A Rare Victory

We met for battle in our ongoing war between Kingdom of Knobelland (tattergreis) and the Duchy of Rodenburg (Imperials, me).

The scenario was "Threat to a Flank" from the book "Scenario for all Ages" by Grant/Asquith. The rule used were Bill Protz' "Batailles de l´Ancien Regime" (BAR).

The basic idea is an attack across a river supported by a flank attack (click pictures to enlarge).

The Set-Up (Knobelland)

In the foreground are the forces of Knobelland. The flanking movement of two bataillons and a Hussar Squadron is visible on the right and already countered by a similar movement on the opposite side; all part of the scenario.

The view from my side of the table (Rodenburg)

As the enemy troops crossed the bridge, I deployed into firing line

I was reminded by my opponent to use the required marching drill to preserve the order of companies within the Bataillon. Company # 1 must always be on the right side of the Bataillon! Traditions must be honoured! 

... so it had to be done like this

 

By crossing the bridge, the enemy entered a real killing zone

The Cavalry also attacked (Norman Dragoons), but were repulsed

Finally, the enemy was forced to retreat across the bridge

Now it was time for the Knobelland main force to advance for an all-out attack
(viewed from Rodenburg side)

Heavy fighting ensued. The Altmark Artillery had exhausted its ammunition; no more Cannister rounds:

The Climax: Knobelland Grenadiers assault the hill;
staunchly defended by Grenzbataillon Plekzy-Gladz

The unbelievable happened: Plekzy-Gladz held its ground! The Grenadiers repulsed! They took to flight the Bataillons arranged behind them, total confusion reigned. The first Victory in Battle for the Duchy of Rodenburg!

A close game. Highly dramatic. The BAR rules worked well in the background. A great afternoon with a tough, gentlemanlike buddy. What more can you ask.

Update

Is this true? The last Blog-Entry is dated 5th of April 2011, almost one year ago! Time for a short update:

We did a few games in the meantime. In September last year we actually did it and gamed the Old-School "Blasthof Bridge"-Scenario (see photos below). We haven´t used the the rules in "Charge" or the "The War Game" but opted for "Batailles de l'Ancien Régime", BAR in short. It was an entertaining game and we continiue to use these well-thought out rules.

First Contact: Hussars charge Light Infantry

The Result: A Bloody Nose for the Hussars!

Don's Prussian Brigade

My friend DonVoss has 'suddenly' painted (a habit he is famous for) three small bataillons of Prussian Infantry, 8 Hussars and one gun with crew.

The miniatures are from Crusader with the exception of the commander and the gun (Foundry). The Hussars, depicting H4 von Puttkamer Hussars, are a wild mix of Perry-Hussars, french officer-horses and converted plastic-horses. (click pictures to enlarge)

Don's Brigade in line

Infanterieregiment Nr. 25 von Kalckstein

Grenadiere

von Puttkamer Husaren (Nr.4), note the neatly painted sabretache

The line of battle, Infanterieregiment Nr. 16 Graf zu Dohna in the foreground

Within our gaming group, a small number of Austrian, French and Prussian bataillons, aproximatley ten in total, are now completed. Definetly not enough to play army level games. DonVoss sugested to use the "This very ground"-rules in the meantime. A good idea!

Song of Drums and Shakos Solo - Part 4

Part 4 is here at last! After suffering for nearly 3 weeks from some kind of diabolic flu, I finally managed to write the fourth and last part of this solo gaming report (click on the pics to enlarge them).

The Austrians activate a group of three Musketeers to run past the Prussians and toward the ruin. Two more Musketeers move forward to attack the Prussians. One of them is knocked down.

Prussian counterattcks are ineffective and the Austrians reach the ruin. The Prussian guard keeps his eyes on his high-ranking prisoner and fails to react to the movements behind his back.

The Prussians fight with desperation and knock down two more Austrians.

The knocked down Austrians both manage to stand up again! The Grenzer attacks the Prussian guard in the ruin who, so far, successfully blocks the entrance.

Now I checked if the Austrian Officer who is held prisoner in the ruin takes advantage of the situation by attacking the guard from behind. I rolled 3 dice for activation. 2 failures! No activation. The Austrian Officer seems to be a man of honour!

More Austrians join the fight and one Prussian gets knocked down and another one is wounded and out of the game.

The Grenzer at the ruin attacks the Prussian guard, is beaten back and falls to the ground. But what is this?! The Austrian Officer attacks the guard from behind and wounds him with his spontoon! Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Meanwhile the Austrian Musketeers move in on the Prussian Officer who vailiantly manages to knock down one of his enemies.

