Seven Years War, Die Kriegskunst, 28mm

This was another playtesting game, albeit a rather big one. In truth though, it was really an excuse to field our new cavalry units – the regiments we’d painted up for the Gross-Jagersdorf demo game at the start of the month. It involved a clash between two of my Russian infantry brigades, supported by three cavalry regiments and some Cossacks against a Prussian force, which was supposed to be just five battalions strong, plus three more regiments of cavalry. True to form the Germanic fiends went back on their word, and the final tally was eight infantry units – two of which were grenadier battalions.  Oh, and one was a Hesse-Kassel battalion which must have turned up on the wrong battlefield, in case anyone recognises the flags flying in the picture above!The key to the game was the big cavalry clash on the Russian right – a situation we needed to playtest. As it stands the standard General de Brigade system calls for the units to charge into melee, then the action freezes. When the melee turn comes around the close combat engagements are fought out, and then there’s another pause until the Morale phase, when all retreats, pursuits and follow-up charges are worked out. the system works, but its a little disjointed and clunky.We tried various solutions during the game, none of which were wholly satisfactory. It would be nice to fight through the melee and work out all the results as they happen, but at the moment we haven’t found a suitable alternative to the existing system. Back to the drawing board.Anyway, I’m pleased to report that on their second outing my Russian Horse Grenadiers – the Ryazanski  Regiment – excelled themselves yet again, riding over a larger formation of veteran Prussian dragoons. Unfortunately – yet again – my regular dragoons – the Tobolski Regiment – were trounced by a smaller unit of Prussian hussars. the key to the Prussian success was an attached battery, which poured canister into my dragoons as they rode in. Still, the Horse Grenadiers (which charged so successfully at Zorndorf) have now won two charges in a row, and they’re well on their way towards becoming my favourite unit!On the rest of the battlefield the battery of Prussian 12-pounder “Brummers” looked good but achieved very little, while my two brigades gave as good as they got from the Prussian line, who were being steadily whittled down by Russian artillery fire as they closed with my line.As for the rest of the battle, it developed into a close-range slugging match, although on the final turn the Prussian cuirassiers charged their Russian counterparts, while their supporting Cossacks refused to leave the nice safe cover of the nearby wood. Cossacks add colour to a game, but not much else! In the end the game was declared a draw, with both sides performing well, despite our tinkering with the rules as we went along. However, it was set up as a playtest as much as a stand-up game, and the discussions over rule mechanics continued on after the game – in fact until the staff of the Cumberland Bar called it a night! We’ll play another game soon, as we still have a few ideas to try out.

Tags: Die Kriegskunst