OHW Scenario 19: Blow From The Rear

With the third heatwave having finally broken, I managed to snatch a free few hours whilst SWMBO was out, to get another game of Honours of War in. Having had it set up for nearly a week, it was nice to finally have the time and motivation to get it played.

The Scenario

This is based upon the Battle of Krefeld 1758, but has been tweaked for the OHW rules, with further tweaks made by me to try and make it work for Honours of War.

The Blue General is defending two river crossings from what he thinks is a numerically inferior Red force. His complacency will be shattered when an additional Red force arrives in the Blue rear area.

Victory Conditions: The Red Force will win if there are no Blue units within 3" of either river crossing at the end of Turn 8.

OOB Austrian (Red)

2 x Infantry Brigades, each - 3 x Line Infantry, 1 x Medium Artillery

1 x Light Infantry Brigade - 2 x Light Infantry

1 x Cavalry Brigade - 2 x Cavalry

- 50% of the army starts to the North of the river.

- On Turn 3, the other half of the army arrives on the Western table edge.

OOB Prussian (Blue)

2 x Infantry Brigades, each - 3 x Line Infantry, 1 x Medium Artillery

1 x Mixed Brigade - 1 x Light Infantry, 1 x Medium Artillery, 2 x Cavalry

- 1/3 of the army is in reserve and cannot move until Turn 4.

- The army is in a defensive posture and cannot move North of the river

The Set Up

Once again the game was played on a 3' x 2' table, with deployments etc seen below:

An overview of the table. Blue is to the left of the river, Red to the right and the top.

One Blue Brigade defending the bridge, saddled with a Dithering commander, requiring the General to be in attendance.

Another Blue Brigade defending the ford.

The Blue Mixed Brigade in reserve.

The Red Cavalry Brigade, ready to act to pin some Blue units in place, just by their presence.

A Red Brigade ready to contest the ford.

The Red Light Brigade ready to move through the woods and into the Blue flank, with a Dashing commander to aid speedy progress.

A Red Brigade ready to advance into Blue's rear area, saddled with a Dithering commander.

The Game

As always, the captioned photos should give an idea of hos the game played out:

The end of Turn 1. Red made an Admirable move to the river, allowing them to deploy, as well as gaining the fire intiative. This saw Blue lose a Line Infantry unit, which had to fall back to reform. Both sides took further hits but to limited effect.

Blue already pushed back from the ford.

The end of Turn 2. As the Red Cavalry moved to the flank to try and get out of artillery range, both sides exchanged some devastating fire, each losing a Line Infantry unit. The ford was in danger of being lost by Blue already.

Blues' Line Infantry that had just moved forward is routed, leading to the Artillery unit having to limber up and retire to try to reform.

But Red had also suffered an early loss, but was in a better position than Blue by the ford.

The end of Turn 3. As Blue began to pull back from the ford to try and form a defensive line, the Red force suddenly appeared on their left flank, with devastating consequences. The Blue right flank began to try and react to this sudden appearance by Red, but the Dithering commander was not quite sure what to do.

The Blue Dithering commander begins to try and move to meet the threat on his left.

The Red Line Infantry appear from the corn.

The Red Light Infantry move with ease through the woods...

... and pour a devastating volley into the Blue Line Infantry, routing them.

The lone Blue Artillery unit still pulling back to try and reform.

The end of Turn 4. The Red force from the West continue to push aggressively forward, forcing a Blue Line Infantry unit back to reform. The Red force North of the river forms into line to prepare to begin to cross, but the Cavalry fail to move.

The Blue right flank slowly forms into line and column to move towards Red.

The Mixed Brigade spurs into action.

The remnants of the Blue left flank.

The Red force North of the river ready to cross the ford.

A view from the West and the Red force threatening Blue's rear.

The end of Turn 5. The Blue right flank meets up with the few reamining left flank units, but the Mixed Brigade fails to move up in support. Red tries to push forward, which the Light Brigade do rather aggressively, whilst those North of the river struggle forward. Both sides have one of those 'barn door' phases on the shooting front.

Red pushes forward as the Blue line begins to coalesce.

The end of Turn 6. As the Blue defensive crust begins to harden, Red continues to push forward, but once again the 'barn door' issue raises its head!

The Red force North of the river tries to move forward to attack the Blue line in the flank.

The Blue 'defensive crust'.

The Mixed Brigade moves forward but is still too far behind.

The Red Western force struggles to find space to deploy as the Light Brigade engages Blue in the centre.

The end of Turn 7. With a rush of blood to the head, the Light Brigade commander charges forward with his troops into the Blue Artillery and Line Infantry, as both sides close up as best they can. In one of those 'MAD' moments, the Red Light Brigade is destroyed, but so are the Blue Artillery and Line Infantry! Yet again ineffective and desultory fire ripples across the front.

The charge and its effect...

... and the aftermath after the smoke has cleared.

The end of Turn 8. There is little movement from Blue due to holding a good defensive position, so Red pushes forward, but come under devastating fire (at last!), losing two Line Infantry units. In response all Red can manage is to rout an Artillery unit and force the Mixed Brigade Light Infantry to move back to reform. 