Game over! Surrounded by more enemies than he and his remaining comrade can handle, von Beeskow surrenders to the Austrians.

A fast and fun game! I hope to post my "First Impressions" of this SDS Solo game sometime soon.

Song of Drums and Shakos Solo - Part 3

Two Prussian Fusiliers fire their muskets with little effect, two others move to hinder the Austrians from rushing towards the ruin. One of the Prussians in close combat stands up again and fights, the other conducts a powerfull hand-to-hand-attack but gets knocked down himself

The Austrians wound the fallen Prussian thereby taking him out of the game and knock the other one down. The two Austrians on the right side of the photo team up in their attack on another one: The first Austrian knocks the Prussian of his feet, the second finishes him of with a well placed bayonet stab! Nasty, but effective ...

The seventh Prussian Fusilier is out of the game. Morale Check for the Prussians! They are now under half stregth so each model has to check.

The Prussians lose their nerve and flee towards the ruin! Only the valiant Fusilier Friedrich Karl Hartnacken stands his ground

The Austrians had three models left to activate and could have chased the Prussian but failed and play passed to the Prussians.

The Prussian successfully regroup! But Hartnacken who desperately tried to hold his ground despite all of his comrades fleeing is now overwhelmed by the Austrians and wounded

Was it a good idea to regroup towards the enemy, Hauptman Beskow? Wouldn't it have been more effective to regroup towards the ruin for added protection?

Things look bleak for the Prussians but maybe one spirited counterattack can turn the tables ...

Song of Drums and Shakos Solo - Part 2

Feldwebel Kunkel is attacked again. At least the other Prussian Fusilier got out of the firing line. Aus dem Weg, Kunkel! Aus dem Weg!

Kunkel wounds another Croat. The Austrians press on with all their men!

The Feldwebel finally realises that he blocks the firing line and successfully disengages off to the side. The Volley from six Fusiliers kills the Austrian Sergeant who leads (lead!) the attack

Austrians rush forward to engage in close combat. The Prussian Fusilier on the bridge is wounded and out of the fight. Brave lad!

The prussian first rank stops the attack, one Austrian falls to the ground. The second rank reloads immediately

The Austrian player realises that the situation looks desperate. He decides to use three dice for the activation of the forward group of six men. A risky undertaking. If he gets two failures (i.e. not rolling 3+), play immediately passes to the Prussians again. But he gains three actions! Maximum success!

The Croat on the bridge jumps on his feet again and knocks out Feldwebel Kunkel with a well aimed shot! The Musketeer on the bridge also fires and instantly kills the Prussian near the tree. The Austrians go into the close assault again with powerfull attacks. One of the Prussians falls down and another is instantly killed!

Wow! An all-out-effort by the Austrians. Three Prussians out of the game at once, one of them a Sergeant! Hauptmann Kreisky obviously picked the right men for this mission.

Will the Prussians still hold their ground? Let's see ...

Song of Drums and Shakos Solo - Part 1

Annotation: What follows is just a short description of what has happened as far as the "story" is concerned. I do not decribe game mechanics in detail now, but will summarize my impressions of the rules in a seperate blogpost.

The Setup - viewed from the Prussian side of the table

The Austrians move out of the woods, fire a volley and one of the bridge guards falls to the ground

The Prussian miserably fail their first activation attempt and play immediately passes to the Austrians again!

The Grenzers rush towards the bridge, muskets still loaded

One Grenzer finishes off the fallen Prussian with his bayonet. The Prussian standing next to the rock still hasn't got his pants up again ...

One Grenzer knocks another Prussian of his feet. The Croat NCO (partly behind the tree) rushes towards the Prussian Feldwebel Kunkel ...

... and BANG! Aimed shot - Instant kill. The Croat NCO is dead! A serious loss for the Austrian side. The Prussians Officer finally gets his act together and leads his men towards the bridge. One of them finally has his pants up again

Hand-to-hand fighting on the Bridge. Prussians begin to form a firing line

The Prussian NCO wounds another Grenzer with his Kurzgewehr. The second rank of the firing line and Hauptman Beskow are in position

Himmel! What is this?! Feldwebel Kunkel blocks the firing line! Does he think he is a reincarnation of Horatius Cocles*

* = In 508 B.C., when Rome was under attack from the Etruscan King Porsena and about to be conquered, one man, Horatius Cocles ("the one eyed") stood on a small bridge leading into the city centre, all alone. He defended it against the whole army of the enemy until his comrades cut off the bridge behind him. He fell into the Tiber in full armour, but managed to reach the roman river bank (according to Titu Livius; according to Polybios he drowned!).

To be continued ...