Lutzingen, Seven Years War action

Last evening we played a hypothetical scenario “Lutzingen” designed by Keith Flint, author of “Honours of War”. The rules used were his new work in progress, Simple Seven Years War Rules, along with our 15mm figures. Table size and all other distances were scaled down by 1/3. We used our house rules for leader casualties (moot since there were none). Ken (later aided by Jay and then replaced by Andrew) commanded the attacking Prussians and Rick commanded the defending Austrians. I umpired. (Austrians and Bavarians will be in italics here and in photos.) We didn’t use any national modifiers since this was our first try with the rules and we wanted to keep it simple.

This obscure battle featured small forces (under 10,000 each) led by commanders of the first rank; King Frederick II (the Great) and Marshal Daun. The Prussians made a forced march around the Austrian left and headed for the enemy depot at Lutzingen. Daun moved to stop this attack. (In lieu of a curtain, each side was given a map and drew their deployment.) The collision occurred at the cross roads south of the depot. The row of trees along the road, the plowed fields and the white fences have no tactical significance and are only window dressing. The bright yellow strips (without brown markings) are the edge of the playing area. Abandon hope of rallying, all units that enter this. Hits are indicated by cardboard markers, red discs indicate weakened status and yellow markers indicate retreating units. Cotton smoke shows units that have fired. The large white polyhedral die was used to indicate what turn was being played.

Both sides deployed evenly across the front.

The Prussians advanced, cavalry moving ahead on both flanks.

The Prussian Dragoon Brigade cannot be seen but they are working their way through the woods on the right.

On the 2^nd turn things heated up. We decided that pass-through fire would be treated the same as firing in support of a charge; a 50% chance of the unit firing.

The third turn saw the Prussian Hussars in a pickle. The Austrian infantry had no pressure from the front and emerged from the woods behind them. On the Austrian right, the lack of a reserve was causing anxiety. I had made errors with firing modifiers in the the early turns and tried to recover from these.

The fourth turn saw the Hussars try to extricate themselves while the Dragoons began a romp past the enemy flank.

We broke for dinner.

Turn 5 saw mixed results for the Hussars. The Austrian cavalry charged with mixed results; a badly shot up Garde battalion ran through their supports, which then sent the cavalry about their business. A Dragoon regiment was beaten by a steady (and untouched) line battalion. We opted to have units winning the first round fight contacted supports in the second round rather than continue the melee into the next turn. A badly shot up Austrian battalion quit the field, without having run through any supports.

We had been counting weakened, retreating and routing units at the end of each turn. The 5^th turn saw both armies with a lot of red and yellow markers. The Prussians had a total of 4 points, more than halfway towards their breakpoint, without a unit yet off the table. They were about to lose their first. But the Austrians were headed for trouble. Edit: just noticed that the Bavarians should not have been able to retire in good order, as they were rated inferior and such moves are beyond them, It didn't make that much difference considering what the next turn held for them.

I only got one picture of the 6^th turn (taken the next morning). Perhaps the fine bottle of wine with dinner might account for the lack of vigilance by the photographer.

Unseen, the 2^nd Battalion Moltke Regiment charged and beat a badly shot up Prussian battalion, advancing deep into the Prussian center without any support. But the Prussian Dragoons put the hammer down.

Austrian Hussars and both Bavarian battalions quit the field. The Hessen-Darmstadt Dragoons rallied on the edge of the table, narrowly avoiding the Austrian breakpoint (5.5 against the breakpoint of 6). We called the game at this point. The Austrians needed to rout three more Prussian units for a win, while avoiding having one more of their own units either get weakened or retreat. It seemed a forgone conclusion and the hour was getting late. So the game went to the Prussians, who sacked the depot and forced Daun to withdraw from the immediate area.

The Prussians had 1 unit routed off the table, one weakened and retreating, and 4 weakened for the equivalent of 4 units routed against their breakpoint of 7. The Austrians had 4 units routed off the table, 1 weakened and 2 Prussian units (the Dragoons) on objectives for the equivalent of 5.5 units routed against their breakpoint of 6, hovering on the precipice.

It took 3.5 hours for us to play 6 turns, about 35 minutes a turn. We proceeded at a leisurely pace and everyone was new to the rules. I’m sure this will go faster in a few tries. The game is good, simple without being simplistic. We did have to make some quick decisions mid-game but it is a work in progress.

Each turn initiative is determined and the side with initiative decides who goes first. The sequence is; first side moves, second side moves, second side fires, first side fires, melee, rally. It seems to me that unless you have an imperative reason to go first, going second is better. You can adjust to the other side’s moves and you get to fire first. This impression may change as we play more games. I do have some questions and suggestions for Keith that I’ll forward on his online forum. 

If everyone’s schedules agree we hope to have a game in later December. I intend to use the same rules transported across the pond for the battle of the Monongahela, better known as Braddock’s defeat. Break out the tomahawks and war paint.