The Battle of Kuhglockchen

Using Grant's Programmed Wargame Scenarios, scenario 5, The Weak Flank

The Soweiter League, General Hemminghaw
Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers
Saxe-Urqhuart Highlanders
Mayeux Musketeers
Ballyfoole Grenadiers
3rd Glossopshire Croats
Saxe-Waldorf WaldJaegers
Jägers zu Pfeffernusse
Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons
Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars
Offenbach Artillery
Saxe-Goldberg Grenade Launcher


The Batrachian Empire, General de Siécle
Paprikash Grenadiers
1st King's Musketeers
2nd King's Musketeers
1st Queen's Musketeers
2nd Queen's Musketeers
Musketeers de Limbourg
Pandours du Pinque
Cuirassiers Royale
Wild Goose Chasseurs 1
Wild Goose Chasseurs 2
Chasseurs de la Moutarde
Poupon Dragoons
Royal Artillery 1
Royal Artillery 2


After receiving reports that the Batrachian army was on its way General Hemminghaw, commander of the Soweiter League forces in the area ordered his army to prepare for battle. As he expected the Batrachians to advance up the road from the south General Hemminghaw arrayed his forces along a ridge facing south. The Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders were placed in reserve behind the main battle line, while a small force composed of the 3rd Glossopshire Croats and the Jägers zu Pfeffernusse to guard the flank from inside a small woods.
Meanwhile, the wily old Batrachian commander, General de Siécle, had marched his army around to the west to hit the Soweiter line in the flank.
The battle opened with the 1st Queen's Musketeers and the Pandours du Pinque attacking the small force in the woods. About the same time the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars swung around to face the approaching Batrachian army.
Both sides exchanged fire.

From their vantage point on the hill the Ballyfoole Grenadiers were the next to turn to face the Batrachians.

The Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars charge the 1st King's Musketeers, while the 1st Queen's Musketeers and Pandours du Pinque charge into the woods to attack the flank guard.

Meanwhile, with uncharacteristic alacrity, General Hemminghaw starts to re-organize his forces into a battle line facing west.

The Pandours du Pinque destroy the Jägers zu Pfeffernusse, but the 1st Queen's Musketeers are driven off by the 3rd Glossopshire Croats. In the main attack the 1st King's Musketeers destroy the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars. The rest of the Batrachian forces continue their advance and the Soweiter battle line continues to take shape.
The Ballyfoole Grenadiers and the 3rd Glossopshire Croats start pulling back towards the main Soweiter line.

The Batrachian advance continues, hitting the northernmost part of the Soweiter line first.
In their eagerness the Paprikash Grenadiers get out in front of the rest of the Batrachian line and take heavy fire from both the Mayeux Musketeers and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers. Already hurting a bit from their initial encounter with the Ballyfoole Grenadiers this hail of fire wipes them out.
The battle really heats up, with volleys rolling up and down the lines of both armies. The Cuirassiers Royale, personally lead by General de Siécle, charge the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons and, at the other end of the line, the Pandours du Pinque charge the 3rd Glossopshire Croats.
The Wild Goose Chasseurs 1, having taken heavy casualties from fire by the Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders, are driven off by further fire from the Saxe-Goldberg Artillery (grenade launcher).

The Batrachian forces surge forward and attack the Soweiter line. The 1st King's Musketeers charge into the Mayeux Musketeers and drive them off. In the north, the 2nd Queen's Musketeers hit the 3rd Glossopshire Croats in the flank, causing heavy casualties, but the Glossopshire Croats hang on.
Melees continue all along the battle line.
The 2nd King's Musketeers charge the Ballyfoole Grenadiers, but the Grenadiers hold their ground. The 2nd Queen's Musketeers finally destroy the 3rd Glossopshire Croats. This opens up the Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders to being hit in the flank by the Wild Goose Chasseurs 2, causing heavy casualties on the Highlanders.
The Cuirassiers Royale wipe out the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons.
With the south flank opened up the Cuirassiers Royale sweep around and destroy the Offenbach Artillery. Meanwhile, in the north the Wild Goose Chasseurs 2 wipe out the Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders. Farther down the line the 2nd King's Musketeers destroy the Ballyfoole Grenadiers.


