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Saturday 7 April 2018

A 1762 game?

Today, we had a last 7YW game for the time being, just to play test the recent modifications. (The current version rules can be downloaded from this link )

Lawrence brought down his Austrians to face my Russians, in a sort of 'What if' game.

The terrain was 4 woods, 2 low hills and a marsh!

I just about won the die rolls determining the attacker, so got Phil as my co player. Naturally, the dice made Phil our Commander in Chief!

Lawrence got choice of side, so deployed between 2 woods...
Phil's infantry brigade, on the Russian left, had a Grenadier front line, and an average brigadier.
His cavalry deployed behind the line, 2 Cuirassier regiments backed by Horse Grenadiers, with, again, an average brigadier. 
 I had the 2 infantry brigade with 2 s on Phil's right, but was cursed with 2 incompetent brigadiers to command them.
I had planned to put a group of dismounted dragoons under my cavalry commander, but he was a Cavalry only commander, and would have been  incompetent had he commanded infantry too! He had plenty to command though, 2 Cuirassier regiments, a Dragoon and a Hussar regiment. He was an average Brigadier.
Opposite my Cavalry, Lawrence had 2 Austrian  Kuirassier regiments, backed by a Dragoon regiment, commanded by a competent brigadier.
His centre consisted of 3 brigades... 
...all of their brigadiers turned out to... 
...be Cautious! - his right brigade was composed of Grenadiers. 
 He, too, had a reserve cavalry brigade, with an average brigadier.
The Austrians deployed. 
 The Russians!
My cavalry moved first, trying to bypass the large marsh to engage the Austrian Kuirassiers. 
Phil, on the left, advanced his Grenadiers and artillery. 
My infantry stood, I did not trust their Incompetent commanders to hold things together. 
My cavalry began to deploy. 
With his infantry out of the way, Phil's cavalry began to filter behind them to the left wing. 
My Heavy gun fired when the Austrian horse came within range... 
Regiment Trauttmansdorff  lost a stand!
 My Serbski Hussars ran past the advancing Austrians!
 My other cavalry followed them...but more cautiously as I did not want to meet the Austrians disordered by the marsh!
The Austrian infantry left moved to cover their flank, as my Hussars approached.
Phil's Grenadiers came under fire as they approached the Austrian line. 
I had decided I needed to send my infantry forward to protect the Grenadiers right, immediately, I ran into difficulties keeping the lines ordered. 
The Austrian horse moving to engage my cavalry near the marsh, detached  their Dragoons to deal with my Hussars. 
 The Austrian reserve cavalry moved out from behind their infantry to engage Phil's cavalry wing. 
Phil's Grenadiers approached the Austrian line. 
The combined fire of their artillery and steady musketry tore great holes in the Russian ranks! 
The Russians supporting artillery was severely mauling the Austrian cavalry columns moving behind their infantry... 
...but the Grenadiers and their supporting infantry were soon retreating...
 ... from the solid Austrian line.  
 One of my incompetents led a regiment against the Austrian right, but they were cut to pieces like the Grenadiers.
They fell back through their supporting line. 
The brigadier doffed his hat to the Austrian infantry before trying to recover his command. 
Lawrence tried to deploy to fight my advancing Cuirassiers, I hastened them on to try and catch the Austrians as they deployed. 
On the other wing, Phil had advanced against the Austrian cavalry there, but his lead Cuirassier unit retreated when the Austrian charged! 
My other Incompetent led another regiment forward against the Austrian left. One battalion took damage from the vaunted Austrian guns.
They bravely soldiered on, though, and silenced one of the guns. 
Austrian Regiment Bretlach met and routed my lead Cuirassier regiment
...but was stopped by my second regiment, supported by the dismounted Dragoons. 
Phil's horse broke their Austrian opponents and chased them off.
 The other regiment, already weakened from artillery fire, now looked to be run down by Phil's Horse Grenadiers!
My infantry was suffering fighting the Austrian infantry left! 
 ...but my Cuirassiers finally beat Bretlach after a long and bloody fight...
 ...and chased them past the recovered Trauttmansdorff...neither side was able to attack, so the action here petered out.
 In the centre, the infantry lines had separated - the Austrian line had held.
Phil's horse had done the best, threatening to envelop the Austrian right. 
With both sides exhausted, we declared it an honorable draw.

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Cheers Ray! It was very frustrating battering our heads against the Austrian infantry, their die rolling was...phenomenal when it mattered!

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  2. Very entertaining report. Like the way the rules have battalions falling back.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks David! Once in action, the poor brigadiers have their work cut out trying to get battalions back in order,and back in line. This is where the competence of the brigadiers really matters, as poor ones frequently lose control of their units! Fun, but frustrating!

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