Vive la Roi?

Today, we had another Seven Years War game. After recovering some honour against the Russians in the last game, it was the turn of Lawrence's Franco-Reichs army to face Frederick.

Things started badly for the Prussians, we got outscouted and were stuck on the defensive again. The allies were able to deploy in one of the table flank sectors.

My Prussians, forced to deploy in the centre sector.

Lawrence expanded beyond my left, with Cavalry, supported by infantry in the centre. 

 They had a conventional infantry centre.

 Phil commanded their left. He would have to negotiate the wood.

We randomly drew chits for the quality of our brigade commanders, amazingly, I once again drew 2 incompetents (the yellow D4s) 

 My right wing cavalry had a cautious, but competent commander.

 My left wing got a Brave, Competent commander, so I put Seydlitz there!

 The French - despite having generally average brigadiers, managed to throw only one order...

...for all three brigades! 

 A series of 1's also meant the troops got no orders in the first turn too!!!

 My Heavy gun joined...

...my medium guns ... 

...and managed to disorder the only French unit to advance, a heavy battery. 

My turn...and my entire infantry centre failed to move too! 

The right wing cavalry began to deploy out, however. 

My left wing horse, under Seydlitz, moved forward confidently. 

The Reichs regiment Beyreuth faced off with KR11. While the  Széchényi Hussars tried to take out my heavy gun.

 KR11 won, just, in the process... 

...chasing off the vaunted Austrian Hussars.

The Reichs cavalry reserve failed to charge in support of the retreating first line.

KR11 charged, once again only driving off their opponents.

The remnants of KR11 charged a third enemy cavalry line...

...but were destroyed, fighting gloriously!

The weakened Reichs cavalry were now faced by my second line Kuirassiers.

On the other flank, French light troops approached the wood in front of my Right wing.

With my right brigade of infantry still failing to move, I could not really contest their move.

Phil even got his guns into an enfilade position.

Phil's heavy cavalry moved up in support.






Meanwhile, in the centre, I had managed to advance a regiment, which easily brushed away the French heavy battery which was deploying.

The Reichs infantry advanced to engage them.

Soon, both sides infantry were engaged in a fierce fire fight.

On my right, my Hussars had driven off their French opposite numbers, but then ran into the Cuirassiers Du Roi! Amazingly, my Hussars held their heavy opponents and the melee degenerated into a confused mess.

I finally got my Frei Korps into the wood supported by IR6.

My Kuirassiers moved from behind my Hussars, so they could avoid being run into if the light cavalry routed.

My Prussian infantry started well, but the 2 incompetent brigadiers failed to keep the line in good order.

Even having Frederick nearby didn't help stop the rot.

In the wood, the light infantry destroyed each other, my Grenadier regiment was now in position to move through the wood.

Unfortunately, the Reichs infantry got a crashing volley in, which devastated my front line.

The two centre regiments retreated through their second line, disordering them.

My army, by no means destroyed, was severely disrupted by this disaster.

My left wing horse resented being forced to retreat at their moment of victory.

So, Frederick's birthday (24th January) celebrations will have to wait for another day!

Great game though, and its nice to see the Prussian cavalry performing well again!