At this point the Soweiter League forces, deciding discretion being the better part of valor, retreat and leave the battlefield to the victorious Batrachian forces.

 
I didn’t really use a rules set for this game, just a few ad hoc rules as I played the battle out.
 
(Photos to follow in a second post)

The Battle of Potzenpanz - day 2

Main forces

Soweiter League:
General von Bluster of Hesse-Offenbach
Ober-Umlaut Untersee Horse Marines, Col. von Oberwasser
Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons, Col. Jingleheimer
Ballyfoole Grenadiers, Col. Kelly
Mayeux Musketeers, Col.D'Artagnan
Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers, Col. Schwartzenberger
Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders 2 (aka the Soforth Highlanders), Col. MacHardy
Ballyfoole Light Artillery, Capt. O'Leary

Batrachian Empire:
General de Siécle
Cuirassiers Royale, Col. Descarte
Wild Goose Chasseurs, Col. de Foie-Gras
Paprikash Grenadiers, Col. Paprikash
King's Musketeers, Col. Truffault
Musketeers de Limbourg, Col. Fromage
Pandours du Pinque, Col. Clouseau
Bombardy Royal Artillery, battery 1, Capt. Soufflé

The battle plans for day one were based on simple die rolls to see which of the three main objectives each advance party would try to take. I assumed each force was small enough they wouldn't split up, so I rolled 1D6, giving each objective an equal chance. As it turned out both forces aimed to take Potzie's Farm.

Before even rolling for that though I came up with some options for the Batrachian main force, based on which objective they went for on the first day - this was set up even before I knew what the objective for day one was. As it turned out the result for day 2 was the Batrachians tried to keep their forces fairly concentrated on two objectives, the farm and the town of Potzenpanz.

I also diced for each unit of the Soweiter League's main force to see where they entered. I gave them an equal chance for each objective. The result was more of a split between all 3 objectives. The only change I made to the dispositionsafter rolling was to swap the Mayeux Musketeers and the 2nd unit of Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders, so the Highlanders could go in to support their fellows.

Start of day 2

The center units of the Soweiter forces managed to occupy 2 buildings in Potzenpanz, while the right wing (to the west) composed of the Mayeux Musketeers, the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons and the Ballyfoole Light Artillery headed for the village of Potzdorf. And on the left wing 2nd unit of Highlanders marched in to support their fellow Scots at Potzie's Farm.

Meanwhile on the Batrachian right the Musketeers de Limbourg marched in to add their weight to the Queen's Musketeers in attempting to take the farm. The Cuirassiers Royale, with the remnants of the Poupon Dragoons, rode forward to face off against the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars. And the rest of the Batrachian forces headed for Potzenpanz. The Pandours du Pinque occupy one building.

Day 2, mid-morning

Heavy fighting occured between the infantry at the barn, with the balance swinging back and forth through much of the battle. The cavalry on that wing also struggled for quite a while. In Potzenpanz itself hoouse-to-house fighting took a heavy toll, especially on the Batrachians who tried to take the initiative and push the Soweiter forces from the town. And in the west the Soweiter forces finding no opposition in Potzdorf swing around and head for Potzenpanz from the southwest.

Day 2, late morning

The Wild Goose Chasseurs and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons battled it out just south of Potzenpanz, while the Mayeux Musketeers and the Ballyfoole Light Artillery followed up. The Artillery took up a postion on the hill southwest of Potzenpanz and the Mayeux Musketeers pressed forward. While this is going on the Bombardy Artillery Battery 1 unlimbered and prepared to fire at any targets that present themselves from the southwest.

The fighting in Potzenpanz has been furious. The Paprikash Grenadiers try to storm the building occupied by the Ballyfoole Grenadiers, but take heavy casualties and depart the field. The King's musketeers also fail to take the building occupied by the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers, and so pull back into join the remaining Pandours du Pinque in the third building.

