Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 3 of 4 – Oct. 1813)

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor – Fred Schachter: The second turn of this After-Action-Report (AAR) chronicled game was exciting and interesting with France continuing to meet its comeuppance, and not repeating its brilliant turn one Diplomacy Phase performance (winning seven Issues! Remarkable!) since the Allies are now coordinating against “The Corsican Ogre”. For that remarkable feat, see: Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 1 of 4 – Aug. 1813) – Inside GMT blog

Our players are having a blast playing Frank’s latest CoV scenario creation. So, let’s resume the game action of this Congress of Vienna “Clash of Armies” Standard Game contest as the massive struggle for Europe (and the War of 1812 in North America) continues… but first…

Setting the Stage: Flashback to Turn Two of this “Clash of Armies” CoV Game

Figure 1.- The End of Turn 2: The French player maintains a great VP advantage… a legacy of its remarkable turn 1 success. Britain is the lagging Power. However, a bright spot for Britain is that tough American opposition comes to a stop as the War of 1812 Status marker moves closer to the Pax Britannica source of VP (the pink colored +1 VP to Britain space!

Our enthusiastic Saturday Sessions Team contenders, France – Chris, Britain – Mirek – Russia – David S., and Austria – Ty resumed our Congress of Vienna action with the October 1813 turn of this “Clash of Armies” Scenario’s turn 3.

The previous turn 2, September 1813, saw France unable to repeat is Diplomacy Phase turn one triumph, which took full advantage of Allied disunity. The French player could only win the Minor Country Issue of Naples for a VP and military unit and, with the British player’s connivance, advance the Liberalism Track’s pawn into the “Free Market” Space for a 3VP award to each of their Major Powers.

Otherwise, it was the Allies turn to crow! They collectively won nine Issues, caused the “Future Government of France” pawn to depart the “Emperor Napoleon” Box, and, with the exception of Spain, lost ground on every front (track) which France defended… including a War of 1812 set-back. For more, see: Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 2 of 4 – Sept. 1813) – Inside GMT blog 

Turn Three, Oct. 1813, Initial Situation Resolutions

The Battle of Leipzig (October 16-19, 1813)

Each turn of a Congress of Vienna game commences with resolution of an Initial Situation Phase. Consequently, one of the players rolled two of Vassal’s virtual dice for a result on the CoV Initial Situation Table. The table’s dice roll results were 5/2. This meant Russia receiving an extra card of choice for the first die roll. David selected Blucher… a very fine military card for one of the battles to come. The second die roll awarded an additional Resource to Britain.

Figure 2.- The Initial Phase of the 3rd Turn of this “Clash of Armies” CoV: The French player loses an opportunity for obtaining an additional card through a “6” die result since Initial Situation Card A-7 indicates a -1 drm is applied to the 1st die roll! (This is the card’s British colored band’s mandatory instruction). Readers should observe the unusual placement of a Russian Military Operation marker on the French Track’s 1 space and how both Austria and Russia are poised to get British Financial Aid! A feature of each CoV Turn’s Initial Situation is to place additional Issue markers into play above and beyond those the players may select… which only adds more options for contenders to choose from!

This was followed by the players each drawing their October 1813 card hands of from the draw deck in reverse VP order (e.g. the Major Power with the least amount of VP draws first to have the maximum possibility of cards to draw from available… something our more superstitious players appreciate): Britain – 13, Austria – 10, Russia – 12, and finally France – 12 cards.

Figure 3 – Player Card Hands at the beginning of the Diplomacy Phase of the Game’s 3nd Turn: Here are the cards possessed by each Major Power when Diplomacy play for the 3nd Turn of this “Clash of Armies” CoV scenario commenced. How much would a player give to know the what’s in the hands of the other players?

Note the above continued disparity in the number of cards between France (12) and its enemies (35)… woe to France if the Coalition Allies continue “getting their act together”!

We next proceeded to the players wagering a card each to learn who’d gain an extra Issue for placement on their National Track as well as for determining Major Power play sequence for the upcoming Diplomacy Phase (getting “last licks” can prove most important… as the turn one AAR showed).

