The Fictional Battle of Haftah ka Khel - AAR

Surjit and I got together on Saturday morning for another remote game of Koenig Krieg.  This time we ventured to the Indian sub-continent for a fictional battle between British and French forces.

Surjit was sent an image of the battlefield.  He had to select a 14 point British army and deploy on the northern edge of the map in the white box prior to the game.

The map for deployment sent prior to the game.
Brown hexes are hills. The green are woods.  The grey hex is a BUA.

I took control of the French, deploying in the southern deployment box.

The Armies

The British
1st Infantry Brigade: 1 European Foot, 1 Rajput, 1 levy unit and 1 heavy artillery

2nd Infantry Brigade: 1 European Foot, 1 Rajput, 1 Sepoy, 1 levy and 1 medium gun

3rd Infantry Brigade: 1 Sepoy, 1 Rajput, 1 levy and 1 medium gun

1st Cavalry Brigade: 1 Rajput heavy cavalry, 1 Native light cavalry

2nd Cavalry Brigade: 1 European light cavalry

Independent units: 2 units of Mahratta skirmish missile cavalry

The French
Infantry Brigade 1: 1 unit of European Foot, 1 Sepoy unit, 2 Mysore foot, 1 medium and 1 heavy artillery

Infantry Brigade 2: 2 units of Sikh levies, 1 Sepoy unit, 1 medium artillery

Cavalry Brigade 1: 1 European light cavalry, 1 Mysore light missile cavalry

Cavalry Brigade 2: 1 Sikh armoured cavalry, 1 European light cavalry

Cavalry Brigade 3: 1 Mysore Light Cavalry

Independent units: 1 unit of native levies, 3 units of Mogul skirmish missile cavalry

Deployment

The Battle

The plan, such as I had one, was to throw the Mogul cavalry forward to harass the enemy infantry, induce panic and shield the approach of my own.  All this whilst my cavalry held the flanks.

Both sides advanced quickly towards each other.  Mogul skirmish cavalry moved out on the right flank to occupy the British cavalry with their missile fire.
However, the French made a dreadful error by boxing in their cavalry reserve.

The Moguls on the right flank exploited the gap between the British cavalry and its infantry line by slipping inbetween.  This had the desired effect of forcing the flanking cavalry to turn back to deal with the situation.  Meanwhile, another Mogul unit induced a British levy unit to retreat along with a nearby battery; only to be caught by musketry from European foot and forced into a panicked retreat themselves.
In the centre, infantry began closing amidst musketry and artillery fire.
On the left flank, Hussars from both sides squared up to each other.

However, the British were to win the upper hand against both hussars and skirmish infantry.

The British then wasted no time in exploiting the situation.  The infantry on the hill charged into an unprepared and undeployed French regiment on the hill.  Further to the left, the British hussars crashed into a Mysore light cavalry unit and sent it reeling.

As for the melee on the hill, the unprepared foot unit was despatched without mercy.

The situation across the field of battle.
Not looking so good for the French!
The left flank looks ragged and the centre creaking.  Plus, the boxed in cavalry reserve is unable to take advantage of the situation on the right flank.

The centre was now fully engaged.  The air was thick with black smoke as casualties mounted on both sides.  However, British weight of infantry numbers was being brought to bear.

With two regiments charging the front and skirmish cav on the flank, the French European foot regiment was under extreme duress.

Despite fighting valiantly and inflicting heavy casualties with its cannon, the French foot suffered dire losses and retreated in haste and close to collapse.
A Mogul unit on the hill was compelled to surrender after being surrounded.  However, the Mogul cavalry on the right managed to escape from the attentions of the chasing British formed horse regiments.

At this point the French conceded the field and sought to withdraw as quickly as possible.

Afterthoughts

The situation at the end of the game.

That was an incredibly interesting and enjoyable game.  Battling with such exotic armies was a real test.  Neither of us really knew how to use our forces to best effect.  So, we learned alot during the game about how we would approach this arena of mid 18th century conflict in the future.

I kept the army countdown clock.  The result at the end certainly reflected the view and demise of the French.

Both clocks started on 14!

This was also a game with a greater degree of terrain which made for a different but entertaining challenge during play.  It was good that here was a game that was not decided by events on the flanks.

Lastly, I am very happy that Koenig Krieg and my army lists worked for a battle set on a non-European battlefield with non-European armies.  I just need to try out a SYW game set in North America.

The Battle of Wakefield, 1460 - A War of the Roses AAR

Jonathan Freitag and I took to the remote gaming table to stretch our hands across the Atlantic and fight his interpretation of the War of the Roses Battle of Wakefield (see here for his details).

An in-play photo, courtesy of J. Freitag

I took command of the Yorkists while Jonathan led the Lancastrians.

The initial deployment.
Rutland's archers overseeing the wagons en route to the castle.  The Duke of York rushing out to engage the Lancastrians.

While the wagons move slowly, York's Battle advanced aggressively towards Somerset and the newly arrived Northumberland.

Yorkist reinforcements arrive in the guise of Salisbury and his Battle.

Meanwhile York, hoping to gain a swift advantage, charged Northumberland's troops.  However, things do not go to plan.  Northumberland repels York's efforts but his men force him to fall back to reorganise.  Somerset now crashed into York throwing him back further.  But at the moment of victory, Somerset is wounded and has to be carried from the field.

