Blundering into Battle : Developing a 30 Years War Scenario

As well as playing though the scenarios provided by the Pike & Shot Society for the 30 Years War and English Civil War that go with the 'Twilight of Divine Right' rules  I have been working on some fictional scenarios.  Those done before now have been single set up games - armies will always deploy in the same way.  This time around I thought I would try something a bit more complex.  The table layout will remain the same, as will the higher level army organisation, but how the various parts of an army will deploy onto the table will vary through a card drawing mechanism.  The latter part of an earlier post outlined the scheme and gave a general view of the terrain set up.  What follows are reports on the first couple of tests of the scenario and then some reflections on the lessons drawn and amendments being made before the next test.

Gareth was the first guinea-pig for experimenting with the set up, drawing the Catholic League and Imperial forces commanded by General Joost Maximilian von Gronsfeld to face my mixed bag of German and Swedish troops commanded by Dodo von Knyphausen.  We then drew cards for the starting positions of each component of our armies and found ourselves in the following positions - Blue indicating Protestant positions, Red being Catholic.

The cards had decided that the two advance guards would be heading into different settlements, the Catholics being ready to secure the village of Kuhfeld while the Protestants would get to Doranstedt first.  The Catholic advance guard might soon be facing the full weight of the Protestant army as their first infantry division was heading down the road towards Kuhfeld, supported on each side by a cavalry division and with the remaining infantry division backed up along the road behind the first.  However, the Catholic advance guard would soon have back up from their second infantry and cavalry divisions while the Protestant advance guard was looking towards the Catholic's first infantry and cavalry divisions.  It had no quick prospect of support and was the only protection for the baggage train that had appeared along the road behind it.  In turn, the Catholic baggage train - including herds of bullocks and sheep! - was the only Catholic force between the two wings.  It was accompanied by a single infantry unit and could take consolation in the Protestants having no Light Horse to make a swift swoop upon it.

I chose to deploy my first cavalry division - six regiments of Swedish style Horse - in column to advance swiftly to take position in the centre and prevent the enemy shifting forces from one wing to the other or filling the centre easily.  In this I was aided by securing the first turn - as neither side has artillery unlimbered at the start, the first turn in this scenario is treated as a full turn, rather than just a bombardment phase for the first player.

The initial Protestant advance in the centre is crowned with success as their troops sweep forward and turn into line to catch the ponderous Catholic Harquebusiers and Cuirassiers in the flank before they can deploy to face the threat.

Protestant infantry move along the road towards Kuhfeld but face congestion as the leading Swedish Brigades try to deploy and fail the necessary action tests to do so quickly.  Knyphausen is there to help them but has only 1 command point so can allow a retake of only 1 test per turn.  The best Protestant general, with 2 command points, is with the leading cavalry division, helping it move rapidly to try to sweep away the first Catholic cavalry division before the second can get across to help out.

At Doranstedt, the Protestants have a regiment in the centre of the town.  Dragoon regiments are deployed on each side while a musketeer regiment is at the rear, finding it hard to get into the town in a position where it might be of use.  The Imperial Tercios facing the town are making very slow progress with their accompanying artillery.

The Catholic baggage guard is looking nervously across at the cavalry battle in the centre.  The Swedes had initial success, forcing the Harquebusiers back with loss, but the Cuirassiers have managed to deploy to face the attack while Light Horse threaten the Swedish rear and the second Catholic Cavalry Division is moving rapidly in column to see if it can get on the Swede's flank to show that two can play at that game.

Seeing the Catholic cavalry moving across towards the centre behind Kuhfeld, the commander of the second Protestant cavalry division decides to send half his Dutch style cavalry across to reinforce the Swedes in the centre, while keeping the other half to watch out for the large Catholic infantry force moving slowly towards Kuhfeld.

A bird's eye view of the Swede's predicament in the centre.  Imperial Cuirassiers have just routed two Swedish regiments, leaving the remaining four trying to face front and rear while more enemies are moving up on their flank.

The surviving Swedish regiments manage to avoid being tied down in engagement, retreating as swiftly as they had first advanced.

The Swedish Brigades have managed to shake out into line but their advance is obstructed by the cavalry brigade moving across their front.

