The Combat of Dva Mosta

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017]

I had been hoping to round off this month's posts with a final Chain of Command (CoC) AAR wrapping up the Caesar's Camp campaign.  Unfortunately, John, my opponent, has had to postpone the final showdown while he fights off a bout of 'the Lurgy'.  

So instead, I've dug out, what I think is the last of the pieces I wrote for the short-lived Wargamer's Notes Quarterly (an e-magazine), and here it is from back in 2017:

The Combat of Dva Mosta

Ignoring parental warnings about the dangers of meeting up with ‘e-friends’ I took the plunge and invited a fellow Spencer Smith Miniatures (SSMs) fancier over for a game with my collection.  Iain and I had met up online and corresponded courtesy of Henry Hyde after I spotted Iain’s figures in an issue of Miniature Wargames and asked Henry (the editor) to pass on my compliments.   

With a game looming, I cast about for a table-top teaser not wanting to present Iain (of Gateway Alliance and General E Pickled fame) with a ‘fair fight’.  Scrabbling through my bookshelves I came across my copy of Bruce Quarrie’s Napoleonic Wargaming.  

Like many rules this contains a short description of a game to illustrate the rules ‘in action’, albeit the game is not played to a conclusion.  I had always thought that the scenario was unbalanced, which was just what I was looking for.  Perhaps I should explain my philosophy: one, war is seldom fair, so why should wargames be any different; and two, imbalanced games can help keep the level of competitiveness in check, not a bad thing with an untried opponent.  Surprisingly, Iain, when offered the choice, opted for the challenge of trying to cross the river crossing; an impulsive act of bravado that was later regretted.

The Scenario: involves a Russian force attempting to cross a river in the face of strong French opposition posted behind the two bridges from which this battle takes its name.  The book does not list the orders of battle so, going from the various photos, like that below, I substituted CHARGE units (infantry battalions, light companies, cavalry squadrons and artillery batteries) for the units in the book. 

Order of Battle (OOB): owing to the, MUCH, larger unit sizes in CHARGE this resulted in fair sized game involving about two thirds of my infantry and artillery and a third of my cavalry.   The OOBs are as follows.

Russian – General E Mal'chik 

1. 3 sqn.s Rostovski Dragoons (30 fig.s)

2. 1 sqn. Grouzinski Hussars (10 fig.s)

3. Novyy Rossiya Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

4. Shveytsarskiyh Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

5. 1st Bavarskiy Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

6. 2nd Bavarskiy Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

7. Khorvat Pandour coy. (15 fig.s)

8. Zheltyy Freikorps coy. (15 fig.s)

9. 2 Artillery batteries, (4 x 6 pdrs)

Mal'chik and the 2nd Bavarskiy Inf. Regt.

French – Comte de Grasse

A. 1 sqn. Gendarmerie du Roi (16 fig.s)

B. 3 sqn.s Condé Cuirassiers (30 fig.s)

C. 1 sqn. Berry Horse (10 fig.s)

D. Converged Grenadier Bn. (60 fig.s)

E. D’Eu Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

F. Soissonnais Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

G. Los Rios Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

H. 2 coy.s Arquebusiers de Grassin (30 fig.s)

I. 2 Artillery batteries, (4 x 6 pdrs)

The French force has an edge in the quality of their cavalry and a slight numerical advantage from the large Gendarmerie squadron.  As the Russians have to force a river crossing in the face of such odds, I upgraded the morale (but not firepower) of all their infantry to ‘grenadier’ status, i.e. units become ‘defeated’ when reduced below third-strength (as opposed to below half-strength).

Deployment (see map): was based on starting positions from the original game, or at least as far as they could be inferred from the available photographs. 

The units on the map are labelled as per the orders of battle and the location of the opposing generals is shown by a star.  As can be seen from the map (which I think is more squashed toward the right than it was in the game), the French (mostly Austrian figures) under de Grasse heavily favoured their right while General Mal’chik had more evenly spread his Russians between the two bridges.  Here's the reality (back in the day before I got my cabin).

