Der schnelles tragbares 'drei-mal-drei'-Kriegsspiel..

..which should, more or less, mean 'Fast Play 3 by 3 Portable Wargame' :  Thanks to Google translate for the title of this post. I leave it to proper German-speakers to decide whether it is sensible, or if as John F. Kennedy famously said, 'I am a doughnut!'.  I suppose the following might be the battle of 'Dreimaldrei'..

As introduced in my last post, I thought I'd get back into the gaming habit by trying out Bob Cordery and friends'   'FP3x3' variant, with my  7YW Prussians and Austrians - see that post for forces and initial setup.  I thought I'd use my usual 'Portable Seven Years War' variant rules for formations, firing, close combat etc, fitting them to Mark Cordone and Bob Cordery's basic '3x3' system, and essentially 'kriegspeiling' anything unexpected that came up - i.e. make it up as you go along! If I'm honest, a few things did 'come up', and what with those, taking ( too many ) notes and taking (also too many ) pictures, I wouldn't say I actually achieved 'Fast Play'!  But next time, it will be quicker. The game ran to eight turns before a decision was reached, though that  could have been sooner had the dice landed a little differently. A brief turn-by-turn summary follows:

TURN ONE:   Austrians are attackers, so go first - but only roll two unit activations. Their field gun opens fire on its opposite number, - and misses. Their Grenzer light infantry advances and  skirmishes against Von Kleist Frei Korps in the wood, score a hit and take 1 SP - a good start! Prussians roll a six and can activate up to 6 units - their whole force, if required. Their gun does better, forcing the Austrian gunners to retreat. Prussian Uhlans decide that attack is the best form of defence, coming out of the  reserve area and charging at the Austrian Cuirassiers on their left - get stuck in! The resulting  melee is inconclusive, neither side suffering any hit.

Turn 1 from Prussian side: cavalry fight, top centre

TURN TWO: Prussians win initiative roll, and go first with five activations. Their gun hits again, taking 1 SP from 1st Botta d'Adorno infantry. The Uhlans, however are thrown back by Austrian Cuirassiers. Two battalions of von Kleist Frei Korps in the wood do a 'one-two' on Austrina Grenze Light Infantry, who are forced to retreat AND Lose 1 SP.    Austrians roll only two activations again, not very good when they are supposed to be attacking!  1st battalion Botta d'Adorno charge the pesky Prussian artillery, but the combat is inconclusive - the gunners have a supporting unit, and their commander present to gee them up.  

Turn 2: Austrian foot charge gun, but Lights being pushed back

TURN THREE: Austrians win initiative, but only three activations. 1st Botta retire from the combat, allowing Grenze Hussars to charge the Prussian guns! Resulting melee still inconclusive - gunners obviously dived for cover successfully.  Light infantry hang in there,  skirmishing versus Von Kleist. Prussians have only two activations, 2nd Von Kleist goes at the Light infantry with the bayonet, but rolls low, takes another SP loss and is destroyed! Prussian gunners manage to disengage, but are forced to retreat into the Reserve area. I 'kriegspeiled' that, by ruling they have to stay there, inactive,  on the next  move. 

Turn 3 : Grenze Hussars 'charge for the guns'!

 TURN FOUR:  Prussians win initiative again, so much for Austrian 'attack'! Uhlans charge Cuirassiers again, but take a hit and lose 1 SP.  1st battalion 44th Fusiliers try to repel Grenze Hussars, but with no effect.  Austrians have only one activation, but use it well - their gun opens up on 1st von Kleist foot, forcing it to retreat to the Reserve area. That means there are no Prussian units in their right-hand grid areas.  The rules say that 'if, at the end of a player's turn, one or more of his columns does not have at least one unit in it, his army is defeated'.  Luckily for the Prussians, this is at the end of the Austrian player's turn.. but prompt action will be required!

TURN 4: Prussian right flank in danger!

TURN FIVE:  Austrians gain initiative, can they finish the job? Their Cuirassiers keep slashing and thrusting at the Uhlans, but neither gives way. 1st and 2nd Botta foot attack 1st Prussian Fusiliers in the centre, but outnumbered Fusiliers hold firm. Light infantry advance unopposed on the Austrian left, but can't make the Prussian baseline - which would have been a winning move,  as Prussian units can't advance from Reserve into a square occupied by the enemy.  So, on the Prussian turn 1st von Kleist manage to get onto their right-hand baseline square - and force the Austrian Light infantry to retreat - thus Prussians avoid defeat.  Fusiliers and Botta foot continue their struggle, with no hits to either, but Cuirassiers lose 1 SP in melee with Uhlans. This will lead  to  drastic effects on the next turn..

Turn 5: Prussians recover ground on their right, phew!

