Pre-battle map movement

I’ve always felt that perhaps I’m limiting the armies too much because of my restricted tabletop space. Head to head fighting is fine, but spectacular pre-battle manoeuvres in the style of Leuthen and Zorndorf is simply a no-no. So, for a while I was kicking around with a random generator I’d put together on Excel – pretty straightforward, but I thought a little pre-battle movement would be worth it.

Anyway, this was greatly helped for the upcoming battle at Flussburg when I joined the Old School Wargaming yahoo group and discovered the file ‘CoWar’ which is available there, and generates nice little random hex-maps. I don’t think I’ve quite got the hang of it, but I was able to quickly print out one for the approach to Flussburg. The armies were represented with some old 2mm figures I had available (even in the appropriate blue and while colours!) I’ve not developed any system much beyond some nominal movement rates for infantry and cavalry, improved or worsened by roads and terrain.

The map and movements of each force (the fortress of Flussburg has simply been drawn on the map)

General van der Dijk was deployed in some trenches around the city, but began to back away as the larger Aschenbach force approached and threatened to roll up his line. I’d weighed him down with some appropriate baggage from the siege, and this slowed him from a full escape. He did however manage to reach a hilly area, and get a stream mostly between him and the pursuing bluecoat infantry. Perhaps he will indeed manage to put up a spirited defence, and even get some lucky dice rolls in against some good-quality enemy units.

Deployment for the battle of Flussburg

Preparations for battle

As another battle is no doubt in the offing, it’s probably wise to take stock of the strategic situation. The Feldmarschall von Krumper has led his (surviving) loyal Aschenbachers southwards, which was probably a good move for him. Fighting a battle outside the capital of Flussburg would have likely seen him meet with disaster, and ended the campaign. Moving south and closer to his supply depot also rendered the efforts of the Luftberg hussars quite fruitless, as they could no longer raid his supply carts as they trundled along a single viable road. As the Luftberg army devoted several weeks to marching on Flussburg and starting it’s siege, the delay gave von Krumper some time to ponder his next move without a pursuit on his back.

Sitting tight in the central southern region, von Krumper dug in and created a good defensive position for himself, one decent march away from the bridges across the Rhine. Cutting supply lines was, by this point, the only decent way of causing attrition losses to either side. Aschenbach was always poor at raiding, but now Luftberg’s armies are significantly degraded at it – virtually all of their losses in horses have been taken out of the poor hussars, so remounts could keep the battlefield cavalry at top strength.

As the siege dragged on, the isolated detatchment under General van der Dijk became more and more of a tempting target. Not able to quickly move his infantry, von Krumper decided on a raiding force consisting of the Aschenbach army’s cavalry – under General von Kleintrink – to hit them out of the blue. I initially intended this to be a straightforward cavalry skirmish battle, but the remaining Luftberg hussars proved to be so weak that it would have been impossibly one-sided. Using the M&R campaign rules to resolve minor skirmishes, the remaining hussars were scattered (van der Dijk rolled to see what his fate was, and managed to escape – curses!)

The Luftberg army has so far remained in one big formation, but it looks that will now have to change. Sitting tight in one mass at Flussburg is risky, as the river crossings would then be undefended and disastrous losses would follow as the Aschenbach army cut the supply lines. Likewise, abandoning the siege is impossible at this point as the campaign is half-over, so breaking it off and resuming later would probably be too late to secure the capital. The best option (or rather, the least-bad option) is to move the main army back to a central position and wait, leaving as small a force as possible to continue the siege. This lets the Luftberg army play to it’s main strength, which is that it can be on the defensive. Although it’s their invasion they are now strategically in a defensive posture. They have bagged a field victory (one of three objectives,) hold the river crossings (two of three objectives,) and will soon have the besieged capital in their hands (three of three objectives – handing them a major victory!)

Aschenbach have indeed got to do all the running now. With this, von Krumper has now hit upon an idea – or rather, I was reminded of this as I flipped through the rulebook one evening – a forced march. Quickly perceiving the siege was coming to an end as an attempted assault failed, von Krumper marched his men to exhaustion to descend on the besieging force, catching it before it could disengage. The battle at Flussburg is about to begin…

Mini Miniatures

I've also found time to advance my 6mm painting, although I've found myself increasingly drawn back to my 15mm figures recently. I was intending to do all the regiments separately as little mini-projects, until I realised that would take a ridiculous amount of time. So, as you'll see from the photos, I've decided to do the lot in a single batch.

