Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: DintheDin on April 24, 2019, 07:43:59 PM
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This battle took place when a French force met an equal force of Hessian infantry and Hanoverian cavalry at the village of Georgsdorf.
If you ask me where this village is, I can tell you that it has taken its name from St. Georg's monastery nearby and that during the whole battle both combatants respected the sanctity of this place.
Besides this, it was a fiction battle, wanting to introduce my friend George to the intricacies of the Honours of War ruleset.
A simple scenario may lead to an interesting battle and a very simple scenario it was.
The players had equal forces, as follows:
Elite Infantry Brigade
4xelite infantry battalions (Superior)
1xlight artillery
2nd Infantry Brigade
3xInfantry battalions
1xlight infantry
1xlight artillery
Cavalry Brigade
1xelite cavalry regiment (superior)
3xcavalry regiments
Skirmishing cavalry, covering flank
(Independent)
1xlight cavalry
Reserve Artillery
(Independent)
1xmedium artillery
Break at 9
Below:
The table seen from the French and the Allied side
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Trying to keep an introductory game less complex possible, I proposed a symmetrical setup, brigades facing their counterparts.
We diced for one brigadier to be Dashing, both our cavalry brigades received this advantage.
George took the Hessian-Hanoverian force and he was given +1 movement and +1 fire initiative bonus.
Additionally, the French had to lose half a move to cross the Georgsbach stream.
Below:
The French Cavalry brigade,
the Grenadier brigade (elites),
the 2nd Infantry Brigade and the Artillery Reserve
and the mounted Chasseurs de Fischer light cavalry
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The initial position of the Allied forces:
Hessian hussars and the 2nd Infantry brigade
Hessian Guard Brigade and artillery reserve
Hanoverian Cavalry Brigade
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First move
Hessian Guard Brigade in fine parade style move to capture Georgsdorf
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French Cavalry and Grenadier Brigades moving forward
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The Hessians brought a 6 and took advantage of a double move to capture the village
The opposing cavalries ready to charge each other!
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Starts an escalating firefight around the village
The French batteries concentrate their fire against Georgsdorf
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French cavalry charge and Hanoverian countercharge!
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The situation at my left:
Chasseurs de Fischer skirmish with Hessian militia light infantry.
Here came DocVag who offered valuable advice to George. The Hessians concentrate their artillery against my 2nd Infantry Brigade
My first loss: Battalion Aquitaine, being in an exposed position, got 5 hits from Hessian artillery canister and was annihilated.
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The cavalry fight:
First photo
The two superior cavalry regiments had already fought, received four hits each and have retreated to reform.
My rightmost cavalry was a bit luckier at first, inflicted 4 hits to their opponents and got 3.
Second photo
The Hanoverian cavalry retreated through its second line, but my own cavalry brought a 5 and was obliged to follow up, charging the second line of the Hanoverians. They were fresher, received only one more hit, but my own cavalry accumulated 6 hits, one more than enough to be out of the game.
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Firefight on my left flank
The mounted Chasseurs de Fischer, initially were masters of the hill overlooking the Hessian right, but George turned an infantry battalion to flank fire at them and they had to retreat. Now, saddened, are looking at the hill, its heights occupied by Hanoverian hussars.
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French Grenadiers de France attack the village, get 4 hits and fall back to reform.
The defenders of the village are weakened.
A French battalion of converged grenadiers is renewing the attack against the village
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Now, it is time for the second cavalry lines to clash.
After two rounds, all opponents get 4 hits and fall back to reform.
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At the right side of Georgsdorf, Grenadiers Royaux charge Leib Regiment Wutginau
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At my right the firefight continues, my 2nd Line Infantry Brigade having slightly the upper hand
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The situation around the village, seen from the Hessian side
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My 2nd Line Infantry Brigade marks some success: The Hessian light troops are sent reeling back with four hits to reform and another Hessian battalion is annihilated.
But not for long: Battalion Champagne accumulates five hits from Hessian canister and goes to the box
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Nice looking armies. Seems like a fun game.
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Two of my batteries try to silence this murderous Hessian artillery causing havoc at my 2nd Infantry Brigade with flanking canister.
The French converged grenadiers finally manage to exterminate the village defenders and take Georgsdorf.
