Honours of War - St. Ulrich Solo Game - Part 4

Turn 4 (click pictures to enlarge)

1. Move commanding generals:

Movement of commanding generals in Turn 4

2. Movement Initiative: Austrians win, roll 6 +1 = 7 versus Prussians 3 +1 = 4.

3. Movement
Maquire again does not wish to show his hand at this stage and requires the Prussians to move first because he thinks he can better coordinate his attack that way.

3.1 Meyernick decides to move the dragoons. Dependable, a roll of 1 results in 'Poor'. They are not allowed to move towards the enemy but may move away and can change formation. The dragoons do not move and change formation to double line as the may be required to squeeze through a gap latter on.

3.2 Austrian Cuirassiers: Dependable, a roll of 5 results in 'Steady'. They do not move.

3.3. Prussian Infantry: Dashing, +1 due to CiC proximity roll of 2 +1 results in 'Steady'. Damn! A 50% chance for a double move which had allowed a few interesting options like charging the gun or moving close to the cuirassiers and fire a volley at them. Both batallions move to the left using flank movement (no movement reductions for Prussians here).

Prussian infantry moves to their left

3.4 Austrian Infantry: Dithering upgraded to Dependable due to the CiC nearby, roll of 6 results in 'Admirable' - a DOUBLE MOVE ! The gun double-manhandles to the left. The Salm-Salm infantry moves forward and to the side within 10 cm to be able to fire. II/IR Kaiser charges the Prussians in front of them, "Schlagt Sie! Schlagt Sie!". 

The prussian composite batallion, half Le Noble Frei-Infanterie (in front) and half IR 41 (in the back as "Korsettstange"/corset), fires at he chargers: "Wartet Männer, wartet ... FEUER!" - standard, moved -1, roll of 5 - 1 = 4, a devastating Salvo rips through the air - THREE HITS on II/IR Kaiser.

 II/Kaiser on the right charges - and is hit by a devastating volley

 4. Firing Initiative: Prussians win, roll of 4 +1 versus roll of 3.

5 Firing Phase:
5.1 The prussian Brummer fires at the austrian gun (nearest target, the infantry is too close to friendly troops). Standard artillery, - 1 Difficult Target (deployed guns always count as such), roll of 4 -1 = 3 results in ONE HIT.

II/IR 41 fires at Saln-Salm, standard, -1 moved, roll of 3 -1 = 2, ONE HIT. Salm-Salm now has received a total of 3 hits.

 5.2 Austrian infantry brigade: Gun fires cannister at II/IR 41, superior, Cannister range +2, -1 moved, roll of 3 +2 -1 = 4, ONE HIT.

Salm-Salm returns fire and also fires at II/IR 41, standard, -1 moved, -1 for having 3 hits received, roll of 4 -2 = 0, ONE HIT. II/IR41 now has a total of 2 hits.

Firing Phase Turn 4 - from above

 

 Firing Phase Turn 4 - from the side

(painted by Carl Röchling) 

II/ Kaiser: standard, -1 long range, -1 moved, -1 difficult target (target unit is more than half outside the firing zone), roll of 3 -3 = 0, Miss.

As described in the last post, before you do the 'Reaction to Firing', i.e. retreat or rout moves after all firing of both sides is resolved, you have to check for Command Casualties (rulebook p.13). This can be easily overlooked but has serious game consequences in respect to command performance.

• Austrian Brigade Commander: Roll of 10. (Another bullethole in wig and tricorne for him!)
• Austrian Commanding General: Roll of 9. (Unharmed) [Edit: roll was not required a the CiC is more than 5 cm from the unit]
• Prussian Brigade Commander: Roll of 5. (Unharmed)
• Prussian Commanding General: Roll of 11. AAARRGGH ! A stray musket ball from Sam-Salm hits von Meyernick! He falls from his horse wounded. Oberst von Schlappstein now takes over.

Von Meyernick has been hit !

Wow, the Prussian CiC as a casualty. As he is an unrated commander his replacement, Oberst von Schlappstein, is rated as Dithering. This is quite a blow as from now on the CiC has no positive impact on his troops anymore. He cannot encourage brigadiers and possibly enhance their command performance and he cannot rally of the one additional hit. In addition, command results of 'Amirable' or 'Inspriring' are reduced to 'Steady' on a roll of 1 or 2 (rulebook p.13).

There are no Reactions to Firing as everyone is below 4 hits. 

6. Melee: II/Kaiser charges the Prussian composite bataillon
II/Kaiser: +1 for support (Salm-Salm to their left), -1 for 3 hits received in total, roll of 3 +1 -1 = 3. TWO HITS. The Prussian composite bataillon now has a total of 4 hits and suffers LOSS OF MORALE.
Prussian composite bataillon: +1 for support (II/IR 41 next to it), roll of 4 +1 = 5. THREE HITS.
II/Kaiser now has a total of 6 hits and is DONE FOR.

Reactions to Melee:
II/Kaiser now has to do a rout move which is equivalent to one normal move to their rear. It is forced to move through I/Kaiser which therefore has to take 1 hit.
Prussian composite bataillon with its Loss of Morale has to conduct a retreat move, i.e. at least one normal move but up to two normal moves. It moves back to the bridge.

Situation at the end of the Melee Phase
II/Kaiser on the right routs, Prussian Btl. retreats

7. Rally
The Prussian composite bataillon at the bridge rallies of 1 hit. With now 3 hits it counts as reforming. All others cannot rally of hits as they are to close to the enemy.
II/Kaiser, which is DONE FOR is now removed from the table. As is suggested on page 35 of the rulebook, I chose to retain them on the table, disordered their bases and faced them away from the enemy.

Situation at the end of Turn 4

 8. Army Points lost:  Prussians:  0     Austrians:   1

 Each side wins the game if the enemy has lost 2 army points. The Austrian are now at a slight disadvantage ... or maybe not?

A FUN game so far. A reckless charge into a devastating volley, the Prussian commander shot from his horse, one Austrian batallion routed from the field, the cavalry ready to charge. Will the horsemen be able to decide the game? Who will press home the attack? Or will both sides regroup?