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| The flanking movement brings the Prussians onto the flank of the Wurttemberg Division |
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| The Prussian dragoons and hussaars in the rear of the Wurttemberg units and blocking the exit from the town |
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| Charles of Lorraiine watches his troops react from the Windmill Hill |
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| The Bosniaks charge the retreating Austrian Hussars |
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| Nobody puts Frederick in a corner, except may Frederick. |
Christian, Max and I played the Prussians under the command of his majesty Frederick the Great, Jerry B. and another gamer took the Austrians commanded by Charles of Lorraine who outnumbered the Prussians about two to one. The Prussians have better quality troops than the Austrians and their Wurttemberg allies. Victory conditions were to hold the church, the three city areas, and the windmill hill, failure to hold all victory conditions became a victory for your opponent.
The Austrians had a fixed setup with their weakest troops on their left (the Wurttembergers), and an Austrian brigade arrayed in front of the town and a strong force on their right flank in front of the windmill hill. Their cavalry would come on later. They had grenzers and hussars (one unit each) in the woods on their right front facing our Prussian skirmish unit and Bosniak lancers. Max jumped in to take these Prussian units.
The Prussians chose to have a flank march arrive turn one on the right flank allowing us to come in with cavalry (four units) behind the Wurttembergers and with a heavy gun and two commands of infantry totalling 8 units. Two units of light cavalry remained to support the heavy battery on the hill. Christian ably commanded this flank.
I took the Prussian center (Christian later gave me command of the battery on the hill bearing on the Wurttembergers). Another battery was deployed on the left center hill to bear on the Austrians in front of the town and my third heavy battery along the left flank road bearing on the Austrians and the windmill. I had a large Prussian infantry brigade of five units and an independent single infantry grenadier unit. Four cavalry units were also part of the command, two on the center right, one under the guns on the hill, and one on the left flank in case the bosniacks needed assistance.
The flank attack developed with our Prussian cavalry moving along the table’s edge toward the church and outflanking the Wurttembergers . I wonder how the game’s outcome would have changed if we had sent one of Christian’s brigades of infantry on a forced march accompanying this incursion, instead of having them enter the town on the Wurttemberg left flank and never get fully into the battle. An artillery barrage and a volley from the Prussians shook the Austrians allies on turn one. Return fire saw one of Christian’s grenadier battalions disordered. It spent the remainder of the game trying to recover.
In the center the Prussians advanced.
On the left the Austrian and Prussian light cavalry formed line.
On turn two the Austrian irregular cavalry charged and the bosniacks lancers counter charged. They locked in melee and would swirl about in combat for the next four turns under Maxs able command, tying down the flank for most of the game.
Turn two the Prussians also charged in the center as their flanking cavalry on the rear table edge moved toward the church. Leaving two line infantry units and a battery to hold the Prussian center left, the remaining Wurttemberg infantry about faced (Turn one) and made for the rear to better deal with the flank attack (turn two). On turn two my Prussian cavalry in the center charged the retreating Wurttemberg (Center right) and a retreating Austrian unit ( center left) to pin them and keep them from occupying the town and other victory conditions. The Austrians by the windmill formed column and rushed to occupy the church and town.
The Wurttemberg infantry on the flank crumbled in the face of Christian’s assault (his infantry and artillery having softened them up on turn one a charge saw the first unit flee and the second defeated in melee).
His cavalry in their rear caused massive losses as troops surrendered as they broke for the rear. With assaults hitting the Wurttemberg left and center and cavalry romping in their rear Jerry had his hands full. Fortunately for him cavalry reinforcements brought troops onto the rear and flank of the Prussian flanking movement.
Turn 3 saw Christian dealing with losing two infantry units to Austrian cavalry on their flanks before the Prussian cavalry could deal with this incursion.
It slowed us down and kept us from crushing the Wurttemberg division sooner.
My Prussian cavalry kept pressure on the center pinning the Austrians in place while the Prussian right center infantry moved up and the guns sought to soften up the opposing infantry. Unfortunately the Austrian center guns gave as good as they got, damaging one Prussian unit and eventually causing them to rout. Turn two’s cavalry charge into the rear of the Austrian unit attempting to enter the town failed to close at 50 paces after taking some passing fire from another Austrian infantry unit. I attached General Seydlitz and used his command capabilities to order another charge on the same unit the following turn (3) which resulted in the Austrian units utter defeat. Turn 2’s cavalry attack on the Wurttemberg infantry resulted in that unit routing. Turn 3 the unit refused to charge as did a Prussian hussar unit in open order that I requested assault the unprotected Wurttemberg artillery.
Max caught the retreating Austrian light cavalry in the rear on turn 3 and kept them in combat. Two Austrian dragoon units formed behind them anticipating an easy victory once their pinned colleagues retreated from the battle. They didn’t and Max kept them tied up for another turn.
Meanwhile his light infantry exchanged point blank fire with the grenzers who finally broke on turn four, clearing the woods. Turn 5 saw the Austrian Dragoons see off our Bosniaks.
On Turn five I had sought to charge the other Austrian units to the front left of my Prussians. I was stopped by Austrian cavalry who caught my other dragoon unit, defeating it in battle and causing my infantry to reconsider their advance. I was very unhappy with my handling of the Prussian battery on this flank as it was never fully engaged because of the limiting terrain and poor deployment of my units which did not allow for proper fields of fire for this unit. My center right infantry finally went in and threw out the Austrian infantry leaving their gun unprotected. By this time the Austrians from the windmill hill had deployed in all of the victory locations, giving them the terrain victory conditions.
With the arrival of the Austrian cavalry the Prussian’s chances went from slim to nil. We broke the one wing and never got into the town.
The esteemed game master declared an Austrian pyric victory which switched to a minor Austrian victory on the next day.
A fun time was had by all on a beautiful table. Way to go Rich