The Game: started with the Russians pouring across the bridges and ford as rapidly as possible while the French advanced to deny them space to deploy. 

While most of the opening moves were aggressive, an element of caution generated some confusion, and curses, amongst one company of Grassins.  Their orders were to advance to the river to bring the enemy artillery under effective fire however, they were also tasked to maintain a safe distance from any enemy cavalry.  Like some bizarre form of the game ‘Twister’, these conflicting requirements saw the Grassins squashed like the jam in a Russian cavalry sandwich.  

Mal’chik’s amused grin was soon wiped from his face as both sides artillery fired their opening rounds.  The Russian fire was largely ineffective but the French dismounted a gun with their first shot.

The inevitable charge declaration by the Grouzinski Hussars against the Grassins saw the Arquebusiers dismayed to find their ‘safe distance’ ineffective against cavalry that can move 30” (having none, the French had overlooked the fact the Russians had Light cavalry)!  

Charge declarations were rounded off with the leading squadron of Condé Cuirassiers charging the Rostovski Dragoons as they emerged from the ford.  Nearby, the Novvy Rossiya infantry having crossed the western bridge reformed for the inevitable confrontation with the white-coated Los Rios infantry awaiting them on the ridge ahead.  With the artillery supporting the Austrian infantry already inflicting losses it was clear the Novvy Rossiya were in for a rough time.

The Condé Cuirassiers attack on the Rostovski Dragoons proved indecisive, a second round of combat being required to determine the victor.  The Languedoc Dragoons did better, thrashing the Rostovski squadron that had crossed the eastern bridge.  To complete a trio of unexpected results, the Arquebusiers de Grassin rolled a splendid set of dice to hold the Grouzinski Hussars to a draw despite odds of two to one!  A further die roll then forced the hussars to rally back and reconsider their options[1].  The end result of all these shenanigans can be seen in the photo below of the table after two moves, with Mal’chik frantically scribbling orders for turn three.

The game continued with the Russian left and French right glowering at each other across the eastern bridge, but neither prepared to risk crossing under fire.  On the Russian right, the advancing Novyy Rossiya took heavy losses from artillery fire while the Shveytsarskiyh Regiment crossed to form up behind them in support. 

Mal’chik, disinclined to force the eastern bridge, decided to double-down on the western crossing and ordered the 2nd Bavarskiy infantry across to reinforce his right flank (they can be seen in the distance below marching from right to left).  

In the centre, the Grassins rallied in place after unfairly escaping the attentions of the Russian hussars and the Languedoc Dragoons rallied back in readiness to charge again.  The Condé Cuirassiers and Rostovski Dragoons both rallied back after another drawn mêlée opening the way for their supporting squadrons to get to grips with each other.  The resulting combat between these squadrons was overshadowed by the bloodbath resulting from the Russian infantry advancing to exchange volleys with the Los Rios regiment on the ridge.  

This resolved the infantry contest on the western ridge as both sides went understrength[2] and were consequently forced to retire for two turns.  This result reflected more credit on Mal’chik than de Grasse as the latter had failed to hold his nerve and withdrawn his artillery from the ridge in response to an imagined threat.   

Mal’chik also managed another bloody draw in the nearby cavalry mêlée thanks to an adroit move allowing the Russian infantry to assist their dragoons with a timely salvo.  The 3rd squadron of the Condé cuirassier promptly charged the infantry responsible and wreaked a terrible revenge courtesy of some exceptional combat dice.

There was now lull in the action as both sides rallied in western half of the field and brought over more troops from the east.  These manoeuvres effectively saw the Russians abandon any attempt to cross the eastern bridge as the last of their infantry marched off to reinforce the western bridgehead, here being held by eth recently arrived 2nd Bavarskiy infantry.  

As the strengthened Russian right flank prepared for another attack Mal’chik realised that the French had responded in kind.  Surveying the field, he realised he was facing odds of two to three in infantry, two to one in artillery, and while nearly at parity in cavalry his surviving dragoons were close to their defeat threshold while the elite French Gendarmerie were as yet untouched.  