The card wagers were France – 3 value Gyulay, Russia 4 value Soult, Britain – 5 value Davout, and Austria – 4 value Caulaincourt.

Britain’s 5 value card wager won outright; so David selected the Britain’s Recruitment Issue for placement on his National Track’s 2-space. He considered placing the Absolutism/Liberalism Issue since he (as well as France, ironically) could win 5 VP by advancing its red pawn into the “Democracy” space. Alternately, it could provide VP if won for Russia or Austria. Britain hopes to close the VP gap with the other players. For this reason, he decides to focus on a British Military strategy and the Recruitment Issue could certainly help with that.

Figure 4.- Cards Wagered (on illustration’s left) & Player Selected Issues for the Beginning of Turn 3’s Diplomacy Phase: The “coordinated” Allied players all wager their better French cards (Caulaincourt, Davout and Soult) as a preventive measure against France’s mandatory trade rule! The right side of Figure 4 notes1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. These indicate the clockwise sequence in which each Major Power chooses Diplomacy Phase Issues. It also shows placement of the game’s yellow pawn near Britain’s Track. This indicates Britain winning the wager and that it has “last licks” during each Diplomacy Phase Round. Austria will play first. Interestingly, none of the players chose to bring the Absolutism/Liberalism Issue into play. This previously hotly contended for marker will now spend the turn languishing on the Display allowing the players to focus on other Issues.

The players, in sequence, then select two Issues each for the Negotiation Table. These are in addition to those placed into play by the turn’s Initial Situation Card A-7 and the wager winner.

Austria – its Recruitment marker and the Congress of Peace, France – its Recruitment marker and Italy, Russia – Government of France and Poland, and finally Britain – who selects both its Military Operation markers.

Diplomacy Phase Highlights

These included three successful trades (see Figure 5). Note how some of the players advance the quality of their card hands by trading with one another. Trading is the Congress of Vienna game procedure which allows the possibility for improving a player’s hand quality, and indirectly balancing the game, since it can favor the players with the lowest VP scores.

Figure 5.- The Three Trades of Turn 3: The Austrian player uses the poorest Russian card in his possession for starting a trade with Russia; immediately followed by the French player using the excellent Arakcheyev card for trading and receiving the mediocre Joseph Bonaparte FR card in return! Finally, the Russian player trades arguably the best British card in the game: Wellington, to a grateful British player. Possibly the Russian player hopes Wellington would facilitate a British advance in Spain, thereby causing a drainage of French VP and indirectly, a much-needed reduction of the VP gap between France and The Allies! (Possibly, if Britain had more VP than Russia, this trade wouldn’t appear so generous nor attractive to the Russian player.)

To advance a Coalition “French Troop Starvation” Strategy, that is, do what it takes to prevent France acquiring more military units for battle; Castlereagh was played to move France’s Recruitment Issue from its Diplomacy Track, where it had previously been moved from the Table, to Britain’s 5 Space. Napoleon chose not to exercise his “Pre-Empt Debate” ability.

France, concerned that any attempt to recover this Issue would be met by instantaneous Allied debate, decides to leave its Recruitment Issue with Britain. 

Equestrian portrait of Alexander I by Franz Krüger

Russia, interestingly, made no effort to secure its Military Operation marker which began the Phase on France’s Diplomacy Track… content, per current CoV Standard Game Rules, with the knowledge that it could only be placed on Tracks A or B.

Metternich was used to take the Future Government of France Issue, which Ty thought he had secured by previously moving it from the French Track’s 5 Space to Austria’s 1 Space. He then waited for France’s s reaction. There was no French response. Napoleon could have debated this move; but again, chose not to do so. 

Consequently, Russia debated this Austrian play with its Tsar Alexander Leader card (remember, in CoV, only a Leader can debate another Leader) to move the Future Government of France marker to the Russian Track’s 3 Space. 

Other items of note for turn 3’s Diplomacy Phase included British play of Eldon to secure another Resource and Russia also gaining a Resource through play of the received via trade Aracheyev card.

The Diplomacy Phase ended in a three-way tie between the Coalition Players, each of whom secured five Issues each (!), which by rule, Britain won and received +2VP.

