Epic Austerlitz Wargame | Choose Your Own Ending!
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- Опубліковано 28 гру 2024
- This week on Little Wars TV we are refighting Napoleon's most famous battlefield victory...or is it? We debate whether Austerlitz truly was Napoleon's greatest triumph or if that honor belongs to another engagement. And then, five players take part in an epic wargame played on a custom 12' long tabletop to refight the events of December 2, 1805. It's a stunning game with thousands of 15mm miniatures and a tricky fog of war surprise for both sides! Can the French recapture Napoleon's magic, or will the Russo-Austrian army rewrite history?
For the first time ever, we're going to allow YOU to answer that question. For this wargame, we played the scenario not once, but twice! At a critical moment in the battle, we'll hit "pause" and ask you to make a command decision as Napoleon Bonaparte. It's a "choose your own adventure" style ending like you've never seen before.
To commit the Imperial Guard to the Center, click here: • Commit the Guard to th...
To commit the Imperial Guard to the Left, click here: • Commit the Guard to th...
You can download a FREE copy of our Austerlitz scenario on our website, www.LittleWarsT... from the "Free Stuff" section. We want to thank our incredible patrons for their support on Patreon!
And finally, we want to give a special shoutout to Total Battle Miniatures for collaborating with us on this wargame. All the buildings you see in the game are 6mm resin buildings from Total Battle. We've used their terrain for years and acquired a lot more buildings for our custom Austerlitz table! You can check out their various ranges and scales here: www.totalbattle...
Thank you Total Battle Miniatures!
Greetings from France. I watched this video with my 2 kids, fascinated by the miniatures and the terrain, and my wife, who has a far ancestor called ... Marechal Davout. :-)
It is super cool to see such passion. I really like your channel. Thanks for all you are doing for the community!
Wow! That's quite the family history! Very cool.
Coul you possibly do a Franco Prussian war scenario like sedan or maybe even the Easter rising in Dublin
I second this, we need a Franco-Prussian War scenario.
@@MrFarmer110 welcome to the team
If you want to see more about the Franco-Prussian War, you should watch videos by The Armchair Historian and support his patreon and his new game on Steam: Fire and Manuver, where you can command Victorian era armies and move from a time of muskets and cavaliers, to Rifles and Machine guns. And no, I am not a bot and I’m not being paid to advertise this.
@@gallantcavalier3306 I already did but thx anyways
@@gallantcavalier3306 I'm both subscribed to him and have that game on my wishlist for when it releases on Steam. He does a very good job.
The Fog lifting is awonderful effect.
Ed is always the perfect example of quiet cunning. It’s great.
This is why I picked the option to deploy the Guard against Ed. No offense to Tom, but having Ed scheming away on that flank is too dangerous to ignore.
Probably the BEST gaming video and idea I’ve ever seen! Amazing job! I’m not even a Napoleonic player but this video grabbed my attention all the way. The choice at the end and the different paths is genius. I know this battle was Napoleon’s masterpiece but this video is yours! Do this again and again. Greg you solved this and this is fantastic. WW2 battles like this would be awesome next. Love the fog of war component here as well. Wished I could experience this live.
Perfect thing to watch right now during my roadtrip. Thanks littlewarstv!
Nearly 45 minutes of Austerlitz action if you eventually watch both endings! Enjoy the road trip!
This was awesome! I'm always inspired to crack out my old collection everytime one of yall's battle reports come out. Keep it up Little Wars!
Mission accomplished then! Glad to hear it!
I just love what you guys do!!! This is why I am a full supporter of your work! Thank you!!! We would love to see more Napoleonic battles from you!!! But we also plan to make a video of Quatre Bras by years end in quicks trike format!!! It's going to be great!!!
Clever idea brilliantly executed, Chapeau! That is your club's own Austerlitz! Thank you very much.
Cheers Fedja
So happy to see another well-done big-battle game. The multi-ending idea worked great. Keep em coming!
If I was given a chance to ambush an enemy with a surprise flank ambush, I would intentionally put the majority of my troops on the opposite flank. That way enemy will be tricked into attacking my "weaker" side, and then attacked from 2 sides by my stronger forces (One previously hidden) and encircled.
As a bonus, I'd turn out to be prepared for the enemy surprise flank, by having more units there to meet them. Nice bonus, innit?
And I'm pretty sure that's exactly what the French players did, tho perhaps with a different reasoning behind their decision.
Interesting choose your own adventure system
Absolutely gorgeous armies and terrain. One of my favorite videos.
I don't play war games but I do paint miniatures, mostly 15mm and 28mm and I have to say "Wow". From the little I know there are two levels of miniature painting; Collector and Table Top. The still shots of this video, it looks like these are all "Collector" level miniatures...just outstanding. Well done Sir, well done indeed.
