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The game

   Austerlitz is a wargame. the army of Napoleon is facing the Austrian and Russian armies.

The victory in Austerlitz was achieved by surprise and with the help of a morning fog that hide the movements of the French army.

   It's an interesting game requiring some experience to master movements and formation combat.

   This game is part of a trilogy using the same rules (except some details): Austerlitz, Jena, Waterloo


The illustration

   The illustration is clearly signed by Enea Riboldi: (Enea80).
   This illustration is very detailed: an officer of the 1st "chevau-léger lancier régiment" is attacking an Austrian soldier. This regiment was from Poland. The uniform is visible in napoleonuniforme.free.fr. But this regiment did not exist in Austerlitz in 1805. It was cerated in 1811 from the 1st regiment of dragon.

Thank you to the members of the forum histwar - especially Link from Stockholm and JMM from Toulouse who helped me to find informations on the uniform.


Opening of the box

   The box contains the rules, the map, 2 dice, the counters, 1 calendar and one combat table.


The map

This is a three-didimensional map: some smaller map parts have to be put (or glued) above the main map. The map is divided by a "small / big square" grid. Each square represents 300 meters of terrain.




The counters

   The game contains 70 French counters, 22 Austrian counters, 60 Russian counters and 18 little smoke counters for artillery fire. The counters are double sided. The second face represents the demoralized unit.


The rules

   The rulebook contains 34 pages in four languages (Italian, English, German, French).
   The game is finished after 18 turns (meaning 9 hours). The victory is achieved by killing the biggest amount of enemy counters. Each turn is divided into 2 parts: one Austro-Russian and one French. Each part is divided into 3 phases: Artillery, movement and combat. During the first turns, the cavalry and artillery are handicapped by the smog.
   The attacks can be made in formation, increasing the attack force.



   The leaders increase the attack force of the counters in formation. This increase is calculated using a control factor in a given range. The leaders themselves can be under influence of higher level leaders. The combat advantage is calculated by making the difference of control factor between the two fighting units. This value is divided by two and rounded up and has a maximum limit of +3.

   As an optional rule, some units may be demoralized after a retreat of more than 3 squares. This demoralization affects the unit and the different units crossed during the retreat. Such unit can recover moral after a victory by direct combat with an enemy retreat of at least 3 squares.

   The game includes a small map representing different terrains and used to learn the rules. Each player has 5 infantry units, 1 light infantry, 2 cavalry at 1 artillery.


An article in Casus Belli:

   A very hard article was written in Casus Belli n°5 about Jena and Austerlitz. It was written by Jean-Jacques Petit, a famous French author of wargames, and well known for his historic realism. He clearly did not appreciate the lack of realism and the weakness of the translated rules.
   The article in French
   This article propose some rule enhancements for Austerlitz and Jena:
   - charge on square authorized for the heavy cavalry: if the result is a retreat, the square is dispersed.
   - one more movement point for each French unit.
   - combat and movement on squares like on the octogons
   - just a few wood squares, just a 4 square forest East of Sokolnitz, near the river and a 2 sqaure forest Nord West of Telnitz, near the river.

Some price (2004-2006):

N° EBAY Price EBAY Country Date Remarks
5929386329 EUR 37,27 France 2 nov 2004 unpunched
5937662701 EUR 101 France 2 dec 2004  
5165302925 EUR 70 France 20 feb 2005  
5194189407 EUR 74 France 10 may 2005  
5974536409 EUR 60 Italy 19 may 2005 not sold
5976769392 EUR 92 Italy 29 may 2005  
5208330836 EUR 22,50 France 20 June 2005  
5233774116 $ 81 Italy 2 sept 2005  
5119224835 EUR 38,50 France 3 oct 2005  
8713221263 EUR 25 France 4 nov 2005 one missing counter
8713465341 EUR 35 France 31 oct 2005  
8716230654 EUR 10 France 6 nov 2005 idem 8713221263
8725470754 EUR 64 Italie 25 nov 2005  
87380139184 EUR 22,50 France 20 dec 2005  
8740970297 EUR 49 Italy 31 dec 2005  
8753922171 EUR 81 Italy 29 jan 2006 new
8757306946 EUR 72,70 Italy 2 feb 2006  
8764766490 EUR 23,50 France 18 feb 2006  
8775599549 EUR 13,50 France 11 mar 2006 uncomplete
8789744965 EUR 5,50 France 10 apr 2006 uncomplete

AUSTERLITZ overview

reference: W116
A game for 2 to 3 players from 15 years on
Time of game: from 4 to 8 hours
Size of each hexagon in scale: 300 m
Time of each turn in scale: 1 hour
Difficulty: 5 (very hard)
Date: 1981
Authors: International Team

This information is written on the box but contains two errors:
- these are squares, not hexagons;;
- The time of each turn in scale is 1/2 hour



Liens:

Austerlitz on boardgamegeek
Austerlitz on "le génie de la lampe"

There are many wargames on Austerlitz battle. A very good game:
- Austerlitz (Azure Wish Edition). in le temple du jeu ; in jocade ; in Homergames; the rule is available in Web-Grognard

A book ?

By "Histoire et Collections" - some books available in English and French
- "Austerlitz - Le soleil de l'aigle" - "Austerlitz - The Empire at its Zenith"
and for the uniform fan
- "Soldats et uniformes du premier Empire" - "Uniforms and soldiers of the Napoleonic wars"

A museum ?

Les invalides in Paris of course.



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