But my Grenadiers Royaux, although they manage to make Leib Regiment Wutginau retreat with 4 hits, receive 5 hits and are gone!
The two battalions Grenadiers de France are temporarily out of action, reforming. I send a light battery to assist my cavalry.
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Nice looking armies. Seems like a fun game.
Thank you! The battle has some more interesting moments!
(Second part to follow about this time tomorrow)
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I anxiously await the next installment!
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Glad to see you dropping by!
It's a bit late now and tomorrow I have to go to work, my last working day for this week as we have Easter on Sunday
Tomorrow evening I'll have ample time to end the report!
Stay tuned!
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Second Part:
Nailbiting moments!
Look at the Hanoverian cavalry! No regiment lost, but I sent them all reforming! They cannot move for the moment and my C-in-C had been near my two cavalry regiments left, reducing their hits, helping them recover! My light battery causes one more hit to the leftmost Hanoverian cavalry, sending it back further, taking with it the second line cavalry, they still have to reform one more round!
Next round, movement initiative, the French move first...
My cavalry is less than two moves distance from the enemy cavalry and all of them are unable to react!
If I manage to touch them they'll have to fight as hit in the flank or rear and most possibly the whole Hanoverian Cavalry brigade will be dispersed! I roll for movement... Aaargh!!! I bring a 1!
My move cannot reach them, a great opportunity to turn the game to my favor is lost!
At the end of the turn they'll retreat further and the bird flew away...
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I risk my left:
Hussars attack hussars
First melee round three hits each, second melee round and both are done for :-[
C'est la guerre, but not luck here, either!
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My grenadiers are temporarily masters of the village
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The Hessian elite regiments have numerical superiority around the village and George sends them to take it back.
Both attackers and defenders receive 4 hits, retreat to reform and for one moment the village is empty!
Next round, the Hessians gain the movement initiative and Georgsdorf falls in their hands again...
Having lost 6 units and George 3, we called it a day.
The French had no chance to win any more.
George played an excellent game for his first time.
DocVag offered him valuable advice, sending some occasional glimpses at the rulebook, correcting me in a couple of misinterpretations of mine. I thank them both!
All in all an enjoyable game!
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Looks great!
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Looks great!
Thank you!
I hope I did not overdid it with the pictures, I always like to dress my report with plenty of them :D
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Yet another SPLENDID 18th Century adventure! The miniatures & scenery are LOVELY. They bring back memories of my own early gaming experiences not as they were, but as I wish they were. Your games are a visual delight. I keep trying to spot Baron Maunchausen in the thick of things. VERY WELL DONE once more!
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Yet another SPLENDID 18th Century adventure! The miniatures & scenery are LOVELY. They bring back memories of my own early gaming experiences not as they were, but as I wish they were. Your games are a visual delight. I keep trying to spot Baron Maunchausen in the thick of things. VERY WELL DONE once more!
Thanks so much for your kind words!
I think that you will not find Baron Munchausen somewhere on that table, but he is always living hidden somewhere in our heart!
Cheers!
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A truly excellent report, and great looking game!!!!!
Terry
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Dashedly fine stuff, Sir!
I really must dig out my SYW... They haven't seen daylight since the 90s!
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A truly excellent report, and great looking game!!!!!
Terry
Thanks for your good words! I'll be posting a report from time to time.
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Dashedly fine stuff, Sir!
I really must dig out my SYW... They haven't seen daylight since the 90s!
I'm happy that also this period is intriguing you!
Let me believe that your SYW has the same painting standards with your ACW and Napoleonics.
Then this will be most wonderful news! I'll be very happy to see them in action! Cheers!
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I love the WAS & SYW and we did an EPIC 1740s campaign back in pre-internet days, communicating by post with the King of Prussia who lived in Bavaria and the King of Sweden, who kept getting deployed to Saudi Arabia with the RAF and the King of France who emigrated to New Zealand... It was a challenge... We used a modified version of 'Shako' for the battles.
Sadly our 'Tsarina' threw his teddies out of the cot and sold his army when he was beaten by the Swedes and then our 'Maria-Theresa' went and shuffled off this mortal coil all too soon, so that killed our campaign somewhat.