Day 2, mid day

The infantry around the farm continued to fight for control. The Batrachians managed to force Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders (SH1) into retreating, but their place was taken up by Soforth Highlanders (SH2). The heavy fighting took it's toll on the Batrachians, too, eliminating the Queen's Musketeers and forcing the Musketeers de Limbourg to fall back. General Soleau kept this from being a full scale rout, pulling the retreating forces together. Then, along with the Bombardy Artillery battery 2 they made an ordered withdrawal.

The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons eliminated the Wild Goose Chasseurs, but in turn were wiped out by the Bombardy Artillery battery 1. The artillery was in turn overrun by the Mayeux Musketeers.

In Potzenpanz the remaining Soweiter infantry forced the Batrachians out of their building, with the much reduced Batrachians fleeing the town. At this point it was unclear what the fate of General de Siécle was as he was in the thick of the fighting.

Day 2, Afternoon

To the east the cavalry melee between the Cuirassiers Royale and the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars finally resulted in the Hussars being eliminated from the field of battle. But by that time the Cuirassiers realize the rest of the Batrachian army has been eliminated or forced to retreat.

Bowing to the better part of valor the Cuirassiers made an ordered withdrawal and departed the field of battle.

Day 2, late afternoon

Final result: another defeat for the Batrachians, the Soweiter League holds the town of Potzenpanz and Poztie's Farm, the Batrachians have departed, and the fate of General de Siécle is unknown...

(pictures to follow in a later post)

The Battle of Potzenpanz - day 1

(Based on the Tabletop Teaser in Battlegames 19)

The bucolic tranquility of the Potzenthal is stirred up a bit as some time after midday advance parties of the armies of the Soweiter League and the Batrachian Empire face off against one another on the hills overlooking the valley. Each force consists of a single regiment of cavalry, one infantry regiment and one cannon.

Soweiter League:
General Louis-Louis Milieu of Mayeux
Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars, Col. Oddkugel
The 86th Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders, Col. Stanley MacLaurel
The Offenbach Artillery, Capt. Pachelbel

Batrachian Empire:
General Napoleon Soleau
The Poupon Dragoons, Col. Moutarde
The Queen's Musketeers, 1st Regiment, Col. Dormez-vous
The Bombardy Royal Artillery, battery 2, Capt. Bombardieu

Map of initial dispositions:

Both forces converge on Potzie's farm to the east of the town of Potzenpanz, attempting to gain a foothold in a defensible position before the arrival of the main forces.


The Highlanders march in quickly and occupy the barn, while the Hussars and artillery hold the hill just northwest of the farm. Meanwhile the Queen's Musketeers enter the walled-in field just south of the road, stirring up the livestock there. At the same time the Poupon Dragoons surge forward and the Batrachian artillery comes up to support the Queen's Musketeers.

The Offenbach artillery unlimbers and fires off a devastating volley at the Poupon Dragoons. The Dragoons decide discretion is the better part of valor and beat a hasty retreat back to the hill south of the walled field.

Following this action the infantry on both sides let loose with a couple of volleys, but both sides being protected by walls and barn only minimal casualities result. The artillery on both sides also exchange fire, with even less effect.

As it is now getting a little dark for continued fighting the Batrachians pull back out of musket range to settle down for the night. The Highlanders bed down in and around the barn. The cavalry and artillery do likewise on their respective hilltops - the Poupon Dragoons having recovered from their retreat.

Map of positions as night falls:

The main forces of both armies are expected to arrive in the morning.

The Battle of Sachertortenwald - the battle report

with maps...
Batrachian forces, commanded by General D'Zastre
The King's Musketeers
The Queen's Musketeers
Musketeers de Limbourg
King's Grenadiers (or Grenadiers du Leroy)
Cuirassiers Royale
Poupon Dragoons
Chasseurs de la Moutarde (light infantry)
Royal Artillery

Soweiter League forces, commanded by General Milieu
Saxe-Urquhart 86th Highlanders
Ballyfoole Grenadiers
Mayeux Musketeers
Jägers zu Pfeffernüsse
Offenbach Artillery

The morning starts out with the Soweiter League's infantry and artillery encamped on the edge of the Sachertortenwald Forest, while their cavalry is off somewhere foraging. Alarms ring out as Soweiter sentries spot Batrachian forces approaching on the road to the west, winding through some hills. At the same time the Batrachians realize their intended route through the forest is blocked by enemy forces. The Batrachians are unsure of their location, but do know they need to head east through the forest to link up with other Batrachian forces. Not expecting to encounter any enemy forces they are a bit strung out on the road. Both sides are surprised to encounter sizable enemy forces here.

