The First Battle of Preßwitz

October, the Year of our Lord 163x.  The Regional Commander of the Protestant forces in Thuringia learned that Imperial troops had left the small town of Preßwitz, heading eastwards.   It was decided to send a strong force to take control of the town and its river crossings in order to obtain an area for foraging and to cut Imperial communications with their garrisons to the north-west.   The Protestants moved in two equally sized columns, each having one brigade of infantry and one of cavalry.  General Dronk led his column along a road directly towards Preßwitz while on his right General Tippel led his towards a crossroads south of the town, possession of which would cut any Imperial communication with the town.

As the Protestant columns moved towards the town, General Hummel was moving his large Imperial infantry brigade and accompanying cavalry away.  On 6th October he ran into General Gorlich, moving rapidly in the opposite direction with a large cavalry brigade and bringing orders for Hummel to take command of the whole force and march back to Preßwitz to rendezvous with a contingent of reinforcements and a supply column.  He was to ensure that these were brought safely to the main army.  Hummel turned his grumpy men about and marched back, sending out patrols of Croat cavalry to try to locate the supply column and scout out any enemy movements.  As evening fell he reached the crossroads and received reports from his scouts.  Those who had gone to find the supply train said they had only found a small detachment of musketeers in Preßwitz, who had been told to prevent Protestant scouts and scavengers crossing the river but to fall back if larger forces appeared.  They had no news of any supply train or reinforcements, but thought it unlikely that they would be moving along the route through the town anymore.  From the west came news that a large column of enemy troops was marching towards the crossroads and another smaller column towards the town.  Both appeared to have made camp for the night.  On this information, Hummel had to decide how to deploy his men for the morrow.

For their part, Dronk and Tippel had also learned of the Empire striking back towards the town and could make their dispositions but with greater restriction than the Imperials.  Each column had to be arranged around the road on which it had been moving.  Tippel could start fully deployed, Dronk would have to start with his infantry still in column on the road, except for a unit of musketeers who could be deployed as he wished, along with his artillery.

This was the set up for a game fought last night as a test run for Saturday's fight at the club.  The wrinkle added to the scenario was that after each side had made their dispositions, but before play began, both would receive fresh instructions from their far off headquarters about their objectives, which they would need to try to respond to within the constraints of a battle about to start!  Each side would select one of several possible directives.  Neither side would know what they would get or what the other side would be ordered to do.  At the end of the game, the orders would be revealed and honours given for whoever was deemed to have best achieved their objective - but with a clear cut victory over the enemy wiping away any failure to comply with orders.

With only three players for this week's game, we drew for sides.  Gareth and Tim got the more unified Imperial force.  This had an advantage in cavalry over the Protestants but their powerful but ponderous Tercios were less numerous than the enemy infantry.  For my part, I had to manage the divided columns of the Protestants.  How did the two sides set up?

Imperial musketeers holding the main bridge at Preßwitz.  They are not part of Hummel's army and will need to take an action test if Protestant forces start to move into the town to see if they will stand their ground.

The Imperial line up looking southwards across the field from Preßwitz.  Cavalry are deployed either side of the wood, followed by 3 of the 4 tercios and another large contingent of cavalry.

The Imperial position looking north towards Preßwitz in the distance.  In the foreground, Harquebusiers and Cuirassiers guard the flank.  Beyond them, the fourth tercio is placed between batteries of field guns and light guns to cover the vital crossroads.

For the Protestant side, Tippel has his infantry formed in double line astride the route leading to the crossroads, supported by light artillery.  The woods constrain his deployment and he has chosen to place part of his horsemen behind the infantry.  The other part are out of picture on the other side of the wood at the top.

The view from above Tippel's deployment towards the crossroads and the Imperial left.

The centre, looking from the Protestant side across to the solid line of Imperial troops.  Dronk has placed his musketeers as a forlorn hope in the small wood in the centre, his artillery to the left, covering his infantry strung out in column along the road.  Tippel's other cavalry are on the right - Dragoons at the rear backing up Dutch style cavalry.  Dronk's Swedish style cavalry are covering the front of his infantry and the baggage near the windmill.

The head of the Protestant column approaching Preßwitz but feeling somewhat threatened by Imperial cavalry across the open ground.  The last of their own cavalry are screened by the infantry and will find it difficult to deploy!

Those were the dispositions. What were the fresh orders that each side received?  To his horror, Dronk was told in no uncertain terms that it was vital he secured control of Preßwitz and that he should not be drawn into a major engagement unless it was necessary to secure the town.  How would this be possible with so much enemy cavalry threatening any move towards the town and his own infantry not in position?  Hummel and his subordinates were left scratching their heads by their orders, which were to concentrate against the southern column, the cartographer having failed to put a compass rose on the map.  Eventually they concluded that it meant that they should pile in on Dronk's column while holding position around the crossroads!!

Battle began with the Imperial artillery bombarding Tippel's infantry - meaning these will need to take an action test to move.