Against these odds and with his army dangerously close to its break-point (50% losses) Mal’chik conceded and yielded the field to de Grasse.

The Victorious Comte de Grasse

Digging out this old account has made me realise my SSMs don't get much play these days; I really must squeeze in some more games.

Notes:

[1.]  This was mistake: cavalry only dice to determine if a second of mêlée is allowed when fighting cavalry.

[2.]  The CHARGE rules are exceptionally bloody, and I do now use a modified set which, while still pretty deadly, means units do hang around a bit longer.

Conington Contraband

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2014!]

The shocking age of this article explains the appalling photographs and the rather basic terrain on show with chalk roads and outlines to the woods.

This Table-top Teaser was designed give my new scratch-built houses a baptism of fire under Brig. Young’s CHARGE! rules.  It was also an experiment on adding in the roll-of-shot stick and templates for canister and howitzer shells from C S Grant’s ‘The Wargame’. 

The Scenario: involves a government force dispatched by the Elector to locate and seize contraband defended by a rebel militia supported by a small expeditionary force from a foreign, ‘francophone’, power.  Spies in the service of the Elector have reported that the rebel war-chest and records have been moved to Conington; their capture would deny the rebellion badly needed funds and provide the Electoral forces with an intelligence wind-fall.  Scouting patrols indicate the location is not well guarded and a rapid strike by a small force could get in and out before the main rebel army could respond.   To this end the Elector commanded Oberst Franz Schmidt to take a brigade of infantry, with attached cavalry and artillery, and seize any, and all, contraband in Conington, but with strict orders to return to camp before nightfall (i.e. a time limit of 15 moves within which to find the contraband – the return march is not played).  The contraband is in Conington but its precise location is unknown, therefore each house must be entered and searched.   To search a house, after any enemy have been ejected, requires 4 figures and takes a full turn.  A D6 is thrown to determine if the contraband is found; a ’6’ is required for success in the first house searched and the score reduces by one for each subsequent house searched (a house can only be searched once).  Because there are only five houses in Conington (see map below) there is a small chance that it will never be found; in which case, it was either never there or was conveyed to safety by the rebels.   

Oberst Schmidt’s brigade (organised for CHARGE!) can deploy anywhere within the area marked ‘A’ on the map (8x5 ft) and takes the first move and consists of:

• 4 Coy.s Arberg Inf. Regt. (80 fig.s)
• 4 Coy.s Diesbach Inf. Regt. (80 fig.s)
• 2 Sqn.s Hohenzollern Dragoons (20 fig.s)
• 1 Artillery btty, (2 x 6 pdrs; 1 x 5” howitzer)

The rebel force, under Chevalier Pierre Réverie, may deploy anywhere in or north of the southernmost woods and consists of:

• 2 Coy.s of Rebel Militia (33 fig.s)
• 2 Coy.s of French Militia (33 fig.s)
• 2 Coy.s Grassins Light Inf. (33 fig.s)
• ½ Sqn. Fischer Chasseurs Cav. (5 fig.s)
• 1 Foreign Cannon (6 pdr)

The rebel force is actually weaker than the Electoral forces believe as one of the foot companies only exists in their imagination.  The rebel player secretly determines which company is only a decoy by rolling a D6: 1= Rebel Militia; 2-3 = French Militia; 4-6 = Grassins.   The decoy unit is deployed like any other but is removed once it would be visible to Electoral troops. 

Special rules: the rebel militia are allowed to skirmish like light troops but at half effect, i.e. only every second figure can fire.  Also, on each turn the rebels throw a D6 and if a ‘6’ is rolled any dead rebel militia figures may enter as a new unit through one of the zones labelled ‘X’ on the map.  To re-enter the militia casualties must include an officer or NCO to lead them.

The Game: started with rebel militia occupying the farmhouse at Dawes Lot and the wood immediately south of it (1 on map) while the wood to the north held a Grassins company (2).  The Fischer chasseurs waited further north (3) with the Grassins in the wood behind them (4).  The Chevalier posted the French militia companies in the town of Conington (no doubt to show off my new houses)...