The Cuirassiers halt to allow the King's Musketeers to get into line, soon to be followed by the Queen's Musketeers also deploying into line. The Grenadiers come up quickly in road column. Meanwhile the Soweiter forces organize into line for defense. The Highlanders placing themselves across the road. The Mayeux Musketeers, Offenbach artillery and Ballyfoole Grenadiers prepare to occupy the large hill closest to the forest.
The Batrachian infantry get into line formation ready for pressing forward, while the Cuirassiers begin their advance up the road. As they proceed they come under heavy fire from the Offenbach cannon on the hill. At the same time the King's Musketeers and Musketeers de Limbourg north of the road and the Queen's Musketeers and King's Grenadiers south of the road begin to advance as well. The light infantry joins the advance, proceeding through the woods to the south. Meanwhile the Batrachian artillery follows up on the road behind the main advance and the Poupon Dragoons come up along side the artillery.

As the morning wears on the much-reduced Cuirassiers approach the Highlanders and sound the charge, ploughing into the Highlanders. The Highlanders manage to hold their own, driving off or wiping out the Cuirassiers.

At about the same time the Queen's Musketeers, after taking heavy fire from the Mayeux Musketeers and Offenbach cannon, decide they've had enough and flee back down the road westwards.

Next it's the King's Musketeers turn to charge the Highlanders, killing many and routing the rest. But the Highlanders, accompanied by General Milieu, manage to recover and take up a position on the road just inside the forest. The Mayeux Musketeers start to withdraw from the hill back towards the forest.

The King's Grenadiers approach the hill, taking a hit from the Offenbach artillery, which then joins the Mayeux Musketeers in withdrawing off the hill. The Ballyfoole Grenadiers get another hit on the King's Grenadiers. In spite of casualties the King's Grenadiers still manage to gain the hilltop.

At this point the Batrachian line infantry and cavalry seem to halt their advance and the only movement is the artillery unlimbering on the road, and the tail end of the Queen's Musketeers disappearing down the road. The Chasseurs de la Moutarde (light infantry) have been approaching through the southern woods and have now come out into the open. Thus exposed they take heavy fire from the Ballyfoole Grenadiers and are effectively removed from the battle.

The Ballyfoole Grenadiers now pull back off the hill to join the balance of the Soweiter forces preparing to defend just inside the forest.

A flurry of firing proceeds all around, with the result of some casualties among the King's Grenadiers. The Poupon Dragoons reach the forest and attempt to engage the light infantry there. The infantry manages to evade (I allowed them to evade and pull back if they rolled a 6 on 1D6).
The King's Grenadiers and Batrachian artillery inflict a few casualties on the Mayeux Musketeers and Ballyfoole Grenadiers. The Poupon Dragoons melee with the Highlanders, but the Highlanders come out ahead.

The King's Grenadiers inflict more hits on the Ballyfoole Grenadiers and then charge into them. At the same time the Batrachian artillery inflicts more hits on the Mayeux Musketeers. The King's Musketeers proceed up the road into the forest, hitting the Highlanders in the flank (and inflict no casualties!). The Musketeers de Limbourg follow up into the gap to take on the Mayeux Musketeers.
The Ballyfoole Grenadiers finish off the King's Grenadiers and General D'Zastre runs away down the road to the west.

The Musketeers de Limbourg stand and fire at the Mayeux Musketeers, finishing them off. The Highlanders finally succumb to the combined onslaught of the Poupon Dragoons and the King's Musketeers.
The remaining Batrachian forces begin moving up the road, heading east into the forest and away from the scene of battle. The Soweiter light infantry get one last hit against the King's Musketeers.