On the Protestant left, Imperial cavalry moved forwards swiftly, untroubled by bombardment from the enemy guns.  The leading Protestant infantry regiment deploys into line while the others use their column movement to get into position more quickly.

The mass of Imperial infantry in the centre lumbers forwards, supported on their left by Cuirassiers and the Croats.  Tippel's Dutch cavalry move forward in reply.

After his opening advance, the Imperial cavalry commander holds back, waiting for the rest of his brigade and the infantry to move up as well.  This gives time for Dronk to get all his infantry into line and to bring his Swedish style cavalry around to be a threat to the flank of the Imperial cavalry should it choose to charge the infantry.  In the foreground, dragoons are moving quickly to the left, looking for a position where they might be useful on the flank.  Dronk still hasn't worked out what to do with his remaining cavalry.

First clash!  Dronk sees an opportunity to charge with his elite Swedish cavalry and goes in with  artillery support.  The Imperial cavalry fails the first test but their commander is near enough to attach to the unit and allow a re-roll, which they pass.

Tippel also makes a bold advance, braving artillery bombardment to bring the leading Imperial Cuirassiers under fire from his Dutch cavalry.  The Cuirassiers also pass their morale test, setting up a charge in the next turn.

Continuing with bold moves, on his far right Teppel advances his infantry straight towards the hesitant Imperial cavalry on the flank, where woods constrain their deployment.  The main purpose is to open up space for the rest of his cavalry to move out to join the attack on the central column of Cuirassiers and he hopes the fight between infantry and cavalry will last long enough to give the fight in the centre a chance.  Things get off to a good start when the leading Imperial cavalry unit fails an action test to charge.  Their general has a poor rating so cannot help them re-roll.

The Imperial's central Cuirassier column is engaged in front and threatened in the flank.

The Horror!  Imperial cavalry pass their next action test, charge and rout an elite Protestant Regiment on its first morale test.  Tippel is not near enough to join and allow a re-roll.

On the other side of the field, the Imperial cavalry is in a muddle.  Their best units are locked in an unending duel with Dronk's Swedish troops, both sides happily passing morale test after morale test - despite, for Dronk's men, now having a Tercio on their flank.  As his Gallopers try to manoeuvre, the Imperial commander throws in his Dragoons against Protestant pikemen, more to get his own men out of the way than in hopes of doing much!

The Dragoons do some damage as the Protestants lose a morale test.  As infantry, they do not fall back.  The Dragoons then fail their test and fall back behind the Gallopers, leaving one in an exposed position!

Imperial cavalry charge the reserve line on the Protestant right.

The Infantry fail their first morale test, which would lose them a morale point but not rout them.  Anxious to prop things up as long as possible and not thinking clearly, Tippel joins the unit and re-rolls.  A 4!!  The unit still lose a morale point while Teppel drinks his last drink, and a bitter one at that, struck down in the heat of the conflict.

In the massive cavalry fight in the centre, first blood goes to the Imperials, forcing back the lead Dutch regiment behind its support line.  However, Dronk had finally decided that his unengaged cavalry should also be committed to this part of the fight and moved them across, giving him great depth.  Since the Imperial Cuirassiers failed a pursuit test and have swept on to the second line of Tippel's Dutch cavalry, they have left their own support line isolated and threatened from the flank.

In a swift reversal of fortune, the Cuirassiers who had so confidently pursued a turn ago fail their morale test and rout, even with their General giving them a re-roll.  The supporting line is then charged in the flank - while the Dutch cavalry will fail their pursuit test in turn and sweep on into the front of the remaining Cuirassiers.  The Imperial's Croat cavalry dithers about and fails to do anything constructive.

The last Imperial Cuirassier unit fails its morale test and must retreat away from the flanking charge, pursued by their enemies who fail to halt!  The end of the Imperial Infantry line is now exposed.

While dramatic events unfold elsewhere, absolutely nothing happens in the melée that has been raging in the fields outside Preßwitz since early on.  Both sides keep passing morale tests.  Just to the left of the frame, exactly the same is now happening in the wood, where the Protestant musketeers are doing no damage to the Tercio but the Tercio keeps failing action tests to charge them to clear the wood and open up a line of advance in the centre.

At this point, with 12 turns having been played but with neither side near to having to take a wing or army morale test and the evening getting late, we called a halt, declaring the result a score draw.  

As we read out the orders the two sides had received from their Headquarters at the start, the error of interpretation on the Imperial part became clear.  How they might have been able to act on orders to focus on Tippel's column, if they had understood them, when their deployment was so heavily on the other flank, is a moot point.  As it was, we had had a good fight that allowed us to try out different types of cavalry against each other and against infantry, as well as getting a feel for how well the scenario worked - OK but I think it needs tweaking on terrain and initial deployment to make it less complex for novice players.  Look out for the second Battle of Preßwitz at the weekend.