New Regiment

I just wanted to make a quick post, partially to update you all, and partially because one last post in November will make it my busiest month yet (a personal best!) Anyway, here's the latest regiment off the painting table, sporting blue facings which, according to the chart I made planning all my regiments, means it will represent IR1 Radetzky. Thanks also, as many will have probably guessed, to 'Not By Appointment' for the templates.

Public Service

I've seen this on some other websites, so thought I'd do the same to help out. The Essex Miniatures website is typically very good, supplying photos of several figures etc. However, the 15mm SYW area has lots of photos of Prussian units, but only a paltry couple of pics for Austrian units to tell you what you're buying! As such, for those with an interest, below are pics of what I've ordered. If anyone else is thinking of buying, perhaps this'll give you a bit more info on what you're deciding on potentially purchasing.



SYA10 - Chasseur/Jager Skirmishing. A single pose per pack, giving you 8 figures standing and giving the 'business end' of a musket to the enemy.

SYA9 - Mounted Infantry Officers. I believe the three figs in a pack are all the same; a trotting horse, plus a hand-on-hip officer casting a slightly sideways glance (no doubt checking alignment.)

SYA7 - Hungarian Grenadier - 8 identical figures, at the ready and looking set to advance. Bearskins too, as you can see.

SYA6 - Hungarian Infantry Command Pack. Each pack contains two of each of the figure types above. As befits 'lively' troops, they have a certain swagger lacking in the line infantry; the officer waves a spontoon ahead, the colours are swirling a little more, and the drummer (presumably) is depicted mid-solo.

SYA5 - Hungarian Fusilier. Through his pose, he appears surprisingly close to the Prussian infantry figure, so it's all in the painting to see the distinctive uniform details. Small paintbrushes not optional.

SYA2 - Austrian Command. Six figures a pack, two of each type. More restrained than the Hungarians, but I do like the officer gesturing ahead.

SYA1 - German Fusilier. The Johnny-Average of the army, the standard line infantryman at the ready.

Regimental Overhaul

I’ve been pondering the Luftberg state’s army, and for some period of time now I’ve been pondering a bit of a ‘military reform.’ Nothing like altering any of the illustrious regiments already round the colours, you understand – more like a basing change. Basically, I feel my units are a bit ‘light’ on metal. I initially started out on a basic infantry unit of 16 figures, which was pretty respectable-looking. However, even this didn’t last for long as I had to revise and expand to use the Might & Reason rules. Each unit now stands at eight lonely figures – resembling more of a skirmish line than the bristling juggernaut of death-dealing mayhem I know each regiment to be (I’m sure every wargamer pictures their own units the same way.)

It’s overdue in a way – despite this being one of my favourite and most long-standing hobbies, I’ve still somehow avoided spending a lot of money on it for a long time. As a result, it’s time to buy some more figures and replan the establishment of the units. I decided to place an order with Essex Miniatures, which arrived the other week.

So, what sort of change? I’ve done much pondering over other blogs, looking at photos everywhere, and have an idea. The M&R rulebook has photos of some wonderfully based units in 15mm, which I’ll be imitating. Each infantry base is two ranks of six, close-packed for a satisfying density, making each regiment weigh in at 24 figures. Or more accurately, 23 figures, thanks to the regimental commander being mounted and taking up somebody’s space with his horses’ backside.

Each regiment consists of: 1 mounted officer (taking up one file), three command units (an officer, a drummer and a colour-bearer) and 19 other ranks. For spacing etc, this goes on a 60x30mm base of MDF.

I’ve painted one regiment, just to try out spacings etc. and see how it looks. Here’s a snap of the first one. Meet IR Steinkopf (No. 11), outfitted in a natty white coat, breeches & waistcoat, red facings, black gaiters and white lining on the tricorne.

Highway Robbery!

Thanks to all the mop-moving and card-playing, we've got a pretty decent narrative for a skirmish game that we might otherwise never have had. I was going to work out some clever system for raiders moving around, scouts, ambushes, etc. but then decided 'what the hell... I'll just pile a bunch of figures onto a table and see what happens!' It's worked not badly. Below is my not-quite-scientific doodle-sheet which let me come up with ideas. I recommend this, actually, to aid thinking. The only problem is that it's usually impenetrable to anybody save the writer!