I'm new to wargaming and rhinking if going 15mm napoleonics.
I admire your work! The fog of war, the narrative, the modular tables - this is beyond amazing!
Great video! Would love to see more of this style, and i would love to see more Napoleon!
More to come!
Your trickiest and most immersive wargame yet! Thanks for going the extra mile
Absolutely love the show you guys put on, and all the awesome battles. Thanks for the great entertainment.
Been waiting all summer for this one!! And Yes it is his most impressive victory including Ulm, Mack is one thing, Kutuzov another. In fairness to Kutuzov, he really didn’t get to make decisions though
D'Armee is a fantastic system, but your deft scenario creation has synergized with the mechanics to elevate both to a new level.
I want that hoodie bro. Austerlitz was napoleons greatest victory. Borodino his worst, marango his most important.
There are tons of historical hoodies on Gearhuman. That's where we got them.
So watching this and we arrive at 13:02 and what do I see through lifting levels of fog.... yes... my eyes do not deceive me... THE BAR AND ALL IT'S GLORIOUSE LIQUOR!!!! now that is something to cheer about.... HUUUZAAAAHHHH.
Another triumph for Little Wars TV! Napoleonics are not my era of choice, but you made them extremely entertaining...Bravo!
Amazing idea & video !! Really motivated :-)))
I really like the dynamics you guys applied to this recreation. One's hat is doffed in you guys' general direction. Salut mon braves!
Well done, it's hard to generate fog of war for a battle where the players know what the historical generals could not.
This is a truly unique & fun way to watch this battle. I'm taken back to those Laser Disk Arcade Games of old! Excellent concept, Gentlemen!
Gentlemen, an excellent presentation and display of a battlefield I visited long ago as a student on a educational tour around Europe. Unfortunately when we visited the visitors centre/museum was shut for repairs. I hope one day to get back there when it's open. I know I would have bought far too many figures there if it had been open!Standing on the Pratzen heights was quite a haunting experience.
Regards,
Martin (Plymouth UK)
I would LOVE to see this battlefield one day. Hopefully when the visitor center is open....
Absolutely brilliant expected the historical outcome not to happen at all given the allied army committed to the right. Whether the guard goes to the center or to the left
ok I just want to say, your alternate interactive ending is awesome!! Hats off to you. :)
This is so amazing. Thank you guys!
Superbly done, a lot of fun to be able to pick the ending
A very, very good big battle recreation! Superbly done, especially with the fog of war and the multiple choice ending. As for Ulm vs. Austerlitz, well, both are major and equally stunning victories, but in the end Austerlitz destroys the allied coalitional and ended the war, whereas Ulm was a stepping stone to that ultimate victory, IMHO of course!
And a very fair argument that is!
love the concept, now to see if I emerge ruler of Europe, huzzah!
Brilliant start guys. VIVE LA LWTV..
I meant brilliant start to this adventure... I've been following Miles' French passion for years.... Will he emigrate to Qubec at some point? And go whole hog North american French?
Please continue making this type of interactive videos! Great work
This may be the best wargame video ever
Outstanding work guys. You continue to exceed your own high standards of presentation and content. And thanks for the free downloads of Ulm and Austerlitz.
Our pleasure!
Great table, love the way you simulated the mist not tp mention the surprise flank
Marches. Well done Gents 👍
Stumbled across your channel (just subscribed) and glad I did. You really do a great job of combining the real history narrative with the war gaming. Great job guys.
Fantastic idea, enjoyed watching the options for battle. Looking forward to see another of these battle reports, where we can choose the "course of fate"! :)
Fantastic work gentlemen! Loved this - the format works very well ...love the crisis meetings too ...Dave deux, I mean Trois, I mean deux ...too many Daves :)
This interactive option is a great idea - I wish I could promote it further.
As always gorgeous table and troops - great battle. Thanks so much for your dedication.
Appreciate that, Anders. We intend to try the alternate ending concept again!
You should definitely do more of these. So awesome.
Could you do something from the Arab-Israeli Wars? Maybe a part of the fighting for Jerusalem in 1948, or Chinese Farm 1973? I'm Israeli, and would love to see you refight something from my country's own history.
We have done a few Arab-Israeli actions in the club over the years, but not frequently. We are talking about our 2022 slate right now, though. So we'll add it to the list for discussion!
@@LittleWarsTV could you do a chickamauga battle i had an ancestor who died there and it seems to be a overlooked battle despite 20 percent of the army of Tennessee being destroyed
@@LittleWarsTV i would love to see some cool Israel 1973 or even Lebanon first or second would be pretty awesome
Talk about a dream come true. Austerlitz; using General de Armee rules; 15mm figures, What more can a guy ask for!
