A Seven Years War 'Post of Honou'r AAR

Today I made way into the Cotswolds to meet up with my good friend and gaming chum Keith Flint for another SYW game, once again using his 'Post of Honour' rules. These are a work in progress, but are quite polished and give a rather good game, so well worth checking out  here.

Keith chose to play Scenario 1: Positional Defence from CS Grant's excellent 'Scenarios for Wargames'. I was very happy with this as it's one I've wanted to play for quite some time. Keith had played this recently, with the attacking Prussians gaining a relatively easy victory, so tweaked things slightly by adding an extra infantry unit to the Austrians

I didn't take any notes as I was rather absorbed by the game, but hopefully the following will give you an indea of how the game panned out;
 

An overview of the game, with the Austrians deployed in and around the town and redoubts. The Austrians deployed first, thus allowing the Prussians to formulate a plan of attack.

This town was one of the objectives, so I put a unit of infantry and artillery inside, with two units of infantry in reserve.

The redoubts supported by two units of infantry.

The redoubt on the left flank, another of the objectives, supported by cavalry and Croats in the woods.

The Prussians begin their advance.

The artillery began to have a plethora of targets, but which one to choose?

The Prussian left flank advances in column, supported by cavalry.

The Austrians confident in the town await for the attacks to develop.

As the Prussians close in, the Austrian infantry move round the town to meet the threat.

The Austrians move infantry towards the town on the right flank (another objective) whilst still supporting the artillery within the redoubts.

The king is dead, long live the ... replacement! Combined fire from the town and redoubts sees Frederick killed and two Prussian infantry units hors de combat. Result!

The Prussian assault on the town begins to falter.

The Prussian left flank start to take hits before they've reached their objective.

With the loss of two infantry units, the Prussian attack is losing cohesion.

The fleeing Prussian units cause hits on other units as they pass through them.

The Prussian persevere with their attacks, which sees the Austrian foced out of the town, including the loss of their artillery unit.

The fight for the town intensifies.

The Prussians and Austrians contest the town .

The Prussian right flank is pushed back, whilst the attacks in the centre continue.

Artillery and enfilading fire see the Prussian infantry pushed back in some disorder.

The Austrians move back into the town and the same time as the Prussians.

The slog continues on the Austrian right, but the Prussians are taking casualties.

The beginning of the end for the Prussians.

The Prussians, despite being in the town, are close to breaking.

The same is true here.

The Prussians simply cannot make any head way against the redoubts.

Post Game Thoughts

Despite this only being my second game with these rules, they felt very natural in their mechanics and were easy to use, but more importantly gave a good game. Keith made some notes as we played, mainly to help clarify some things of minor tweaks here and there. I'm definitely looking forward to another game with these rules. 

So as always some thoughts on the game etc:

• The scenario worked well and the book is a great resourece for gamers. Why it hasn't be re-published I don't know. Well worth keeping an eye out for if you can find it at a reasonable price.
• Towards the end, we both agreed that the Prussian deployment had possibly cost them the game. I won't say what we thought as it might affect any of you playing the scenario, but careful thought is required by both sides.
• I wasn't sure whether to put the Croats in the woods or the town on the right flank, but I think the woods play to their strengths and also help anchor the left flank.
• 28mm games are much easier to take 'photos of and you can see why this makes them a popular size for magazines.
• Once again it was a pleasure to play with Keith's SYW armies, which are very colourful and full of character. One day i will finally get around to my 10mm forces for this conflict, but don't hold your breath!

I'm hoping to get a game in this weekend, but I'm not sure what yet. Quite a few options and I'll see what grabs me when I'm ready. After my BKCII game, I've got a small list of stuff to order from Pendraken to complete my WWII Italians. I also want to add some highlights to them as they look a bit drab with just a Delin Mud wash. Hopefully this will make them pop a bit when on the table. Until next time.