From sketching road networks running north to the city, as well as west to the Aschenbach army over the river, things have coalesced around a pair of road junctions. There's the direct route north, which the Luftberg army will want to pass up. This has been covered by a small fieldwork watched by Freicorps troops, no doubt taking a break from some pillaging, plus some cannons in support. Off on each flank was a few hussar detatchments, while slightly to the north was the undetected regiment of IR7 von Dunkel's infantry, ranging a bit far from home and looking for trouble. Due to the small scale of the fight, I upped the scale so each base represented a company, so according to the Kronoskaf website six companies makes up a typical battalion. It's pictured below, with no other figure than von Zaub chatting to von Dunkel.

To attack this, the Luftberg flying column had no guns (too heavy) but a good plethora of light troops to give weight to the core of the force, the IR7 von Stiegl infantry regiment. Having successfully detected the initial Aschenbach positions, a plan was quickly devised. The notion was for a force of Croats to screen the dug-in Freicorps directly to the front, feint with a Hussar raid to the east, then land the killer blow on the west, where von Stiegl's troops could cut the road back to the river and force a rather hurried retreat from the Aschenbach troops who didn't fancy getting cut off from their main army.

Things didn't get off to a great start however, when the main column under General La Spezia's watchful gaze launched it's attack ahead of the lacklustre Hussars on the other flank, who clearly felt that launching a diversionary raid came a poor second to a lie-in. The Aschenbach hussar screen was swiftly brushed aside by the Luftberg HR2 regiment under Schiele. However, poor La Spezia got a bit too carried away and caught an unlucky sabre blow in the skirmish, getting himself carried off to have his wound treated.

Alerted by the din, the reserve of von Dunkel quickly rushed to the sound of the fighting. There was a small hillock behind the junction, and each side rapidly realised that ownership would be crucial. Von Stiegl reached it first however, as the numbers of swarming Hussars cleared the hill and held the enemy back long enough for him to march up.

As the light troops on the east and centre of the road skirmished away, the two regiments formed up and von Zaub urged the bluecoats straight on. With a crash and din of musketry, the two sides blazed away at close range while the light cavalry continued to skirmish on their flank.

The lines wavered as troops fell back from the pounding match, but the generals kept on rallying them back into forming up and returning to the fight.

However, von Stiegl remained master of the heights for the time being, thwarting Aschenbach efofrts to break through long enough for the hussars to rout their rivals and menace the regimental flank. Von Zaub was alert to the danger though, turning a company out to refuse a flank and steady the situation.

However, things were clearly not going his way, and a fighting retreat was in order. The guns were able to escape cleanly up the main road due to the Luftberg hussars' late appearance, and the Freikorps troops held out comfortably in their fieldworks. However, the Croats' draining fire simply wouldn't stop, so before long the Freikorps were well and truly suppressed and just kept their heads down, trying to hold on long enough for the guns to escape. Once this was done, they joined in the general backwards movement and abandoned their works to the swarms of jubilant Croats who rapidly pursued.

Matters rapidly worsened as the hussars on the east flank finally appeared, descending on the Freikorps as they withdrew north. They took heavy losses, but ultimately managed to fend off the horsemen and kept falling back north. Von Dunkel was likewise pulling back, steadily giving ground and fighting all the way, leaving a trail of dead and injured in his wake as he held the whitecoats at arm's length.

The withdrawal was finally complete, with no troops or guns encircled or captured. This was something of a lucky achievement, and von Zaub's excellent performance was applauded by all! Meanwhile Luftberg's army was able to advance undelayed, with the road cleared to the city. Also, with the direct route back to the river cut, von Zaub now faces a protracted roundabout march to try and rejoin his superiors! Yes, the scene below at the crossroads says it all. The main column of the army approaching, Croats occupying the old fieldworks which would have caused such havoc, and swarms of light cavalry fanning out to harry the defeated foe ahead of them!

The skirmishing captains

Von Hentsch determines on reaching the river at Spitzburg first, forestalling the Aschenbach advance. This means a FORCED MARCH to the province and a sharp SKIRMISH with any bluecoats that have ventured out to try and thwart him. At least, from sitting idle as he organises, his troops are well rested to avoid being FATIGUED. Enemy raiders and scouting groups will be spotted and cleared aside by SMALL FORMATIONS of troops going ahead of his advance. To get some kind of unanticipated edge, the crafty von Hentsch will arrange for these groups to live off the land and travel unusually light, abandoning their baggage and giving them a superior mobility (WILD CARD.)

It’s pretty likely he’ll be able to do the march without any problems, given how well prepared he’ll be following the last delay. Thus, success should come on a 3+ roll – slightly better chances than he had last time he tried. The roll is… A 5! Success, as he moves to Spitzburg and the outlying groups begin to clash.