Thus the battle ends, with some of the Batrachian forces destroyed, others fled back down the road to the west and a few marching off through the forest heading eastwards. Unfortunately they didn't get as many through as they needed to. Another victory for the Soweiter League.
Where is General D'Zastre? What will become of him now, following yet another defeat?

For this battle I used a set of simple rules based on the SHAM rules (Steve's Horse and Musket rules). These are very simple rules, but do cause some units to fail to move occasionally, among other battle "effects". I played it out bit by bit over the course of several evenings, so I'm not sure of the actual playing time. The scenario is "Making the Best of a Bad job" from Scenarios for All Ages. It seemed like a suitable scenario to follow on from previous battles, and I had enough troops and terrain to play it. The camp shown in the photos was not needed, just an added touch for the prelude to battle and a fun little project to put together.

Prelude to Battle

The Battle of Sachertortenwald is currently in progress. The battle report will follow once the battle ends. Here is the initial situation when both sides spot elements of the other side.
This is based on scenario 22, "Making the Best of a Bad Job", from "Scenarios for All Ages" by Grant and Asquith. I cut off part of the map and left some forces off the table to accomodate my smaller table. In addition I tried using a smaller number of figures in each unit - for example, instead of the 16 minis for a unit of line infantry I've been using I reduced it to 12. It seems to be working fine and is better suited for my space and time. I might try reducing even more if I do scenarios with more units. A far cry from the big (humongous! 60 figure) battalions some use, so it lacks that epic grand look, but it works for me.

Back to the battle... the Batrachian forces (of which only about half are visible at the start of the battle) are lost, strung out a bit on the road ,and only know they have to head east on the road through the Sachertortenwald. At the same time a small force of Soweiter League infantry with one cannon are encamped at the edge of the woods, while their cavalry are off foraging and not likely to appear for the battle. So both sides have to scramble to get ready for the coming battle.

The Batrachians must get at least 60% of their troops through the woods and off the board to the east. The Soweiter League forces have to prevent this from happening.

To be continued...

The Bridge on the River Wrye, part 3

The Battle for the Bridge on the River Wrye (or Wreibrucke)
Initial reports of this small but important action were confused and conflicting. Everything from an almost total victory by the Soweiter forces over the Batrachians to the Batrachian forces handily gaining control of this key bridge.
(as I played the game I changed from using a die roll to determine which actions were taking place to using cards, with a few tweaks of my own. Sometimes, with the die roll or the cards you will get actions which you can't use or don't want to use, such as an action to fire when there are no targets in range or an action to move when you just want to stay put. I take those as lulls in the overall battle. It may be you get several of those in a row followed by a flurry of shooting, for example. To me that feels like a more realistic depiction where battles have lulls, intense firefights, spurts of movement, etc., and even the odd movement when one group decides to go head in some direction you hadn't planned. This can result in units messing up your plans as in the case here where some of the Batrachian infantry blocked their own cavalry. Or in another "play" of the battle, a cavalryman headed off on his own, found a ford (had to roll a 6 on a die 6), and nearly managed to cut off the retreat of the Saxe-Goldberg Engineers.)

The true story, as much as truth can be known in these matters, is as follows.

The Soweiter forces, comprised of a large contingent of Mayeux Musketeers (10 figures), a much smaller detachment from the Saxe-Urquhart 86th Highlanders (2 figures), and a detail of Saxe-Goldberg Engineers (2 figures), under the overall command of Colonel von Kleinewitz of Ober-Umlaut, were tasked with holding the Bridge over the River Wrye, or failing that, destroying the bridge to deny it's use to the Batrachian army. To that end the Soweiter forces arrayed themselves on and around the sturdy stone bridge.

The Batrachian forces approached the bridge with the aim of securing it for their own use as it would help shorten their supply lines. The Batrachian forces were comprised of the Queen's Musketeers (14 figures) and a small detachment of Moutarde Dragoons (2 figures), under the command of Captain Jean di Jean of that same cavalry unit.

The battle opened as shown in this first map.

As they appeared on the scene about half of the Queen's Musketeers moved forward to the northwest (this happened as the result of a "decision check", which can cause some figures to move in a random direction if you fail the check or give you the opportunity to choose your action if you pass the check with a high enough score. Otherwise there is no effect.). This was probably not a very good move on their part as it blocked the cavalry from moving forward.

