Saturday 13 February 2021

An Experiment in Mini-Campaigning

 After much  mulling over, I am trying a 'mini-campaign' approach to the pending battle in my Seven Years War period  'Soldier King' campaign. This has involved creating a map of the area around the fortified town of Rahden,  taking the boardgame's map as a basis. I'm afraid I am certainly no artist, so anyone of an aesthetic sensibility may want to look away now:

The Austrian cartographic service is sadly underfunded..
 

I hope it will however do, for us Ragged Soldiers. The idea is that each large square on the map equates to roughly one of my 3 feet square tables, hence the map covers about 16 tables.   The city of Rahden and the main roads from the game map were drawn first, and then  each large square given a  a dominant terrain type. To do that, I borrowed  from Henry Hyde's 'Wargaming Compendium' chapter on campaign map generation,  using simple dice rolls to decide whether the square is open terrain, hilly, wooded or forest.  The result was a fairly open map, with Rahden itself placed among hills , and a forested area are just to the North , which may make things interesting.    For the actual battlefield terrain when two forces meet, my idea is to use Bob Cordery's Terrain Generator.     

Any sensible person with a 3 feet square table and a map square representing one table  would then have subdivided each large square into 3 by 3 small squares:  but I am not necessaily that person, and besides I had originally drawn only the large squares,  which were 4cm wide on the paper.  So, each large map square is divided into 4 by 4 smaller squares.  I decided that for map movement, infantry in march column  would cover 2 small squares per turn, heavy cavalry 3,  and light cavalry 4 small squares -  diagonal moves counting as 2 squares, to keep things simple.     

So that's the map; now to the forces. The Austrians obviously started with their entire force ( 3 Line infantry and 2 Heavy Cavalry )  at Rahden town.  Local rumours abound of multiple approaching Prussian forces come to liberate the town, so they suspect  something is 'in the wind'.  The Prussians enter from three roads : 

    - Force 1 from Engeholl in the North with 4 Infantry and 3 Heavy Cavalry,  

    - Force 2 from Reuthen in the West with 3 Infantry, 

    - Force 3 from Senden in the  South with 2 Light Cavalry. 

After much psuedo-scientific faffing about considering distances marched, speeds and who started first, I thought I shouldn't be steering things too heavily - what seems 'sensible' may turn out just a bit too predictable.  So I plumped for 'let the dice decide',  and went for randomly choosing which force would enter on Turn 1.  The die was cast: Force 3, the Light Cavalry, duly trotted on from the Southern road.  It seemed to have a nice logic, in fact - they should be the fastest-moving. 

Then I needed to decide two more things : (i) when would the other Prussian forces appear, and (ii) how would the Austrians react?  The dice would again decide.  On Turn 2, a second Prussian force would arrive if a D6 roll turned up 5 or 6. If not, on Turn 3 it would require 4,5 or 6, Turn 4 then 3,4,5 or 6, and so on until Turn 6 - automatic arrival. Which of the remaining forces?  Dice again.  Then on the turn after the second force arrives,  dice again for the 3rd Force - 5 or 6 for success, and increasing chance on subsequent turns as above.  It seemed like a good enough idea to reflect the problems  of bringing three widely-spread forces together, given horse-powered  communications and inevitable navigation/road conditions issues.  

As to the Austrian reaction - I assumed that once an enemy force arrived on the map, there might be lags in both intelligence reaching the town, and in the occupying force getting organised and sending out units to intercept. A similar die roll system seemed good - so on the turn that a Prussian force arrives,  roll a D6, and if 5 or 6 rolled then Austrian units can move in response. Next turn, 4,5 or 6 , and so on. 

And so, off we go. Prussian Light Horse having been reported in the South, the Austrians reacted commendably fast, and on Turn 1  their two Heavy Cavalry units clattered out of the town gates to investigate - sure enough,  at the end of the turn they found themselves in the neighbouring small square to the Prussian Lights.  I decided this means 'contact' : being only 1/4 of a wargames table apart. 

Does 'contact' mean 'combat', however?  The Prussian Light Horse commander, facing equal numbers of  'Heavies' and with no support, would be quite unlikely to risk fighting, surely? He can move faster, thus easily get away, and  he might try to draw the defenders away from their base. So, roll a dice - 1 to 5 means retire, hoping to draw the Prussians on, but 6 means a rush of blood the head and 'charge!'. Die duly rolled - a 3, so the sensible option taken, and combat refused.  For the Austrian Heavy Horse, do they hold their ground, having checked the Prussians progress, or do they go forward in hopes of forcing a fight?  Hmmm, how about roll 1-4 means hold, 5 or 6 'vorwart'?  So they rolled - 3 again, hold ground.  Is this essentially 'Kriegspieling'  it?  It seems to work.. 