With that determined, next came resolution of the Congress of Peace. The VP Leader, France, got punished with a die roll of one which resulted in a -1VP. Finally, the Diplomacy Phase winner, Britain, sustained its penalty, a die roll of two resulting in a -1VP penalty. This resolution was not as impactful as it could have been.

With Russia winning the Future Government of France, the Issue’s pawn was moved into the “No Agreement” Space with the following results: +1VP to Russia, -1VP each to Britain & Austria, and, more significantly, a -3VP punishment inflicted on France.

Figure 6.- The End of Turn 3’s Diplomacy & Government Phase: This was a British Diplomacy Phase victory (5 Issues) but only obtained through that Major Power’s National Advantage that “break ties to Britain’s side” (Russia & Austria also won a worthy-to-note 5-Issues each). The yellow “Major Power Sequence Pawn” remains placed by the British Track. The French only obtained a single Issue, as the three Allied players conducted themselves in a coordinated manner since the French VP gap with all Allied Powers is huge and that helps encourage the Coalition players to conduct themselves accordingly. Adversity is a great motivator, eh? The right side of the illustration shows how players place Resource markers to “pay” for the activation of each Issue and buy military support markers (for a +1 DRM each in calculating a battle’s result). This includes Britain giving up one each of its Resources to fund the Financial Aid markers won by Austria and Russia. Note how Resource poor Russia could not afford to pay for the Poland Issue it had won. It instead spent a Resource to take the Generalissimo marker from its ally Austria! Not nice that!

Government Phase and War Phase

With all won Issues paid for at the rate of one Resource each; and France applying a Resource to gain +1VP through “good governance”, Military Operation markers were placed as follows in the sequence dictated by Britain winning the Diplomacy Phase: Austria – in Venice to attack Italy (track F); France in Bavaria to attack Saxony (this is the free Military Operation France receives for having Napoleon available for a War Phase) ; Russia – in Saxony to attack Bavaria (track A) and in Pomerania to attack Hanover (track B); finally, Britain places one of its markers in Southern Spain to attack Valencia (track E) and its second Military Operation marker to activate a battle in the War of 1812 Box (G).

Military support markers were then placed, and Strategic Movements resolved… a highlight of which was France removing two units from its Army of Naples, a now quiescent track, in response to active threats. This brought us to resolving the War Phase’s battles in front/track sequence:

Figure 7.- A French Major Defeat in Bavaria: A French lamentable performance (bad dice rolling!) results in a major French defeat and a welcomed Allied victory. The Grande Armée had to retreat into Alsace. Only the Rhine now separates the Allied Armies from France!

Central Europe Track A: France’s Grande Armée in Bavaria attacked the now Russian Generalissimo-led Armies of Silesia and Bohemia in Saxony. The Coalition, in turn, attacked Bavaria. France’s 8 units under Napoleon were confronted by 8 Russian, 1 Prussian, and 9 Austrian units led by Blucher with Radetzky, Von Bulow, and Benningsen. This profusion of Allied military cards and units led to a high positive battle dice modifier.

The French dice roll was a lamentable “4” versus a Coalition dice roll of “6”. This resulted in a French defeat, losing 4 military units to an Allied loss of 3 units. 

France suffered a -2VP penalty for Napoleon being defeated in battle with both Austria and Russia gaining +2VP each for their victory. 

The Grande Armée, with half its initial strength annihilated (well, not quite “annihilated”, for this includes Satellite units’ desertion, garrisons being isolated, and attrition from various causes…), retreats into Alsace with the two Coalition armies in close pursuit to capture Bavaria.

Bavaria changing hands resulted in France sustaining a -3VP penalty with Austria and Russia each gaining +3VP. Furthermore, next turn Austria will gain a card for its hand and another Austrian replacement triangle. Yes, Bavaria is quite the plum for Austria!

Northern Europe Track B: The Russian Northern Army of 5 RU, 2 PR, and 2 SW units under Yorck with battle card #6 attacks the 6 military unit Army of Elbe with the French playing the Bernadotte card for a -3 DRM (Yes, Bernadotte is having a bad day leading his Swedes along with their Russian and Prussian Allies). Both sides battle dice rolls are “6”, which results in a stalemate with each side losing 2 military units. France, for now, continues to retain Hanover.