What's interesting to me is that by keeping Davout's corps hidden, you've already drastically changed the direction of the battle, since his forces acted as bait for the Austrians/Russians.
I think it would have also been cool to have included a 'Sun of Austerlitz' event, when the sun came out from behind the clouds to blind the Allied forces just as the French approached their lines on the heights.
They were part of the bait historically, yes. The challenge, of course, is that players today know the outcome of the original battle, so that trick wasn't going to work this time around. That's part of the fun in designing historical scenarios, of course! Trying to find ways to give the players some confusion and tension even though they are familiar with the battle!
@@LittleWarsTV Yeah, it wasn't a criticism, I just said it was interesting.
Once again another great video and new idea!
Loved the addition of the tables beyond each flank! That allowed for a very interesting development of the fight in the north, despite both sides initially committing to a major attack there that would otherwise have been a grinder along the table edge.
It's Dec. 2, 1805 and here is your weather: heavy cotton batting is expected to last for several hours this morning, diminishing to scattered swabs by this afternoon. The lead count is predicted to be very high, so those with allergies may want to stay out of the line of fire.
Very interesting. Beautiful terrain and figures as well. 15mm is the best scale for epic battles. Hope to see another...
Superb video, great history and gaming content. Really love the choose your own ending concept. Good work as ever
This is a really great idea, however, (and I know it will involve a bit more work) a variety of choices at different stages of a battle might be even more interesting.
can we all just take a moment to appreciate the brilliant jumper Miles is wearing here! I want one as well, just to wear when playing!
Great to see General we Armee rules being used. And I enjoyed each team's discussions between turns.
Hi Guys, greetings from middle earth. really enjoy your videos, the concepts, and the various rules you use. My very first army was funny enough Austrians, I still have the figures and am currently rebasing them from the old WRG rules, I hope you guys will do the 1809 campaign at some point, perhaps to re-write history for Aspern - Essling or even Wagram.
So…. How long till we see these guys play out Leipzig (or better known, the Battle of the Nations)
We do already own plenty of 15mm figures to do it. Just saying.
@@LittleWarsTV good to know, I guess plans are being scheduled for such at a later time :)
Also makes me wonder if you have enough mechs to also celebrate another historical event/battle come May 20th.
(If you don’t know the significance of said date just type in May 20th 3052 and you’ll see why)
Really great game and entertaining format! Two thumbs up! 👍👍
Great Work! love it.
The most impressive battle is always the one that is a victory without being fought.
Bro this shit is so lit.
Would love to see alternate paths for WW1 Offensives or Alternate Alliances.
Great video. Your work for the hobby is much appreciated. An inspiration. All the best from Devizes.
Friedland is his best in my opinion… It really shows how the corp system allowed him to receive reinforcements so fast. Changing the entire scope of the battle in less than a day…. The 6 days granted many battles was his finest hour.
I've heard the one of the battles Napoleon was most proud of was the Battle of Marengo.
Awesome video! I loved the interactive feature! :)
Gorgeous table and units. The amount of labor planning and creating this must have been immense. I agree heartily with using smaller scale buildings; I use 15mm buildings for my 20mm armies. It just feels more right than using the same scale.
Using smaller scale buildings with larger figures is something club tends to do as well for the same groundscale reasons.
You don't commit the reserve until you have consumed their reserves . You haven't drawn up a rank of Artillery to punch a hole yet . And you have to have a road behind you to fall back on supply . One thing you didn't put into the game is Russia use a different calendar in that era and may be on a different time frame as well
Hey Little Wars TV! Been a subscriber for the better part of the year and love what you guys do. I’m just wondering, will you play any of the TSR war games like Tractics? I remember seeing it in your history of war games video.
Thanks for joining us, Ryan! We haven't played Tractics in the club for a LOOOOONG time, so no immediate plans for a video. But it's an old favorite of some of our guys who grew up playing that one.
Direct question to LittleWarsTV: there is a short book called Defense of Duffers Drift; the officer protagonist in it has several dreams of a battle, each dream he refines his strategy until he achieves victory. It’s creative piece that’s set in the Boer War that is similar to the narrative/meta-elements of this game and others you’ve done. Would you consider giving that book a read and maybe doing a game based on it?
I think that the Ulm maneuvers was a greater victory. One of the most important tings in war is to limit your losses. At ulm napoleon lost very little while the coalition lost almost the same as austerlitz and lead to the fall of Vienna
In Ulm Napoleon defeated an Army, in Austerlitz he defeated two Emperors and ended a War to become L´Empereur himself
What an amazing game and video. I would also love to see a "making of" video on the the board please.
The thing is that it is Dave 1 and Dave 3.