Losses on the right...

... and on the left.

The Red Cavalry Brigade finally begin to cross the bridge.

End of the Game

And with that the game was over after an exciting and eventful 8 Turns. Technically a Red victory as per the original scenario, given the Blue had no units close enough to either crossing of the river. However looking at the state of play, Red would struggle to prosecute the attack, with Blue working on interior lines. What might have swung it decisively for either side would have been a cavalry clash, with the winner certainly help gain control of the Field of Mars.

The Butcher's Bill was pretty even:

Red: 3 x Line Infantry, 2 x Light Infantry

Blue: 3 x Line Infantry, 2 x Artillery

Post Game Thoughts

Another excellent game of Honours of War, and certainly one with fortunes swinging one way and then the other! A few musings as always:

• Red got off to a flier on the shooting front, only for this good luck to tail off, with Blue getting that final effective volley in Turn 8 almost on the last dice throws.
• The Red Light Brigade's charge was certainly risky, some might say foolish, but I thought it was worth the gamble, which sort of paid off, but at terrible cost.
• The scenario was certainly interesting and another good challenge and in a sense nicely followed on from the previous one. I think it needs a tweak or two to make it work better, but maybe that's for another day.
• Having 'Dithering' commanders was fun again, but tied up both commanding Generals for most of the game. That random roll for all commanders at the start does add a wonderful level of friction and unpredictability, perfect for the solo gamer.
• When the game moved to the short table edge as it were, both sides really struggled to find room to manouevre, which caused a few problems and moved the game to one more of attrition, with no real chance to turn a flank etc.
• Both sides Artillery were less effective with this much more mobile battle, due to having to move so much. 
• My rivers are really too wide for these rules, but luckily I have some new ones in progress, which will make for a better game IMHO.

What Next?

Well I think that's it for Honours of War for a while. With the weather being much more conducive to painting and gaming, I hope to get more of the former in so that I can resume my 'French-Canadians in Normandy' mini-campaign. Life is busy on the 'real life' front, so it might be a few days before I can get things set up, but with SWMBO away for the weekend, I aim to get the next game in...

As always, thanks for reading and commentating, plus of course any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

OHW Scenario 18: Counter-Attack

Life and the recent heatwaves in the UK has meant that my gaming activity has been non-existant for nearly a month now. I have tried to get onto part 2 of my Canadians in Normandy campaign, but the heat in the main has meant that this has not happened. Not only has it been too hot to game, but I would like to get a few more German units finished in an ideal World. With another heat wave predicted towards the end of this week, that might take some time.

So instead I decided on the spur of the moment to look at the next OHW Scenario, using my Commission Figurines forces, and the ever excellent 'Honours of War' rules, given that they are now 10 years old! With another Cotswold Wargames Day coming up in October, it seemed a good opportunity too to give these a whirl and come up with something for the day.

Scenario

The scenario itself is based upon The Battle of Langensalza, 1866, and in true OHW Scenarios tradition, has been heavily simplified, but the essence remains the same. 

The Blue Force has been ordered to seize a bridge, that is lightly defended by the Red Force. However a lack of reconnaissance by Blue has not revealed fords either side of the bridge, nor that a substantial Red Force is nearby. This Red Force is preparing to mount a counter-attack to seize both the bridge and the town.

OOB Austrian (Red)

1 x Light Infantry Brigade (2 x Light Infantry)

1 x Infantry Brigade (4 x Line Infantry, 1 x Medium Artillery)

1 x Artillery Brigade (2 x Medium Artillery)

1 x Cavalry Brigade (2 x Cavalry Regiments)

OOB Prussian (Blue)

1 x Infantry Brigade (3 x Line Infantry, 1 x Medium Artillery)

1 x Infantry Brigade (3 x Line Infantry, 1 x Medium Artillery)

1 x Cavalry Brigade (2 x Cavalry Regiments)

Set Up

With both sides set up, dice were rolled to see what quality the Commanders were, with Blue having a Dithering Cavalry and Infantry Commander, whilst Red had a Dashing Infantry Commander. Not an ideal start for Blue!

An overview of the battlefield. Blue start on the left hand table edge, with Red only having the light screening force by the bridge.

The Red Light Infantry Battalion.

The Red counter-attack force, which would arrive from Turn 3 on a successful command roll.

The Blue right flank, with the C-in-C having to stay with the Dithering Commander to try and guarantee they get moving.

The Blue centre.

The Blue left flank, with the Cavalry Brigade and its Dithering commander. Not expecting to see action until the bridge is taken, this should not be a problem...

The Game

As always, the annotated photos should give a flavour of how the game played out, so without further ado.

The Blue right flank and centre got off to a flyer, with Admirable moves by both Brigades. However the Cavalry Brigade rolled Poor and so carried on grazing. The Red Light Infantry Brigade moved back slightly, trading space for time.

The Blue centre advances, hoping soon to shake out into Line to bring their numbers to bear.

A gratuitous shot!

The end of Turn 2. Unconcerned as firing breaks out by the bridge, the Cavalry Brigade carry on grazing quite happily! Both sides open fire, inflicting some hits, but not causing any problems just yet.

