Skirmish at Sprengenhof

Harte Haziran 21, 2022

Yesterday, Steve and I played out the first action using our Wars of The Vaubarian Succession collection. It was a bit of a playtest of the rules we have in development, and so we fell back upon a fairly familiar scenario... with a simple balance of horse, foot and guns.

Later on, we reset the table with fresh terrain and a new scenario, and introduced some light infantry into the equation in order to 'workshop' additional rules.
But for now, we'll stick with the first action.

It's 1704.
The Emperor of Astrovia and The Elector of Vaubaria were at odds. As this was a fairly common state of affairs, it requires no further explanation. Suffice to say, both despatched field forces to seize the vital crossing point of the river Sprengen at Sprengenhof: The Vaubarians under the command of Markgraf Karl von Orff, and the Astrovians under the notorious Reichsgrafen von Schwarzenatter.

Here is the deployment map...

Phase one saw the Vaubarians stride forward confidently, the hatmen of the Dremel regiment getting their feet wet crossing the river, whilst their artillery unlimbered (a little too early as it turned out, as their fire was largely ineffective at long range for much of the day).
For the Astrovians, the Kuirassiers von Klammer also crossed the river, and before long, in the shadow of the Sprengenberg, they were engaged in the inevitable crossing of swords with their age-old foe, the Vaubarian cuirassiers von Vogts.

As the infantry closed into a firefight, the two cavalry regiments fought a bitter duel. The Astovian horse were first to break and routed towards their baseline, never to return. The Vaubarian cuirassiers were, however, in no fit state to follow up the advantage and returned towards their own lines to recuperate.

The infantry firefight by the farm was evenly balanced, with the Vaubarian infantry having slightly the best of it, until the Astrovian gunners found their range with supporting fire into the right flank of the Breitner regiment.

The first infantry to break were the Astrovian regiment, Frankl, finally bucking under the pressure. but the arrival into the line of the fresh, and eager, regiment Schrodinger was the last thing the Vaubarian infantry needed to see, and with their own cohesion severely tested, it wasn't long before they were shaken and routed.

By this time, the Vaubarian cuirassiers von Vogt had recovered sufficiently from their earlier exertions to put in a death or glory flanking ride. The Astrovian gunners, however, spotted the wide, sweeping arc of the enemy cavalry, and repositioned their guns. As the Vaubarian horse crossed the river to launch their charge, they were met with a hail of grapeshot, and the game was up.