After the 2 sides eyed each other just outside of effective musket range the Batrachians started moving their whole line forward (I drew several cards that were not usable by either side or resulted in no action before finally drawing a move card for the Batrachian side).
This brought the 2 sides into musket range and the first volley from those who could fire resulted in equal casualties. That could've been some concern for the Soweiter forces as they were slightly outnumbered and could not afford to continue to lose equal numbers of casualties.

After this initial exchange of fire the Col. von Kleinewitz ordered some of the infantry flanking the bridge to move onto the bridge to replace the casualties there. The Batrachians moved closer to the bridge and the Soweiter forces on the bridge itself moved closer to the center of the bridge to defend it.

There followed more shooting by both sides, less effective than the initial exchange. The Queen's Musketeers then charged onto the bridge and into melee with the Mayeux Musketeers and Highlanders defending the bridge. Because the bridge restricted acces the Batrachians were unable to take advantage of their slight advantage in numbers. In the ensuing melee both sides suffered casualties. For a while, though, it wasn't looking good for the Soweiter forces as 1 Queen's Musketeer seemed to be fighting like a man possessed (it was down to 1 Queen's Musketeer to 2 Soweiter troops - the most that could fight at a time given the width of the bridge. The Batrachians couldn't get more troops up because the next in line were cavalry. I could fit 2 infantry OR 1 cavalry in the width of the bridge.). In the end that lone Musketeer was defeated and the Moutarde Cavalry stepped up to take their turn at trying to take the bridge.

While the infantry on the bridge battled it out in hand-to-hand combat there was sporadic exchange of gunfire by those forces on either side of the river who had clear shots. This caused a few casulaties before both sides got their forces lined up on the bridge and further shooting would endanger their own men.
Meanwhile, back on the bridge the Mayeux Musketeers and the Highlanders managed to destroy the Moutarde Cavalry, mainly by being able to bring 2 infantry against 1 cavalry at a time (the infantry got 2 rolls and the cavalry only got 1, but the cavalry did have pluses for attacking on horseback). Still it was a close run thing.

With the cavalry destroyed the remaining Queen's Musketeers took their turn at trying to take the bridge. An extended melee took place, both sides growing exhausted. And even though the Batrachians had more troops they couldn't bring their superior numebrs to bear.

In the end the Soweiter forces emerged triumpant, if much reduced in number.

With this victory the Batrachian supply is more extended than their commander would like and they are vulnerable to raids on supply trains. The Batrachians may be forced to halt their advance or seek some supplies by other means.

(Sorry for the lack of good pictures - I guess I need more experience with photgrahphing during games. I can't really tell much from the little screen on the camera, but it takes time to download them onto my computer. I think I need to get the right balance of lighting, flash, distance, etc. Also need to make sure the batteries are charged before I start! lol).

(The Sacre Bleu! rules are pretty simple, without lots of modifiers and no real morale rules, just the "decision checks", but with some tweaking of the rules and the scenario I managed to play a fun game in a short amount of time. I will likely try more scenarios of my own in the future - and tweak the rules as I go. I can also add things like character and morale as I go if I decide to.)

The Battle of Brinkerhugel

Upon hearing of an incursion by the Batrachian Observation Army into the state of Hesse-Offenbach the Soweiter League sent a hastily assembled force, commanded by General Georg von Bluster, to try to intercept the Batrachians and prevent them from penetrating further into League territory.

The battlefield
The Batrachian Army, commanded by General le comte D'Zastre, arrived in view of Brinker Hill (point B, where the road enters the map in the southeast corner) only to see that the League's army had arrived shortly before and was even then marching along the road that enters the map in the north (point A), just east of the hill center north.

Key to symbols

Both commanders sent their lead cavalry unit to hold or take the southern pass just south of Bard's Hill. The Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars arrived first. But the Wild Goose Chasseurs were soon there, too. After a prolonged struggle the Hussars finally managed to rout the Chasseurs. By this time, though, the Hussars were pretty well spent themselves.