So, we’ve the making of various minor encounter battles on the roads around Spitzburg, as Aschenbach raiders sent out the previous turn find themselves being hit by flying columns of Luftberg troops trying to clear the roads for the main army’s advance. Sounds like a classic bit of ‘klein krieg’ warfare. To the tabletop!

Spitzplatz approached

Aschenbach have a score to settle, and mean to do it! Since his opponent has proved so sluggish, the pressure’s off to an extent and von Krumper can move at his ease. Most sensibly, south out of the hills into the Oberwasser region, threatening to take up a good river-line position. Also, it takes him close to the route that Luftberg tried to scout out for themselves to advance on Spitzburg.

So, that’s a NORMAL MARCH to Oberwasser, where he’ll HALT and rest his army. He’ll take the whole force in a single, easy-to-maneuver LARGE FORMATION to speed marching, the swift advance will cause a MORALE DROP in the enemy leader, and he’ll also be able to tangle with the nearby detatchment that Luftberg sent out to clear their route, by launching a small hit-and-run raid (WILD CARD).

As it’s an easy march far from the enemy, we’ll say a 3+ for success. If he rolls a 5 or 6, the march is successful and also his hit-and-run raid on the Luftberg outpost will take place.

The result is… 4! Aschenbach safely march to Oberwasser, but sadly the raiding parties passing through the Vallensee and Spitzburg regions fail to make contact. Most likely, Luftberg’s feelers only made it as far as Vallensee while Aschenbach’s group simply darted over to Spitzburg and cut the roads. Felix von Hentsch won’t like this at all – a large enemy force within an easy march of Spitzburg, plus the roads already blocked for his own force! His own upcoming hand:

Normal March
Normal March
Normal March
Wild Card
Fatigued
Skirmish
Forced March
Halt
Halt
Small Formation

Spitzplatz campaign begins

For Felix von Hentsch, plundering Blinzburg is probably a bit premature – it’s likely to be well in his rear throughout the coming campaign so it’s already in the bag, so to speak. Far more tempting is Spitzburg – almost central in the province, and puts him in line for a river defence if the Aschenbach forces come directly for him. The catch – it’s pretty distant. So, von Hentsch plays the following cards:

ACTION – Forced March to Spitzburg
RESULT – Halt in the city
REASONS – The men will be eager for action as they have only just gained new recruits at the start of the campaign (Recruit/Desert card); They will have a Morale Increase from beating the enemy in the last campaign, plus von Hentsch will send a Small Formation of light troops ahead to clear the way and scout the route.

All in all, the results seem likely to favour such a proposal – a fast & speedy march by fresh and enthusiastic troops in the early days of high enthusiasm. As such, I’ll let it succeed on a 4+ dice roll. If it rolls a 3, I’ll allow the army to relocate to the Vallensee area, representing a partially completed march.

One roll of the dice, and it’s… 2! Failure, as no doubt Felix von Hentsch has found time trickling away while he organises his new army, forcing him to delay departure. Some hapless junior-ranking officers will be cashiered for such a delay!

So, with Luftberg firmly dropping the ball, it’s over to the Aschenbach army under von Krumper to make a move. He gets:

Halt
Siege
Normal March
Fear
Large Formation
Skirmish
Morale Increase/Drop
Large Formation
Rout
Wild Card

Feel free to chip in with ideas!

Spitzplatz Turn 1

Time to take a look at the ‘deck’ for the upcoming campaign, as discussed earlier. Following advice and personal musings, the deck now runs as follows:

Normal March(x4)
Forced March(x2)
Rest/Prepare(x2)
Rally(x2)
Ambush(x2)
Skirmish(x2)
Open battle(x4)
Tactical advantage(x2)
Large formation(x2)
Small formation(x2)
Motivation(x2)
Fatigued(x2)
Victory/Defeat(x2)
Rout(x2)
Halt(x2)
Retreat(x2)
Morale increase/drop(x2)
Recruit/desert(x2)
Weather Effect(x1)
Terrain effect(x2)
Supply lines(x2)
Talented Commander(x1)
Siege(x2)
Fear(x1)
Honour(x1)
Wild Card(x4)

And below is the province map, showing the relative positions of the two armies – the entry area has been randomly rolled for.

