summer brings bitter battles

More marching takes place in June, but the results are not as pacific as those of May.

In the north, Konigsegg settles in to his siege of Goerlitz, using up the supplies at the forward depot in Budin. But Prince Maurice steers a course straight for confrontation, marching his army east. Konigsegg chooses not to evade, so a battle will result outside Goerlitz.

GFM von Schwerin, reunited with Prince Henry, marches south searching for the new army under Daun. They are forced to use up the captured supplies stockpiled in Koeniggraz, as Breslau is too far to draw supply. They arrive in Hlinska dusty and disappointed; the enemy they seek cannot be found.

For FMs von und zu Daun and von Browne have moved west to the relief of the fortress of Tabor. Frederick readies his army for a mighty clash with the Austrian armies in the south.

Meanwhile, as ever, Prince Charles turns his mild visage to the face of war in Europe and raises a single eyebrow. What a lot of noise, his expression seems to say, what a lot of bother!

A Rash of Raids

Prussia and Austria both reach for their special operations troops in early June. The difference in their SOF abilities is shown by the results.

A small Prussian raiding force is chased off by Konigsegg's dragoon outposts.

A large Austrian raiding force, however, drives in the piquets of Frederick's camp around Tabor and burns tents, wagons, destroys ammunition dumps, bread ovens, horse lines, and slays many Prussians as they stumble from their tents.

As Spring takes hold, the marching season begins

In Ireland, it is said, the Marching Season takes place in July. In Bohemia, apparently, it is May. Armies, many armies, marching all about.

First, a new face on the scene: a large field army from Austria proper, arriving at Bruenn, moves to Brod and then to Czaslau, making a rendezvous there with Browne, who has brought the remains of his army south from Pardubitz.

Not far away, Frederick has solidified his hold on Pilsen and then marched east to Orlitz and then to establish a siege of the fortress of Tabor.

In central Bohemia, another Austrian fragment, the ruins of Arenberg's army, moves to Prague to rejoin Prince Charles. Just to their north, Kongisegg takes the offensive, striking north through Zitytau to invest the fortress of Goerlitz. (The Austrian depot at Jungbunzlau is expended supplying this march.)

As if endowed with extrasensory perception, Prince Maurice draws back into Saxony, marching as if possessed through Pirna and Dresden, and reaching Bischofswerda with a slightly smaller army than he started with.

Moving at a more sedentary pace, Prince Henry and FM Schwerin rejoin their forces at Gitschina.

Prince Charles, the only general officer not to move this turn, glances slowly around him, blinking once or twice. Surely all this rushing about is proof that the world has gone mad.

Fortress rules and a supply rule change/clarification

I have been reviewing these rules while processing the May II movement orders. I'm sending around a reminder of how fortresses work and, as a result of my rereading, a change/clarification of how supply sources work.

Reminders:

An army must stop on entering an enemy fortress area, unless a friendly force is already present assaulting or besieging the fortress.

To successfully assault a fortress, an enemy army must have more infantry and artillery units than the value of the fortress (in this scenario all fortresses are 3s, so attackers must have at least 4 infantry and/or artillery). If there are enemy infantry/artillery inside the fortress in addition to the garrison, this will increase the value of the fortress. The turn *after* a siege is established, the attacker may attempt to assault the fortress; even if he fails, the chance to successfully assault next turn goes up, as long as there are more attackers than the modified value of the fortress. A failed assault seems not to cause any appreciable loss to the attacker, though I need to check the discussion group logs and errata to be sure (this seems too generous).

To simply *besiege* a fortress (not assault it), an army must have at least 4 infantry units and 1 cavalry unit. At the end of each turn of siege, there is a (noncumulative) chance the fortress will fall.

If a fortress falls, its garrison become prisoners and if it was a supply point for the defenders, it now becomes a supply point for the attackers.

Change/Clarification:

I had not noticed this last part of the siege consequences before, so I had assumed that supply points (unlike depots) always remained either friendly and functional or friendly and nonfunctional if controlled by the enemy, but did not become enemy supply points. Since friendly fortress supply points can become enemy supply points if captured, I can only assume that unfortified supply points change sides when they are captured too.

This would mean that when Pilsen was captured by Frederick, it became a Prussian supply point.

Maybe everyone else had already twigged to this and I'm the slowpoke. :-)

to-ings and fro-ings

All sorts of light horse are seen dashing about northern Bohemia, but it isn't entirely clear what they are doing, where they are going, or what they have seen. Generals and field marshals sit late into the night in their tents, tapping their fingers and pacing about their maps. But no great fireworks take place, and staff officers wear out a good many horses to no (apparent) good end.

a short account of the battle at Koniggraz

A full description, along with hand-coloured mezzotints, will be proffered to the public shortly to describe the mighty conflict late occurring in central Bohemia. For the moment, what we can tell our readers is that the Army of the Archduchess Maria Theresa, under GFM Maximillian Ulysses Browne, after maneuvering for several days, was brought to battle by the forces under the Prussian FM Graf von Schwerin. A short but bitter battle ensued, with the Austrians taking heavy losses. After inflicting some heavy blows to the Prussian center (which had been weakened by various delays in the movement of its supporting forces), the remaining Austrian forces retired from the field. Though they had fought gallantly, the Austrian cavalry were totally decimated, while several of their infantry formations were routed. Prussian forces hold Koniggraz and its supply depot, while the Austrians stream backwards (not pursued) to the south.

