The Battle of Hugelstrasse

3 games in 3 weeks! Unheard of! I played a third game using Bob Cordery’s Portable Wargame rules. The scenario is number 50 from Grant’s Scenarios for Wargames, featuring an interesting collection of troops. One side is all cavalry and the other has very little cavalry.

The Batrachians, once again on the attack, with an all-cavalry force under the command of General Élan
The Cuirassiers Royale 1 and 2
The Wild Goose Chasseurs 1, 2, and 3
The Poupon Dragoons 1 and 2
The Chevaliers de Maurice (a unit of gentlemen volunteers who wear whatever suits them, no standard uniform - ok, I needed an 8th cavalry unit so I pulled some assorted extras)

The Soweiter forces, commanded by General von Blunder, marching down the road from northeast to west in this order:
The Ballyfoole Hussars
The Muttonshire Musketeers
The Woostershire Muskets
The Soforth Highlanders
The Mayeux Musketeers
The Glossopshire Croats
The Jaegers zu Pfeffernusse
2 cannons of the Ballyfoole Artillery
The Pfennig-Pfarthing Pfreikorps

A cloud of dust is spotted to the northwest. It’s Batrachian cavalry! Hordes of them! The only chance for the Soweiter forces is to head for the hills to the south of the road.

Turn 1, The race is on

Turn 2 The Batrachians gain the initiative and begin to catch up with some of the rearmost Soweiter forces. The Wild Goose Chasseurs 2 charge the Malarkey Musketeers and destroy them. The Wild Goose Chasseurs 3 charge the Ballyfoole Artillery 1 and both units are destroyed! The Wild Goose Chasseurs 1 charge the Glossopshire Croats and destroy them. The Poupon Dragoons 1 charge the Mayeux Musketeers and both units are destroyed. The Poupon Dragoons 2 charge the Nuttonshire Musketeers and both units are destroyed. Most of the remaining Soweiter forces reach the hills, except for the Jaegers zu Pfeffernusse, who have taken cover in a small woods near the road. The Jaegers fire out of the woods and destroy the Wild Goose Chasseurs 1. A rather “bloody” affair for all.

Turn 3 The Soweiter forces gain the initiative. The second Ballyfoole Artillery unit moves further along the hill. The Jaegers fire at the Cuirassiers Royale 2 and destroy them. And the rest of the Soweiter forces position themselves on the hills and prepare for the onslaught. The Batrachian Cavalry closes in.

Turn 4 The Soweiter forces still have the initiative and take the opportunity to fire, but to little effect this time.

The Wild Goose Chasseurs 2 charge and destroy the Ballyfoole Artillery. The Chevaliers de Maurice charge the Woostershire Muskets, but it’s an uphill battle and the Chevaliers are destroyed. The Cuirassiers Royale 1 charge the Soforth Highlanders and fight to a standstill.

Turn 5 The Batrachians gain the upper hand again. The Wild Goose Chasseurs 2 swing back west down the hill and charge the Jaegers zu Pfeffernusse, who had left the protection of the woods. But the Jaegers fight back gamely and it’s the Wild Goose Chasseurs whose goose is cooked. The Cuirassiers Royale 1 continue their melee with the Soforth Highlanders and destroy the doughty Highlanders. The Cuirassiers are then subjected to a hail of gunfire from the Jaegers, to little effect, and then the Woosetershire Muskets, who finally destroy the Cuirassiers.

At that the Batrachian forces are wiped out, but since they managed to destroy well over half of the Soweiter forces the Batrachians win the day. A Pyrhhic victory?

Another fast and furious Portable Wargame battle. With 3 battles under my belt I was thinking of trying some modifications next, but I see Bob has posted a new version of the rules so I‘ll likely give those a go. In recent comments here Ross Mac mentioned using straight line measurements in place of the grid. I may try that. Grids have the advantage that no measuring is required, and also make it clearer who is facing who, with no fiddling about overlaps and such. On the other hand I do like a clean battlefield without lines or marks to designate spaces so I may just give it a go to see how I like using the rules gridless.