The Retreat to Heiligtumshugel

Now for an account of the third action in our small 'Portable Seven Years War' campaign, The Retreat to Heiligtumshugel. This occured over a week ago, but  dispatches giving intelligence of the battle were delayed, either by lame horses or excellent wayside inns ( no lockdown in 1760 ) - the messengers were somewhat unclear and slurring when questioned.
  
After its defeat ( and loss of its commander ) at Vier Arme, the Prussian forces were retiring towards their own territory, pursued by the victorious Austrians. Reaching the river at the border, von Jemander's tired units aimed to cross at two fords and re-group on the hill known as Heiligtumshugel. But their pursuers caught up just as they reached the fords, and a sharp fight developed.

The Prussians divided into two groups, with their von Kleist Freikorps  Uhlans and Foot on their right ( at the East ford ) and the two battalions of the 44th Fusiliers on the left ( West Ford ). They enjoyed one turn's head start on the Austrians, but any Prussian unit remaining North of the river at the end of Turn 2 would be judged to have been overrun and surrendered.  So, over the fords they hurried - one unit per turn, so the second unit on each flank ( Uhlans and 2nd Fusiliers ) found themselves in mid-river, facing the oncoming Austrians.

In their turn the Austrians divided more or less in two, with 1st Hussars, Grenzer foot and Rifles on their left ( East ) and 2nd Hussars and both Jager battalions on the right ( West ).  Without further ado the 1st Hussars, led in person by General Dachs, charged straight into the Uhlans at the East Ford. Seeing the disadvantage of his lancers  fighting from mid-river, von Jemanden joined them pour encourager,  so the two commanders met at the outset in close combat - and the Uhlans came off worst, losing one strength point - first blood to General Dachs.

Battle is joined - cavalry clash at East Ford (top left)

The Prussians had decided to hold off their attackers for as long as possible at the river, and hope to make an orderly withdrawal to the hill if the Austrians gained the South shore. Regarding fordable rivers, The 'Portable Napoleonic' rules specify that :

(i) a unit moves into the river on turn A and stops,then moves one grid area out of the river on turn B
(ii) units in rivers cannot fire
(iii) in close combat a unit that is in a river reduces the D6 die roll score by 1.

So getting across the ford against determined opposition would be slow and dangerous - and so it proved.

( It's also worth mentioning that I realised I had been inadvertantly playing a 'house rule' in previous games, having not noticed that 'a unit that is firing this turn reduces its movement by one grid area' - oops. With the line formations used by 7YW infantry in battle having a movement allowance of just one, this means that they may either move or fire, not both. I think that actually reflects the inflexibility of linear formations pretty well - really should have noticed it before! )

Therefore, following that brief cavalry fight, on Turn 3 Prussian units stepped back from the fords, daring the Austrians to try to cross under fire and suffer the consequences - though the Austrian Jagers got their 'first volley' in, and 2nd Fusiliers lost one SP when unable to retreat after a hit. Losses at the end of Turn 3, therefore : Austrians 0, Prussians 2 ; with exhaustion point at only 7 SP, not a good start for the Prussians.  

End of Turn 3 - 'Come on if you think...'

The Austrians felt they had no real choice but to accept the challenge - on their left, on Turn 4 the 1st Hussars splashed into East Ford and stopped, having then to fight the Uhlans at a watery disadvantage, while on the right their Jagers advanced steadily and were met by 'both barrels' from the two Prussian fusilier units. On both flanks things went in the defenders' favour this time, with 1st Hussars losing 1 SP in their amphibious  melee and the 1st Jagers suffering 1 SP loss to the Fusiliers' musketry -  that levelled the scores.  One comfort for the Austrians was that their rifle unit was able to use its superior range to harass the von Kleist infantry from across the river, forcing it to retreat on both turn 3 and 4, leaving it out of contention for now.

The battle  developed, logically enough, in two separate fights, one at each ford. At the East ford the Hussars and Uhlans fought a real ding-dong melee, with Hussars being forced back and then charging back into the ford, eventually being reduced to 1 SP. But it was an uneven fight, with the Austrians now bringing up their 2nd Hussars, and  'Grenze' infantry and Rifles sniping at the Uhlans when 1st Hussars fell back - and on turn 7 the Uhlans were destroyed. With the Von Kleist foot pulled back out of range, the East ford was open!