With Clifford having arrived on the field to support the Lancastrian left, Northumberland hurled his men at the Duke of York's faltering Battle.  The melee is brutal.  In the crush the Duke of York is struck down, dead!  York's Battle is now a broken unit.

Rutland's archers on the Yorkist left keeps up a constant rain of arrows but to limited effect as Somerset and Clifford move to strengthen the Lancastrian battle line.
Salisbury moves forward to support the remnants of York's tattered Battle and shield the creeping supply wagons.

Hoping to reverse the situation, Salisbury launched his men at arms into Northumberland's depleted Battle.  

Northumberland's men at arms are annihilated as Salisbury's warriors sweep forward.  However, little do they realise that in the swirl of melee Salisbury is struck down and mortally wounded.  Seeking to wipe out Northumberland, Salisbury's now leaderless troops pursue and crash into Somerset's men.  The Yorkists are thrown back at great loss...

... and back again as Somerset is relentless in the pursuit.

The remaining Yorkists are not given a chance to rallying as Somerset's men deal out more slaughter.  Salisbury's Battle breaks under the strain.

With two of the three Battles broken, the Yorkists flee the field.  This has been a disaster for the Yorkist cause.  Two leaders dead on the field.  One of them the Yorkist leader himself!

Afterthoughts
By choosing to play the Yorkists, I knew that this was going to be a very tough battle to get a victory.  However, that did not stop this game being a tremendous amount of fun.  The challenge was to better the Yorkist performance.  Alas, I believe history was repeated.

A thoroughly enjoyable game.  Well done, Jonathan.

The Battle of Pondeli

Monday evening saw some Rejects gather for a game via Zoom.

This was a Seven Years War encounter between the Prussians and Austrians.  As is becoming the norm for remote games, the red and blue blocks were used with my hex adaptation of Koenig Krieg rules.

Ray and Dan commanded the Austrians (red).

Jonathan and Steve took charge of the Prussians (blue).

A rough sketch of the battlefield was emailed to the players. The Prussians won the choice of edge.

The rough sketch map.

The Prussians chose to have their army deployed on the top edge.

The Armies

Prussians (Jonathan and Steve)

1st Infantry Brigade

3 line

1 mercenary/freikorps

1 medium gun

2nd Infantry Brigade

2 line

1 grenadier

1 medium and 1 heavy gun

1st Cavalry Brigade

1 cuirassier

1 dragoon

2nd Cavalry Brigade

1 dragoon

1 hussar

1 jager acting independently

Austrians (Dan and Ray)

1st Infantry Brigade

1 line

1 grenadier

1 medium and 1 heavy gun

2nd Infantry Brigade

2 line

1 Hungarian fusilier

1 medium gun

1st Cavalry Brigade

2 cuirassiers

2nd Cavalry

1 dragoon

1 hussar

2 Croats acting independently

Deployment

The Battle

Both sides advanced; the Austrians slightly more aggressively.
Light troops began exchanging small arms fire on the left flank.
Austrian cuirassiers swiftly moved into position on the right.

Despite having the more flexible and attack minded infantry, the Prussians infantry held their ground while the Austrian foot advanced.  Artillery gunners fired their opening salvoes with infantry on both sides taking hits.
To counter the growing cavalry threat, Prussian guns and foot on the right opened up on the approaching Austrian horse.  However, their morale withstood the hail of lead.
On the far right, the Austrian cuirassiers charged prompting a massive Prussian countercharge.

In the swirling mounted clash honours were initially even.

However, the Prussian cuirassiers seized the initiative.  First falling on the Prussian light horse and throwing them back, the cuirassiers fell on the flank of the nearby Prussian foot.  After wiping out the gunners and routing the infantry, the Austrian heavies had Frederick's infantry before them.  Unfortunately, the horses were blown and compelled to pause in an exposed position.

A position that Prussian dragoons quickly took advantage.  With a regiment of Austrian cuirassiers eliminated, the struggle for the right flank had taken a turn in favour of the Prussians.

Meanwhile, the superior Prussian infantry refused to move.  Both sides taking casualties from artillery fire.
On the left, the Croats and jagers intensified their fire fight.

Alas, time is always the enemy.

I asked both sides to consider what they would do with their armies if this battle was in the context of a wider campaign.  Ray and Dan said that they would withdraw before their cavalry suffered anymore and exposed their flank.

I would call it a draw, the Prussians will claim a victory.

Afterthoughts
When looking at the dice clock for both sides, the situation was very close.  Both sides started at twelve.

However, what the clock does not say is that Austrian cavalry losses were heavier.  Both brigades having suffered at least 50% losses compared to much lighter casualties taken by the Prussian horse.  Reinforcing the Austrian perception that they would find it hard to defend their right flank.

I enjoyed the game.

This was a learning curve for some of the players.  So, there were a lot of questions to understand how things worked.  The plan is to have another game soon to start embedding the mechanisms.

From my perspective, the adaptations to Koenig Krieg worked well and require no change. Plus, the players tracked their blocks/ troops without asking my to tell them what was what.

I had a good evening with good friends.  Can't ask for more than that.