Meanwhile the Batrachains sent a small force, consisting of the King's Musketeers and a company of Pandours du Pinque acting as light infantry, northwest along the roads to try to intercept or harass the rest of the League's forces before they could get in place on and around Bard's Hill. At the same time the rest of the Batrachian army headed west to take the south pass and Bard's Hill if possible.

The northern force of Batrachians arrived too late to stop the League's forces from arraying into line for battle, but kept up a steady fire and eventually forced the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers to retire.

While the northern action was going on the main forces clashed and even though the League's forces had arrayed into line and managed to fire off a few volleys, the Batrachian forces managed to knock the League's forces off of Bard's Hill.

So, the Battle of Brinkerhugel ends with the Batrachian Army holding Bard's Hill and the passes through the hills, which will allow the Batrachians to press further into Soweiter League territory.

----------------------------------------------------------------

As mentioned in the previous post, this battle was based on scenario 18 "A Hasty Blocking Position" from C.S. Grant's Programmed Wargames Scenarios, with some modifications due to local resources (forces, table size, etc.). Both forces were run under the guidelines of the programmed actions, in this case they directed the 2 commanders to send cavalry forces to take the south pass, split the main red force (the Batrachians) into a small northern focre and the main army, send the rest of the blue force (the Soweiter League) to occupy the hill and not split forces. One major mistake made by the Soweiter League was probably not keeping the jaegers back to hold the northern flank. This misstep allowed the Batrachians to attack the flank and was probably one of the main reasons for their success. Another big factor was, in spite of being able to keep their forces together and array into line first along the hilltop, the League's forces rolled rather poorly when firing.

I used/abused Jeff "Bluebear" Hudelson's Tricorne rules for this battle, as I mentioned in the last post. It worked well (in other words, it was fun, and the final result was not certain until nearly the end) in spite of all the mangling I'm sure I committed to the rules, forgetting to roll average dice for movement, almost certainly not conducting firing, melee, or morale correctly, etc. But that's one of the beauties of solo play - as long as I have fun the rest doesn't really matter much. I did learn I probably need to make some more "cheatsheets" the next time I play and post them on the wall or something during play (including a sheet or 2 with the commander and unit info).

I didn't keep meticulous notes of turn by turn details (such as who rolled what, etc.; just a few notes about losses, routs, and other movement and the like) as I just wanted to play the game and write up a report that was more about the story and less about the game mechanics. I'm not sure I succeeded in that aim, or if people prefer one type of battle/game report over the other. Nor did I take good pictures of details of the game in progress, just overviews of the table. Maybe next time I'll try for some more detail shots at key points of action.

I drew the maps in Adobe Illustrator, with symbols of my own making.

Now, time to get back to painting more miniatures!

Geography 101: Santa Sofia

Santa Sofia, Conte Luigi Funiculi-Funicula and Contessa Rafaella
Capital: Aroma
Principal exports: ice cream, confections, chocolate
Units: The Fuselli Fusiliers, commanded by Giuseppe “Big Joe” Fuselli

Geography 101: Grand Thidwick

The Duchy of Grand Thidwick, Sir Argyle Fitz-Basset , Prime Minister, representing Her Grace Catherine Zeta Figg-Netwon
Capital: Mutton-on-Wrye
Principal exports: wool, woolen goods
Units: ?

Geography 101: Pfennig-Pfarthing

Pfennig-Pfarthing, Prince Peter Pfeiffer von Pfennig-Pfarthing and Princess Penelope “Tuppenz”
Capital: Zweipfennig
Principal exports: carriages
Units: ?

Geography 101: Saxe-Waldorf

Saxe-Waldorf, Hofmeister Wolfgang von Stadtler-Waldorf
Capital: Waldorff
Principal exports: walking sticks, carved wood
Units: The Waldorf Waldjaegers, commanded by Major Holzhacker

Geography 101: Saxe-Goldberg

The Principality of Saxe-Goldberg, Furst Rudolf von Saxe-Goldberg and Prinzessin Ruby
Capital: Goldberg
Principal exports: clocks, gadgets, contraptions, toys
Units: The Goldberg Engineers, commanded by Colonel Walbert Weinstein