...and set up his artillery piece to fire down the road approaching Conington (5).

The Chevalier's deployment was bold, but risky, as the Grassins in the wood by Prescott House (2) were only a decoy leaving the approach through woods to west of the Conington road unguarded.  However, the gamble paid off as the Electoral forces massed their forces along the road and against the militia in and around Dawes Lot (see photo, NB: house shell has been placed alongside the internal ruins to show the garrison within).  

To cut, what could be, a very long story short, the Electoral forces after taking Dawes Lot realised advancing on such a narrow front would take too long. Instead, orders were issued to advance on a wide front through woods on both sides of the road to exploit their superior numbers and swamp the defenders.  

In the preceding photo, the furthest wood on the left can now be seen to be occupied by local militia.  The approach on a wide front by Herr Oberst's men meant that they had clocked that the rumour of Grassins in the that wood was just that, a rumour, as the figures were removed.  The rebels were then lucky enough to roll a '6' and 'resurrect' the militia lost at Dawes Lot to oppose this line of approach.  

The change in approach by the Electoral troops proved the turning point as each line of defence was overwhelmed in turn.  Despite this, time was running short when the Electoral troops reached Conington and started storming the houses in search of contraband.  As the fifteenth move arrived a fourth house had just been seized but the church remained untaken (again house 'shells' have been placed next to their internal 'ruin' in the photo).  

Then, as the recall was sounded, Schmidt heaved a sigh of relief as the last house search ‘located’ the contraband.  Success had been snatched from the jaws of failure and the lack of progress in the early turns would go unnoticed in the warm glow of victory.

The game turned out to be a nail-biter and the houses proved functional and looked the part.  The artillery experiment was not a success, as we both found the devices too unwieldy despite the entertainment afforded by a randomised howitzer shell landing on friendly troops.  

PS: I never took any photos of the round shot bounce stick during the game, but it can be seen in the final photo of an earlier post entitled 'Tool Time'.  It is the stick at the top of the photo and alongside it can be seen the die with faces coloured to match the white, yellow and green bounce zones that determines where casualties will be inflicted.

Stringbags vs Bismarck - a Fletcher-Pratt Game

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017.]

Again, a bit of ill-health has killed my painting mojo, meaning that topping up the Old-School 25mm Ancients has temporarily come to a halt.  So, taking a leaf from last time I thought I'd knock up a quick post on the next fight in the Bismarck campaign; Ark Royal's strike.  

Unfortunately for this game I was captaining Bismarck and forgot to take photos so I only have a few small thumbnail images that one of the Swordfish players took on their phone.  

As I didn't like the rules for aircraft in Fletcher-Pratt (F-P) I made up my own.  First was the Swordfish movement, the options being shown in the grey box at the top of the play-sheet.

The planes move three times each turn and write their orders by drawing three arrows picked from the options at the top of the sheet.  Essentially, each move segment is a straight line of about 15" (NB: scale is ½" per knot) using one of the arrows with an optional 90° turn to left or right at the beginning, or end, of the move.   This was done to stop the aircraft outmanoeuvring Bismarck too easily.  I made cardboard templates for these move segments to speed play.

The torpedoes were played as per F-P, as was Bismarck except its movement (in only two segments) and its anti-aircraft fire.  For the latter I pinched the approach used in Wings of War as follows:

1). At the beginning of each Swordfish move segment, Bismarck places a number of small flak bursts, about 2" in diameter for its smaller calibre rapid firing guns.  If any Swordfish ends its move with its base overlapping a burst it tests for damage.

2). Bismarck also places a number of much larger, heavier, flak bursts, about 5" in diameter, that remain in place for all three Swordfish move segments but are only active in the second two segments.

So, with these simple rules in place the game cracked on at quite a good pace.  At first, I found avoiding the torpedoes, which were not much faster than Bismarck, quite easy to avoid and no doubt started to get a bit cocky.

But then I got confused about how my own move sequence worked and thought I could quickly cut across the path of some incoming torpedoes.  This was a catastrophic mistake!

What was more, the torpedo struck the stern while I was turning to port.

