Rangers on the run

Derek Hodge had mentioned the week before about doing a small game of Muskets and Tomahawks so this being the week after, here is the report. Derek had arranged a small scenario involving a returning party of British rangers, light infantry and Indians heading home after burning out a few defenceless homesteaders. The French had an ambush party consisting of companie de Marine, militia and some Indians, deployed in front of a critical ford that the British had to cross. The sub-plots involved my French Indians leader who hated the rangers officer and wanted to scalp him. The British had to search a building to recover an item.






The French deployed their regular infantry unit in a field to the left of the road. These were the only unit on the table all the rest were represented by counters. The French deployed 4 counters to the left of the road around. The British deployed 4 counters to each each side of the road. The French had 3 more counters but these started off-table.











The British started pushing forward looking to flush out the French ambush. With a string of good cards they made good ground and started circling round the French left flank. At this point 3 French counters appeared behind the British left flank. It was all starting to look rather interesting.

The French flanking force now revealed one of its counters as a group of Indians these then advanced and spotted 3 of the 4 counters on the British left. If you are spotted by your opponent the designated leader is placed on the counter and the other figures are placed at your opponents discretion within 6". I started laughing at this point as I gleefully placed poor old Donald's figures all over the place. Formation ruined and fingers crossed for the next card I sat down. Well I stayed seated for a while as a couple of good cards allowed Donald to sort out the mess and get a round of fire in.

Donald did not hang around trading shots but headed off to engage and flank the Companie de Marine in the field. My Indians followed up but good cards for Donald and poor ones for me meant he stayed ahead giving the poor Companie de Marine a right shoeing. The British seemed more interested in the buildings the in fighting and my Indians were stuck in the woods.


The game at this point drew to a close nither side had achived there primary purpose but the British had managed to recover what ever it was they were looking for.

A good game the rules have a great feel to them one of the first blackpowder skirmish rulesets I have enjoyed.

Kolinski

Kolin but with a Russian twist. Kolin was fought in the summer of 1757 as part of Frederick the Great's attempts to subdue Austria, Since Angus had neglected to collect any Austrians we had to substitute some Russians in.

The field was laid out in a rough representation of the battlefield no expense spare here. The set-up was slightly unorthodox with heavy cavalry being substituted in for Hussars.

The Prussian plan was pretty much follow what Frederick did assault the end of Kechnor ridge past Kechnor and through the oak wood. It didn't work for Frederick but only just.

The Game started with the Prussian infantry refusing one brigade and assaulting with two up the ridge. The focal point of this attack was a large Russian battery located at the end of the ridge beside the oak wood.


The Russian started to blaze away at the advancing infantry the russian cannon balls started to take effect and the casualties began to mount along with the disorders. As the lead 2 battalions began to stall things were not looking too rosy. The Grenadier brigade advancing on their flank through Kechnor village and the oak wood were making better progress.









Popping out of the oak wood the grenadiers launched a charge against the gun battery. They managed to sweep through that and a supporting battalion things were starting to look a bit better.

The assault began to gain some real momentum as the recovering brigade swung round to support the grenadiers assault. This was all getting to look to much like how the real battle went and the hurrying reinforcements from the Russian right flank really added to the feel. 

As the Russians desperately tried to shore up their centre the Prussains were trying to press home their advantage. Unfortunately as with most big games time was against us reaching a conclusion. The Russian position was grave but reserves were at hand. The Prussians had the advantage but had no reserves at hand to seal their success.

Engagement at Masdorf

This was a fictitious engagement played at the Dumbarton Wargames Club between Mother Russia's finest and the forces of Prussia's King Frederick. The two forces consisted of an infantry brigade, a cavalry brigade and a couple of guns. There was no particular objective as the emphasis was on learning the rules, which were Blackpowder.

The two sides lined up with the Prussians adopting a classic deployment, infantry centre with the cavalry and light troops on the flanks. The Russians placed all their cavalry on one flank while massing their infantry just off centre artillery in between.

 The game started with a mad capped cavalry charge by the Prussian Cuirassier regiment. The Russian horse responded with a counter charge in the ensuing melee they beat their Prussian counter parts and persued after them. The Prussians managed to rally some what and force a draw the resulting bounce backs left the prussians off table and the russian horse collecting their wits.

The Russian infantry commander not too interested in what the donkey wallopers were up to began pressing forward. Being an inexperienced player our Prussian commander launched his hussars in an up the gut charge. Racing forward in their fancy blue uniforms it all looked so irresistible, well it wasn't one well delivered volley and the shattered hussars fled to safety.