The Blue Line Infantry begin to deploy, to try and force the Red Light Infantry back from the bridge. A bit of a traffic jam begins to develop.

An acoustic shadow is possibly causing this sang froid from the Blue Cavalry Brigade?

The action suddenly changes character as the Red counter-attack force suddenly appears, causing the Blue Force a bit of a shock, with only the Centre able to react (Feeble and Poor for the other Brigades!).

The Red Cavalry Brigade begins to cross the ford.

The Blue right flank refuses its flank just in case.

The Red Light Infantry Brigade by the bridge has pulled back out of range of everything other than the artillery.

The main Red counter-attack  force appears on their right flank, ready to try and cross the ford before Blue can react.

The end of Turn 4. Finally the Blue Cavalry Brigade mount up and being the long traverse across their rear to try and counter the threat from the Red Cavalry Brigade. Blue can only react to Reds moves, with both sides causing units to break; Light Infantry for Red and Line Infantry for Blue.

The Red Cavalry Brigade are nearly across the ford.

The action is all centred on the bridge at present.

The first Red loss.

And the first Blue.

The Blue Cavalry Brigade begin to trot off as the Blue Line Infantry in the centre try to move to their left to seal off any chance of Red crossing at the ford.

The end of Turn 5. Blue continue to react to the threat to their flanks from Red, but Red begin to gain the upper hand, crossing the ford on the right flank and KO'ing another Blue Line Infantry unit.

The Red Cavalry Brigade now have the opportunity to get into the rear area of the Blue Force. Screened by the hill Blue is not truly aware of where they are.

The Red Light Infantry Brigade has pulled back from the bridge, leaving the Blue right flank with no targets, except for their Artillery.

More haste would not go amiss for the Blue Cavalry Brigade!

As Red cross the ford in numbers, Blue suffers the loss of a crucial Line Infantry unit, leaving them very short on numbers.

Both sides Artillery tries to gain the upper hand, with the Red Grand Battery very much in the ascendence at the moment.

The end of Turn 6. With Blue's flanks under pressure, they have no choice but to begin to try an retire towards the town. In the process they lose an Artillery unit and have a Line Infantry unit forced back into the town to reform. It's looking grim for Blue...

The Red Cavalry Brigade ready to make their presence felt.

The Blue right flank begins to try and fall back whilst under fire, with their Cavalry Brigade trying to cover the withdrawal. 

Blue's left flank has completely gone.

Blue Line Infantry forced to retreat to the town to try and Reform.

The loss of an Artillery unit is a bitter blow to Blue.

The end of Turn 7. The Blue Cavalry Brigade fails to move, thereby blocking the retreat for the Blue Line Infantry! Red excerts maximum pressure, KO'ing another Blue Line Infantry unit, as well as forcing an Artillery unit to retreat to Reform. The Blue Line Infantry in the town have to retreat again as they cannot reform due to the Red Line Infantry being too close. 

A Mexican stand off, as the Red Cavalry Brigade awaits the right moment to charge.

The Blue defensive pocket begins to collapse as organised resistance is all but over.

Massed Red Artillery sees the demise of a Blue Line Infantry units as well as the remiaing Artillery forced back into town to try and Reform.

A view from the Red right flank.

And a view from the centre.

End of Game

At this point the Blue Force had reached their breakpoint and all chance of organised resistance was over, so they asked for the 'Honours of War', which Red graciously granted.

Post Game Thoughts

Well not only was it great to get a game in after nearly a month, but the scenario proved to be a bit of a cracker, and as always, the 'Honours of War' rules more than delivered. Happy Days! So as always, a few post game thoughts:

• Normally I use the Austrian list for my games, giving nice generic forces and not too powerful either. Using the post-1760 Prussian list worked well and gave just enough difference, but without making one side too strong or weak. This is something I will likely do for future games.
• Sometimes the OHW scenarios don't translate to other rulesets very well, but this one did. Force wise I simply used those from the 'The Clash at Kutzdorf' scenario in the rulebook, as they just looked fun to play and felt a good fit for the scenario.
• The Red Grand Battery proved to be very effective, especially with the Austrian Artillery rated as Superior in the rules. This was just enough to get that extra hit to KO a couple of units, combined with some supporting fire.
• The Blue Force didn't get any luck with their Brigade Commanders abilities, with having two rated as Dithering, which did limit their options at several crucial points in the game. This also meant the the C-in-C was stuck with the right flank, when he could have done with being able to move to those areas most in need. Some players might not like this variance in their games, but for the solo player, I find it really useful and also great fun.
• Being able to set up a game and play it on a 3' x 2' table is so good, as not only is it quick to do, but it naturally takes up less room, is kinder on the back as well! Yet to my eyes, it still had the look and feel of a 'big game'.

What Next?

As mentioned earlier, the weather is looking like it might be too hot once gain for any painting, as I hope to finish some ATG's in advance of the next scenario for the Normandy campaign. So in its place the next OHW scenario looks quite fun, so that will most likely get an airing this week.

As always, thanks for getting this far and any comments are always greatly appreciated:)!

TTFN.