 So, Turn 2.  Does the Prussian second force arrive? Roll a die : a '1', so the Light Horse are on their own.  They back off, South and West, looking to reach the Western road, along which friends may arrive. The Austrian Heavy Horse shadow them by moving West, not too far from home.  Turn 3: Prussians roll '1' again, so again no second force! The roads must be bad..  The cavalry's wary moves continue, with the Prussian Lights reaching the Western Road, and the Austrian Heavies moving to block it, nearer town, all the time no more than one 'table' apart.   Turn 4 : finally (needing 3 or more, rolled a 5)  the Prussian second force arrives : and the die decides  it is 'Force 2',  comprising three Infantry units, entering via the Western road, nicely placed to link with their light horse.  Interesting...  the Austrians roll to react : needing 5 or 6, rolled 4, so news has not reached them yet. The Prussian Light Horse sensibly remain astride the road, waiting for their foot to come up; the Austrians Heavies maintain position and keep a watchful eye. 


 Perhaps that's enough for one post: we seem to have a system, and we'll see how things develop. I feel an engagement on the West road is likely. 

This post has been a bit delayed; 'time and space' as ever intervened, including a long weekend with no internet or phone connection! That did at least allow some  time for reading, and some painting - here are the almost-finished  first squadron of the Austrian Erzherzog Ferdinand Cuirassiers. Just awaiting basing, they should be ready for whatever battle ensues. By my standards, I am quite happy with them - I haven't the patience or skill of Stokes over at the excellent Grand Duchy of Stollen, but I don't think he's watching here, so I may get away with it. Anyway,  let's see how they fight! 

just don't try counting buttons..

Hmm.. that officer's sword wants straightening, though.    Until the next time, keep safe, and well, everyone.

13 comments:

  1. The mini-campaign seems to be working well. Very neat. Glad you mentioned the 4 square thing. It would have bugged me 😁

    Ferdi’s cuirassiers look nice. Very nostalgic.

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    1. I admit I drew the original map with squares simply sized to fit on a sheet of A4, so they came out as 4cm. If I had gone for 3cm squares, it would have been simple to mark actual terrain items in the smaller squares, so all the tables could be defined 'up front' and easily laid-out on the tabletop. AND I could have had a '6 X 6 tables' grid. Maybe next time!
      I am quite pleased with the Cuirassiers - and I will be lining up another squadron for painting very soon. Also some Prussian Line infantry, I hope..

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  2. A mini-campaign is a great idea! We have been fighting three-game mini-campaigns using Rebels and Patriots during the AWI. I will follow your campaigning with great interest.

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    1. Thank you, glad it's of interest! It did seem a good way to deal with the unbalanced and multiple forces that the board-game moves generated for a 'battle'. I also found that thinking around how the two cavalry forces would react was interesting, too - not just making them charge at each other immediately, now there is a context to their actions. we shall see what develops..

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    2. p.s. also enjoying your AWI mini-campaign!

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  3. Not my period (at the moment) but will be following with interest.

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    1. thank you, I hope it keeps you entertained! Funny thing is , this was not 'my' period either really, as you might tell from the blog header I always intended to revive my Pike and Shot armies (in 15mm), but along came Eric Knowles' 7YW stuff and memories of Charles Grant 'The War Game' etc, along with Bob's 'Portable War Game' and it all seemed to fall into place. Its been a year now, and all good fun. The Thirty Years War will get its turn, eventually..

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  4. I look forward to seeing how this campaign works out. The cavalry have come out really well. I look forward to seeing them in battle!

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    1. thanks Alan, yes I hope it turns out to be interesting and has a few surprises. This post was written as I was making the moves, so I have no idea what comes next! Very happy with the Cuirassiers, they should scare the Prussians..

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  5. A good start on the minicampaign (he said while surreptitiously making notes ). The Cuirassier look excellent and just right to me.

    Interesting that you rolled up hills for Rahden, there's a song I've been fond of for decades about the now derelict gold mines in the Rawdon Hills a 20 minute drive from our house.
    Rawdon Hills by Stan Rogers

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    1. thank you, Ross. Feel free to 'nick' ideas! I had not heard of Stan Rogers, but that's a lovely song, and a rather nice coincidence. Having looked him up, how sad that he died so young and tragically. Let's see if the Rahden Hills are 'touched by gold' for Prussians or Austrians..

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Thanks Neil, I published your kind offer then, thought maybe best not publish your email to the world! Hence deleted here but I will be in touch!

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