Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #79 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com