Piquet Field of Battle II Solo – The Combat of Thomasberg

An Infantry Brigade on a strategic hill, too far forward and without support [click pictures to enlarge]:

The enemy sizes the opportunity and advances with two brigades and cavalry:

 

This will be over in a minute. Or not?

The Field of Battle II rules are „tight“ when it comes to army morale. Blue, the attacker rolled poorly: only seven „Army Morale Points“. He looses one point (and never can get it back) each time one of his units looses one point of „Unit Integrity“ (UI). Infantry have 4 UI, cavalry 3 UI an artillery 2 UI.

Blue has a total of 6 infantry battalions, one cavalry unit and one artillery battery, therefore a total of 29 UI. If he looses theses seven Army Morale Points, i.e. short over 25% of his UI total, he has to start rolling an Army Morale Test each time he draws an Army Morale card. In his case, that means he has to win a roll-off of two d12 to pass.

White, the force on the hill, has eleven Army Morale Points available. The forces are equal, so this amounts to roughly 38% of possible damage/UI, which could be taken.

This is one of the aspects, why the Field of Battle II rules are so appealing to me. It is a card driven game with some die rolls required before the game to determine leadership quality, the composition of the two Sequence Decks and army morale.

Scenario
In addition to army morale, the scenario (#4 „Take the High Ground“ from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames; on a 4'x3' table) also became even more interesting as both army commanders were not „up to their game“.
General von Plankenheim (Blue, „Prussian“) is rated as „exceptional“ but his sequence deck became „Average“. His counterpart, Grimmberg (White, „Austria“) is rated as „Average“, but he has to use a „Poor“ deck.

Narrative Aspect

Immediately, a narrative is created. If army command is not at its best, blunders occur and an infantry brigade is pushed too far forward. The opponent wants to size the opportunity, but his Army Morale is brittle and at the command level, some „friction“ seems to exist.

A decisive and energetic attack is called for; a prolonged battle must be avoided! But can this be executed? Let's see …

The Blue Force has advanced its right wing brigade to outflank the hill and to cut off enemy reinforcements. The left wing brigade has brought its 12-pdr into position and routs one of the two battalions on the hill. Cavalry outflanks the hill on the left:

First fire exchange and Blue outflanks the defenders

White retaliates with cannister fire from its 8-pdr battery and an infantry volley.

Hard hit Blues left brigade is stopped in its tracks. The loss in Army Morale is severe. Caution begins to prevail. The brigade commander hesitates to send in his third battalion. Why not leave this to the cavalry?

And indeed, the Dragoons attack the hill from behind, routing the last battalion. But watch out! Enemy Cuirassiers enter the fray, albeit in march column. They first have to regroup to be able to attack:

The Blue cavalry commander is unable to bring his Dragoons under control again while the enemy 8-pdr battery, lead by its brigade commander, still pours cannister fire into their infantry brethren. Something must be done!

Command Confusion and Flank Attack

The fellow commander of the Blue right wing brigade, on his own initiative, dispatches one of his battalions to attack the flank and destroys the 8-pdrs.

Meanwhile, the White Cuirassiers get shelled by the 12-pdrs and quit the field:

Cuirassiers quit the field

Reinforcements arrive

The White reinforcements arrive, a full Four-batallion brigade. They march bravely forward, its leading veteran battalion exchanging volleys with the enemy and then overrunning and destroying the 12pdr battery. Afterwards the brigade retired from the field in good order.

[Sadly, the photos of this valiant action were inadvertently deleted].

Conclusion
The battle is over. Nobody won. A draw. The Blue CiC had to take three, yes three, Army Morale Tests and passed all of them. Each of them a d12 roll-off. Call him lucky!

The game was highly entertaining and engaging, its narrative compelling and it provided lots of character to the armies and personalities. The Field of Battle II rules are a keeper.