The campaign has a slight slant on it from the Luftberg perspective. Aschenbach are primarily on the lookout for revenge on the battlefield, so they seek a straight fight and victories – as many as they can get. Luftberg however, under the leadership of Graf Felix von Hentsch, needs to ‘save’ the province by beating the Aschenbach army – but only after he’s been able to pay a visit to as many of the five cities in the province as he can, in order to ‘requisition supplies’ for the war effort (and personal expenses, of course.)

A normal move is one area at a time, with a forced march allowing two areas to be covered, but beyond that, anything goes! To let von Hentsch loot an area, a turn of inactivity will be needed.

Right, first to move is… Luftberg, according to my random roll. Here’s the Graf Felix along with the army, and he draws the following hand:

Small formation
Morale increase/drop
Open battle
Small formation
Recruit/desert
Normal March
Halt
Forced March
Small formation
Open battle


Feel free to suggest your ideas – basic moves are:
a) Sit tight in Blinzburg and ‘stock up’ on funds
b) March into any of the adjacent areas, clearing the woods and entering the open river valley regions
c) Force-march either to Spitzburg, staying on the opposite side of the river from the enemy; or west to cross the river Spitzwasser and enter Ostunter, within spitting distance of Unterschloss.
d) Anything else you can think of!

...and here it is.

It’s official – a full-blown military expedition from Aschenbach is closing on the borders of Spitzplatz. Watching the hammer-blow descend, von Bitzhelm has had little choice but to appeal direct to the Electorate of Luftberg for protection. Luftberg, anxious to avoid being made to look like a fool on the diplomatic stage, has issued an immediate guarantee of protection to the province. The Graf Felix von Hentsch has offered to prosecute the Luftberg army’s campaign with suitable vigour, and the careworn Elector has agreed to his request. It appears the clash of arms shall soon decide all.

We all saw it coming...

Shocking developments on the military front, with news of Aschenbach arming for a military expedition! The crown prince Gerdt von Krumper has issued a stinging couterblast against the Luftberg intention to take over the province of Spitzplatz. Citing recent revelations about the deep ancestry of the von Bitzhelm family, it appears that Aschenbach has a claim to the province every bit as obscure and tenuous as Luftberg. The Aschenbach state is outraged and claims the province is their legal property, not Graf von Bitzhelm’s to give away. Heraldic experts across the continent are shrugging at each other in bafflement at the mass of claims and counter-claims flying back and forth over the border, and now it appears that the Aschenbach army is marching out to Spitzplatz to make tenuous claims a hard-and-fast reality!

Some silly little detail

All of Luftberg and Spitzplatz has been rocked by the latest announcement from the government. The inclusion of the province now appears to be in direst jeopardy. This is following the recent announcement of the Graf Felix von Hentsch, where he revealed the shocking discovery that the von Bitzhelm family lineage could only boast 63 quarterings, rather than the 64 initially claimed. Even worse than this scandal, the inaccurate priority given to certain obscure family genealogies has revealed that the ruling von Krumper dynasty of Aschenbach is in fact also related to some of the von Bitzhelm family ancestors.

All the court is naturally scandalised. Graf Karl von Bitzhelm is outraged and refutes the claims, saying “I’m outraged.” Elector von Luftberg is disappointed, stating “I’m disappointed” to the Luftberg Tagezeitung correspondent in court. Graf Felix von Hentsch simply smiled, and the Aschenbach ambassador was completely unavailable for comment, claiming he had “some urgent business to take care of.”

The New Aristocrats

Official news from the Luftberg court now confirms what the gossips have said for some time – the province of Spitzplatz is soon to be incorporated into the Electorate. Diplomats recently confirmed that all but the last formalities were now out of the way, and the Elector has just accepted the kind offer of the Graf von Hentsch to tidy up the last few issues.

So, who are the newcoming family? The von Bitzhelms are fabulously wealthy, plus the family seems to have an unfortunate tendency towards being a bit – well, ugly. (Damn those random dice rolls!) Still, the beauty does indeed seem to be in the eye of the beholder, for the Graf and Grafin have no fewer than six children – all very young, on account of the relative youth of the couple themselves. The full list and notable personality quirks comes down as follows:

Graf Karl von Bitzhelm, 33, good personality, healthy, a bold leader, somewhat ugly, but vastly wealthy.
Grafin Lena von Bitzhelm, 25, nasty personality, unattractive.
Their children:
Otto, 7, good
Sophia, 6, nasty, beautiful
Alexander, 6, good, handsome, twin of Sophia
Kristin, 5, good, ugly
Dieter, 3, good
Franziska, 2, poor health

(I’ve kept the details lighter than before because a) not all of them were useful, and b) they’re awfully young.)