I've got a heap of Prussians in 15mm (enough to do all the big battles at 1:50 - mostly Old Glory, with a couple of different generations of Lancashire Games) and reasonably-sized Reichsarmee and Swedish armies. I used to paint all the flags in those days... Oh, to have a young man's eyes again...
I've also got the very large Austrian army that my late friend's wife gave to me after he passed. He printed all his flags using a 1st generation bubblejet-printer though, so they all need re-flagging. Everything is also gloss-varnished, so a bit rubbish for photography. I'll have to give them a mass matt spray-varnishing...
You've got me enthused now... Now where did I put Shako...? :D
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I feel so sorry hearing that you lost a good friend... We have lost also good wargaming friends, it is always a sad thing to remember joyful moments you have passed together. But life goes on. Period.
Ah! Those pre-internet days! We had attempted a similar campaign, but playing DBM with Abbasid Arabs, Byzantines, Khazars, Bulgars etc around 800 AD. When some of the players felt that were losing, they let the game down, so the campaign remained unfinished.
I had also devised an exciting ACW campaign with my 10mm minis in the Shenandoah valley, but it seems that Jackson mystified their opponents too soon ;), the Union players, after losing two or three initial battles denied to continue, although reinforcements were on the way and they always had numerical superiority.
After these experiences I have been reluctant to enter any campaign proposal from any other friend.
Did I really enthuse you? I feel great!!! I'll be extremely glad to see your armies!
As I am in holidays now (this Sunday Orthodox Easter), I promise to post a more intriguing SYW scenario, as soon as possible!
Cheers!
Dinos
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In order to give a bigger boost to your enthusiasm, please have a look at our Fontenoy game here
http://honoursofwar.com/thread/623/fontenoy-1745-dindin
An other SYW and WAS pics of our armies at Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142494696@N04/albums
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Losing is all part of the fun, as far as I'm concerned! Which is a good job really, or I'd have packed in the hobby 30 years ago... I don't think I've posted a single victory on my blog yet in 12 months! lol
As I always told my Minions: "It doesn't matter if we're rubbish, just as long as we're funny!" Ironically, the little sods kept being the best at everything AND funny... ;)
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In order to give a bigger boost to your enthusiasm, please have a look at our Fontenoy game here
http://honoursofwar.com/thread/623/fontenoy-1745-dindin
An other SYW and WAS pics of our armies at Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142494696@N04/albums
The bloody work computer is blocking the photos, so I'll check that out when I get home tomorrow morning! :)
I'm stuck on night shifts all this weekend (painting 15mm Cold War Canadians and 10mm Rebs, so it's not all bad), but will dig out my SYW when I come off shift next week.
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Losing is part of the fun!
I completely agree.
I also use to post in relevant forums my chess losses, especially if I had fought bravely :D
What matters is not the end, what matters is the trip itself.
I strongly hope that you'll be able to see the photos, I'm sure you'll enjoy them!
Good luck to your projects, your 10mm ACW thread is great!
Cheers!
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Heyhey,
Sorry for the late reply! Thanks for the heads up and for sharing this great battle report. It looks magnificent. Seems like the Honours of War rules work well for you. I really like the look of your gaming table too. Great colour and texture. Speaking of which - haven't seen this kind of mat used for fields before (the bathroom floor kind?). Looks very good though.
So did George enjoy the game and when will you play again? :D
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Heyhey,
Sorry for the late reply! Thanks for the heads up and for sharing this great battle report. It looks magnificent. Seems like the Honours of War rules work well for you. I really like the look of your gaming table too. Great colour and texture. Speaking of which - haven't seen this kind of mat used for fields before (the bathroom floor kind?). Looks very good though.
So did George enjoy the game and when will you play again? :D
Hi Sigur!
It is always nice to see you dropping by!
Honours of War is a simple ruleset, yet it provides much enjoyment and feeling of the period!
I'm glad you liked the game.
The gaming table is a three 4'x2' pieces board made by a good chap in the club several years before.
Bathroom floor, indeed lol
For tomorrow we will play a colonial game, I don't know if George will be with us to play SYW for next week.
Eager to see another "Sigur goes South" game of yours! Cheers!
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Good to see you getting in so many great games!
Yeah, the next campaign game in our ACW campaign is already planned. :) First battle of 1863!
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This is excellent news!!!
The same gaming table, used for my ACW ruleset