301 Wertingen (8 October 1805)

Just played my first game with this scenario. I was the French. GRs on the French right were able to hit hard the two Austrian LN, while several bonus cards allowed the HC to hit en mass the Austrian line. Two Austrian units in square tied their hand. Bonus attacks by the French HC punched through routing the army. French wins 5-1.

Just had a crushing French defeat! 5-1. The Austrian cuirassiers just mowed down a French heavy and a light in an attack and bonus attack. The French got penned in on the right of the map. Ouidinot tried to bail out Murat, but to no avail. A charge by the Austrian Grenadiers took out the French horse artillery and it was just a matter of time. Very fun.

Easily won by Austrians, 5-1. French advance towards Austrian right stopped, with mass battalion squares holding down the flank around towns—French couldn't breach.

Having finished with the Russians, my regular sparring partner, Evert, and I have started on the Austrians. Evert has the French for this game - can he do as well as Murat and Oudinot?
Well, he starts, as many of our games do, by playing a "La Grande Manoeuvre" card. He throws the French infantry forward on the right. The Austrian Cuirassiers and Line infantry respond, eliminating one French Grenadier unit and leaving a battered Light infantry under General Oudinot in square. This makes the score 1:0 to me.
The French cavalry starts moving forward, but I mop up the square, Oudinot falling with his men to make it 3:0.
Then in comes the "Cavalry Charge" from Evert. The French Heavy cavalry sweep across the board, taking out an Austrian Line infantry on the right and Light cavalry on the left. In the centre, the horsemen are repelled by Austrian Grenadiers going into square and Line infantry forming "Battalion Mass”. That's 3:2.
The Austrian Cuirassiers take on the French Heavies on the right, but fall to the French sabres - 3:3.
With mostly left section cards in hand and only one battered unit on that flank, there's not a lot I can do as the French take out the Grenadiers' square (3:4) and then that lone unit on my left - 3:5 and a win for the French.
I was right, it is an odd scenario and it looks like the Austrians are on a hiding to nothing.
On another note, we were using the beta 5.0 implementation of the module on Vassal. Building on his player aid enhancements in the previous version, Mark B has added a lot more context-sensitive improvements. Notably, there's a "Combat Assist" that calculates the number of dice to roll, shows any retreats required and adds a Leader roll if necessary. It's all useful stuff and we found it noticeably speeded up the game - this scenario took just over an hour for 15 turns.
I’ve also posted this report on my BGG blog (with pictures!): boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/159436/starting-napoleonic-austrians

My turn to lead the French against Evert's Austrians. My first move is to push the French cavalry forward in the centre to be in striking range of the Austrians. Evert moves troops up from the rear. However, I have a "Force March" in hand, so use this to attack the Austrian left flank with Oudinot's infantry.
I've drawn another "Force March", so I send Oudinot's men after the retreating Austrians, wiping out the two Line infantry. (It seems the Austrian Line's Achilles heel is having to retreat two hexes for each flag rolled - bad news when they're close to the edge.) This opens the scoring, 2:0 in my favour.
Evert retreats the Austrian Cuirassiers into the town, leaving him no units on his left. This turns out to be bad news as he keeps drawing left section cards!
Time for me to play the "Bayonet Charge" I started with. (It was a damn' fine starting hand!) Oudinot's infantry move into the centre, but the Austrian Grenadiers in Wertingen town prove to be a hard nut. As does General Baillet. Despite being on his own, he survives the attentions of an entire unit of Grenadiers under Oudinot! (Yes, I know it's unsporting, but I'm not playing the British here.)
The Austrian right flank advances while I bring up a cavalry unit, forcing an Austrian Line infantry in the centre to form Battalion Mass. Evert advances the Grenadiers in support, but they have to form square and are taken out by Oudinot's Grenadiers (Gen Baillet is still there, but I've given up on him). That's 3:0.
The Austrians get one back as the Grenadiers in Wertingen take out a Light infantry - 3:1. My Grenadiers eliminate the Line in Battalion Mass with the help of the Horse artillery - 4:1.
Gen Baillet joins the artillery in the centre, but the guns completely fail to make an impression on the French Grenadiers (unlucky dice for Evert). The Grenadiers then join the Heavy cavalry in overrunning the guns to finish the battle. That's 5:1 and another win for the French. Though the overwhelming French cavalry played little part in it. (The aggregate score is 8:6 to me.)
That was over even more quickly than the previous game - just 45 minutes, though it was 17 turns (two more than last time). I was helped by a good starting hand (for the infantry) and Evert suffered as he drew poor cards - he even had to play a card that did nothing at one point, something I haven't seen for quite a while.
I don't think we've seen the Austrians at their best in this scenario. We'll see what the next one brings us.
I’ve also posted this report on my BGG blog (with pictures!): boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/159470/return-match-wertingen

French won this one seemingly with ease, 5 to 0 by turn 12. This was my first time playing the Austrians. I enjoyed have five-block units, but the Austrian line infantry are slow. In this game, the French seriously mauled the Austrian left flank with ranged attacks from the French light troops and from charging French grenadiers. Also Baillet was slain on the field of battle by Oudinot's grenadiers. We'll try a second round and see if the Austrians can improve their results.