The New Luftberg Army

I’ve tried organising armies various times in the past, and not always successfully (usually down to the desire to cram as many miniatures into an army as I can.)  As a result, I thought I’d explain my thinking here and let people see what led me to the decision.

To summarize, Luftberg has a force of 11xRegular Infantry; 1xIrregular Infantry; 3xCuirassiers; 3xDragoons; 2xHussars and 3xArtillery batteries.  Most numerous is the infantey, so I considered them first.  The main aim for the brigades is for them to move independently on campaign, so they need to be plausible at putting up a decent fight individually.

The two accepted ‘rules’ that have evolved for Luftberg infantry commanders is that there should always be a reserve line behind the first to block breakthroughs; and second that close-range artillery support is a big advantage.  One to one, the Aschenbach infantry will outshoot them, but artillery is usually good for clipping a few Strength Points (SP’s) off each attacker once they’re in canister range, and victories aren’t cheap – Aschenbach may break through, but if reduced from a start of 7SP’s down to about 3 or 4SP’s, they’re usually not able to take on a second line of 6SP Luftberg infantry.

So, we want an infantry brigade to allow this.  After a bit of pondering, I decided I wanted four regiments per brigade so I could present a 2-regiment-wide double line (or if fighting alone the brigade could perhaps manage 3 regiments in front with one in reserve.)  Onto this force, I attached one of the artillery batteries so I would have some ‘5+ to hit’ canister dice getting rolled, as well as ‘6 to hit’ from the infantry. 

From numbers, I could get two full infantry brigades, plus a third of only three regiments.  One of these regiments was decided as the Pilsen combined grenadier unit, which I decided would give it a bit of extra ‘heft’ to make up for being short a regiment – also, it got the last artillery battery.

One brigade I wanted to form was an ‘Advance Guard’ unit, filled with wild irregulars who could be a fast-moving raiding group, pillaging it’s way through the enemy rear.  Croats were a guaranteed presence, as were some of the hussars.  I pondered having a unit of regular infantry included, to act as the nucleus (perhaps my jaunty Hungarian regiment,) but I decided against it in the end.  If the advance guard is going to be irregular, it needs to be all-out or not at all.  I assigned both hussar regiments at the end.  The force will be pretty poor on the tabletop in the open, but should prove a more tangly prospect in the rough, and a positive danger if it fights in combination with another regular brigade. 

Last comes the cavalry, three each of Cuirassiers and Dragoons.  I wanted two cavalry commands to put one on each wing in a major battle, where I typically split the difference between a heavier ‘attacking’ force (2 Cuir, 1 Dragoon) and a lighter ‘defending’ force (1 Cuir, 2 Dragoon.)  However, here I finally decided against it. 

Aschenbach cavalry units are typically 1SP stronger in combat than their Luftberg opposite numbers, and so consistently get outclassed.  Pairing off just plays this game, so I decided to organise the cavalry by type into a Cuirassier brigade and a Dragoon brigade.  The Dragoons will always be the underdogs (although far from a pushover) but now the Cuirassier brigade might just plausibly outpunch it’s opposite number and be able to swing a battle.

So, that’s my new Luftberg arrangement of six commands – two Infantry Brigades, a Guards Brigade, an Advance Guard, a Cuirassier Brigade and a Dragoon Brigade.  Hopefully my thinking stands up to analysis, but as ever – the thoughts of others are welcome!