My turn to play the French and I was expecting a close game. My first move was to push French infantry centre-right towards the village and Abbey Church. Throwing two Line infantry against the Austrian Grenadiers with General Mescery in the church turned out to be a bad idea: Evert's good luck with the battle-backs eliminated one of them and crippled the other. He finished it off the following turn. Ouch! That makes the score 1:2 against me (I have one banner as there are no Austrians in the village).
A "Force March" card let me send the rest of the French right against the church. This time it worked, eliminating the battered Grenadiers and taking out Gen Mescery with them. The score's now 3:2, with another banner due for holding the church.
Evert sent his left flank Cuirassiers against French Light infantry in front of Elchingen, only to bounce off the infantry's square. The Cuirassiers retreated into the village, depriving me of that banner and keeping the score at 3:2. And, again, the Austrians only have their (battered) Horse artillery on their left. Which I promptly gunned down to take it to 4:2.
Evert's right flank Cuirassiers got lucky next: they attacked the French Light infantry in the woods on my left, driving them back. I pushed my horsemen at them and the Cuirassiers took out my Light cavalry. Sigh: 4:3.
The whole Austrian right converged on the French left flank troops in and around the woods. My "Bayonet Charge" allowed me to shift my right flank troops into the centre and remove an Austrian Line. Another unit eliminated a second Austrian Line infantry on my left. But vacating the church meant I lost the banner for that: 5:3.
Further attacks on the left took out another Austrian Line to make it 6:3 - one more banner needed.
But a lack of right flank cards meant I couldn't take the easy banner for re-occupying the church. Instead, I attacked in the centre, pushing the Cuirassiers out of the village, hoping to get that banner instead. The unaccompanied General Riesch trotted into Elchingen to deprive me of it (we couldn't find anything to say whether a lone General counts as 'occupying' a town, but assumed it did - not least because he's an easy target).
Could I roll the single 'crossed swords' I needed? Instead, Evert's Cuirassiers removed my Heavy cavalry while Austrian Cuirassiers took out the French Line next to the village that had been forced into square. And now the score's 6:5.
Fighting continued for a couple of turns in the centre before I got the winning banner by finishing off an Austrian Line infantry.
So that was a win for my French 7:5 - it took two turns more and a few minutes longer than Evert's win the week before. And the overall victory is mine, just - 13:12 - after a tough fight.
I’ve also posted this report (with pictures!) on my blog on BGG:
boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/162346