The Seven Years War, Die Kriegskunst, 28mm 

We’d actually planned to play a much bigger game – a potential scenario for a potential scenario book. It was based on the French attack on Obensberg hill, the turning movement that led to a French victory in the Battle of Hastenbeck (26th July 1757). One of the players had to cancel though, which left us short of troops. We scaled everything down, keeping the same basic situation, but playing it out with less figures, and on a smaller 6×4 foot table. The French were on the attack – in two columns – one directly in front of the Obensberg, and the other in front of the main Allied line.A brigade of Allied troops were well out in front of the Allied position, and in theory they were fairly exposed -caught between the two French columns. What the Brunswicker commander – Ken – did was to go over to the attack, pinning Dave Imrie’s French columns in place before they could launch their own assault.The fight raged for several turns, but by the end it was clear that the French advance had stalled… even Dave Imrie resorting to chemical warfare (see picture) failed to turn things around. The Allies didn’t even need to use the troops in their main battle line.On the other side of the table the Grenadiers de France surged up the Obensberg, while French skirmishers kept their Hanovarian counterparts busy. So far so good. The follow-up brigade left the grenadiers to it and wheeled to the left, heading for the back of the Brunswickers. Then, as they were poised to launch their attack a new unit appeared – Col. von Dachenhausen’s small brigade of Hanovarian cavalry. Another small brigade of infantry appeared on the eastern side of the Obensberg, making the Grenadiers de France form a defensive line just short of the summit.Well, my French managed to turn a battalion round to face the cavalry, but a bad die roll meant their defensive volley was fired at long range, and the cavalry crashed home. The infantry – a battalion of the Conde Regiment – were overrun, which meant the Hanovarian cavalry were poised to run amok behind the French line. To recap, the Obensberg was still in Allied hands, the main assault had stalled, and the French reserves were being chopped up! At that point the French conceded – foiled by the spirited Brunswickers, and those darned Hanoverian horsemen!We’ll certainly play the game again, but the next time it’ll be a full-sized clash – and with luck we’ll be able to avoid some of the ghastly mistakes we made in this small battle!

Tags: Die Kriegskunst