OHW Scenario 21: Twin Objectives - An Honours of War AAR

Having really enjoyed my recent HoW game, I left the games room set up as I decided to have another game, once again using an OHW scenario on a 3' x 2' table. 

A view of the games room with the table set up, just to show how easy it is to set up a game when using a small table size.

Oodles of space to be able to wander around and view the action. No back ache here from stretching across the table;)!

Scenario Details

The scenario is based upon the Battle of Lobositz, with the Prussians needing to be in control of a hill and the town for a victory. It was only after I'd set everything up that I remembered that the rulebook has a bath tubbed version of the battle! Something for another day methinks.

The Prussians have 3 Brigades to the Austrians 2, so keeping the ratio as per the OHW scenario. I decided to try out the pre-game bombardment rules and the counter-battery fire ones too. The Prussians were using the pre-1760 list and rolled two Dashing commanders, so with the C-in-C attached, the Dependeable one would act as a Dashing one too! The Austrians, true to form, had one Ditherer, so probably not an issue on the defensive, but would require the C-in-C to be nearby just in case...

The Game

As is the norm, the photos will tell the story.

The Prussians on the left, the Austrians the right, with a unit of Jaegers on the hill (top left)

The Austrian positions.

The Prussian centre and right wing.

The Prussian left wing and the Austrian Jaegers on the hill.

The end of Turn 1. The preliminary bombardments did little damage, but units did accrue some hits. The Prussians pushed forward and the Austrian Jaegers traded space for time. There was some shooting, but to little effect due to being at long range.

The Prussians push forward towards the town.

The end of Turn 2. The Prussians continued to advance, but lost a Line Infantry unit as they closed in on the town.

The Prussian right flank could do with moving a tad quicker than the centre.

A whiff of grapeshot sees the demise of the Prussian infantry.

A view from the Prussian left flank.

The end of Turn 3. As the Prussians closed and the gun ranges reduced, the effects of the firing began to tell, with both sides losing a Line Infantry unit. The Austrians are holding on well in the face of the massed Prussian infantry.

The Prussian infantry come under sustained fire and are in a slightly worse position than the Austrians.

The action really hots up in front of Lobositz, with both sides losing infantry.

The end of Turn 4. The action intensifies as the Prussian infantry charge forward at the Austrian right, only to be repulsed by closing fire! Elsewhere the Prussians suffer too, but the Austrians are not immune to losses either.

The Prussian right flank loses an infantry unit and another if forced back to reform.

But the Austrians lose their C-in-C as they hold onto their positions!

Having repulsed the Prussian charge, the Austrian infantry break in the face of concentrated fire.

The Prussian left flank and part of the centre are not in a good position either.

The Prussian light infantry are forced back to reform.

The view of the situation at the end of Turn 4 after units have had to fall back to reform etc.

The end of Turn 5. The Austrians are just managing to hold on, but the Prussians are not in a great position to be honest.

On the Prussian right, they come under sustained fire that sees their C-in-C (Frederick 'he might have been great') fall from his horse dead!

The Austrian artillery bravely fight on but will be forced to fall back and reform.

Seizing an opportunity, the Austrian Jaegers moved down from the hill and fire into the rear of the Prussian infantry, routing them in the process!

The end of Turn 5 after all Rally moves have been made.

Despite having plenty of artillery left, the Prussian right is very weakened and will take time to reform before they can move forward to the attack.

Ditto the Prussian centre and left flank.

A view from the Austrian positions, where they still hold out and can move some infantry into Lobositz if the so wish.

End Of The Game

So by the end of Turn 5, it was obvious that the Prussians would take a couple of Turns more before they would be in a position to threaten the Austrian lines and, given their losses already, it seemed prudent for them to call off the attacks.

The Butcher's Bill, which was high for the Prussians, with both sides losing their C-inC's.

