AGAINST THE ODDS # 39: These Brave Fellows

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Austerlitz was Napoleon's classic battle, in his own estimation, but it was not the only battle of the war and had a the battle at Durenstein three weeks earlier gone differently, Austerlitz may have garnered another meaning, if it would have happened at all.

As Napoleon and most of his army headed for Vienna, the French VIII Corps chased the Austrians out of Bavaria. VIII Corp commander Marshal Edouard Mortier separated his cavalry, leaving him without recon, and his three-division advance straggled. The lead division under Gazan stumbled into a trap set by Russian Army commander Kutuzov.

The battle lasted for hours as Gazan's French division battled Russian forces that outnumbered it 4-1 in infantry, 20-1 in guns, and 'lots' to 'almost nine' in cavalry. Yet the Russians exhausted, starving, and freezing -- hardly in condition to be launching an assault. Still, had not Dupont's division covered a day's march in half the time, the stalemated outcome may have proved different. Although both sides claimed victory, Gazan lost 60% of his division.

The wargame includes 22x34-inch full color map, 216 9/16-inch full color die-cut counters, charts, and only 10 pages of rules.

The magazine also includes other articles and columns, including a Wally Simon article on Napoleonic game design edited and enhanced by Russ 'Snappy Nappy' Lockwood, The Evolution of a Superior Warrant Officer in South American Military History, profile of The Incomparable Ninth Legere, and more.