Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Battle of Offenbach Falls

I rolled for initiative each turn, for the 2 sides, not for each force. As it turned out the Batrachians got the initiative for the first few turns. As the battle commenced and the Batrachian forces started closing in von Blunder decided to try and fight his way through the force he had originally been chasing. So rather than trying to change facing he continued on his original course.
Lumiere, commanding the force seen in the upper right of the picture, sent his cavalry ahead, with the infantry and artillery left to catch up as fast as it could.
Meanwhile, Soleau, commanding the force in the lower right of the picture spread out his infantry into a line and started moving them forward.
And de Siècle kept his forces together even though that would mean the cavalry would arrive later than if they forged ahead on their own.
The Soweiter artillery (the Offenbach cannon under Pachelbel) commenced fire at the Poupon Dragoons, who were accompanied by Lumiere, and caused a few casualties. The Mayeux Musketeers fired off a desultory first volley at the Dragoons, also causing minor casualties. The combined casualties were enough to cause the Dragoons to pull back.
The Poupon Dragoons rally. Meanwhile, the Cuirassiers Royale charge the Ballyfoole Dragoons. The resulting melee was indecisive with minor casualties on both sides.
The Fuselli Fusiliers and the Offenbach cannon fire at the returning Poupon Dragoons, destroying them as a fighting force in this battle. The Mayeux Musketeers fire at the approaching King's Musketeers, to little effect. The melee between the Cuirassiers Royale and the Ballyfoole Dragoons continues, with mounting casualties. Both sides pull back. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry charge the Royal Batrachian Artillery, inflicting heavy casualties and causing the rest of the crew to flee.
Finally von Blunder manages to to seize the initiative. The Ballyfoole Dragoons charge the Cuirassiers Royale and inflict more casualties. The Mayeux Musketeers charge the King's Musketeers, giving better than they receive. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz sweep around to the rear of the Batrachian force. The Fuselli Fusiliers charge into the flank of the King's Musketeers, inflicting further heavy losses and putting Lumiere out of action (is he dead?). The Offenbach artillery limbers up to move off, with the Saxe-Urquhart Gunderland Highlanders close behind.
Of course, while this is all going on the other 2 Batrachian forces continue to close in.
The melee between the Cuirassiers Royale and the Ballyfoole Dragoons continues. The infantry melee between the Mayeux Musketeers and the Fuselli Fusiliers on one side and the King's Musketeers ends with the destruction of the King's Musketeers. The Hesse-Pfeffernusse Pfreikorps charge into the flank of the Cuirassiers Royale, inflicting more casualties. The few remaining Cuirassiers have had enough and flee. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry charge the Queen's Musketeers in the rear, inflicting some casualties.
By now the Garde N'est Pas have approached close enough to fire a volley at the Highlanders, inflicting a few casualties. Then the Wild Goose Chasseurs charge the Highlanders, inflicting even more casualties. In spite of heavy losses the Highlanders hold.
The remaining Ballyfoole Dragoons charge the Queen's Musketeers from the front. The Mayeux Musketeers hit the Queen's Musketeers in the flank, and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry continue to attack from the rear. In spite of being hit from 3 sides and suffering heavy losses the Queen's Musketeers hold on. The Hesse-Pfeffernusse Pfreikorps escape to the north, off the field of battle. The Offenbach Artillery and the Fuselli Fusiliers head in that direction as well. The Highlanders hold off the Wild Goose Chasseurs and the Garde N'est Pas who have charged them in the flank, with no casualties on either side.
The Highlanders fight on, but the combined weight of the Wild Goose Chasseurs and the Garde N'est Pas are too much and the Highlanders are destroyed. Did that buy enough time for the other units in the Soweiter force?
The Queen's Musketeers finish off the last of the Ballyfoole Dragoons, but are in turn wiped out by the combined efforts of the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry and the Mayeux Musketeers. The Offenbach Artillery and the Fuselli Fusiliers make it off the field of battle

The Musketeers L'Ouef fire off a parting shot at the retreating Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry, inflicting minor casualties. The Mayeux Musketeers and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry follow their fellows off the field of battle.