A Tercio is trying to enter Doranstedt but not getting very far.  The Protestant musketeers have managed to line up with their lead regiment but are realising that this may not have been a good idea. The movement of a dragoon regiment around the right flank also seems unlikely to offer much in the way of opportunity to do anything useful.

The Catholic's second infantry division has been trying to move round the left of Kuhfeld, not wanting to add to the traffic jam inside the village, but its way is blocked by one of the Advance Guard's regiments that had also tried to move around the village rather than through it and then failed action tests to manoeuvre as intended.  The Protestant cavalry looks on with amusement.

After another turn of largely failed action tests we were left with the position shown above.  The red outline within the Blue 'Cav.1' area is a couple of units of Light Horse from the Catholic advance guard that had seized the opportunity to attack a Protestant regiment in column in the rear.  Elsewhere there is no combat going on.  Neither side is happy with the alignment of their forces, nor sure what to do about it.  With the time near 10 pm we called it a day.

The next day, two more guinea-pigs in the guise of Chris and George arrived to submit themselves to the rack of game testing.  I let them draw for sides, standing back to umpire, observe and record notes.  Chris found himself with the Protestants, George with the Catholic League and Imperial troops.  The cards delivered the set up shown below.

The deployments for the Protestants were very similar to the first game.  Their Advance Guard was next to Doranstedt.  Their first Infantry Division was on the road to Kuhfeld with the second division stacked up along the road behind it and the first cavalry division filling the space between the main infantry bodies and the advance guard.  Only the second cavalry division was further out on the far flank.  For the Catholics, their advance guard was also on the outskirts of Doranstedt, backed up by the first infantry and cavalry divisions.  The second infantry division was again on the road towards Kuhfeld but the remaining cavalry was lined up facing into the table from the short edge, its flank protected from the Protestant's nearby cavalry by a convenient wood.  How would the battle develop?

The initial position in the Protestant centre.  Two Swedish Brigades lead off down the road to Kuhfeld with guns and a supporting regiment behind.  The infantry and guns behind the cavalry line are just placed on the table for convenience, waiting for their turn to enter along the road behind the first division.

Catholic infantry and cavalry looking towards Kuhfeld

In the centre, Protestant cavalry advance to threaten the flank of the Catholic advance guard while the Protestant advance guard creeps painfully slowly into Doranstedt.

Protestant infantry makes progress along the road to Kuhfeld while the cavalry divisions from both sides that started out on the flank have changed into column and are moving rapidly towards the centre, moving round different sides of the village area.

As the cavalry sweep off towards the centre, the Imperial infantry out on the flank lumbers slowly towards Kuhfeld, making better progress than the other division on the road towards Doranstedt in the distance.

Catholic musketeers bless the saints when the Swedish cavalry fails a test to cross the small stretch of hedge that is all that stands between them and the musketeers.

An isolated unit of Imperial Light Horse wondering which way to run to avoid being run over by the masses of regular cavalry massing for a clash in the centre.  The Swedish brigades have moved off the road to try to form line between their two cavalry wings.

The Imperial Light Horse dodged back to the left to clear the way for one cavalry division to advance while the other tried to sort itself into a better position.  Next to the Light Horse - who are going to be a forlorn hope or traffic bump in the way of an expected charge from the Swedes, the Catholic musketeers have advanced up to the hedge and put the Swedes under fire, making the left hand unit take a morale test!  Another unit of Light Horse is lined up with a Dragoon Regiment to provide a second line, rather a flimsy force to be facing six regiments of Swedish Horse.

Catholic League Cuirassiers attempt to charge the leading Swedish Brigade but fail to push home in face of their defensive fire.

Swedish cavalry under fire pass a morale test but then fail an action test to charge, yet again!

Losing patience with the unit that has failed to charge the musketeers, the rest of the Swedish division charges the Light Horse which fails to evade!

The Light Horse fail their morale test and race for the rear, pursued pell mell by their assailants.

Meanwhile, back at the hedge, the gallant musketeers cause the leading Swedish unit to take a morale loss and fall back behind its support line.