Medals all round!

Near to me in Scotland, there’s a rather strange building from 1761 called (now, anyway)the Dunmore Pineapple. It was a summerhouse built with a roof shaped as a pineapple – not the most expected thing to encounter in central Scotland. Apparently in the early centuries after they were discovered the difficulty, expense and sheer irritation of getting one back to Europe meant they were available only to the elite. For some time, and evidently also in the 18th C, the pineapple was a symbol of wealth and influence. I was reminded of this recently by a television programme, which got me thinking about the Dunmore House, which in turn got me thinking about perhaps using the motif in Luftberg. As the national symbol has already been picked (the eagle) Ulrich v. Luftberg has instituted the Ordre de l’Ananas for all gentlemen who achieve distinction in the eyes of their peers. Heroism in battle will merit membership, but so will achievements in the arts and sciences – even though you can work from home in that case, and the whole thing is much more agreeable.

Initial awards shall go to those foreign adventurers who aided the state in the last war, now currently on their way homeward with plaudits – Major Ungaurn and General Reich Graf James Louis von Beerstein. In addition, the new Graf von Bitzhelm will receive an award, for his services present and future, to the Luftberg treasury.

Spitzplatz

The latest broadsheet posted in the towns of Luftberg, for popular Luftberg Tagezeitung, brings news of the nearby province of Spitzplatz. The ruling family of von Bitzhelm, famed for their incredible wealth and notoriously gloomy disposition, have recently opened negotiations with the Electorate of Luftberg.

Due to the recent death of the von Bitzhelm family patriarch, crushed to death by a vast pile of money, his son has taken over as the Graf of the province. The recently deceased’s will revealed some family skeletons in the closet, and apparently von Bitzhelms’ great-great-grandfathers’ cousins’ mistress once briefly married the great-great-uncle of the von Luftberg family. They’re practically related!

Delighted to find that ridiculous wealth is no obstacle to power, the diplomats are now discussing the absorbtion of the Spitzplatz provinces into the Electorate. On hearing of the proposals, the Elector von Luftberg apparently commented “Excellent!” while the Graf Felix von Hentsch bellowed “What?!”

Plots

Whatever else is going on, it’s clear that the Aschenbach remobilisation is not going to see them back for at least a year, so we can afford to move the timeline (such as it is) onwards. Those of you who remember back as far at the misty dawning of this site will recall that I had a list of characters, plus plans for them to change over time by means of a spreadsheet. Well, it’s time to open it up, blow off the dust and fire through a new year of events.

As it happens, it’s not that hectic – one death, no births. The poor blighter leaving this mortal coil proves to be… Grafin Rosina v. Hentsch. Yes, the Elector’s one-time ‘bit on the side’, mother to Conrad von Hentsch, is now dead at the middle-age of 42, alarmingly young! The poor elector von Luftberg – fresh after his victory, his opponent proves militarily resilient and then one of the women he loved dies.

However, in political terms it’s a bit of a major development. The other great rival house in Luftberg, the von Hentsch dynasty, is taking some serious knocks. The Graf Felix von Hentsch sat out the last campaign - with my mixed feelings, as he was one of the more interesting figures I’d initially generated, largely on the basis of him being completely – well, evil. Still, he’ll need to do something now. He had two hooks in the ruling Elector to further his family, in the form of his ‘son’ Conrad and his wife Rosina – now the former is an invalid from battle while the latter has died. What to do? Or more particularly, what to do if you’re a power-mad amoral killer bent upon gaining control of the kingdom? I’m not really sure, actually.

First, the long-term appear secure as Felix has a younger son, Max von Hentsch, who could marry one of the Elector’s daughters. Plus, invalid or no, Conrad is still one of the hot contenders for becoming the Elector’s heir. If either one of these claims is pressed, then a von Hentsch will ultimately become heir to the throne. The thing that’s needed is a short-term way to steady the ship of state, increasing the von Hentsch family’s power so a claim can be made. Correspondingly, the last thing that’s wanted is a rival family to emerge onto the scene and threaten an alternative to the von Hentsch marriage or inheritance.

In fact, it might very well be said that if, say, a small province with a powerful ruling family came to attention and proposed itself for absorbtion into the Luftberg electorate, that’d be about the worst thing to happen to Felix von Hentsch. Why, if that was to take place, he’d be thwarted.

