Second Holzende

Holzende - Second Day

I was back up to see Graham H a week past Friday and had another great afternoons gaming with his 40mm figs. They are such lovely toys, well painted and posed and with plenty of characters and vignettes to make a game look like a battle and less like two lines of miniatures facing each other.  This delayed report, (after a hectic week at work) tells the tale of the second day at Holzende .

Neither side felt able or willing to continue the fight from the first day at Holzende and the Austrians were content to let the Prussians retire before they themselves withdrew across the river to await a fresh assault in the morning. 

In the Prussian camp that night officers received a terrible dressing down and the colonel of the Grenadiers in particular came close to being clapped in irons and sent to the King in disgrace! However fresh troops arrived and as dawn arrived scouts reported the Austrians had pulled back. The assault would be renewed, the river crossed and the Austrians driven back down the road toward Prague and away from their Saxon allies.

The Prussians deployed at first light. The Grenadiers and Rgt Von Lehwalt  followed by the Lieb-Garde and Garrison Rgt 11, supported by a medium gun formed the left flank. The right comprised Rgt Itzenplitz, a further medium piece and the Fusiliers of Von Rohr. In reserve stood Cuirassier Rgt no3, ready to exploit any potential breakthrough. The Prussian plan was simple. The strong left flank would force the river, the right would hold in place and tie up as many Austrians as possible, to assist this the Cuirassiers would move across the rear of the position to make it look as if a crossing was planned downstream of the bridge. 

Facing the Prussians the Austrians had deployed the remains of the Likaner Croats amongst the trees and bushes around the bridge. Behind them in line were the regiments of Carl Lothringen and Joseph Esterhazy and in turn behind them were the Austrian Cavalry, Hussars of Paul Esterhazy and Dragoon Rgt Althann together with a medium gun. On the opposite flank the Austrians had placed Rgts Deutschmeister, Botta, a medium gun and in a small wood, Grenz troops from Rgt Sluizner. A grenadier battalion was also on this flank, in reserve. Sitting behind the river the Austrians believed their position to be strong, even though it was clear that there were crossing points. 

The Prussians opened the day's affair by bringing up their medium guns and advancing to within range of the leading regiments battalion pieces. These started to play upon the lines of Austrian troops, concentrating upon Deutschmeister and Carl Lothringen. The Austrian lines were so densely packed they had not brought up their own guns and for a while the Prussians had things all their own way. 

The Grenadiers continued to advance upon the river whilst the move,ent of the Cuirassier across the rear of the Prussian position had an unintended effect - the Hussar and Dragoons turned and did likewise, moving across the rear of their own lines. This completely changed the balance on the Prussian left, making to look like a more even fight. The Grenadiers now reached the edge of the river and began to probe for the ford, shrugging off the mounting casualties which they were suffering. The Austrians seemed to be shooting high however and as many branches fell on the men as did cannon balls. Indeed on the right, Itzenplitz  seemed to have a veritable abattis of branches and trunks surrounding its position. The Prussian gunners were truer in their aim and as the Grenadiers splashed into the ford, Carl Lotharingen began to waver.

Perhaps it was the brave Grenadiers, perhaps the ranks of the Lieb-Garde and Garrison Rgt ll coming up behind them or the steady pounding they were taking from the guns, or even the toll of additional casualties on a unit less then fresh from the day before, but as the Prussians began to cross the river they recoiled, falling back. This exposed Esterhazy's infantry and they refused their flank and suddenly the Austrian left had moved away from their position on the riverbank. Orders were issued and the cavalry hastily recalled, but they way was clear, Prussians could now cross. 

On the Prussian right their artillery had been no less deadly. Deutschmeister was starting to look shaky from the steady fire it was receiving from Itzenplitz and the battalion and medium gun and decided enough was enough and fled behind the Grenadier Battalion. As the Cuirassiers drew up Von Rohr saw this as an opportunity to further press this flank and advanced from its position amongst the wheat, where its men had been sitting calmly untouched. A smattering of fire from the Grenz came from the woods,  but it was becoming clear that the Prussians had the upper hand on either flank. Von Rohr splashed into the river and began to cross.

Back on the left the Leib-Garde has crossed too and formed on the left of the Grenadiers presenting a wall of bayonets. Carl Lotharingen took further casualties and staggered back again, then took to its heels and fled. A forest of muskets now stood on the Prussian left as the garrison Rgt crossed and Von Lehwaldt also moved forward. The Austrian cavalry finally began to arrive after having crossed and recrossed their own lines. The Hussars and Dragoons formed up, ready to attack.

Over on the right the Austrian skirmishers fired off a few shots but fell back. Both Austrian signs were now under threat. The day was drawing to a close. It was clear that a choice had to be made, the cavalry would have to stand and allow the infantry to withdraw. The battle was over and the Austrian retreat had began

Oooooops!

Well....what else was I going to do with the garage.....!

I needed to give in to my other vice 😂

Sugar Islands - Madame Ducharmey's Test Layout

A couple of shots of the test layout for the Madame Ducharmey game from my Forthcoing Sugar Islands Book.

Bases to flock, baricades and some more armed slaves to paint. Wounded markers and some general detritus and clutter to add.

Otherwise I think that's about it.

The Engagement at Holzende

Yesterday I had the pleasure of catching up with Graham Hilditch again and after discussing my progress on the Sugar Islands book and his plans for a display we played a short game in what I hope will become come a series of linked battles over the next few months.

Graham has a wonderful collection of figures for many period but his pride and joy are without much doubt his 40mm SYW unit's. I've not really played with 40mm but the detail and variation in the figures together with the realistic proportions gives them something much more than just extra height as I think you will see from the pictures below.

