I recently returned to my 'Soldier King' boardgame-based fictional Seven Years' War campaign, moving things on three turns from Autumn 1756 to Spring 1757 in search of the next tabletop battle.
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| Autmn/Winter: Prussian Light Horse's deep raid |
Following the opening battle for the northern border town of Rahden, the Austrian force (gold counters) there found it could not progress any further into Prussian territory, as Prussian reinforcements (blue counters) reached the area. The rest of the Austrian forces moved slowly North, taking control of the neutral province of Lower Waldrow and capturing most of neighbouring Upper Waldrow - these would be very useful as recruting grounds come the winter season, allowing their army to expand. But there was a large gap between them and their northern comrades. Despite terrible dice-rolling for initiative and too many rolls of '1' for the number of marches available, into this gap the Prussians were able to move their '6th Brigade' of Light Cavalry.
With typical elan the 6th swept south-east, capturing the town of Wittingen to deny Austrian control of Upper Waldrow, and then onward into Austrian home territory, taking two further towns, threatening the rear of the Austrian northern force and causing consternation for the Austrian commanders, as refugee civilian worthies no doubt berated them 'you are not defending us from these terrible Uhlans!'
With the onset of winter, the Austrian strategy of occupying neutral territory paid off, as they could now increase their army size from 11 units to 17, placing six new units around their possessions (only one per recruiting city, though, and new units are rated as untried 'Levy' quality). The Prussians by contrast, could only restore their forces to the original 12 units. So, a big strength advantage for Austria, if it could be brought to bear.
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| Winter : recruits rush to Austrian colours |
And so opened 1757. For the Spring turn, as had become almost obligatory, the Austrians won the initiative roll and moved first. But they were a little slow getting their troops on the move - only two marches available, with which they began to move new-raised troops to join their comrades. Meanwhile, the Prussians had spent the winter formulating a plan - and for once the dice gods smiled on them. With five marches available after their die roll, the plan and their army swung into action ....
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| Spring 1757 : Rahden surrounded! |
Prussian high command had spotted that the Austrian force of five units had been left rather isolated at Rahden: using four of the available five marches, the Prussians were able to combine their entire army of twelve units into three forces, and all three attack Rahden, from three different directions! A positively Fredrickian strategic concentration of force, which showed how well they had listened at the officers' mess dining table, when their venerated king had made his last tour of inspection in more tranquil times. If they could destroy the Austrian force, the numerical odds against them would be evened at a stroke, and the cream of the Austrian army might be 'in the bag'.
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| The odds don't look good.. |
And so, we have a battle to decide. Five Austrian units, all 'Guard' quality, but outnumbered by more than two to one. Let's hope for their sake that they improved the town's defences over winter. The Prussians have five cavalry regiments to two, and seven infantry against three, surely decisive odds? But they have to co-ordinate an attack from three directions, which could be challenging, Also challenging will be my job of setting up a game with these forces on my three feet square table! I am going to be leafing through my scenario books with a furrowed brow, I think..
It looks set to be an 'interesting' game, whose events will be related in a post in the near future. In the meantime, keep well, and safe, everyone.
Aha! A chance to smash the Pastry-Munchers! The fine ladies of Vienna will rue this day.
ReplyDeleteAn appropriately Frederician concentration of force for the opening weeks of 1757.
I can see where your sympathies lie! Perhaps the pastry-munchers will be choux-ed back to their own territory..
DeleteI think to make it less one sided, you will need to come up with some rules for the entry of forces from different directions. While there possibly should be a chance of all appearing on the same turn, this should be small with more chance of troops getting delayed or lost.
ReplyDeleteI recently read Brabant's account of Hadicks attempts to coordinate an assault on Pirna or Dresden. The plan was very sound but the night manoeuvring went astray due to guides getting lost, quality of roads, commander hesitancy and units halting or getting lost.
The chances of all the forces arriving simultaneously with ALL their component units would be slim IMHO.
However, as they say in Runequest "YGMV"
Neil
thank you! Yes, indeed I think there should be an element of randomness to the arrival of the three Prussian forces.That should make for an interesting and more balanced game. I am going to enjoy thinking about this and planning the game.
DeleteSurprising to me that the Austrians are all guard and ‘out quality’ their Prussian foe.
ReplyDeleteah well, at the campaign start each side had 4 'guard' units, and the Austrians sent all theirs to capture Rahden. Then the game allows a 'promotion' of one unit after a victorious battle, so the fifth unit benefited from that. As a result, this is pretty much the elite of the Austrian army. We'll see how that goes for them!
DeleteHistorically, the Austrians didn't have "guards" but did regularly combine the elite companies and squadrons into combined Grenadier and Carabineer units, so it would be perfectly feasible to have such an elite "flying corps" detached for a particular operation.
DeleteIf the Austrians and Table are lucky, the Prussians will arrive with a long delay between columns, a series of 2 or even 3 hammer blows from different directions at different times rather than an hammer and anvil attack by well scheduled converging columns.
ReplyDeleteThat way you could shift the town and other terrain a little bit between battles so that the attackers would have room!
Thank you! I like the idea of moving terrain and fighting sections of the battle. I wonder if this might even work as a sort of 'mini-campaign'. I will be consulting a few books for inspiration, Mr Featherstone may have some ideas..
DeleteI have been idly mulling your "problem" of how to arrange for a staggered arrival of the separate forces.
DeleteI note they are composed of:
Combined heavy cavalry and infantry making 1 March;
Light cavalry making 1 March;
Infantry making 2 Marches.
Whatever mechanisms you use, I'd suggest that both the troop type and number of marches should be factored in. I would rank them from fastest to slowest:
Light cavalry; cavalry; infantry and any artillery - 1st March, then same order 2nd march.
This could be a dice throw for each unit, say turn 1 needing a 6, turn 2 - 5 or 6 and so on, with light cavalry on +1 and infantry on -1.
A 2nd march could be -3.
This would mean infantry on a 2nd march would arrive on turn 5 at the earliest and not until turn 6 for most.
Using a D10 would be better IMHO and adjusting the numbers.
The alternative is some form of card system, with blanks and an "arrival" card with enough of the latter for each unit OR formation and at least an equal number (or double?)
of blanks.
I'd keep them unmarked and pick the unit arriving in a logical order, bearing in mind the likely arrival times based on troop type and distance.
Wow, you have been thinking hard about this! Thank you very much, lots of interesting ideas there!
DeleteWell you are a "guinea pig" for translating Soldier King to a miniatures campaign; it makes sense to share ideas for something I hope to do myself.
DeleteI just hope the ideas are useful and not too"left field".
Neil
ha ha, 'guinea pig' is good! I think with the map movement side I have stuck to the board game fairly well; obviously translating to the table has to involve new ideas. I am thinking for this upcoming battle a sort of 'mini-campaign' approach may suit, with a map encompassing the area of several tables, and perhaps the defenders having to take on each attacking force in sequence ( a bit like King Harold in 1066, if you see what I mean? ). Your ideas for sequencing could well fit into that.. Some thought is required!
Delete