by Paul LaFontaine, 8 November 2026
When Incompetence Meets Inexperience, Who Fails to Prevail?
Twenty-seven year old Austrian Archduke John (left) saw his first army smashed by the French at Hohenlinden nine years before. The Austrians, being gluttons for punishment, gave him command of the force invading northern Italy in 1809. French commander Eugène de Beauharnais (right), the twenty-seven year old stepson of Napoleon, was ordered by the Emperor to stop him. Eugène had never commanded any formation before. These two twenty-seven year old commanders faced off at Sacile.
click images to enlarge
Our players Langbart, Jacks, Rebelsqurl, Bonvi, and Popa were to take commands on both sides and refight this confrontation. These are experienced and skilled players, so modeling the inexperience of Eugène and the incompetence of John would have to be embedded in the setup. Let’s see how our players did.
The Historical Battle
In April 1809, Austria opened a new war against Napoleon while much of the French army remained occupied in Spain. The Austrians initially enjoyed numerical superiority and the initiative.
The Battle of Sacile was fought in northeastern Italy between a French and Italian army of 37,000 commanded by Eugène, and an Austrian army of 39,000 commanded by Archduke John.
Eugène’s mission was to defend northern Italy and prevent the Austrians from advancing toward Verona. On 15 April, the Austrian advance guard defeated French cavalry and infantry northeast of Sacile. Despite this setback, Eugène believed he faced only part of the Austrian army and decided to attack the following morning.
For easier comparison, we will look at the history through the orders of battle in the game and use the map with disguised names from the game. Our infantry blocks represent brigades of 3000 men, the cavalry regiments 800 saddles and the artillery gun sections of 24.
The Austrian order of battle:
The French:
Around 7:30 AM, the French attacked the Austrian left near Radov and Orsha. The initial attacks met stiff resistance, particularly around the villages and marshy ground.
By noon, French reinforcements had helped capture Orsha. Eugène interpreted this success as evidence that the Austrian army could be defeated and committed additional formations to exploit it.
During the early afternoon, Archduke John recognized that Eugène had weakened his left and center to reinforce his attack. The Austrians counterattacked Orsha while advancing against the exposed French left near Tabor.
Eugène was surprised by the appearance of the additional Austrian forces. He had believed he was facing only the smaller Southern Column. By approximately 5 PM, he ordered a general withdrawal.
French cavalry covered the retreat, but Austrian pressure disrupted portions of the French army as they crossed the Venza River near Borov.
The Plans
The scenario that set up the planning process had to embed in it the friction that both sides had historically. The French had to believe they were facing a smaller force that could be easily overwhelmed. The Austrians had to ensure that they overcame their past lack of success as they pushed into Italy. To reflect the Austrian CiC’s lack of skill, there was no CIC for their forces. The French were told that the Austrians had fewer forces than they did, recreating the surprise they experienced when the Austrian forces turned out more numerous than they first assumed.
Rebelsqurl plans on a defensive line from Varka to Orsha, with Bonvi and Popa moving from their current positions to that line.
Langbart and Jacks think Orsha is the key crossroads to control the sector between the rivers. Their plan is to concentrate there.
You can see the shape of the battle in the opening plans. Before we proceed to the action, we know there will be action at Varka and Orsha. The key will be who decides to overweight which point to achieve an advantage. Rebelsqurl thinks he has a larger force, and his discovery of the truth means a shift in perspective will be central to his success. Langbart and Jacks must pull off their concentrating move to have more strength than one wing of the French force.
The Scenario
The scenario starts in game time at 0800.
1000
Bonvi proceeds along the road to Varka (1), and on immediately encountering enemy cavalry decides to split his force along two avenues, and a second going south through Karsk (2). By 1000 Jacks has marched to a point where his forces are engaged between Varka and Kirov.
In the east, Langbart marches south and encounters an advance guard under Popa (3). CiC Rebelsqurl stays with the main column which is marching toward Tabor to create his half of the line (4). At this early stage it looks like two separate encounters by roughly equal forces.
1300
By 1300, Jacks has established a holding force to withdraw steadily and hold Bonvi in place (1). He marches three brigades and his cavalry through Tabor to provide overwhelming force in the southeast (2). This is a strong move. Jacks did not get bogged down in the fight in the northwest. He kept to the plan and is bringing force to where it is needed.
