La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

La Bataille de Bautzen 1813 recreates the battle on June 21,1813 in Saxony between the Emperor Napoleon Premier’s newly reconstituted La Grande Armée and the combined Russo-Prussian army under the command of Tsar Alexander and General Gebhard Blücher. Napoleon was trying re-establish his ascendancy in Germany after his disastrous 1812 Russian campaign; and the Coalition needed to survive the overwhelming numbers of the French forces and entice the Austrians to join their side.

The French forces are large, but are plagued by inexperience—reflected by many infantry formations with limited abilities— and a shortage of cavalry. The Coalition army has extensive cavalry—-including marauding Cossacks, but is constrained by weak Russian organization and by a defense stretched too thin by the sprawling French army.

The game not only includes the large game on Bautzen, but also includes three additional smaller games recreating battles at Weissig and Konigswartha in an area just north of Bautzen. All four games will be on seven maps and use over 1100 counters in the La Bataille system’s first go at Bautzen.

—description from the publisher