They look pretty impressive in a large group, I have to say...


Most are at the 'undercoat and basecoat' stage, but I did manage to completely finish and varnish one other regiment before I adopted the mass approach. Here's one of the grenadier regiments, in some close-ups.

They're not based yet, so remain still glued to their sticks.

Here's a better view of them from behind, showing the cloth rears of their mitre hats, plus equipment satchels etc.

The painting uniform scheme, incidentally, is for IR6 - Frederick's Grenadier Garde.

A close-up of some troops and the command party. I've decided against mounted officers and even flags for the grenadiers. Most were converged battalions made from companies drawn off several regiments, so the manufacturer (Baccus) hasn't modelled a colour-party as per the line regiments.

Busy at the table

I've been buffing up some of my 15mm units, as the campaign develops. The units were painted some time ago, and as all my painting energies are currently on 6mm (details to follow on another post) I'm keeping the 15mm work to a minimum. However, I'm planning to do up some regimental flags, etc. over the next while. Above is Schrodinger's KR2 regiment, now with it's blue coat facings and even a small blue cockade in their tricornes.

Other uniform changes of note are the Aschenbach Foot Guards IR1, which (following the switch to 8-man units prior to Vogelhof) are now represented by grenadier figures rather than tricorne-wearing regular musketeers. Not that the promotion did them much good though, at Vogelhof.

I'll post shortly on my 6mm progress, on a slight refinement I'm making to the tabletop battles - one surely seems imminent - and one post giving a general commentary on how the campaign is developing.

Latest news for Luftberg

The duchy of Zaub is getting chewed over yet further, with the campaign moving into early june and the roughly half-way mark. The Elector von Luftberg has marched his army up the road from the field of Vogelhof (the scene of his recent triumph) and arrived at the capital Flussburg. Finding the gates shut, the garrison hostile, and polite inducements to surrender rebuffed, there was no option but to settle down and get digging.

The rival Aschenbach army had taken off southwards to recuperate, leaving most officers in the army to sit idle in their tents while their men dug parallel trenches around the walls and the artillery set up their batteries. The fortifications are not especially formidable, and some patience should soon see results. In the meantime, some more time has to be killed. Regiments are off drilling, and the Elector decided to hand out some awards to raise morale.

One regiment that distinguished itself at Vogelhof was Schrodinger's Cuirassiers (KR2), who routed a regiment of Aschenbach dragoons and charged into the Vogelwasser stream to destroy the enemy's foot guards regiment. Such a triumph deserves commemoration, and so approval has been given to alter the regiment's uniform and have blue coat facings - a fitting reminder to the troopers of their success in the water, thus inspiring them to emulate this bravery at a later date.

Sadly, such cheerful tidings were offset by bad news from the south. The General van der Dijk sent news the Aschenbach army had set up a fortified camp to the south of the main road, within easy striking distance of both the siege lines around the capital and the bridge over the Rhine. This was serious, and had the elector preparing orders to leave a healthy detachment to prosecute the siege while the bulk of the army moved south to counter this menace.

Things rapidly worsened with an unexpected arrival at the camp a few days later: General van der Dijk himself, uniform splattered with mud, and some awkward explanations of how his command had been wiped out. It seems that the two hussar regiments he had set out with had been depleted greatly by losses, desertion and raiding, only for the cavalry of the Aschenbach army to then appear under the devious Erich von Kleintrink and rout his sorry remainder. The general protested he had only just escaped with his life, which seemed to just buy him a reprieve. Told to take over the unglamorous digging works of the siege, the Elector ordered up the majority of the army for himself and marched southwards to conclude his campaign.

