14 DAY TRIAL // Austerlitz is seen as the biggest tactical success of Napoleon, the battle where he faced strong opposition and triumphed in style, managing to lose just over a thousand men killed while taking out of the fight more than one quarter of the Austrian and Russian armies that faced off against the French Emperor. There were three men that styled themselves Emperor on the field of battle and more than 50 standards were captured by the French from the Austrians and the Russians.
Napoleon: Total War simulates the initial positions of the army pretty well. The French right is weak and the main push of the Allied force always comes there but the computer also seems pretty interested in assaulting on the left flank of the French line. Historically, Napoleon pushed through the center of the line, separating and then defeating the enemy forces piecemeal. I originally tried this move in the virtual battle.
Unfortunately, I mistimed my charge and misrepresented the enemy positions. I failed to account for several Russian units deployed on a forest on the left and my diversionary assault became a pitched battle where most of my cavalry was caught up and taken out of the fight.
Meanwhile, I also lost ground on the right, as Napoleon historically did, but my center was slow in rolling up the hills and breaking the enemy center. I eventually won on the left, wheeled my force around and tried to take the high ground, but the Austrians rolled my right. The entire battle lines shifted and the momentum of the enemy proved too powerful. I quit the battle when my last artillery battery was routed off the field.
My second attempt at Battle of the Three Emperors glory was based upon holding the right and depleting my center in order to take the enemy left and then roll his line down. My second time around strategy hugely benefited from the prior knowledge I had gained of the Austrian and Russian unit disposition. It was a far more conventional approach than that of Napoleon but one that worked. It was a hard fought battle, with my right again giving way and my center barely holding together.
But this time, the left flank assault, led by the infantry and with the cavalry breaking through at the last moment, registered few losses and allowed me to wheel around and finish off the enemy units in maybe less glorious fashion than Napoleon but certainly in a more efficient manner.