A massive fight has developed in the centre.  The Catholic Cuirassiers have now managed not only to charge in on the Swedish Brigade but have caused it to lose two of its four morale points, despite its having flanking support!!

Meanwhile, in Doranstedt, not much is happening

The Catholic second infantry division has reached Kuhfeld but is now stuck trying to deploy through the built up area.

Swedish cavalry force the front line of Imperial dutch style cavalry to recoil, but then pursue into the support line, breaking up the Swedish division further.

The Catholic Cuirassiers have reduced the leading Swedish brigade to its last morale point while having lost no morale tests themselves.  Ha! Take that you Ga Pa! fellows.

Then the Cuirassiers fail a morale test spectacularly and rout, leaving the single unit in their support line to face the enraged Swedes

Adding to the Catholic's difficulties, the laggardly Swedish regiment facing the musketeers finally get in a charge and rout these lads.

And, piling on the pressure, the Protestant rear guard, four fresh regiments of Swedish and Dutch style horse, arrive off to the left of Kuhfeld

The Catholic rear guard also arrives, it is only two regiments strong and is badly needed to prop up the battered centre of the Catholic line.

Vengeance for the gallant musketeers comes when Imperial dragoons advance and rout a unit of Swedish horse with a volley - causing a morale test which is failed by the Swedes.  The Catholic centre is becoming dangerously thin, though, while the Protestants still have depth to offset the battering some of their units have taken.

Gronsfeld is trying to move his Tercios from facing Doranstedt towards the critical point in the centre, relying on the Protestant units remaining stuck in the Town, but his own men don't roll well on action tests, yet again.

The Protestant rear guard has raced around behind Kuhfeld, threatening to attack the rear of the Catholic's centre.  With their infantry stuck in the village, and having had to commit most of their reserves to prop up the line in the centre, Gronsfeld does not have much answer to this.

A final push by the Catholic cavalry on the centre right fails to break through.  The Protestants have now brought forward their fresh Swedish brigade to relieve the battered lead unit, while their other infantry division is ready to pounce on any enemy troops that might succeed in extricating themselves from Kuhfeld.

With the evening drawing in, the second game was ended here.  No decisive victory for the Protestants and the Catholics still in with a fair chance of making an orderly retreat.

What lessons are to be drawn from these two games?

First, the system for generating initial dispositions worked smoothly.  The depth of the table - 5 feet rather than the usual 4 feet - allowed players room to manoeuvre to try to get their dispersed forces into more effective battle lines before contact.  George and Chris, more experienced players, used this to good effect in the second game, while I had rushed in precipitately in the first, suffering the consequences.  The downside is that it takes quite a few turns of manoeuvre - even if not troubled by the multiple failures of action tests that beset both games - before sustained action begins, making it a game for when players have ample time.

Second, I should have taken more time to think about built up areas before placing two large settlements in the middle of the field and designating them as bad going.  Infantry could advance easily into them along the roads in column, but trying to deploy for action when allowed only 1/2 a base width of movement if an action test was passed proved a nightmare.  The town and village became black holes into which anything could go but nothing could emerge.  Checking in with the excellent FaceBook group for the rules, I am advised to keep the size of settlements down and reminded that it is not necessary to designate built up areas as bad going.  What will be done for future games is to reduce the size and otherwise treat them as areas needing an action test to enter or exit but having no restrictions on moving around inside.

Third, Light Horse can be much more useful than previous experience had suggested.  In both the first and second games, the Light Horse attached to the Catholic advance guard found ways to disconcert and impede the Protestant cavalry.  Even losing a morale test helped break up the enemy line when they then lost a test not to pursue.

Fourth, the artillery once deployed in the second game was devastating, particularly for the Catholics trying to attack in the centre into infantry closely supported by two field guns and two light guns.

For the next trial, as well as changing the built up areas I will make a few other modifications to terrain - widening the space between the settlements in the centre, adding a couple of woods in the centre on either side to give infantry a place to secure a flank if it is out in the middle, and shifting some of the woods on the flanks to offer more options for troops that enter from there.  The deployment mechanism will remain unchanged but I will reduce the size of both advance guards by transferring one of the two infantry units in each to one of the main bodies.  The amount of artillery for each side will be halved.  Let us see how that works out next week.