A quick die roll was called for to test for damage, and the result?  You guessed it, the rudder jammed - just like the real thing.  So, for the rest of the campaign Bismarck would have to perform a port turn at the start of its move and another free turn at the mid-way point.      

And, to rub it in, only one Swordfish got damaged; none were shot down.

So, the next action will be Vian's night attack with the Destroyers, HMS Cossack, Sikh, Zulu and Maori, and the ORP Piorun (Polish).

Atlantic Breakout ... a Fletcher-Pratt Wargame

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017.]

Fighting the naval battles of World War 2 has a certain nostalgia as one of my first wargames, using rules rather than marbles, was the Battle of the Java Sea.  I fought this out many times on my bedroom floor about half a century ago using ship-shaped pieces of balsa wood painted grey for the fleets and rules by Arthur Taylor.  

The rules used some simple calculations to determine the number of hits and playing cards to determine the effect.  As far as I can recall at this distance in time, the games were dominated by the Japanese Long Lance torpedo for which I tweaked the rules as all torpedoes were treated equally.  Clearly, I’ve always felt the need to tinker with other people’s rules to match my perception of how a battle should play out.

The inspiration for the choice of battle, and the efficacy of Japanese torpedoes, was my cherished copy of the Pan paperback on the battle.

However, since those days I’ve tended to wargame earlier periods with shorter range weapons to avoid using either, vanishingly small ship models or, massively out of scale gunnery ranges.  Nowadays, I have lots more books to inspire my rule-tinkering, and among them was one that rekindled those distant memories of naval actions fought out on my hands and knees.  The book in question is the John Curry re-print of the Fletcher-Pratt naval wargame rules.  A fun read was all I thought it would ever be as I lacked the requisite ‘ballroom’ to recreate the original style of play.  

About nine years ago this all changed when, seeking to play more games, I joined a local modelling club that also included a couple of keen wargamers.  One club night, when getting a cuppa from the kitchen behind the local Baptist church where we met, I realised that at the end of the corridor was a church hall!  A quick enquiry confirmed we were allowed to use it.  So, seizing the moment I bought several 1:1200 warship kits from eBay and set about painting up sufficient for the Battle of Denmark Strait.  The choice of scale was influenced by the size of the hall and cost; the choice of engagement by kit availability in 1:1200 and the number of ships required, i.e. only four: Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Hood and Prince of Wales (you'll see Norfolk and Suffolk have also sneaked in as I enjoyed making the kits so much I couldn't resistthem).  

With only a few hours available during an evening club session I decided I would streamline the rules and act umpire; umpires are an integral part of the original Fletcher-Pratt games.  I chose to ignore secondary armament as largely irrelevant during this action and only allowed the Prinz Eugen to use torpedoes as capital ship torpedo action was such a rarity, although ironically Bismarck is the only battleship hit by a torpedo from another battleship (HMS Rodney).  To speed the game, I prepared quick-play and record sheets, including a look-up chart of damage inflicted by up to four hits, penetrating and non-penetrating, to save on the mental maths required.

To suit the floor-space available, a scale of 1 inch equals 120 yard was selected and all movement, ranges, etc. on the QPS were converted into inches.  This scale means that shooting ranges are only 3.6 times shorter than the true scale distance for 1:1200 ships.  Now for the inevitable rule tinkering; a special rule was added to allow the Hood to be blown up as the rules do not allow for critical hits.  The rule was that if Bismarck scored a hit directly over the main magazines at range where the fire is plunging (greater than 13ft 6”, ~19,400yds) then the magazines would explode.  The main magazines, for game purposes, were ruled to extend as far as the main turrets but exclude the turrets themselves, i.e. the area outlined in red in the accompanying photo. 

The photo shows the Hood’s rear turrets but a similar area applied around the forward turrets.  The area is only 2.5cm long by 1.5–2cm wide, with cut-outs for the turrets, so is not easy to hit by guessing ranges from more than 13 feet away (Fletcher-Pratt gunnery rules require players to estimate the range to the target with the umpire measuring and marking fall of shot using golf tees).  

