Battle of Castiglione 1796 - The Opening Moves

Finally got the battle underway. The scenario opens as Napoleon completes his withdrawal and Wurmser is coming on against him. At first I thought I'd messed up as all the Austrian battalions are rated +2 for size and that was making them very hard for the French to damage - particularly since 2 of 3 battalions in every demi-brigade were inferior volunteers. Soon the French got wise and started sending two of their Battalions against every Austrian one and that stabilised things. Costly though.

The situation at the end of Turn 5 (no sign of Fiorella yet) is (from French viewpoint):

• Left Flank: Kisfauld's Bde has pushed the French well back along the ridge, with Joubert's 1st Bde of I Corps broken and Pijon coming up to fill the gap. Kisfauld is pretty spend though. Likewise Mittrowsky has pushed hard against La Valette and is now being held.
• Centre: Bajahaza has fallen hard on Victor's 3rd Bde, breaking Victor's forces, but again taking heavy damage themselves. Guillaume has come forward to fill the gap. The Austrian's have no real 2nd line forces on the ridge or centre/left, so the French should now have no problem with holding them until reinforcements arrive - and may even go over onto the attack.
• Right Flank: Beyrand and Robert of Augereau's II Corps have done far better at holding Bajahaza and Gummer, although Beyrand is now being relieved by Gardanne. Around Monte Medolano Verdier's Grenadiers have had far more success taking the redoubt for minimal casualties as Gummer didn't really right for it. They then swung N to fall on Gummer's flank, and broke his whole Brigade as a result. Nicolletti is now coming up to replace him.

French centre-right looking towards the Gummer's Austrians

So actually the game has balanced out, and to me the look and feel of it is pretty perfect in terms of troop density and melee results, although I may widen the unit size brackets to reduce the number of +2 bonuses.

The view from La Valette's forces towards Solferino along the ridge

The key issue now is when does Fiorella arrive. As soon as they do the Austrians will (as in reality) have to move into a withdrawal mode their reserves will be needed to hold their S flank, and the fresh French second line units should be able to punch through the main Austrian line.