Produktbeschreibung
Napoleons final battles before being exiled in 1814.
Napoleon's End presents four battles on the Seine, February-March 1814.
BATTLES SIMULATED
The first of the four battles occurred on the 17th and 18th of February:
Mormant took place 3 days after the Battle of Vauchamps, covered in "La Patrie en Danger."
The last two battles were fought in late-March: Arcis followed 8 days after Reims, from "Napoleon Retreats."
With all three games you can contemplate a 12-battle Grand Campaign.
Here you have a series-first, a 40" map (which extends La Patrie East map with the potential for a 9' long map).
The Mormant and Montereau maps combine to make one 44 x 34" map. The Arcis map is square-on with Arcis dead center
and the Aube dividing the map in half. All four quadrants have troops moving through.
Arcis was perhaps the Emperor's worst-planned mistake.
Mormant A Fighting Rear Guard, 17 February
The French army under Napoleon began the counteroffensive
with an attack 50 km southeast of Paris, targeting a division
of Russian troops under Count Pahlen. His outnumbered force
was enveloped and nearly destroyed, with a third of his men
escaping. Later in the day, a French column encountered an
Austro-Bavarian rearguard at Valjouan. It was mauled by
French infantry and cavalry, before withdrawing behind the
Seine.
Montereau The Seine and Yonne Bridges, 17-18 February
Napoleon approached a corps of Austrian and Württemberg
troops. The Allied commander ordered a withdrawal, but 17
February saw his rear guards overrun or brushed aside.
Ordered to hold Montereau until nightfall on the 18th, the
Crown Prince of Württemberg posted a strong force on the
north bank of the Seine. All morning the Allies stoutly held
off a series of French attacks. However, the lines buckled in
the afternoon and the troops routed toward the single bridge
behind them. The French cavalry got among the fugitives,
capturing the spans over both the Seine and Yonne Rivers, and
seized Montereau. The Allied force suffered heavy losses and
the defeat confirmed Schwarzenberg's decision to continue the
retreat to Troyes.
Arcis-sur-Aube Time Runs Out, 20-21 March
After his victory at Reims, Napoleon moved south to threaten
Schwarzenberg. The Austrian Generalissimo pulled his army
back to Troyes and Arcis-sur-Aube. Napoleon arrived and
attacked the town, but Schwarzenberg uncharacteristically
advanced to fight it out rather than retreat again. The first day
was inconclusive and Napoleon prepared to pursue a retreating
enemy the next day. The French advance to high ground
revealed up to 100,000 troops in battle array south of Arcis.
Napoleon, massively outnumbered, ordered a retreat. By the
time the Austrians discovered this, most of the French had
already disengaged and the Allied pursuit couldn’t stop them.
La Fère Champenois The Marshals Entrapped, 25 March
After pulling out of Arcis-sur-Aube, the Emperor’s eagles
moved east, hoping to draw the Coalition armies away from
Paris by threatening their supply lines; this desperate ploy
failed in its intent. Meanwhile, Marmont and Mortier were
marching to join Napoleon, with Blücher’s Army of Silesia
hot on their tails. As the two marshals moved east out of
Sezanne they unexpectedly collided with Schwarzenberg.
Realizing they were marching into a trap, they turned back,
and managed an orderly retreat until a violent rainstorm
rendered their muskets unreliable. They were steadily driven
back and completely routed by aggressive Coalition horsemen
and gunners, suffering heavy casualties and the loss of most of
their artillery. A nearby convoy, escorted by two French
divisions of National Guards under Pacthod, were also
attacked and wiped out at Bannes. With the corps of Marmont
and Mortier collapsing, the Allied assault on Paris was a
foregone conclusion. The Battle of Paris followed on 30
March.
Napoleon’s End contains:
• Four maps. Three of the maps are 22" by 34" while the fourth is 22" by 40".
• 560 die-cut units
• 15 player aid cards
• Two rulebooks |