Post Game Thoughts

Having had this game set up for a good few days, my last minute decision to give it a go paid dividends, as that was a really enjoyable and rather eventful game! Lots to think about, so I'll try and summarise things in the usual manner:

• The commanding general's ability to rally off one hit even when close to the enemy, certainly helped out in this game, especially for the Austrians, which kept one unit very much in the game on the left flank at a critical point. It's not often I get to use this rule, but must make more use of it going forward.
• With lots of action right across the board, I struggled to remember which units had activated when shooting, so ended up put some markers down to help out. One of the few down sides of solo gaming for sure!
• Having planned to use the counter-battery rules, in the end they did not get used at all, as both sides artillery focussed on hitting the infantry, especially for the Austrians as they faced the wall of blue troops closing in on them. I can see it being very useful in larger games and if I'd had more time, I'd probably have made more use of it.
• In this game the shooting was particularly deadly, with both sides rolling 4's and 5's for much of the game, leading to some rather quick and bloody outcomes.
• Both sides losing their C-in-C's within a turn of each other was rather comical and not something I've seen before! Given the volume of fire and the amount of times both sides brigadier generals had to roll, I'm surprised that there weren't more casualties if I'm honest.
• The game certainly highlighted the need for me to get or make some heavy guns and howitzers, as well as some infantry that stand out as Grenadiers, to give more options for games and scenarios. In the short term some simple markers will suffice, but I need to dig through my MDF pile to see what I have as well as units that are already primed.
• I think total game time was about 1 1/2 hours, including taking notes, so just about perfect for an early evening game. These days anything approaching 3 hours and my attention span is flagging somewhat, as well as the old back and legs. At least I can break play up as I see fit, but often I find it hard to get back into the swing of things if I do this.
• Finally that was a really fun game and I hardly had to refer to the rulebook, which just made things flow, which certainly helped out on the enjoyment front.

What Next?

Well I would like to give the Lobositz scenario a run out from the HoW book, but with a rather busy week or so ahead, plus some forecast lovely weather, I doubt this will happen for a while. I do know I need to sort through my painted German AFVs and store them safely, rather than leaving them out on the top of the storage units. As mentioned above, some additions to the MDF armies would be nice to do, so I might try to find some time to make a start on these, which would be nice.

So thanks for reading and as always any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

OHW Scenario 20: Fighting Retreat - A HoW AAR

Having done a spurt of painting on my Early War German AFV's these past few weeks, I needed a change of scenery as it were. My first port of call in these moments is often the OHW scenarios and either Honours of War or BPII*. In the end I plumped for the former, as they are one of my favourite rulesets and I also hadn't played them in a long time. Normally I would set up a 3 1/2 x 2 1/2' table, to give me some room for manoeuvre, but this time I wanted to see how things would play out on a 3' x 2' one.

*I noticed that I'd already played this scenario last year, with BPII, the AAR of which can be found here .

Scenario Details

The Austrians have been raiding in and around Berlin, circa 1760, and are on their way back to their lines with their ill gotten gains, hotly pursued by some rather miffed Prussians. The game last for 8 Turns, with the Prussians only arriving on Turn 2. Both sides have Dependable Commanders, as they've sent their best chaps to battle! The Austrians have 2 Brigades, the Prussians 3. 

The Table Set Up

Below are some photos to help give an idea of the layout and forces involved.

An overview of the table. The Austrians are on the right and need to cross the river and reach the safety of the BUA on the left hand table edge.

The Austrian entrenchments.

An Austrian Brigade, with 2 x Line, 2 x Artillery and 1 x Dragoons.

The other Austrian Brigade, with 1 x Light Infantry, 1 x Line, 1 x Artillery and 1 x Hussars.

The Prussians, with two Brigades, each: 2 x Line, 1 x Artillery and 1 x Dragoons/Hussars. The other Brigade has 1 x Light Infantry, 1 x Horse Artillery, 2 x Dragoons.

Some of the plunder...

...and the remainder on the hoof.

The Game

As always, the captioned photos will attempt to tell how the game unfolded.

The end of Turn 1. The Austrians got over the bridges with ease, leaving a rearguard at both.

The end of Turn 2. The Austrians manage to get their rearguards over the bridge in the nick of time as the Prussians arrive and begin to form up.

The Austrian right flank rear guard takes Artillery fire as it exits over the bridge.

The Austrian right flank begins to occupy their entrenchments.

The Austrian left flank is safely over the river and safe from the Prussians at present.

The end of Turn 3. The Austrians continue to move towards safety, as the Prussians need time to change formation to try and cross the bridges.