TURN SIX:  Prussians win initiative: the Uhlans inflict another SP on the Austrian Cuirassiers, who are destroyed. Uhlans can follow-up, that allows them to hit the Grenze Hussars in flank, Grenzers retreat - Uhlans can follow-up again! this time they attack the Austrian light infantry - who retreat. Three combat wins on the trot for Uhlans, chaos in the Austrian ranks! Only the presence of the Austrian gun prevents a further follow-up. Elsewhere, 2nd Fusiliers are able to turn on the flank of Botta infantry, though Botta holds OK , and finally Von Kleist foot charge the poor Austrian gunners, who are unable to retreat, as their Reserve area is already full, so must lose 1SP.  Near disaster for the Austrians!

Turn 6:   Uhlans (centre) create havoc!

But the Uhlans' mad charge leaves  them vulnerable, and on the Austrian turn the Grenze Hussars charge their flank, inflicting 1 SP loss, and the Uhlans are destroyed! 1st Botta d'Adorno fights back aganst the flanking 2nd Fusiliers, push them back and follow up to extend their line to the right. The Light infantry having been forced back into reserve, now re-appear on the Austrian right. Things look a lot more stable for the Austrians, much to their relief. 

End Turn 6 : Austrian stability restored

TURN SEVEN: Prussians win initiative -  Fusiliers keep fighting Austrian infantry, but no hits. 1st Von Kleist attacks Austrian gunners -but again, no hits. Prussian gun takes position in the wood. Austrian Grenze Hussars charge 1st von Kleist on the left, saving their gunners. In the big infantry fight, Prussian 2nd Fusiliers lose their 2nd SP and are destroyed , and 1st Fusiliers are then attacked in the flank by the Austrian follow-up They hold, but the Prussians now have only three units left, and none on their left flank. It could be the end this time..

Turn 7: beleagured Prussian foot, and left flank empty..

TURN EIGHT:  at this crucial  point, the Prussians win initiative; they must get troops back to their left flank on their turn, or lose the battle. They have their gun and von Kleist foot on their right - too far away.  1st Fusiliers in the centre, already engaged by two enemy units, must fight and win! They attack 1st Botta - and roll a '1'!  The Fusiliers must retreat into the Reserve area,  the Prussian  left cannot be saved, and indeed their centre is now gone too!  So, the game ends in a crushing Austrian victory.    

Turn 8: how it ended. Prussian collapse!

Well, that was actually a lot of fun! As I said before  I was very slow,  too busy taking pictures and making copious notes as it was my first attempt, but I reckon a game played under more 'normal' conditions would have needed less than one hour. I had a few issues come up that had to be resolved on the hoof, so to speak, as follows: 

(1)  Skirmishing - I wanted the Light Infantry to be able to skirmish, i.e. shoot up enemy units without making close contact, but the '3by3' rules simply merge shooting and melee into 'combat' for any unit adjacent to the enemy. In effect I simply allowed Light Infantry to use the musketry procedure from my 18th Century rules ( max range 1 square only, though ) rather than 3by3 'combat' - so they could shoot and inflict hits with no comeback from the target. But of course, I had to allow opposing infantry to fire back in the same way on their turn - OR declare a charge and go for 'combat', which they usually did. I wonder if it might be better to allow the Lights, if in skirmish order, to roll a dice for an 'evade', allowing them to cancel any hits when attacked, or reduce the likelyhood of hits? I'll think a bit more about that.            

(2) Two units in a square: with 18th Century units mostly deployed in line, they occupy the full width of a grid square. So if there are two units in the square, it sort of implies one is in front of the other. If an enemy unit attacks, is it assumed to attack the 'front' unit? Or maybe it can choose which?  Important if there are, say, an infantry and a cavalry unit sharing the grid square. I need to think about that, too- I rather 'bluffed it out' on a couple of occasions. 

(3)  Supporting units - Mark Cordone's original 3by3 variant says if two units are in a grid square and one is attacked, one unit fights but gets a plus one for the supporting unit. Bob's 19th Century version in the next chapter of his 'Compendium' book rules that supporting units must be of the same type to give the 'plus 1'.  Hmmm... I think I'm with Mark. I wasn't sure how to handle artillery as a 'support' in close combat - artillery are obviously useless in melee, but if this is more generic 'combat' over a short range, then canister should be allowed for - that must be a significant bonus?  Again, some thought required. 

Apologies to seasoned players who have discussed and settled all these issues on-line - I'm afraid I don't do Facebook, so I haven't seen the 'PW' group there! Maybe I need to sign up with Mr. Zuckerburg, however reluctantly. 

 Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, the '3x3Fast Play' concept is great for getting an easy game on the table when you don't have the time or space for something more serious, and there's got to be scope for 'mini-campaigns' where the battles can be quickly fought out this way - as I think fellow blogger Maudlin Jack Tar is indeed doing.  I commend this idea to The House.. 

Hope you've enjoyed reading this, as I did playing and writing it up.  If you haven't already, why not give it a go?   Thanks to Bob, Mark and all the other contributors to the '3x3Fast Play' idea.    Keep well, and safe, everyone.