The Battle For Heimsdorf 1744

The final game of my 2' x 2' series was played out this afternoon, using Honours of War as planned, with my Commission Figurines mdf miniatures. I decided to keep things fairly 'vanilla', mainly for my benefit, going with the Austrian stats which over the years I've found give a pretty good balanced game. Both sides rolled randomly for their Brigadiers, with the Ruthenians all being Dependable, but the Prusskians had a bit of a nightmare, with theirs all being Dithering! The objective was quite simply to control the village of Heimsdorf, within 8 Turns. So onto the action.

An overview of the table, with the Ruthenians at the bottom, the Prusskians at the top.

The Ruthenian right flank led of by their Light Infantry.

The centre all in line due to being close to the village, with their flank covered by the Cavalry.

The Prusskain centre and right also in line and covered by Cavalry.

The Prusskian left in column for speedy moves early on, led by their Light Infantry.

The end of Turn 1. The Prusskian moved first, with their centre and right moving forward, but their left stayed firmly put. The Ruthenian right flank in contrast made a double move and the rest moving steadily forward.

The Ruthenian troops advance towards the Prusskian Light Infantry screen.

The Ruthenian Light Infantry advance towards the wood, followed by the Line Infantry.

The Prusskian Line Infantry close in on the village.

The end of Turn 2. The Prusskian Line Infantry in the centre rolled a Poor move so failed to enter the village. Boths sides advanced elsewhere and the flanks became engaged in some light firing.

The Prusskian Cavalry take some fire from the Ruthenian Line Infantry by the village.

The Prusskian Light Infantry get the upper hand against the Ruthenian Line Infantry.

Ruthenian troops move through the wood.

The end of Turn 3. Once again the Prusskian centre failed to move (another Poor command roll) and the left flank rolled Poor as well and so could only deploy into line. Their Cavalry charged and took some fire on the way, leaving them shaken, which helped their demise in the ensuing melee, but the Ruthenian Cavalry had to retreat to reform. The Prusskian Light Infantry came off worst in the firing phase, having to retreat too to reform, causing some disruption to the Line Infantry behind them.

The Ruthenian right flank take control of the woods and drive off the Prusskian Light Infantry.

The Prusskian Light Infantry reform in the rear (red die).

The Prusskian Cavalry are KO'd (red die top left).

The Ruthenian Cavalry have had to retreat to reform in the rear.

The end of Turn 4. A poor Turn for the Prusskians, with the centre and left flank both rolling Poor once again! This really hampered their ability to take the fight to the Ruthenians and to take the village. At least they were able to drive off the Ruthenian Light Infantry from the wood with a whiff of grapeshot.

The Ruthenian Light Infantry are forced to retreat to reform.

Hits build up on both sides.

The Ruthenian Line Infantry begin to occupy the village.

The Ruthenian Line Infantry and Artillery dominate their flank at present.

The end of Turn 5. Both sides pushed forward and engaged in some effective shooting, with the Prusskians losing a Line Infantry unit and the Ruthenians a Line Infantry unit forced to retreat and reform.

The Ruthenian Line Infantry retreat and reform.

The Prusskian's lose a Line Infantry unit (red die) and their Artillery has had to retreat and reform.

The Prusskians push past the village but take flanking fire on the way.

The Ruthenian Cavalry move up to support their Line Infantry.

The end of Turn 6. The Ruthenians pushed forward to close with the enemy and once again both sides had some very effective firing. The Ruthenian right flank were pushed back as a Line Infantry unit had to retreat and reform. The same was true on the Prusskain right, but this left them in a very perilous position. 

The Ruthenian right flank once again see their Line Infantry forced back to reform.

At least the Ruthenian Line Infantry has some Prusskian units close to needing to retreat and reform.

The Prusskian left flank is not in a good state.

Ruthenian troops occupy the village.

The Prusskian right flank is close to a complete breakdown.

Ruthenian Cavalry ready to exploit the shaken and reforming Line Infantry.

End of Game

With the Prusskian troops in such a parlous position and state, they wisely quit the field of battle, leaving the Ruthenians to consolidate their positions.

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was great fun and so good to be playing Honours of War again. These really are a superb set of rules and I've yet to have a bad game with them! So some musings on the game as always:

• The rules came back to me straight away despite not having played them for some time. However I did completely forget to check for Brigadier and General casualties early on in the game, so I just carried on without it for the rest of the game. Mea culpa!
• Even though this is part of my 2' x 2' series of games, with the haved movement distances for 10mm figures, this table equated to a 4' x 4' when using normal distances for 28mm figures.
• I reduced the terrain for this game, to reflect the village being smaller some 100 years before the previous game, but also to improve game play. Too much terrain doesn't feel right for the SYW and certainly in Central Europe there are precious few hedges, fences etc compared to say France during WWII.
• The Prusskians were really, really hampered by having all their Brigadiers rated as Dithering, but sometimes that how the dice roll. It makes for an interesting challenge, but a series of Poor command rolls meant that they couldn't advance, which gav ethe Ruthenians the upper hand early on.
• It was fun to get my mdf figures out again and it reminds me that I should paint up some more of them, which applies to most of my projects!

My next game is already thought out and it just remains for me to decide which ruleset to use for it. Something to ponder over the next few days. Hopefully those that enjoy seeing some Old School scenario action will be pleased to see what I put on.

So until next time stay safe and keep healthy!