Aschenbach on the march

Feldmarshall Gerdt von Krumper has had enough of the Luftberg army. Since arriving in the province of Spitzplatz at the head of the Aschenbach army, he has daringly crossed the Spitzwasser, defeated the enemy force at Passditz with a textbook oblique flanking attack, and taken the capital city of Spitzburg. Since then, things have fallen away. Rather than admit they are beaten and quietly withdraw, the whitecoats managed to blunt his pursuit and even wounded the Graf von Kleintrink, charismatic head of the cavalry. Since then it’s been nothing but inglorious digging, and each army unable to do anything but knock heads and cause losses. Time to break free of the stalemate, now the latest assault has been repelled and the enemy have revealed they are still in their works in strength, not detatching troops off to other regions.

The only option is to outflank to the south, and avoid all those fortified points. The Luftberg cavalry is all over the countryside, especially those disgraceful irregular hussars of theirs who always run from a proper fight. Such a move wouldn’t be able to go unnoticed so tactical surprise is impossible, but the pitched battle that resulted would at least be in the open field and not behind fortifications.

Leaving only his Fusiliers regiment behind to form a screen in the defences, Von Krumper plans to shift his entire army round the flank and offer battle, possibly to decide the campaign then and there.

Storm the Redoubt!

With a blast of early-morning cannon fire, the redoubt troops are awoken. But this is no harrassing fire - something's up!

Sure enough, the Luftberg infantry comes streaming forward!

A little surprise awaits however, courtesy of our busy defenders - a line of Cheveaux-de-Frise!

The first-wave tear their way through, as the defenders pour on musketry-fire. On the left, the supporting infantry regiment of Negrelli turns and wheels round, seeking to turn the enemy flank.

The grenadiers go in, but badly weakened!

The infernal point-blank firefight takes it's toll, but the attackers suffer most. The grenadiers are destroyed, but the support regiment of Von Trapp crashes in, like a wave onto the rocks.
Blooded, the left-hand regiment backs off and Negrelli wheels for the flank...
"Fire! Aha, now the gaiter's on the other foot, no?"
The von Trapp regiment flees too, and so the defenders swing out of their defences to finish the assault off.
It goes badly! Suddenly out of their defences, the Luftberg fire feels a little more galling - to say nothing of turning their flank out and exposing it to the Luftberg supporting cannons, who send roundshot bounding down the line.
Everybody left pitches in, and the redoubt is a mass of troops chaotically striking out at anybody within reach - surely such hot work cannot be stood for long?
It cannot! With the outcome balancing on the razor's edge at points, the troops of Negrelli finally fall back, fighting as they go - what a heroic show!
The Bluecoats can keep their worthless redoubt, and half of their strength will never see another day!
In fact, maybe a bit more than half - here's a few parting shots for you!