Graham had set up a few units of Prussians and Austrians from his collection and with only a few hours to play I had taken two copies of Jim Purkey's Minden Miniatures SYW rules with both Graham and I played at the Wild Geese get together in June this year. They're well worth checking out if you like a quick game with plenty of ebb and flow.

Graham commanded the Austrians, 2 regiments of foot with a battalion gun, a regiment of Croats and a regiment of Dragoons, supplemented by a single light field piece. I took the advancing Prussians, leading a converged grenadier battalion, infantry regiment with a battalion gun and a fusilier regiment . As we both hope this will be the first in a series of games I have added a little narrative which will give us a theme to fit the games into.

The Austrian troops formed a bridgehead at the small village of Holtzende, just across the river Mosset. Placed on the west side of the road were the Dragoons of Rgt Althann and IR4 Deutchsmeister with the gun in support. Across the village IR3 Carl Lothringen had deployed, tramping the kitchen gardens of the villagers. Beyond them, in the light woods and fields south of the village a battalion of Likaner Croats lay in wait.

Advancing toward them was a small Prussian force hoping to seize the river crossing and unaware that the Austrians had already got there first. It was not until the 2nd Hussars trotted across some open ground that they noticed the Austrians were in possession of Holzende. The grenadiers of battalion 26/13 blundered round the corner of the road and immediately took fire from Croats on either flank and shot from the battalion gun of Carl Lothringen.  They hastily deployed off the road and into line but not before a further volley hit them. This was too much for the surprised Grenadiers, who could see little of the Croats and only the long white line of IR3 deployed and awaiting them, wreathed in smoke from its gun. They turned and scattered back down the road, straight into the horse of Prince Moritz who tore a strip from their commander and sent them to the rear to reform. The advancing fusiliers of Rgt Von Rohr gave them a few catcalls and whistles as they marched past, ready to deploy into the Croat haunted orchards on the Prussian right.

The Prussian Hussars had heard the gunfire and knew the battle had opened. Ahead of them they could see the Dragoons of Althann formed up and decided that they would be the ones to take the battle to their foe, drew sabres and charged. The caught the surprised Dragoons at the halt, but the charge was in haste and poorly formed, the bigger men and horses of the Dragoons gained the upper hand. Although casualties were even the Dragoons remained steady but the Hussars were shaken and forced back in disorder. 

Back in their fields the Prussians had managed to deploy IR14 Von Lehwalt and it began to advance while the Fusiliers of Von Rohr began their advance through the woods on the right. Between them the two regiments drove back the Croats and restored some order to the Prussians. 

On the left however the Austrian Dragoons were not done with the Hussars. Both sides had reformed and when the Dragoon sounded the charge the Hussars galloped toward them. The two sides clashed and again it was the Dragoons who got the upper hand and again the Hussars were sent back. Desperately their commander tried to rally his men but it was not to be and the left the field in some disorder. The Dragoons had moved too far forward however, the Hussars defeat had unmasked the Prussian gun which no fired into the Austrians. Exposed and without support they turned and retired somewhat precipitously toward their own lines.

The crisis point of the battle had now been reached, the Austrians had brought up their second infantry regiment and their cannon and were awaiting the Prussians who were now moving through the wheat fields on the left, having finally cleared the Croats from their path. Von Lehwalt emerged from the crops and opened fire with its battalion gun and fired a volley into Deutschmeister. The Austrians replied causing the Prussians to waver but hold. On the right Von Rohr fired to clear the remaining Likaner Croats, but failed to do so and they remained in place, screening the men of Carl Lothringen from theFusiliers  advance.

The next turn would decide the engagement....

But you'll have to wait because that's all we had time for!

Thanks for the game Graham, look forward to continuing it. Hope you liked the place names!

BtLB 3rd Edition test

On Tuesday last I took the opportunity to test out the Beneath the Lily Banners 3rd edition at Oldmeldrum.

The new version of the rules come in a sumptuous book, lavishly illustrated and photographed which is stuffed full of eye candy of the usual League of Augsburg high standard. Some changes have been made to a few things, probably the most noticeable being that troop types use different dice depending on class -D6, 8's or 10's.

It's been a while since my last game of these rules and my regular opponent was unable to attend so the game was cut back to a very basic cross table encounter. The table was cluttered up a bit with some fields and a mix of troop types fielded to make sure we tried out the full rules. We used my Bavarians and French, since Andy's Danes were absent. Alistair took the French - 4 foot, 2 horse and 1 battalion gun against my 3 foot and 3 Cuirassier.

We walked through the game at a decent enough pace for essential newbies. The downloaded crib pages (6 pages....more than a playsheet!) helped us and after a few turns we kind of got the hang of the dice rolls required. Both of us rolled up plodding generals which didn't help us move into action!

I like the movement in these rules. Troops cannot skip across the field. Marching and manoeuvre is methodical and slow as it should be and both sides found the walls and hedges a distruption, very much as they would have been on a real battlefield.




Attempting to slow up my men, Alistair's French horse galloped across the fields and clearing a wall, charged down on my one of my regiments. However they failed to make contact and took a ragged volley which felled one trooper. They were disrupted but passed their morale and tried to get clear the following turn but took another volley and this time were forced to retire.




On the other flank my Bavarian Cuirassier tried to cut up Alistair's isolated right wing, two regiments charged his battalion gun. The first failing to make the required morale test and the second charging forward but taking enough casualties to force a morale test and a poor throw made that unit retire too.

So we'd managed to test command, movement, charging, morale and firing, with only a couple of causes to actually delve into the book and try to understand the rules. This took a little while and a little discussion before we agreed an interpretation that felt right. Given we'd started too far apart, had been blethering and been slower than usual it was now time to pack up. Overall we both felt it was a decent test and will be giving them another outing next week.