It had been over a year since I had hosted a game for the students at my school. It has been hard to get motivated the older I get. But I ran into a former student who volunteered to help out, and so we set up a date. 18 students showed up to participate; four of them were young ladies. We only had about two hours to play, but I was able to get it mostly set up before they arrived. It took about 20 minutes to get organized, then we launched the game. Remarkably, we were able to get through five turns in about an hour and a half of real time. By the end of turn five, it was pretty clear that the Prussians had gained a significant advantage on both flanks and achieved limited success in the middle. Therefore, they were declared the winners. And just like any wargame I have participated in, that result was hotly contested as the students drifted off into the night.
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| Getting ready to start |
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| Overview of the table; Prussians on the left, Austrians and Reichsarmee on the right |
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| Teams have been chosen |
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| And we are off! |
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| Two young ladies garrisoned the town and were stubborn in their defense of it. |
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| Despite warnings from the more experienced gamers in the group, the outnumbered Swiss brigade attacks a superior Prussian force! |
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| The Prussians attack |
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| The Austrians move to meet them. |
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| The Austrian cavalry commander, the most experienced player present, faced two novice female players on the extreme flank. The two cavalry forces smashed into each other. The girls rolled an eleven and were able to add plus one. The Austrian commander rolled a three. His units were routed. The Austrian flank was laid bare. |
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| The routed Austrian cavalry. Quite humbling for the experienced Austrian commander. The girls were giddy at their success. |
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| A final shot. The Prussians, despite heavy casualties in closing in, rolled well enough to pass all of their morale checks and then proceeded to win all of their melees. It was rather remarkable. |
My former student was a tremendous help. The kids all seemed to have a blast, even though we had so many turn out. As I write this account, I am exhausted, but in the best possible way. I shared my hobby with eager recipients. Each one inquired when the next battle would be. I am not sure, but I know I will have a lot of takers.