In the southeast, Langbart is pressing Popa with an attempt at a flank attack in the west (3) and continued attacks in the east (4). The French line along the river starts collapsing, though Rebelsqurl’s overall situation continues to hold.
1400
By 1400 Bonvi had cleared the area north of the river of Austrian forces as remnants of Jacks’ delaying forces cross over to Kirov. The combination of Langbart’s force and the reinforcements coming from the northwest overwhelm the French. Rebelsqurl and Popa are overmatched at Orsha.
End of Scenario
As happened historically, the French retreat west toward Verona. The unpleasant surprise of additional Austrian forces hits hard, and like their historical counterparts the solution is survival. Archduke John is credited with a victory. Incompetence has shown competence, and inexperience must rely on a more famous stepfather to put pressure on the Austrians in Germany to regain momentum. Langbart and Jacks can score a victory today.
Analysis & Umpire Wrap
Great play by a veteran crew of players today. Langbart is a skilled player, and Jacks consistently makes strong decisions. Rebelsqurl is a longtime player of these games. Popa is well known in the community and Bonvi, though only his second time in this live format, shows a steadiness that yields great play. A good group.
The game being used is Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel from Catastrophe Games.
The size of the battle was perfect. The base scenario I took from an Et Sans Resultat (ESR) scenario book. I met David Ensteness and his wife at their Historicon booth this year, and purchased several of their beautiful hardback rule sets. The rules were Battle Decisions Kriegsspiel, the pieces were artisanal versions of the counters in the box set. I did additional research following the inspiration and initial setup from the ESR book.
The setup was classic live Kriegsspiel. Six players signed up, one player dropped right before we started, and another no-showed. We had three in the server, a ping brought in a fresh player, then another joined with a final tally at five. The entire time as the umpire I was calculating who was to have what role in order to deliver on the command friction inherent in the situation. This setup scramble is a critical umpire skill.
I’ve put in tutorials that one umpire per 3 players is a basic ratio that allows for maintaining ten minutes per turn. With skilled players and an experienced umpire, I was able to deliver the ten minute turns with five players and one umpire. The turns averaged around 9.5 minutes, with only one turn going over ten minutes (10:52). This was not a complex turn; two players gave slower orders for reasons not related to the game. I still think a 3-to-1 player/umpire ratio for beginners. Umpires with experience won’t go far wrong at 4 players to 1.
This game was the debut of the 16 panel map, a 24” x 36” version that was able to handle the more luxurious 1.5cm pieces. Total cost is $12.38 for the color printing of the 16 panels, and it assembles with a modest amount of effort. The map looks good and plays well. I am going to retire my .75mm set in favor of the larger set. Call me extravagant if you wish.
This is another of a series of Kriegsspiel AARs very similar to the events in our Wargame HQ at the Origins Game Fair. You can find the original article here.
In terms of gameplay, Rebelsqurl “co-located” with Popa for most of the game, reducing the communications problem for the French. This is a standard practice for live digital games. What it means is the players share a voice channel and plan together mid-game. The benefits are that a CiC can place himself at a key point on the battlefield and get a good update from the subordinate, as well as give detailed instructions. The downside is in a command group of one CiC and two subordinates, it dramatically alters the friction for that side. It also may reduce the play enjoyment for one of the players, as the CiC tends to take over those units. I am going to experiment with not allowing co-location in the future and forcing the friction back into the situation.
The next frontier is adding an umpire for Discord play. Multiple umpires for in-person play has been effective. With Discord, the digital only games do this with a shared TableTop Simulator module. When I am running the umpire map on the physical table and a remote umpire, I have to allow them to use the screenshots from the AAR channel on Discord to follow the action and interact with players. Once we develop this, we can expand the player count inexorably until we are doing Leipzig at the battalion level. For now, we’ll take slow steps down that path.
I hope you read this and are inspired to give Kriegsspiel with physical pieces a try. We’ll see you out there.
If you’d like to join one of Kriegsspiels you can pop into this part of our forum for more
and you can also find out about the International Krieggspiel Society here
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