14 DAY TRIAL // After the initiation at Lodi, a pretty simple setup where the only big danger is heading into the town directly, the Napoleon wannabe is tasked with winning another battle crucial to the North Italian campaign, the Battle of Arcole, which is much more of a problem. I lost this one on the first try mainly because of being too stubborn to see that my initial plan was flawed and that my strategy needed to change on the fly.
Historically, Arcole was fought for more than one day as the French aimed to cut the supply lines of the Austrians and make sure that the siege at Mantua could be completed before a relief force appeared. In the game, Napoleon has to cross a river, deal with some marsh terrain, which limits avenue of advance and also assault across a narrow bridge while holding off a larger relief force headed by Austrian General József Alvinczi.
My first try focused on the village of Arcole itself. I focused the fire of my two artillery batteries on the two defending infantry units and when the other force started to get near, I threw my Grenadiers across the bridge to take the village and have a better position to defeat the other force. Apparently, the bridge is much too small to allow two units to assault and the Austrian armies managed to surround my forces and defeat me.
My second try focused on just bottling up the Arcole defenders while snipping at them with the long ranged light infantry troops I had, while using my grenadiers and my line infantry to destroy the advancing relief force. With diligent use of artillery fire and some quick flanking movements in the marsh to sap the morale of the Austrian army, I managed to rout them, kill their generals and then turn my entire attention to the village of Arcole and that bridge. Following historical ideas, I had Napoleon leading the charge across the bridge. He was wounded and useless for the rest of the fight, which ended with more losses on the French side than I originally envisioned. Note to self: bridge assaults are costly and should be avoided.
All in all, Arcole was an interesting battle, showcasing the movement focus required for battlefield success in the Napoleonic wars. It would be interesting to find out why The Creative Assembly did not choose to also offer the more titanic Battle of Rivoli, the one that determined the fate of Mantua, in Napoleon: Total War.