The Prussian left flank decide to send the Dragoons over first.

The Austrian left flank reaches their entrenchments too.

The Prussian right flank decide to lead with their Line Infantry, due to the Austrian Jaegers across the river.

At the start of Turn 4, the Prussian Dragoons catch the Austrian Line Infantry in the rear, causing them to (rather unsurprisingly) rout...

...then pursue into the Austrian Dragoons, who destroy the Prussians in the process...

...then the Austrian Dragoons pursue into the Prussian Line Infantry on the bridge...

...only to be forced back to Reform. Phew!

The end of Turn 4. Aside from the made clashes by the stone bridge, the rest of the Turn consisted of both sides forming up for defence or to cross the bridges.

The Prussian left flank.

The Prussian right flank.

The Austrian right flank in a strong position, but doesn't have many troops having lost one Line Infantry unit already.

The Austrian left looks stronger.

The plunder is safe for the moment.

The end of Turn 5. The Prussians begin to cross both bridges as their third Brigade begins to arrive on their left flank.

The Prussians form into line as they cross the bridge.

Both sides Hussars clash with each other, with the Prussians being routed!

The end of Turn 6. As the Prussians continue to move forward, they come under fire, making progress hard.

A target rich environment for the Austrian Artillery.

The Austrian Jaegers destroy one Prussian Line Infantry unit.

An overview of the Austrian left flank, with Prussian losses meaning they have lost any real offensive capability here.

The end of Turn 7. Whilst the Prussian right flank falls back to the wooden bridge, the Prussian left surges forward to threaten the Austrian right flank.

The Prussians pour forward, but one Line Infantry unit is force back to reform due to close range cannister from the Austrian gun.

Austrian Hussars await their moment to charge into the Prussian flanks if they become weakened.

At the start of Turn 8, the Prussian Dragoons charge and the Austrian Dragoons, despite being outnumbered, manage to hold on, with both sides forced to retire to reform.

The end of Turn 8. Despite finally having crossed the river in force, the Prussians are unable to evict the austrians from their positions and to re-take their plunder.

The Prussian high water mark.

The Austrians hold firm within their entrenchments.

The Prussian Line Infantry have taken too many hits already and would most likely break if under fire again.

A final overview of the positions at the end of play.

End of the Game

In the end it proved too difficult a task for the Prussians, with early losses really hampering their ability to prosecute their attacks.

The 'Butcher's Bill', Austrians on the left, Prussians the right.

Post Game Thoughts

Well for a relatively quickly thought out and set up game, that played well for me and was a nice change from all of my recent WWII stuff. So as always some thoughts on the game etc:

• I was pleasantly surprised at HoW well the 3' x 2' game space worked. I did think it might be too small, but with the HoW movement distances, it was not a problem, allowing the action to happen almost from the off. If I was using BPII, then I would definitely go for a bigger table.
• The benefits of sticking to a few core rulesets was immediately obvious, as I rarely had to refer to the rulebook, with the QRS being more than adequate. It meant that I could focus on the game itself, rather than purusing to rulebook just to 'check' on something I wasn't sure about.
• Solo play once again showed its value, as I set the game up the night before and had finished before lunchtime the next day. Being able to fit in games as and when time allows is such a luxury, which I do not take for granted!
• Having all the Commanders rated as 'Dependable' gave the game the speed I was hoping for. The thought behind this was, having read Horace St Paul's second volume (published by Helion), that both sides would tend to send their best Commanders for these sort of operations.
• Again the entrenchments idea came from Horace St Paul's book, with them often being thrown up, with abattis to the fore too, to protect their encampments etc. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but these may have been a step too far for the Prussians to give them a fighting chance in the game. You live and learn!
• River crossings are tricky and often not the most exciting games if I'm honest, but at least this game was quite a nice challenge due to the victory conditions.
• The Commission Figurines were good to get on the table again and are so versatile. I could paint more, possible as a different 'Nation', but I have plenty enough troops for most of the games I play. Let's wait and see...

What Next?

I'm not sure if I'm honest! Probably some more painting, but for what period remains to be seen. It is after all a hobby, so I'm in no rush and let's see what the grabs me first.

As always, thanks for reading and any comments are greatly appreciated:)!

TTFN.