Might And Reason

A slight digression here, as I've been asked now and again in comments about the rules I've been using - Might & Reason. I held off for my first try, but now with a second battle completed, I think I can at least list my thoughts about the rules' good and bad points. Here then, in no particular order, are the things that instantly occur:

M&R Positive Things

• Command inertia - the rules are good (especially if you have recurring characters) for modelling individual commanders and their foibles. They also reflect that an army like the Austrians is slow to move and react, while the Prussians are fast and mobile. Each really does have to be handled differently, to avoid disaster.
• The rules thenselves are extremely slick and professional, full of nice touches such as army lists, campaign rules, pictures, and even little quotes to improve the period flavour. I know this is down to personal taste, but I like the fact that the rules are clearly being backed by somebody who actively enjoys the hobby. And of course, thanks to the internet, this means that you'll have a supporting website with updates, scenarios, etc.
  Slick – campaign, lists, etc.
• The rules are, at their heart, simple and straightforward. Distances are in basewidths, combat only requires a few dice rolls without consulting tables for results, and (in perhaps the ultimate test,) somebody like me who has been playing DBA games for ages didn't find it a struggle to suddenly handle extra complexity.
• It fundamentally 'works' in terms of playing out realistically. Infantry lines grind against each other, combats ebb and flow, and cavalry battles see-saw backwards and forwards.
  

M&R Negative Things

• Lots of dice seem to be needed, mostly D6 but also including a D4. I've built up quite a collection over time, but newcomers may find themselves running low.
• Command checks are constantly retaken to see if units become inactive, but rolling 2D6 for each command, each turn, could quickly become wearing in a large battle. The system gets good results, but other games model command breakdowns much more smoothly and with less fuss.
• The flow of play feels strange (perhaps through unfamiliarity at this stage). The usual rhythm of move-fire-combat, move-fire-combat doesn't happen, and is instead fire-move-combat-move-combat, fire move combat, move combat. Firing seems to happen less than combat, which can be frustrating to a 'shooty' army like the Prussians or British. The game uses a variable turn length (which is nice), but is also structured to have pulses within turns, and phases within pulses (or possibly the other way around). I have to use a flow-chart with a marker, just to keep track of who's move it is, and I don't think this'll change with familiarity.
• Organising is required. It's not like DBA, where you think "I'll have a quick battle". You need to roll for sub-commanders, organise commands, and generally put in some time with a bit of paper and a pencil before any clash. Less of an issue once you're set up for a campaign, though.
• Information - units work by strength points, so end up with labels for things like name, unit type, strength points, and possibly also their command in a big game. This means you'd better not want your tabletop covered in miniatures and nothing else - labels, markers, dice-stacks, - they're all appearing.

That's my initial off-the-top-of-the-head thoughts. I'd be interested to hear if anybody else out there has a set of M&R (or some other rules set) they've any thoughts about.

Cheers!

CWT

The further adventures of Gerdt von Krumper

Following his defeat, the Prinzregent von Krumper has been responding like any sensible general - locking himself away in the nearest requisitioned mansion, proclaiming the entire house of Krumper to be doomed, and passing listless days stretched out on a chaise-longue reading over-wrought French poetry. Still, after such necessary self-indulgence, it's time to pull himself together and look at the damage...

How does the campaign map shape up now? Well, there's no denying that the campaign has been (perhaps through inexperience) running at a rather ahistorical intensity (or perhaps not, and I'm just being naive.) Anyway, the fact is that after two months in this of the five-month campaign season, each side has been spectacularly depleted. From attrition, supply losses, desertion and battle casualties, the Aschenbach army has lost about half it's strength while the Luftberg army has lost about a third of it's.

After Vogelhof, the Luftberg army moved back onto the main road to Flussburg, and began closing on the capital. Von Krumper had regained his equilibrium by this point, and marched back to Flussburg, initially intending to fight it out for the city in a defensive battle. The Aschenbach army was a sorry sight for the residents of Flussburg - it had marched out in top condition barely two months earlier, now returned by the same road at half strength and with the enemy hot on it's heels. However, a further look at the army's dwindling strength decided Gerdt von Krumper against a heroic stand and he evaded the Luftberg army, swinging south. The army was too depleted to leave any units behind, so the local militias and garrison troops will have to stand the siege.

Von Krumper pondered letting von Kleintrink ride off with the cavalry to rout the enemy Hussar detatchment under general Van Der Dijk, but decided against it for the time being as they were already operating too far from their depots to last. The Aschenbach army headed southeast, occupying a central-southern position and re-establishing it's supply lines. The Luftberg army may be besieging the capital, but the Aschenbach army was now in striking range of both their supply lines over the river and their raiding detatchment in the west.

It's a clear sign of von Krumper's intention to keep the fight going, and presents the Elector von Luftberg with a few problems for his own response - of which more later...