Rearguard forces

Luftberg’s luck continues to run ever-badly.  Ah well, at least there’s hope yet for them in von Kleintrink’s headlong attack.  It seems unlikely that they’ll get as far as the redoubt, as the whole thing is likely to get settled one way or another before then, but I’ve nonetheless worked further on the model.  The clay has dried, but predictably had an annoying tendency to shrink and needed to be constantly reworked so it didn’t part company from the plastic base.  I covered the dried clay with glue and stuck on lots of base-modelling sand, to give the whole thing the look of freshly-heaped earth.  For some variety, I used grass on the actual interior ground area.  I’ve still to paint up the wicker gabions in a dark brown, but it’s coming along.

I’ve also done some basic housekeeping, in the form of remarking my measuring dowel-stick into 60mm long sections to reflect the new base size.  I’ve also got to tidy up my turn progress marker, which is basically an A4 page with lots of linked boxes like a flowchart, for counters to be placed on.  I’ve discovered the Might & Reason rules are not clear enough to hold in your head, as it’s all ‘stages’ within ‘phases’ within ‘turns’, all of alternating initiatives & varying lengths.  For the DBA rules it’d be redundant, but for M&R it’s pretty much essential.  I’ll see if I can post my results.

I’ve also turned my thoughts to forces.  To guard the convoy, which I’m planning out as three counters for three wagons, I’m going to field four infantry regiments – two with the convoy, one rearguard and one vanguard.  I’ve also strengthened the vanguard with a half-sized regiment (only a single base, with points and strength halved,) as the chaotic nature of the retreat & pursuit makes detachments as likely to appear as full-formed regiments.  Also, I’m fielding a half-regiment of Croats, to give a bit of much-needed irregular troop-support.  Plus, there’s two regiments of cavalry going on the field.  No artillery though, as it’d probably be as much of a hindrance as an advantage. 

For Aschenbach, which is naturally smaller on account of me just having rebased old figures to play, the force is as follows:  Two full infantry regiments, a half-strength detachment of Grenadiers, two regiments of Dragoons and a regiment of Cuirassiers.  They are weighted (by necessity and scenario conditions) more heavily to cavalry than infantry, which is suitable for von Kleintrink.

Oh, and the last thing – the new General Ludwig’s stats for the tabletop.  I’ve decided to make him non-valorous, which would fit with him not being instantly charismatic; +0 to action (+1 or +2 would mean he is a highly active commander, so +0 suits his decent military education – at least he’s not -1 or -2, like some others!)  His one non-average feature is his high intelligence, so I’ve designated him as ‘gifted’ – in M&R this means he can reroll a command dice, which should reflect him well on the table – generally solid, but with the potential for inspired bursts of action at the critical moment!