 A rather worried looking Prussian commander started looking around for troops to slow the Russian juggernaut down. He pulled an infantry battalion out of line to try and back up the floundering Hussars. The Juggernaut was not to be stopped, the battalion lasted two rounds of fire before breaking. The Russians rolled on sliding one Battalion off the flank to protect the move. A charge by the Russian horse and it would all be over.

The cavalry commander was obviously waiting for a better opportunity or something as he was not inclined to move. Things looked even bleaker for the battalion then one of the supporting Battalions rushed up to cover its flank from said cavalry broke and fled under artillery fire.

The Russians closed in bringing overwhelming fire power to bear it all looked up for the Prussians. This battalion was made of sterner stuff than her sisters and refused to break dishing out a bit in return.

The Russian flank battalion was now taking a pasting from artillery and the hussars were hovering to charge in. With his cavalry commander seemingly stuck in mud the Russian commander was beginning to wonder if it was all going wrong.

The infantry command final lost patience with the cavalry and charge in with his two lead battalions. The dice were rolled and that doughty Prussian battalion held much to the consternation of our Russian commander. After a second round of fighting finally the Prussians were pushed back.

This time lapse had been disastrous for the Russians. The battalion facing the gun had broken and fled while those hussars had rallied up and swept round the back and caught another battalion and wiped them out.

While the Prussian commander generously coincided the field to the Russians our Russian commander was now not so sure.

Seven Years War: Raiding the Frontier, Landsberg, Poland 1758

This game was one that I thought up on wet Wednesday lunch time. The premise is that the Prussians are defending a river line and have a scattering of outposts holding the key bridges. The Russians had got a small detachment over the river by a ford to the north of the bridge and had circled round behind one of the said outposts. The Russian plan was to attack the outpost from the rear while launching a direct assault on the bridge. The local Prussian forces had however gotten wind of this and a relief column had been dispatched.

The Russian forces consisted of 2 battalions of Infantry, 1 unit of Cossacks and 1 gun on the Prussian side of the river.




4 battalions of Infantry, 2 Cavalry Regiment and 2 Guns trying to force the bridge.

The Prussians had 2 Frikorps battalions, 1 unit of Jager and 1 gun in the village and a relief column consisted of 4 battalions of infantry, 1 unit of cavalry and 1 gun.

The battle start with the Russians ranged around the north west corner of the village. The defenders had one battalion facing this and one battalion facing the bridge backed by a gun. The unit of the jager was ranged around the rest of the village.

The initial moves saw the Russian forces move forward to the edge of the village in preparation to assault. Russian forces on the other side of the river launched a mad rush at the bridge, speed was essential.

The Prussian relief force pushed on up the table led by the von Sezkely Hussars. The cossaks covering the flank of the infantry assault on the village turned to face the Hussars. In the ensuing melee the Cossacks were trounced and sent scurrying back behind their lines.

The Infantry had moved into assault positions around the edge of the village and launched a charge due to some great dice a double 6 to be precise the Frikorps rabble beat off 2 Russian Infantry battalions.

The assault over the bridge was always going to be brutal the lead Russian battalion took some casualties crossing and then failed in its bid to charge the defending Frikorps battalion. Flushed with success the Frikorps sallied to hit the fleeing Russians but failed its charge roll and fled back down the bank of the river.

The battalion behind it stormed the gun on the road and then pushed on into the village capturing the building behind the Frikorps. The Prussian relief column had by this time had reached the middle of the village.

We had run out of time by this point which was unfortunate as the game was getting interesting with some heavy fighting in prospect for possession of the village. The Russian Cavalry had crossed the river to the north of the bridge and were now in a position to intervene in the fighting. The initial Russian attacks on the village had not been successful but with a small foothold in the village at the bridge they would be difficult for the Prussians to dislodge.

The Battle of Emsdorf

Played Black Powder for the second time last night down at my local club in Edinburgh. The battle chosen for the occasion was Emsdorf 14th July 1760. The protagonist consisted of an Allied command of Hanoverian, Hessian and British forces ranged against German troops in French service.

Marburg which was the French main supply depot for the army operating towards Kessel approximately 80 miles to the northwest. The French Army had pushed the allied force up to Kassel and had halted to sort out their supply arrangements before continuing their advance. On the night of the 14th Allied intelligence had received information that the french field bakery was located at Ziegenhain some 25 miles NEE of Marburg covered by a large French Brigade commanded by Baron Glaubitz.

Looking to slow the French down the commander of the Alllied force, Ferdinand of Brunswick ordered a small combined arms force based at Fritzlar, under the command of the Hereditary Prince to intercept this force and destroy it.

