Post
by Primarch » Sat Dec 01, 2012 8:37 am
NH:Black Powder - An introduction to the scenario and (alternate) history.
In 1809, France was at war with it's neighbours yet again. The War of the 5th Coalition (This time consisting of Austria and the UK) were waging war with the Empire of France in both central Europe and in the Iberian Peninsular.
The Battle of Ratisbon fought on April 23rd 1809, saw the retreating Austrian army under Archduke Charles trying to escape from the oncoming French forces across the Danube using a hastily built pontoon bridge whilst the French assaulted the medieval style defences of the city. During the battle, Napoleon was wounded in the ankle by a spent cannon round. By the end of the day, the city was in French hands along with a large number of Austrian prisoners and Napoleon was free to continue his march on Vienna.
April 24th saw Napoleon confined to his bed, his ankle swollen and a fever setting in. By the end of the day he was delirious and, despite the best efforts of the surgeons, getting steadily worse. The army remained camped in Ratisbon for the next few days as the camp doctors and surgeons did everything in their power to help their Emperor. Sadly for France, they failed. Napoleon, perhaps one of the greatest military leaders to have ever lived, died 6 days after the battle.
Napoleon's body had not even arrived back in Paris before his Marshal's began bickering amongst themselves. Some wanted to push on to Vienna and beyond, expanding the French Empire in tribute to their fallen leader. Others, realising that there was now a power vacuum at the head of the army wanted to consolidate their positions and establish themselves as the new Emperor. The rivalry between the marshalls that had served Napoleon so well on the field, where each strived to out do the others, now led to infighting and even several assassination attempts.
Archduke Charles meanwhile was kept informed of events in the French camp and in Paris by his own network of spies and informants. Seeing the once fearsome French army paralysed by indecision he rallied his own troops and struck against what he expected to be an easy target. The Austrian host clashed with the French army under the command of Marshal's Davout and Lannes on the North Bank of the Danube. The two Marshals, both famed for their bravery and ability did all in their power to halt the Austrian advance, but the morale of their men had gone. Having lost their Emperor and seeing the power struggles developing between their leaders, the soldiers of France had lost their unshakeable confidence and were gradually overrun by the numerically superior Austrian force. Seeing their position was in danger of being outflanked and destroyed, Davout ordered what remained of the army back across the river, there to march for the safety of France. Lannes, seeing what Davout was doing, made a decision to stay and guard the retreat of the army, lest it become a rout. Leading a valiant charge Davout and his grenadiers surged into the Austrian lines, buying time for the majority of the army to disengage.
In the days that followed, the French forces marched day after day back to their homeland, the Austrians pursuing them picking off any stragglers, but not willing to force another confrontation. In the meantime, letters and missives flew back and forth between all the kings of Europe. The French were beaten and leaderless. It was only a matter of time before old scores would be settled and vengence served.
By the end of 1809, the situation in Western Europe was radically different from that at the start of the year. Napoleon's eldest brother Emperor Joseph 1 sat on the French throne, a puppet for the French Governement and their protection from a coup by one of the remaining marshals. Following his flight back to France Davout had resigned from his position in shame. The remaining generals and marshals were mustering forces to defend France's borders from the forces of the rapidly emerging 6th Coalition, this time made up of Russia, Prussia and Austria. In early 1810, the Russian army marched across it's western borders and headed directly for the centre of France. It's two allies following in it's wake, Russia was determined to crush the now weakened French empire and become the most powerful nation in Europe. The French steeled themselves to meet this new threat, but all of them admitted that they couldn't hope to stand against the Russian juggernaught and it's allies.
Help for the outnumbered Frenchmen was to come from a most unlikely source. In exchange for major concessions in land, trade and treaties, the forces of Great Britain crossed the channel and made their way across Northern France to stand beside their traditional enemies. Deciding that an indebted France was a better neighbour than a victorious Russia, the British had withdrawn their forces from the newly independant Spain and Portugal and redeployed them close to the Belgian border. Along with volunteers and mercenaries from Iberia, the British redcoats under Lord Wellington who had previously fought against the French in Spain and Portugal.
Though the French marshal's retained overall command of the battles that followed, it was Wellington's plan to reduce the enemy forces in a series of defensive battles as the allied forces slowly withdrew from the coalition advance. In a bloody war of attrition, many soldiers on both sides lost their lives, though it always seemed that the Russians had more men to throw forward into the allied guns. With casualties mounting and the rates of lost and wounded climbing, the coalition force decided to try something new. Scouts and outriders had reported a seemingly undefended gap in the allied flank. A gap that could be exploited by a force that moved fast enough. The gap in question was well known to the allied forces, the location chosen for a battle perfectly. In one sleepy little village in Northern France, the fate of Europe was about to be decided....
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450