Final result:
Soweiter League losses (Batrachian losses don't figure into deciding victory in this scenario) are 9 infantry out of a total of 32, and 7 cavalry out of a total of 12, with no losses to the artillery crew. For a total loss of about 1/3 of von Blunder's forces. He needed to escape with 80% (or about 38 or 39 of his total of 48 figures) to achieve victory. But the Batrachians needed to destroy or capture 60% (or about 32 or 33 figures). So neither side achieved a clear victory.

12 comments:

tradgardmastare said...

Lovely looking game- good to see the waterfall involved too.

What rules are you using theses days?

best wishes
Alan

Archduke Piccolo said...

Great little action - and a very high degree of difficulty for Genl. v. Blunder to pull off.

Cheers,
Ion

Chris said...

Despite the fact that there was no clear victory in scenario terms, it still feels like a moral victory for General von Blunder -- I tip my tricorne to the worthy general!

Great report!

Frankfurter said...

Alas, Frankszonia is so pressed herself as to be unable to aid Soweiter ... though we can dispatch some reserves of powder and ball along with sausages, beer, and wine ....
With the recent victory of the Hurtshog over the resistance, however, we're hopeful for the future ...
:)
A

Fitz-Badger said...

Rules? Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules! Actually very rules light. Just a few basics borrowed from various rules, such as pretty standard movement rates, rolling 1d6 for each figure when firing or in melee with a 6 usually being a hit (5 or 6 w/1st volley; artillery counts each crewman; cavalry score a hit on inf. with 5 or 6; and armored guys like cuirassiers get a chance to save by rolling a 6 for any hits they take), similar basics for morale, and some ad hoc rolls as the situation calls for it (like making decisions between 2 or 3 possible choices).

Yeah, in spite of it being a draw I kind of felt like von Blunder came out somewhat ahead of his opponents in this battle. Could've gone much worse. He might've done better, too. Some of the dice rolls weren't very good.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Pachelbel's cannon??? Genius... :o))

CWT said...

A very good little battle. On a totally random note, I like the unit sizes - I also have plans for a large-sized figure scale game in 8-model units, and your display shows it looks very good on the field. Thanks for the photos!

C

Fitz-Badger said...

CWT - I have experimented with unit sizes for quite a while (going back to fantasy days where I actually did make a few units that were well over 20 figures each) and have come to the conclusion that 8 figures for infantry works quite well for me. It doesn't have the grand epic "real" battle look of big battalions, but I can paint multiple units in the course of a year and I can store them and fit them on my gaming table. They also make for quicker games. The main thing for me is I have plenty of fun - making up different units, painting them and playing with them. I can see the appeal of games like Hordes of the Things and the like.

tradgardmastare said...

Any chance of a copy of your rules?
Alan

Fitz-Badger said...

Alan,
I don't even have a copy of my rules per se! LOL
Just some handwritten notes about some of the odds and ends, but mostly it's off the cuff. I'm not trying to put you off, just telling you how it is. Maybe I'll try to write up a post that goes into a little more detail, with whatever notes I have that might sort of resemble rules (if you kind of squint your eyes and stand back a ways)...

I have been looking into various rulessets lately. Haven't found any I really like for 18th cent. Part of the "trick" for me is finding rules that work with such small unit sizes. (I'm also wary of plunking down much money for some of the popular rules like Black Powder or Koenig Krieg)
Most readily available (free or commercial) seem to expect at least 20 figs. per inf. unit. Either that or drop down to skirmish level with only a handful of figures representing individuals.

Frankfurter said...

I've found that Koenig Krieg works quite well with it's 12 figure rules, and does have rules to handle 8 figure units as well ... and permits one player to handle 10,000 troops with ease. Then again, my regard for these rules is well known.
Bill Protz's B.A.R. (Battles of the Ancient Regime) also considers 24 figure rules openly ... and Bill has posted games in which B.A.R. was essentially used to govern skirmish situations. This flexibility is remarkable considering that the rules were quite openly created to handle old-style 60 figure battalions!
BTW, it is also quite affordable!

:)
Arthur

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Hello there Fitz,

Great battle description and an attractive set-up! Just the ticket to help me wake up and get going this morning. Drop me a line in the next day or so, please. I'd like to run an idea past you and possibly enlist your help.

Best Regards,

Stokes