Not a fair fight at East Ford - Uhlans about to be destroyed

Meanwhile at West Ford, the Prussian Fusiliers kept up a steady fire and scored hits on the advancing Austrian Jagers, who tried to send one battalion across the river while the other provided covering fire. Prussian musketry/dice rolling  proved superior, taking 2 SPs from 1st Jager and forcing 2nd Jager to retreat out of the ford. But on turn 6 Austrian fire forced 1st Fusiliers to retreat in their turn, and next turn 2nd Jagers charged onto the far bank and into close combat with 2nd Fusiliers - only to be thrown  back, once again into the river, with the final indignity of another Prussian volley taking 1 SP off their strength.
At the end of Turn 7, losses were  Prussians 4 SP,  Austrians 5 SP.

West Ford - a tough crossing under fire

But with East Ford now open to the Austrians and the fresh 2nd Hussars moving to cross the river, the Prussians were in danger, and needed to pull back towards the hill or be outflanked. Von Kleist's foot having already been forced back, at least found it easy to simply step back further and take a stand on the hill. At West Ford, Prussian 1st Fusilers pulled back, bravely covered  by  2nd Fusiliers who stood their ground and fired with some effect, taking another 1 SP from 2nd Jager in Turn 8. 

Turn 9 : Prussians under pressure

By turn 9 the Austrians had 2nd Hussars, Grenze infantry and both Jager battalions across the river, with Hussars looking threatening on the left and Jagers charging Prussian Fusliers on the right, but von Kleist's Frei Korps musketry found its mark and weakened the Hussars, taking Austiran losses to 7SP - getting dangerously close to exhaustion.  Crucially the Prussians won the intiative roll on Turn 10, and their fusiliers executed a perfect fighting retreat, with the 2nd battalion pulling back while the 1st fired - and took another SP from 2nd Jagers.  The Austrians now had only 1 SP between them and exhuastion.  'All or nothing!' came the cry as 2nd Hussars galloped up onto he hill and charged into the flank of the Von Kleist foot - rolled dice for close combat,  and could not score a hit! 

Hussars charge Frei Korps in the flank - but no breakthrough!

All was not lost - General Dachs won the initiative  for Turn 11, and the Austrian Jagers fire scored 2 hits on Prussian fusiliers - 1 SP lost to 1st battalion, and 2nd battalion forced back, so the Prussians were under pressure on their left.  The Austrian Hussars disengaged and moved to lurk behind the hill, saving themselves for another flanking charge, while their supporting infantry advanced to fix the Prussians on the hill. Prussians under pressure - but their muskets saved them. Von Kleist foot's fire forced the Austrian Grenzer infantry back, while crucially 1st Fusiliers let go another volley which finally destroyed 2nd Jager.

At the end of Turn 11, losses stood at Prussians 5 SP, Austrians 9 SP.  General Dach's men had reached Exhaustion Point, and their attack ground to a halt.

Final Situation : Austrian Exaustion

All in all, a taste of bitter medicine for General Dachs after his recent sweet victory.  Looking back, was he unwise? Perhaps trying to simply charge his Hussars at the Defending Uhlans was not such a good idea.  He could  have used his infantry firepower to shoot the Prussian cavalry down, then pour his own horse accross the river and around the Prussian flank. In effect, it was the infantry shooting which finished the Uhlans anyway.  Perhaps just  'threatening' at the the other ford to keep the Prussian Fusiliers pinned there would have been preferable too, rather than making a costly assault under fire. In the end of course, the cumulative losses from the fights at the two fords put the Austrians too close to Exhaustion once they managed to get across the river, and unable to press home their final assault.  I think with my General Dachs hat on, I was a bit over-confident and didn't think things through.  
But of course, I had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the challenges and conundrums that the scenario gave to both sides. I hope you've enjoyed my account, too.  So, here's to Neil Thomas and the late, great Don Featherstone for their inspiration!
Next time, I think a little review of  where to go next with the  'Portable Seven Years War'.