The hard marching troops of this flying column raced south on the morning of the 15th. Arriving at Trysa in the evening, 2o miles from their start point and only 2 miles from Ziegenhain, his scouts reported that the enemy was actually camped at Emsdorf 10 miles to the west. The hereditary Prince made camp that night before setting out in the morning for Emsdorf. Arriving at the outskirts of the village at midday on teh 16th he found the french were settling down to have lunch. There were no outpost sited so the hereditary prince decided to split his force to surround the enemy and cut off any retreat.

The positon of Emsdorf covers the main approaches to Marburg sitting on a slight rise looking south east over the main valley running 30 miles north to Kessel.

The French had encamped beside the village of Emsdorf oblivious of the approaching allies and sat down to drink their beer.

Pushing through the woods to the south of Emsdorf the Prince struggled to get his attack off to a quick start. The lead Hanoverian Battalion had great difficulty in shaking out upon leaving the cover of the trees. An alert sentry duly spotted the conflagration and raised the alarm. The French now alerted began to from line of battle as they began to shake out into L formation to cover the converging forces. Von Luckner who had been moving his forces in from the west spotted an opportunity to strike the exposed flank of the southern side of the french L.
Von Luckners Hussars launched a sharp charge, the terrified German mercenaries broke as the hussars bore down on them fleeing up the hill in confusion. This retreat only uncovered the flank of their sister battalion in a whirl of pelisses and sabers it was all over the German battalion ceased to exist.This charge threw the French into confusion their formation was a shambles and nearly half of the available infantry was out of commission.Glaubitz hurriedly moved his reserve down to plug the gap. He was fortunate the Allied attack was poorly coordinated as he formed a semblence of a line before the allied infantry could attack.
(Looking north from the Hereditary Princes position. The village of Emsdorf can be made out in the back ground. Von Luckners Hussars are charging into the still forming French.)

The main allied infantry force of 4 battalions now began its attack on the french positions at the base of the hill. A firefight developed along the line with the French getting the worst of it. Some of the mercenary German battalions were begin to edge back. Glaubitz decided to reform his line further up the hill and pulled his units back desperately trying to rally them. At this point the Hereditary Prince launched the Hanoverian battalion Von Marschall into a spirited charge up the hill.
The German mercenaries fired a ragged volley before disintegrating back through the battalions behind. The Hereditary prince checked the Hanoverian's before they could get out of control. The allied brigede paused reformed and continued its advance after the retreating German mercenaries.
On the other flank the 15th Light Dragoons tasked with covering the allied left flank, had formed on the ridge line looking down towards the village of Emsdorf . French light troops were seen to be occupying Emsdorf while the Bercheny hussars were maneuvering in the fields behind the village. The colonel of the 15th had placed the unit in an exposed position and the fire from the french light infantry soon caused disorder amongst the ranks. The English colonel decided to retire behind the ridge line, this simple maneuver was turned into a disaster as the colonel toppled from his horse the regiment broke and fled from the scene.
The French Hussars raced across the field to take the ground vacated by the dragoons. Von Luckner witnesed the collapse of the allied left as he tried to form a response the french hussars crested the rise of the hill. The French hussars looked set to sweep all before but they seemed content to sit on the hill and wait. This pause allowed Von Luckner time to reorganise his line. He then ordered his units to close up with the french at this point the french charged down the hill. The first half of this was shot off by the Hanoverian battalion. Von Luckner's hussars counter charged the approaching french horse. A swirling melee of pelisse's, saber's, mirliton's, and busby's developed both sides taking heavy loss.

The German mercenaries retreat halted at the base of the hill to the west of Emsdorf. A massive firefight developed along the line as the allied battalions pushed forward to make their numbers tell. The fragile morale of mercenaries began to crack and the efforts of Glaubitz to rally them were in vain as the line began to disintegrate before his eyes.

As the French infantry teetered on the edge of oblivion their Hussars finally broke Von Luckners hussars. Could they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a timely charge? Inertia again seemed to grip the French Cavalry commander, finally he pushed his units forward but it was all too late the last of the mercenary battalions had collapsed and the Hereditary Prince had closed the door.


With his T crossed the French Hussar commander retreated and was last seen muttering about a poor ground. Glaubitz looked slightly bemused on his trip to the prison camp muttering about his colleagues lack of aggressive spirit.

In the real engagement the Allies were amongst the French before they could react In a quick series of actions the french began to retreat. The persuing cavalry especially the 15th light dragoons put in a couple of telling charges capturing one battalion. The frennch managed to beat these attacks off but were finally cornered and forced to surrender. As a by note the French Hussars ran very early in the battle leaving their infantry.