Hah it's a bit of a running joke on the channel that we have fun butchering the French language.
@@LittleWarsTV I happen to be English and loathe the French myself so butchering their language was funny. I have been a fan of wargaming for so long and you guys seem to be the best channel about wargaming I have found.
Could you do Opperation Market Garden? In particular, a scenario in which the Allies land on top of Arnhem and Nimegan bridges on the first day, as Montgomery intended them to. I'd be interested to see how that would play out.
What can i say guys one of the best battle reports yet ! 😁👍🏻
Great idea. Excellent game and commentary. Next time it would be even better if you had more branch choices. Keep up the great work!
Great video. Quick question what distances did you use for artillery and musket ranges to reflect the change in game scale?
Thanks for this. It would be great to see a Volley & Bayonet game sometime.
Big fans of Volley & Bayonet here!
Very interesting alternative, with Bagration actually attacking and well.
Great video! To me the most important engagement of the 1805 campaign was the Battle of Schöngrabern in which the Russian rear guard action succeeded in delaying the French and Kutuzov was able to join the main Russian army unscathed. Because of Schöngrabern, Napoleon failed to destroyed the Russian army piecemeal and it was able to retreat orderly after Austerlitz. The Russians would eventually be defeated in 1807 in Friedland but only at the cost of more French men and materials, whetting away at the Grande Armée. Had the French been able to destroy the Russians in 1805, the war would be shortened and 1812 may not be necessary. It's not so much that Napoleon wasn't able to win wars but that he didn't win them quick enough.
Would live to see a gulf war episode like the battle of 73 easting
A glorious yet terrible day... VIVE LE FRANCE! VIVE LA GARDE! VIVE LA NAPOLEON! The mist FOW concept is BRILLIANT! Donald Featherstone would be proud...
As a French man, hearing the " Dave 1 " and " Dave 2 " it took me a long time to understand " un " and " deux ".
And the title of the rules is " Jayneyrahl darhmey " if I can convey the sound...
These are the only complaints.
I love your videos.
Moi aussi. I'm sure they will appreciate the opportunity to learn something new (some poor souls get very sensitive to this kind of thing)(and, as you will have noted later in one of the follow-up videos, Miles knew, however, pronouncing it as "Darmay" and not "Day Armay" as Greg was saying). I'm not French and only know "un peu de la langue" but I also wondered what "Dave Toi" was .... thinking to myself, "Shouldn't it be 'Dave Deux?' or something like that (e.g., 'deuxieme?')" I was wondering, could it be Creole French? Also agree that they make great videos. 8-)
I think he actually said 'trois', but nobody had the heart to correct them!
Omg he was trying to say "deux"? I know it's 2021, and French has somehow declined as a "must learn" for anyone educated around the world, but this unfamiliarity with foreign language sounds really exposes a pretty shocking provincialism and ignorance. I love these videos, but have to really grit my teeth through the zero effort pronunciations.
@@davelee6002 Let's be fair, he might have just misremembered which way around the numbers were from high school french!
@@davelee6002 I cringed when they were saying oorsct-er-lich instead of ow - stah - lich
French trois is 3? Fixed it at the end.
Did you really think that anyone in this club knew how to count in French? We do not, sir.
@@LittleWarsTV I don't either. Not even sure how I caught that.
Yeah...this is just SO awesome...
"Gentlemen,today's fox"
Thanks for the birthday gift haha!
Happy birthday!
How well do I match up to Napoleons expectations?
Well... I chose Soults' plan..
Hey - I love that stylized sweatshirt that Napoleon is wearing. Any quick review from Miles if it is relatively comfortable as I consider ordering one - the ultimate Gamemaster shirt!
What a cool idea I love it
That Kutusov knew his stuff.
Did you guys skip Dave deux and go straight to trois?
This is epic! I love the fog mechanic
Where did Miles get that cool hoodie?
Great stuff but how do I vote? I say the vote now on the site for the July 4th AWI battle but not Austerlitz.
I'm new to the channel and don't know everyone's names yet. But the older gentleman in this intro has a cool sweatshirt... but I was thinking whoever made it should put small single handed pocket up around the chest instead of a standard hoodie pocket. Lol. Just to keep with the theme. Lol.
I really like the decision method used. Picking an option but still seeing the results of the other is amazing. Great Job little Wars!
I chose left because I thought Murat and Davout were in excellent position on the Heights while the left was threatened strongly by the Russian Guard. The move towards the center seemed far too conservative for Napoleon and could have led to a rout.
Trois is... three. Two is deux. Isn't that what you're going for?
Do you guys have any idea which minatures were used? What company?
Mostly Battle Honors 15mm but also some Old Glory and classic Minifigs mixed in!