Two turns were played, giving a total of 6 impulses, after which the Austrian Army left the table in good order, without breaking. No pursuit was possible due to the absence of light or irregular cavalry in the Prussian forces.

Prussian losses (approximate): 2 SPs of cavalry, 7 SPs of infantry. Two infantry brigades destroyed or eliminated through redeployment. Final strengths after Recovery, Cadre Collection, and Convergence were: 22 SPs of cuirassiers, 20 SP of musketeers, 22 SPs of fusiliers, 23 SPs of grenadiers, and two heavy artillery units. No general officers were wounded or killed.

Austrian losses (approximate): 19 SPs of cavalry, 17 SPs of infantry. Three cavalry and two infantry brigades destroyed or eliminated through redeployment. Final strengths after Recovery, Cadre Collection, and Convergence were: 13 SPs of musketeers, 5 SPs of Reich infantry, and two heavy artillery units. No general officers were wounded or killed.

Here is a map after the retirements from battle.

A Full and Proper Relation of the Late Battle at the Town of Pilsen in Bohemia

It was not until late in the day that the forces of the King of Prussia were able to bring to battle the army of the Duke of Arenburg. While Arenberg had sought to find the most advantageous ground he could, the battle took place in a gently sloping valley marked only by the presence of a small (but picturesque) village, in which the duke established his headquarters.

The Austrians held the center of the valley with a force of infantry (4 musketeer and 1 grenadier brigades) commanded by the redoubtable Haddick. On the right flank were two brigades of cuirassiers led by Lutzow and on the left were cuirassiers and dragoons commanded by Berlichtingen. Across the valley, they saw the blue-clad regiments of Prussia: musketeers in the center, artillery to their right and fusiliers and grenadiers to their left. On the far Prussian right wing were several columns of dragoons.

Quickly seizing the initiative, the Duke of Arenberg dispatched his heavy cavalry to fall upon the Prussian foot, who were still advancing in march columns. The white-clad riders burst through one regiment after another, slashing and hacking as the vaunted veterans of Frederick fled in terror. Musketeers, grenadiers, even the Garde Regiment of the King himself were put to ignominious flight.

But Prussian trianing saved the day. Quickly deploying into line, the supporting regiments poured fire into the ranks of the Hapsburg horsemen, who quickly pulled back. On the Austrian left, they did not pull back fast enough, for the Prussian dragoons fell on them, breaking the regiments as they retired from their victory. On the right, the Austrian horse, unchallenged by enemy cavalry, withdrew to the far flank of the advancing Prussian foot, beginning a movement to envelop them.

Then, as the Prussian dragoons followed up their victory by defeating the small force of Austrian dragoons, and as their foot rolled forward, redressing its lines, the Austrian center sprang into action. Perhaps Haddick sought to save his mounted comrades; perhaps he was stung by the glory of their victory and jealously sought his own. In either case, the Duke of Arenberg swore several choice oaths when he saw that his base, the strong, deep center he had planned to hold his position with, had begun rushing forward and was hurrying to attack the foe. The outnumbered Austrians converged on the center of the Prussian line, hoping to take advantage of the confusion their remaining cavalry were causing in the Prussian left.

One Prussian fusilier corps was overthrown, though Prussian grenadiers showed great fortitude in beating of an Austrian cuirassier attack on the rear of one of their lines. Three Austrian infantry formations were shattered as they ran into the buzz-saw of Prussian musketry. Despite heroic charges led by General Haddick himself, only one more Prussian unit was defeated before the Austrian center was rendered neuter by the devastating volleys of Frederick's men. Haller's regiment was slain to a man, and as the Prussian dragoons began encircling the Austrian's left, the grenadiers of von Salm, Neipperg, and Gaisbruck formed square and sold their lives dearly, fighting the foot to their front and the horsemen to their back. Dragged by his aides from the field, the Duke of Arenberg joined Lutzow's cuirassiers as they extricated themselves from the Prussian rear and began finding their way up the road to Beraum in the growing darkness.




The game started on Turn 4 and lasted through Turn 7 (11 pulses altogether), at which point the remaining Austrian units voluntarily left the table, with no pursuit by the Prussians possible due to the late hour. Both armies took break tests after Turn 6, but neither failed. Final strengths after Recovery, Cadre Collection, and Convergence were:

Austria: Arenberg (commander); Haddick, Lutzow, Berlichtingen (subcommanders); Cuirassier1 (7SP), Cuirassier2 (1SP). They lost 1 unit of cuirassiers, 1 unit of dragoons, 4 of musketeers, and 1 of grenadiers.

Prussia: Frederick (commander); Winterfeld, Ziethen, Tielcke, Forcade, Schmettau (subcommanders); Dragoon1 (7SP), Grenadier1 (8SP), Grenadier2 (6SP), Musketeer1 (7SP), Musketeer2 (5SP), Fusilier1 (4SP), Artillery1, Artillery2. They lost 2 units of dragoons (in consolidation--one should have been lost pre-game from attrition), 1 of guard, 1 of grenadiers, 1 of fusiliers, 2 of musketeers (plus one that was eliminated pre-game due to attrition losses).