Minifigs 7YW 'First Firing' : Gros-Jagersdorf 1757

While continuing with what will very likely be a long project to re-base my recent acquisitions of vintage Minifigs 7YW and AWI  figures,  I did want to try actually using some of them for a game.  I wanted something quick and easy, and conveniently  I had also acquired a copy of the (very simple indeed)  Dominion of Frederick the Great  rules.  

These come with 24 scenarios depticting Battles of the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War in Europe, so that's very handy. The collection of figures  includes a box full of Russians, and I thought I'd give them a go. Hey presto,  the rules have a scenario for the battle at Gros-Jagersdorf, 1757 - the first major clash between Russian and Prussian forces.  

In the battle, the scenario notes say that a force of 55,000 Russians under Marshal Apraksin invaded East Prussia.  The Prussian Marshal  Lehwaldt made an early morning  suprise attack on them with his much smaller force of about 35,000 troops. In the DoFtG rules, these numbers translated into the following miniature armies: 

Prussians :     2 x Cavalry (Elite),  2 x Line Infantry (Elite) 

Russians:      2 x Cavalry, 1 Cavalry ( Unreliable) - Cossacks,  2 x Line Infantry (1 Fortified),                                      1 x Artillery  

So the Russians have the numbers with 6 units, but all four  Prussian units are 'Elite', which gives an advantage when attacking.  

Initial Deployments: Prussians to the Left

 

I followed the suggested deployment - see above, with Prussians on the left, Russians to the right. The rules don't specify terrain - any advantage or disadvantage is factored in to the unit ratings, for example the 'Fortified' Russian infantry unit.  But I thought I should make it look like some sort of  landscape -  hence the trees, because in reality the Prussian infantry emerged from woodland to attack, I think, and the  river, becuase the Russians had just crossed the River Pregel when attacked.  Prussians simply have Infantry in the centre, cavalry on the flanks; Russians with Cossacks on the left (nearest camera),  the 'Fortified' (i.e dug in, or otherwise prepared for defence) Infantry in the centre and Cavalry on the right.  The second line of units in both armies are the reserves, which may be  brought forward into any sector to replace defeated units.  The opposing armies take alternate turns to attack in one sector (left, centre or rght), and the Prussians being attackers, they go first. 

Turn 1 - Cossacks gone! Guns move up 

 On Turn One, the Prussians duly attacked with their cavalry against the Cossacks - being 'unreliable' these had to take a die roll to see if they would stand, and they promplty  ran away!  The Russian commander moved his guns up from reserve to replace them.  That made an interesting match-up, becuase in the rules when cavalry fight artillery, the guns get to 'fire first', and thus may shoot down the cavalry before they can charge home - but if they miss, the cavalry have an easier die roll to overrun the guns ( and there is a  +1 factor for the 'Elite' cavalry). However,  if the resulting combat is inconclusive, then BOTH units are removed. Therefore if cavalry 'charge for the guns', then they may get wiped out by canister fire, or rapidly sweep the gunners away; but if neither of those then a general melee leaves both gunners and horsemen so disorganised and bloodied as to be ineffective for the rest of the battle. That doesn't seem a bad rationalisation to me, what do you reckon?  So for the Prussians, attacking in that sector would be something of a gamble..   In their turn, the Russians attacked  with cavalry in their Right sector, against Prussian 'Elite' cavalry, and the combat was inconclusive  (both sides rolled a '1'!).   

In Turn Two, the Prussians continued the cavalry fight on the Russian right, and routed the Russian Cavalry there - replaced by the other Cavalry unit.  The Russians attacked in the centre with their Infantry, but could not defeat their opponents - both sides rolled a 'miss'. 

Turn 2 - one less Russian Cavalry..

 For Turn Three, the Prussians pushed their cavalry advantage by attacking the Russian right wing again, and with 'Elite' advantage, routed the second unit of Russian horse.  The last Russian reserve unit (Line Infantry) moved up to hold the flank.  the Russians repeated their Infantry attack in the centre. but rolled low, and saw their Infantry shot down by Elite Prussian musketry.  That left a big hole in the Russain centre, and only two units left.  But each side can try to rally one lost unit per game, and this the Russians did successfully, bringing one of their routed cavalry units back to hold the centre. Would it be enough? 

Turn 3 Russians hanging on, just 

 In Turn Four, those Prussian cavalry just kept pushing forward on the Russian right, and the dice were with them,  routing the Russian infantry there and leaving that flank exposed. The Russians flung their rallied cavalry in the centre into the attack, only to have them shot down by Prussian musketry.  That left them with only their Artillery unit remaining, and an emphatic Prussian victory (re-writing history, as in real life the dogged defence by the Russian troops surprised the Prussians, who were forced to withdraw).  

Turn 4 - all over for the Russians! 

 So, that was all over very quickly, in fact a grand total of 16 die rolls, and I should say that the Russians were quite hard done by, their die rolls didn't produce one 'hit' in the whole game! The Prussian 'Elite' status did give them quite an advantage in combat, especially the Cavalry - an 'Elite' Cavalry charging home against Line Infantry will rout the foot on 'anything but a one', though they might be shot down before being able to contact. I did wonder if the Prussians should be reduced to just three units, or perhaps both the Russian infantry be given the 'Fortified' advantage to reflect their stubborn defensive qualities.   I really should have had a rematch, but it was getting rather late at night, so I left it at that.  I know the Dominion of... series of rules are rather 'Marmite', as they say, but for me they have the advantage of  being able to get a game on the table very quickly and simply, and there are some interesting subtleties in the very simple rules.  I've enjoyed reading Martin Rapier's reports of games in multiple Dominion of..  periods on his The Games We Play blog, and a recent post by 'Prufrock'  on Here's No Great Matter showed how he approached the ancients version (Dominion of the Spear)  sceptically, but was to some extent won over.  As for me, I've got 23 more battles to fight if I want to! 

In other news, the great re-basing continues, with some progress on the next three French infantry units, being Regiments Soissonais, Italian and Touraine. Here they are having been soaked in water to remove the old bases :     

 .. and now some of them attached to their new MDF bases, ready for a couple of coats of nice plain 'old school' green paint  

(hmm, that guy in the front rank has had a few too many vin rouges while waiting for his glue to dry, he'll need straightening up.. ).  Progress a bit slow owing to 'real life' taking us away on family business last week,  but I am hoping to pick up again this week and at least finish these chaps. I will then have at least six French and Swiss regiments ready for action, it will be great to be able to field them en masse with their distinctive 'white cross' royal army standards, just like in the pictures in Charles Grant's The War Game all those years ago (where French units represented the army of the fictional Duchy of Lorraine, and also stood in for the Austrians at Mollwitz, if I recall correctly!).  

I will hope to report more progress next time, plus showing a new acquisition which may give a 'nudge' to both D-Day Dodgers and Ancients projects.  Until then, keep well everyone, and a Happy Easter to you all.