Figure 8.- The Stubborn French Defense of Hanover: Bernadotte’s dithering stops the Allied advance in Northern Europe (the double side of some Military cards adds a bit of “spice” to battles!).
Figure 9.- The Spanish-British Southern Army Wins the Valencia Space for the Allies: Now, the British player has the political accomplishment, the precondition, to attack in Gascony with his Army of Portugal and possibly deeply advance into France.

Southern Spain Track D: The British Eastern Army in Southern Spain of 3 BR and 3 SP units under Wellington, Hill, and Morillo face off against a 5 unit French Army of Mediterranean under Suchet in Valencia who declares a Withdrawal before military cards are revealed

Once again, the Vassal engine generated the same battle dice rolls for both sides: “5”. The preponderance of Allied positive modifiers still inflicts a loss of two units upon the withdrawing French to no Allied loss.

(Some of our play testers have developed certain doubts with Vassal’s dice rolling randomness as well as how it draws Character & Event cards from the game’s virtual deck! This is a lament by some which extends beyond the Congress of Vienna game.).

This resulted in Valencia changing hands with a -2VP penalty inflicted on France with +2VP being awarded to Britain.

Italian Front Track F: Austria attacked France’s 4 unit Army of Italy in the Italy space under Murat from Venice with a 4 unit Army of Tyrol under Schwarzenberg. Ty’s dice roll was a shocking “snake eyes” result of “2” versus Chris’ “5”. This resulted in a French victory and a two unit loss inflicted on Austria versus a one unit loss for France.

For this battle win France received +1VP while Austria lost -1VP.

Figure 10.- The Successful French Defense of Italy: Terrible Schwarzenberg leadership resulted in an unexpected French victory by Murat!

War of 1812 Box G: Attacking British forces were 4 Fleets and 2 Canadian militia units with an impressive array of battle cards: #7 , #8, and #9 for a cumulative +9 DRM versus 4 US militia units under Jackson. Mirek rolled a “3” to Chris’ “5”. The result was a British victory… 2 US units eliminated to 1 British unit for a +1VP battle reward to Britain and a -1VP penalty to France.

Furthermore, the War of 1812 Track marker moved one to the right into its “+1 Britain” space. The surviving US units went home with their enlistments expiring.

Figure 11.- The British Recovering of North America: Jackson’s leadership couldn’t forestall the overwhelming might of British Royal Navy superiority, a striking river crossing, and general military advantage.

End of Scenario Turn 3, October 1813, VP and Post Turn Observations

This proved a bloody turn of attrition for France with cumulative European losses of 8 military units. To avoid a kind of “death spiral” on one or more of the map’s fronts/tracks; it will be important for Chris to again seek gaining additional units through acquiring French map-controlled Minor Country Issues and/or the French Recruitment Issue.

The turn ended with France gaining +2VP for Austria being at war, Britain obtaining +2VP (+1VP for controlling Castile with another +1VP for the War of 1812 Track), and Russia +1VP for Generalissimo. 

The October 1813 turn concluded with the Major Power VP markers placed: France – 59, Russia – 42, Austria – 34, and Britain – 25.

Figure 12.- The End of Turn 3: To conclude the turn, the players score the VP adjustment matters such as Generalissimo, War Political Status, Castile, and War of 1812 Status! The VP difference between France and Allied powers remains high. Can any Ally surpass France? The 4th and final turn will decide victory!

The following graph, designed by play tester David shows a French defeat remains possible. For example, if Russia gains +10VP while France loses -10VP from various causes; we do have a “horse race” (e.g., France would be at 49VP and Russia would take the lead with 52VP).

So there still seems an opportunity to thwart French victory… and then if France is foiled, which of the Allied players are best positioned to win the game? Time and the next turn of this “Clash of Armies” Congress of Vienna AAR will tell, eh?

Previous Articles: 

Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 1 of 4 – Aug. 1813)

Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 2 of 4 – Sept. 1813)

Frank Esparrago and Fred Schachter
Author: Frank Esparrago and Fred Schachter

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Categories: After Action Report, Designer Blogs

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