CAMPAIGN UPDATE MID-FEBRUARY 1800
The war in the Tyrol ended with the the surrender of Lannes and the sacking of General Moreau. His player took advantage of the opportunity to raise a new army in eastern France to participate in the Danube theater. He is now playing General Augereau (we have some duplication issues). It was an opportunity also for the GM (myself) to fade back into a backseat.
That meant that the action switched to northern Italy. The French had advanced east from Milan and found themselves with some ten divisions besieging Verona. This understandably alarmed Charles who was hoping to get time for Venice to fall. The Austrians had marched their Bolognese allies north to try to find Massena and did encounter his army at Parma.
Later historians will suggest that Bonaparte's frustrations with the siege at Milan encouraged him to bypass Verona. Instead, he left a small screening force there and commenced to shift his weight to the south.
Massena drove the Bolognese forces back in a ruthless series of victories.
Charles was meanwhile reacting to the threat to Verona and began to push troops forward. As he received reports that the French had pulled off of Verona, perhaps he was looking for opportunities to seize the initiative. Venice finally fell but word was not yet out. This allowed him to hurry Radetzky north. There would be brief contact at Padua.
On the 17th, Charles pushes from Vicenza for Soave and encounters Bonaparte and both sides try to gather forces for a major battle. Kollowrat is caught fighting French screening forces at Verona so cannot march to Soave. At the same time though, another of Bonaparte's Corps hits Vicenza and the Austrian rearguard there retreats to the battle at Soave, leaving the French in control of Vicenza.
We do not yet know what happened at Soave. The campaign is paused until we fight that battle in miniature on Sunday. There is an estimated 20,000 on each side at Soave and the weather is clear yet muddy.
General Augereau in the north has marched from Strasbourg and invaded Baden and Wurtemburg. General Hiller's attempts to crush Bavaria have met with some resistance so he has pulled back to approach the problem more decisively.
Archduke Louis has secured the Tyrol and Helvetic Republic and is looking to contribute where needed with his few available forces.
Also, Archduke Louis has proposed a peace treaty that will be ratified on Feb 24th unless someone proposes another. Under the conditions of that treaty:
The next campaign would begin no sooner than Aug 1803
In the next Campaign, French players would get 180 points while Coalition
players would get 200
Piedmont would become a province of France.
Ligurian Republic, Venice, Lombardy, and Bavaria would all be allies of France
Helvetic Republic would be an ally of Austria
All other non-province states would begin the next campaign neutral
The current war