Unless, say, somebody deftly opened a possibility for the newly recovered Aschenbach state to intervene, forcing a military confrontation. Then some Luftberg notable like – for example, von Hentsch - could intervene and lead the army to victory, enhancing his own family’s name and, hypothetically, saving the Electorate. Oh, and if the parvenu provincial ruling house should get crushed to dust in the midst of the fighting, then… C’est la Guerre.

But of course, that wouldn’t happen. Almost certainly not.

Campaign systems

My thoughts on a future campaign have been swirling around, but generally I think I’m going to fight it on the basis of the DBA-style rules in the recent Lobositz refight – I think they’ve got potential. My decision for this was further encouraged when I used their points system for the existing Aschenbach/Luftberg armies and found they came out within spitting distance of each other. Clearly, the two opponents are well-matched (providing that Aschenbach’s von Krumper doesn’t get half his army destroyed in the first battle again.)

So, all the indecision is around the campaign system. One option is to take advantage of the fact that each battlefield is around 2ft x 2ft, so the campaign for a small province would plausibly be ‘mappable’ in it’s entirety, square by square. Not without work, however, but quite liberating and close to the style suggested in Charles Grant’s old books.

The other contender is to do the province as an area map and maneuver around with the card-based system outlined in the last post. This would allow certain advantages, such as a nice colourful map that could plausibly be put up on the blog for display – I always disliked the basic node-to-node one in the last campaign, but I couldn’t fix it up in time to make it more pleasing! Plus, as people seemed quite keen on voting (ie, posting comments) for actions at the very tail-end of the last campaign, it would also be possible to post the cards drawn and allow people to suggest and/or decide on what strategy each general pursued.

Balancing it all up, I think the card-based area-movement option is the best, as it is more of an experiment and allows people to get more involved (yes, I do indeed like all the people who add comments on the blog!)

The Future Campaign

I’ve been browsing back through an old stack of wargames magazines from way, way back in the early 1990’s which I recently found in the loft, looking for some inspiration for a future campaign. Reading through them, I was reminded of a system which was mentioned in one or two articles – I was always intrigued by them, but never actually got round to trying them. I’m pondering perhaps using them in my next campaign. For the sake of giving ‘food for thought’ I decided I’d detail them here and see if anybody had any comments – perhaps they’ve been used by someone who can advise on them, or if not they might perhaps inspire somebody.

The game uses a simple ‘area map’ and the movement of armies on it is determined by a deck of cards. The one below uses 54 in total, made up as follows (I’m sure you could tailor the cards easily to make them more ‘period suitable’ and perhaps cut the deck size)

Normal March(x4)
Forced March(x2)
Rest/Prepare(x2)
Rally(x2)
Ambush(x2)
Skirmish(x2)
Open battle(x4)
Tactical advantage(x2)
Large formation(x2)
Small formation(x2)
Motivation(x2)
Fatigued(x2)
Victory/Defeat(x2)
Rout(x2)
Halt(x2)
Retreat(x2)
Morale increase/drop(x2)
Recruit/desert(x2)
Weather Effect(x1)
Terrain effect(x2)
Supply lines(x2)
Battle Cry(x1)
Love(x1)
Anger(x1)
Fear(x1)
Shame(x1)
Wild Card(x4)

Basically you just get dealt about 5-20 cards a turn (in multiples of five, depending on how good your general is) and then play them each turn to decide what you do. You need to propose an action, a result, and give three reasons why. For Example:

Luftberg gets ten cards and decides it will:
Action: make a FORCED MARCH into an adjacent province containing an enemy force.
Result: it will then AMBUSH the enemy, catching him by surprise. This will succeed because…
Reason 1: the enemy will have a MORALE DROP when caught unexpectedly,
Reason 2: Some rough terrain on the border will have a TERRAIN EFFECT and conceal the Luftberg approach,
Reason 3: the troops will be eager to attack as they feel ANGER against the enemy who have invaded their home province.

The proposal is weighed up for plausibility, and then a dice is rolled to decide if it succeeds. A plan with poor reasons should only succeed on a long-shot roll of 6, while an undemanding and straightforward scheme could succeed on a 2+ (it’s a good idea to make a 1 always a failure, however good the plan, to keep an element of chance.) If it succeeds it gives a good basis for a tabletop combat scenario, such as the above example which could be done with combat modifiers, concealed deployment by the attackers, etc. etc.

The rules initially put me off as they needed an umpire to judge the proposals, but it seems like a good advantage for something like this solo blog project, where the narrative is as important as the actual campaign and characters. It also seems good for 18th Century stuff, where you tend to have only a few big armies on the move, and the cards can easily be tailored to suit particular features.