Seven Years War, Die Kriegskunst, 28mm

The aim of this game was to introduce new players to Die Kriegskunst, so we kept the forces very small – just a brigade-sized force per side. The premise was that while French engineers were desperately trying to prepare a bridge for demolition, a mixed force of line infantry, light troops and hussars had to keep the Prussians at bay until the engineers were ready. One of the hardest things in this period is manoeuvring your troops in the face of the enemy, so it was a real test to see if the French could hold off the Prussians and withdraw in good order. “JP” commanded the French, Ken”monkey-hanger” Pearce thePrussians, while Dougie Trail and I sort of umpired, and drank lots of beer.The French began by deploying their two regular battalions into line, facing the approaching Prussians. The French skirmishers tried to make it to the cover of a small wood, but the Prussian cavalry fell upon them before they reached it. Half the skirmishers were promptly ridden down, while the rest ran away. The dragoons were then forced to retire, due to casualties caused by a French gun on the far side of the river. Meanwhile the Bercheny Hussars were deployed to cover the open flank of the French line, where they were attacked by the Prussian Black Hussars. Thanks to some exemplary die rolling the Prussians routed their more colourful French opponents, which left the French flank open to attack.“JP” pulled his battalion of the Conde Regiment back towards the bridge, refusing his flank in the process. By this stage the Prussian infantry had come up, and a general firefight began. At first the French got the better of it – which is when the commander was told that the bridge was ready. It all went wrong when he tried to move the Conde regiment back over the bridge. As they reformed into march column they were charged and broken by the Prussian foot. That only left Dillon’s Irish regiment in good order, standing between the Prussians and victory. At that point the French player conceded, and a veil was drawn over the whole unhappy affair.Still, the game could have gone either way, and the scenario was a real teaser for the French player, who needed both luck and perfect judgement to win the day. Even better, “JP” was inspired, and now plans to build up his own French army. We’ll certainly do something like this bridge scenario again – if for no other reason that I want to get more mileage out of my French bridge-blowing stand.

Tags: Die Kriegskunst