Lutzen - Neil Thomas-esque; or The Battle of Fenbrae

As well as a historical refight of Lutzen, I also constructed a OHW-Type generic scenario for a game with my C18 toy soldiers and using the Polemos: Ruse de Guerre rules.

I pitted a Spanish-led WSS army against a Dutch-led WSS Army. As is typical (and allowing for my slight whimsy in emphasizing it), there were naturally relatively few Spaniards or Dutchmen on either side!

The Spanish Army:

4 Infantry units (Limerick, Ultonia, Leon, Toledo), 1 Artillery unit (Clermont's Battery), 5 Cavalry units (Cosse, La Valliere, Berry, La Feronaye, Sheldon)

The Dutch Army:

6 Infantry units (Lauder, Murray, Portmore, Colyear, Tscharner, Albemarle), 3 Artillery units (de Vries Bty, two light regimental gun batteries of Cooper and Mercer), 4 Cavalry units (Aughrim, Athlone, Livregiment til Hest, Saxe-Coburg Horse Guards)

Reinforcement Column: 1 infantry unit, 1 cavalry unit

To give the Spanish Army a fair crack, the Spanish infantry units were assumed to be Well-Trained. All other units on both sides were Trained, except the Hussars, who were counted as Poorly-Trained).

Special Rules: 

From turn 8 onwards, a heavy fog falls. Firing or movement past 1BW is not permitted.

From turn 5 onwards, the Dutch player rolls a die at the beginning of their turn. On a '6', the reinforcement column arrives on the left-rear of the Dutch baseline.

For reasons which I will explain later, I called this The Battle of Fenbrae...

The Set-Up:

The battlefield: the Dutch Army is in the foreground, the Spanish Army in the background.

The road has a wall next to it which counts as cover from fire and in melee. The hill is gently-sloped. The built-up area is a typical town.

Looking at the Spanish Army from behind the Dutch position.

Another view.

The Battle:

Like their historical counterparts, the Spanish move to the attack - their fire pushes back the Scottish infantry of Lauder and Murray's regiments (centre)

A counter-attack by Lauder's Regiment pushes back the Ultonia regiment (centre-left); the Toledo regiment is sufferingt from the fire of the Dutch artillery

The Leon Regiment's musketry shattered and broke Portmore's Regiment, but Dutch artillery and the prompt reinforcement by Colyear's Regiment restores the situation and pushes back the Spaniards.

French Cavalry manages to break some Allied cavalry and get forward past the town, pushing the Saxe-Coburg Horse Guard backwards; they are taking fire from its occupants however (a Swiss regiment)

However, the Scottish infantry have destroyed the Limerick Regiment and pushed back Ultonia's again. The Leon regiment (which had been accompanying the cavalry, top) has been broken. The Toledo Regiment has reformed, and its long-range fire is causing casualties amongst van der Vaart's gunners (bottom-right)

Dutch Cavalry try and work around the Spanish flank, after the French Cavalry has suffered heavy losses from the fire of the Swiss Infantry, supported by guns, behind the wall.

The Ultonia Regiment in the centre is finally broken, and retreats (centre-left)

The Spanish Army retreats in confusion.

Game Notes:

Good simple fun, when I didn't find anything more complex. Ruse de Guerre really is a fun set. That said, I am wondering if firepower is just a little too effective. I am wondering if I should slightly decrease its effectiveness, through changing the bands. Currently, on a modified d10 roll, <=5 is fine, 6 to 9 is shaken, >=10 is broken. I am wondering if I should set shaken to 7 or 8; and maybe broken to >=11. This would make it just that bit less effective, and rely more on breaking units through inflicting two levels of shaken instead - which then makes quick rallying and hence command effort more important.

The scenario was really easy to translate to OHW-esque. All it needed was an effect for a long linear feature, which doesn't really exist in the original OHW scenarios. It is hardly a departure, however. Even though it is a lot simpler than the actual Lutzen scenario I played, it does capture a lot of the feel for it, which I guess is a lot of support for the approach. That said, and circling back to the first point, using both fewer units AND combat mechanics which have a higher chance of instant or quick unit destruction, does give the game a much more random feel: part of the reason why Neil Thomas himself goes for rules which are basically predicated on attrition is to slighly tone this down, I imagine.

 

 Figures are by Baccus 6mm, buildings mainly by Leven, with the fortifications from Irregular.

 

 

 

As well as  a simpler game, I was using this as part of a test I am doing into some narrative campaign structures. This is the initial rubric:

Campaign Background:

The Spanish invasion of New Dalrydia was unexpected, coming at a time of severe constitutional and hereditary crisis in the nations of England, Scotland, Ireland and Holland. The casus belli seemed weak, even by the standards of the day: a combination of the claim of New Dalrydia to belong to the Roman province of Hispania rather than Caledonia; the gift of a medieval Pope hitherto agreed by everyone to be a Dark Age forgery; and a tenuous claim going through the female line to the throne of the former 'Kingdom of Dalrydia'. The first target of the Spanish Army was the town of Lochmire. A Dutch Army was hastily put together and transported to the support of its allies. Its commander, General de Ruyter, made its first base near the town of Fenbrae. The Spanish Army, commanded by General Sarsfield, was at this time laying siege to Lochmire, took a portion of his army to attack this base before the Dutch could properly occupy it and prepare for the march to the relief of Lochmire.  The first action then, fell on a somewhat misty day just outside Fenbrae...