Seven Year's War Battle

A friend and I were able to get together and have a go at a battle. I have done some solo actions, but haven't had the chance to face a life opponent. I brought my Prussians to face my friend's Russians. We used the point system and each had about 1650 points. For the Russians, that included 11 battalions, five cavarly regiments and three batteries. On my side, I opted for some good quality troops, so I had four grenadier battalions rated at veterans, six line battalions rated as line, two batteries, two line dragoon regiments and an elite cuirassier regiment. My force was divided up into three brigades, my friend's into five. We used the random terrain system and rolled a lot of fives and sixes! On our six by four table we ended up with four villages, two farms, two light woods, a heavy wood and some hills. Three of the four villages became the objectives we were fighting over. The initial deployment of forces favored the Russians as they were closer to two of the three towns as well as having some high ground to place their batteries on. My strategy was to try to use my grenadiers to secure the town closest to my starting point and then move on to take the second town on the left flank. My cavalry was placed on the right flank which was more open. My line battalions and a heavy battery were in the middle, poised to try to take the third, and what I thought would be the decisive town. The Russians were able to start with all three batteries deployed. 1 line brigade held the town on his right, the cavarly was off to the left, facing my horsemen, and then a grenadier brigade and a line brigade were posted in the center to take the pivotal middle village. Right from the start I took casualties from his artillery which was posted on the hills on his left flank. Our cavalry locked horns first, and I had a couple of good rolls that allowed me to drive back his two brigades of cavalry. This secured my right flank so that the line infantry could advance unmolested on the village. The Russians arrived at this critical point first and occupied both sections of the town with two line battalions. On my left, my grenadiers used the woods to try to shield themselves from the Russian battery positioned to protect this side of the table. This slowed my advance, and allowed him to solidify his defense. In the middle, my initial attack on the center village was partially successful. One section was taken outright, but the second proved more difficult and dragged out for three full turns. On the third turn, my adversary threw in a battalion of grenadiers. This tipped the scale in his favor. He also counter-attacked the section I had captured, and on the last turn drove out my fusiliers.

On my left, my three grenadier battalions launched a desperate attack on the village there, but before they could come to grips with the green-clad infantry, were decimated by canister and close-ranged volleys. This valient brigade lost over 50% casualties in a losing effort. As the sun set on this hard fought battle, the Russians held two of the three objectives, and were therefore declared the winners. On my side, a large part of my failure was in the way I misused my artillery. My medium battery never fired a shot! My heavy battery wasn't able to unlimber until the end of the game. In the three turns it fired, it did some significant damage to the Russian cavarly, but had absolutely no effect on the more important theater of the village. I was surprised at how little of an advantage I was able to gain with my "veteran" grenadiers. I would have been better off by having three elite regiments than four veteran ones. It took us awhile to get it all set up, but once that was done, I think we got through close to eight turns in less than four hours. We both agreed that the rules gave us a good sense of a Seven Year's War battle and we are looking forward to our next game.On my left, my three grenadier battalions launched a desperate attack on the village there, but before they could come to grips with the green-clad infantry, were decimated by canister and close-ranged volleys. This valient brigade lost over 50% casualties in a losing effort. As the sun set on this hard fought battle, the Russians held two of the three objectives, and were therefore declared the winners. On my side, a large part of my failure was in the way I misused my artillery. My medium battery never fired a shot! My heavy battery wasn't able to unlimber until the end of the game. In the three turns it fired, it did some significant damage to the Russian cavarly, but had absolutely no effect on the more important theater of the village. I was surprised at how little of an advantage I was able to gain with my "veteran" grenadiers. I would have been better off by having three elite regiments than four veteran ones. It took us awhile to get it all set up, but once that was done, I think we got through close to eight turns in less than four hours. We both agreed that the rules gave us a good sense of a Seven Year's War battle and we are looking forward to our next game.

Hessian militia

Here are a couple of shots of the three Hessian militia battalions I just completed. I like the white gaiters; a nice change from the black of the Prussian units. These are 20 man battalions. I am just about finished with two regular battalions and then will start working on some cavalry squadrons.

Here are the same battalions from straight on.