Another rule was introduced to represent the problems the Prince of Wales experienced with her main armament that resulted in her firing around half the number of rounds that she should have.  To represent this a random list of which guns jammed on which turn was used by the umpire to discount hits from ‘jammed’ rounds.

The game was set up to represent the historical engagement at the point just before the ships came within effective range (max. range was limited to 26,000 yards).  The rough plan below which I used for the game shows the hall floor area as a rectangle (broken line).

The players quickly got the hang of the simplified rules after a couple of turns: ½” per knot and a turn of up to 45° at the start and half-way point of the move, and firing by guessing the range.  The battle played out well and realistically or at least in agreement with the history books.  The British, after opening fire when out of range, steered towards the Germans to rapidly close the range so the Hood could avoid the risk from long range plunging fire against her weak deck armour.  This meant that only the forward guns of the British ships could bear on the enemy while both sides tried find the correct range; I ruled that ships must fire ranging ladder salvoes (with half their guns) until they achieved a straddle at which point they could switch to firing full broadsides.  Bizarrely, exactly as in 1941, the British ships initially concentrated their fire on Prinz Eugen for several turns before switching to Bismarck; why, I didn’t ask, not wanting to spoil the historical coincidence.  Then disaster struck, a ranging ladder from Bismarck plunged into Hood’s rear magazine and she was engulfed in a massive explosion. 

This was a shocking fluke as Bismarck hadn’t even found the range yet, and never landed another hit for the rest of the engagement.  The British were stunned but undeterred Prince of Wales gallantly pressed on and manoeuvred to open her arcs to bring her rear turret to bear.

She also started to dramatically vary her speed and course to throw off the aim of the German ships.  This worked well against Bismarck who consistently failed to land a hit, but Prinz Eugen coped better and at one point landed the best salvo of the game (3 hits).  

The radical changes in course and speed by the Prince of Wales also threw her own gunnery off to some extent but she still registered several hits on Bismarck and was lucky in having none of the ‘hits’ discounted as coming from one of her randomly jammed guns.

Time finally brought the combat to close as the club session ended and it was decided that the engagement was broken off at this point with Prince of Wales withdrawing while the Germans pressed on into the Atlantic.  All in all, a satisfactory refight, with all ships suffering the fate of their historical counterparts; the exception being the Prince of Wales who escaped lightly as Prinz Eugen’s guns could not fully make up for Bismarck’s appalling gunnery.  

So, with the Bismarck on the loose in the Atlantic other games were planned for the rest of Unternehmen Rheinübung: the night attack by Commodore Vian’s destroyer flotilla; the Ark Royal Swordfish strike; and, the final showdown with the King George V and Rodney (bodged up from a KGV and Iowa kit).  But those stories are for another day.

CHARGE the Rearguard

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2009!  Hence the poor photos.]

Following my last, bang up-to-fate, post based on a classic Table-top Teaser by CS Grant I thought I'd post a rather dated one of mine own.

This was my first attempt at a Table-top Teaser for my ‘toy soldier’ armies using Brigadier Young’s CHARGE rules.  Not being blessed with a 9x7 foot table like Charles Grant I needed something that would draw out the action or it would all be over in few turns.  To achieve this, I went a bit overboard, with the ‘armies’, separated by a river and entering over several turns; all in a rearguard scenario where one side would be seeking flight rather than fight.  This was crammed on to my 8x5 foot table as shown below with the game in progress a few turns in.

The Scenario: revolves around an Austrian force seeking to evade a much larger, off-table, French force which is attempting to pin them against the river while a smaller Bavarian force tries to block their escape.  The Austrians enter the table at point A (see map) and must exit at point D by move 15; anything failing to do so is deemed captured by the pursuing French.  The Austrians start with a light infantry regiment of 2 coy.s of Pandours holding the house and wood on the northern side of the western bridge and a company of Croats on the road 12” from point A.  

