Seven Years War, Die Kriegskunst, 28mm

This was another playtesting game, involving two borrowed armies. I commanded Dougie Trail’s Prussians (bolstered by one of my Hessian units and Russian cavalry posing as Prussians, while Dave Imrie took charge of the French – an army composed mainly of figures from Dale Smith of Kirriemuir’s collection, augmented by my two Reichsarmee units. By the way, the photos of the game were taken by Derek Hodge.The battle was stacked against the French from the start. We followed a scenario devised by Charles S. Grant called “Flank Attack”, the premise being that in true Frederick style the bulk of the Prussian army had marched around the French position, and was set to fall on it from the flank – just like they did at Leuthen. Our objective was to test how the command system worked – we wanted to see just how long it would take for the French to respond to this onslaught.Well, the rules worked a treat. The Reichsarmee units were swept from the field, and the covering regiment of French hussars driven off by Prussian volleys. While the main French line tried to refuse its flank and form a new line, the Prussian streamroller kept on going, driving another French unit into retreat. In the end the French managed to pull together some semblance of a firing line, but by that time the Prussians were very much in the ascendancy, and if we’d gone on the best they could do was to cover their own retreat with their unblooded cavalry.Actually, the powerful French cavalry force spent the whole game waiting for orders which never came. Its commander was rated as “poltroon”, and even when the CinC came over to spur him into action the cavalry still just sat there! The command rules certainly seemed to work in this game! The playtesting highlighted a few problems – we need to rework the whole business of troops in built-up areas (who get outshot by units outside), and we need to clarify some of the rules concerning charges. Apart from that everything went smoothly, and Dave went home vowing to build up a new and better army to avenge his defeat. I think this time he’s opting for Austrians, so expect to see more pretty pictures and figures here in a month or so..

Tags: Die Kriegskunst