The rest of the Austrians enter one unit per turn along the road at point A; which unit arrives being determined by a D6 as follows:

               1 = Hussar sqn.
               2 = Cuirassier regt.
               3 = Hungarian Inf. regt.
               4 = Austrian Inf. regt.
               5 = Artillery battery #1
               6 = Artillery battery #2

Unit arrival is diced for at the start of the turn, after order writing, and the unit will march on in column along the road.  If the entry roll indicates a unit that is already on the table, the unit with the lowest arrival score that has yet to arrive is substituted.  This mechanism should ensure that the lower numbered units arrive sooner.

The Bavarians mostly enter at Point B with some appearing at C or D; they dice for order of arrival in the same way (entry point in parentheses) as follows:

               1 = Hussar sqn. (C)
               2 = Militia regt. (D)
               3 = Dragoon regt. (B)
               4 = Bavarian Inf. regt. (B)
               5 = Swiss Inf. regt. (B)
               6 = Artillery battery #1 (B)

Before the game begins the Bavarian player rolls a D6 for each river section to determine which are fordable (4-6 on a D6).  A sketch is drawn to record the results but is not shown to his opponent; the ticks and crosses on the map indicate which sections were fordable in the game as played and described below.

The Game: opened with few surprises; the Austrian hussars being the first to arrive to lead the army to safety while the Pandours pushed forward in skirmish order towards point B to delay the approaching Bavarian infantry.  

The action developed rapidly over the next few moves as, spotting Bavarian militia approaching from the east (point D), ...

... the Austrians sent their hussars and Croats to seize the eastern bridge while still clear.  The hussars overthrew the first militia company (see photo) their success underlining the value of cavalry and the frustrating absence of the Austrian cuirassiers.  

While the hussars crashed into the militia across the bridge the arrival of the Bavarian hussars (at point C) convinced the Pandours that discretion was the better part of valour and they fell back to more defensible terrain covering the western bridge.  

As more troops poured onto the table the Pandours effectively shielded their army’s flank as it marched at best speed to the eastern bridge.  

The Pandours were reinforced by a company of Hungarian infantry to prevent any attempt to rush the bridge by the growing number of Bavarian units marshalled against them, while in the backround the rest of the Austrians can be seen making haste to reach the other bridge and safety.  

The Bavarian superior numbers were brought to bear and the Pandours, and to a greater extent the more exposed Hungarians, started to take heavy losses from both musketry and artillery.

Finally, the much-anticipated Austrian cuirassiers arrived bringing up the rear of the column!  The lackadaisical attitude of this unit of dawdlers continued as they marched along the road unconcerned by the sight of two squadrons of Bavarian dragoons eyeing them from the ridge across the river (north of point A).  The cuirassiers’ composure was rudely shattered as the dragoons declared a charge on them – the possibility that the river might be fordable had been overlooked!  

Somewhat unfairly these haughty cavaliers did not pay the price for their hubris, a scandalous sequence of lucky die rolls seeing them win the resulting melee.  It now dawned on the Austrians that the river was not the reliable barrier they had assumed it to be and henceforth more caution was exercised.

As the casualties mounted in the firefight at the western bridge, the Austrian column reached the eastern bridge, now cleared of the militia by the hussars and Croats.  On crossing, the Austrian infantry wheeled to their left to form a defensive line to shield the following units (see photo).  This line was soon put under pressure as the Bavarians shifted their weight of effort from the western bridge to the eastern crossing.  

Initially the infantry firefight was fairly ineffective and all seemed to be going well for the Austrians but then the Bavarian artillery evened things up with several turns of devastating fire.  No doubt this was Lady Luck offsetting the outrageous luck enjoyed by the Austrian cuirassiers in their earlier fracas with the dragoons.  With the Austrian artillery mostly staying limbered to keep pace with the Austrian column were unable to reply effectively.  As a result, the balance of the game started to shift until in the twelfth move both armies reached their break points!  The Bavarians claimed a draw with honours even, while the Austrian argued for a technical victory, as with the Bavarians withdrawing the Austrian line of retreat was left open…   With such an unsatisfactory outcome, further conflict is inevitable, perhaps you can achieve a more decisive result?