Laurentian Tabletop Organization

France attacks Venice

FR Ferdinand 480 pts VS AU Serbelloni 400 pts

Battle Summary:

After a great deal of command confusion among the Austrians, and the last minute dismissal of the lead commander in the theater, the forces of the Holy Roman Empire chose to fight a scorched earth campaign across northern Italy before scattering the French some miles west of Venice.

Though they had succeeded in surprising the French enough to secure a strong defensive position and forcing them to attack it, the wily Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, in charge of the French allied expedition in Italy, was not fully lured into the trap.

Thus, the French were able to coordinate their bulk relatively well and respond to the Austrian maneuvering with an overwhelming hammer blow that has scattered the Austrian forces to the wind.

Not expecting such a quick and coordinated response, the new imperial general in command, von Serbelloni, failed to rally his forces and use the terrain effectively, having developed a mutinous relationship with the famed Austrian light troops in a way that proved disastrous on the field.

Conversely, Ferdinand cleverly led the charge with the excellent Piedmont expeditionary troops, and though both French-led flanks became confused and wavered during the battle, the Italians were able to keep up the advance and ultimately capture the key positions that led to the Austrian rout.

Due to heavy casualties and desertion among the Austrian light troops, the Austrians were uncharacteristically not able to cover their retreat properly, and the resulting casualties may prove dire for the defense of Vienna...

All hope now rests with the esteemed Charles of Lorraine. If he can blunt the Prussian advance in Bohemia, the Austrians can rally with a single large field army -- but if his force suffers a similar or worse fate than those to the south, there may not be much of an army left to defend the capital.

Play-by-play:

The French planned to eat away at the wings of the strong Austrian positions around the central objective. However the Austrians won the initiative and surged forward, reinforcing the central fortified town and seizing the central hill as well, intending to delay the French center (mostly composed of Italians) with their heavy cavalry.

Few of the light troops on the Austrian side activated on the first turn, leading to a fairly disjointed line

on the bottom of round 1, Ferdinand exerts heavy effort to have the French right surge forward, with the leading cavalry threatening to surprise and overrun the Austrians deploying on the other side of the stream.

Although it seemed likely that the Austrian right would be caught by these French cavalry, the Austrians use one of their scarce command dice on a last ditch reroll to regain the initiative on a 6 - and succeed.

However, the lack of Austrian command coordination shows in other areas, and the forward Austrian left's Grenzer's fail their discipline test and charge forward to cross the river and meet the advancing French, leaving their strong positions in the process.

At the same time, the other corps of Hussars and Grenzers remain frozen , leaving the forward Austrians unsupported. Disappointed with losing the initiative, the French try to consolidate and pick off the unsupported Austrian corps.

French cavalry succeed in knocking out two full brigades in the subsequent combats.

Meanwhile on the French left, the advancing French infantry are forced to deploy by the unruly Grenzers.

In the center the French-allied Italians advance with caution, seeing the cavalry, ready to charge them.

At the start of turn 2, the French quickly clear the exposed Grenzers.

The center develops into a cavalry skirmish, with infantry on both sides waiting on.

On the French right, the cavalry are withdrawn to allow strong infantry lines to develop and continue to pressure the disoriented Austrians.

The Austrians have trouble activating again, with their left failing to align to the French across the stream, and their right failing a discipline test again charging suicidal-y into French line.

By round 3, the French have stabilized their positions across the stream, and appear to be effectively chipping away at the fortified Austrians with their cannons skirmish line.

Meanwhile on their left, the French engage the Austrians across the stream with a devastating opening volley. At the same time, the French guards try to flank around the far left but suffer from poor command coordination, with another corps having been left behind completely.

The musketry finally starts turning around for the Austrians in round 4 on both flanks, and a subsequent charge cripples the lead French brigades on the Austrian left.

Sensing weakness, Ferdinand sends in French cavalry to clear out the Austrian infantry left of the objective and relieve the weakened infantry.

In the center, the Austrian cavalry succeed in driving off the Italian cavalry, but then peter out in a confused skirmish with the infantry behind. They are able to delay the Italian infantry but take heavy casualties.

On the Austrian right, the situation begins to stabilize, with Grenzers heroically charging the French lights and pushing them back, while the rightmost Austrian infantry corps holds out admirably.

The Austrian cavalry attempt to withdraw from the center, but command problems leave 1 of the corps milling in the front to be wiped out.

Things continue to go poorly for the French infantry on their right, so the French cavalry go in for another charge.

The next round, another strong volley for the French left leaves the Austrian right flank in danger of collapsing. The French right units on both sides start to disintegrate.

Sensing weakness, the French guard turn to flank the Austrian right while the Austrian hussars rush to block them. At the start of turn 4, both the Austrians and French send new units to the meat grinder as they try to control the right side of the town.

On the Austrian right, the key corps defending the flanks is punctured from multiple sides

Knowing that the 4th turn is the last one they need to hold out for, the Austrians send their venetian allies to plug holes developing around the town. However both venetian corps prove too enthusiastic, with the venetian advance on the right failing discipline and leading a disastrous charge across the stream and up the hill directly into the elite piedmont troops.

Meanwhile the venetians charge in to blunt the French on their left, but the lead commander is shot down in the first advance, leaving them in disarray.

On the Austrian right, the remaining corps charge desperately to slow down the advancing French from cutting off their supply lines, and ultimately succeed in stopping them before the end of the game -- at great cost.

On the bottom of turn 4 round 1, the French and Italians unleash devastating volleys on the remaining units guarding the town, but do not succeed on taking it on the first attempt.

With both units guarding the town completely on the ropes, the French win initiative on round 2 and charge all across the line. The Austrian units remaining are so depleted they cannot hope to resist, and so the elite piedmont grenadiers succeed in taking the town on the 2nd attempt.

With this, and a count of well past 1/3 brigade casualties for the Austrians, their morale shatters. Due to heavy losses taken by the Austrian hussars in the last turns of the game, they are also unable to cover their retreat properly. As units trickle back Vienna, the casualty count for the Austrians stands well over 50%.

Prussia attacks Hanover

PR Frederick 420 pts VS BR Cumberland 260 pts

As the mist clears on a morning of early spring (too early if you would ask the British) in Hanover, the battle lines become clear.

Having been sent by George II to defend his honor and sacred homeland, the Duke of Cumberland was surprised by the speed and size of the Prussian host, and was unable to even consider effectively withdrawing to the sea by the time the 2:1 superiority of the Prussians became clear. With little else in terms of options, the army of Hanover took up defensive positions around Hastenbeck, the best strong point they could think of, and blindly awaited the storm.

Frederick II, meanwhile, knew that victory was not enough. Total surrender and with minimal casualties would allow him to carry on untroubled to dealing with his true enemies to the south. By taking the British escape rout as they clung desperately to the fortifications around Hastenbeck, he suspected they would give up the fight rather than face their "fellow Germans"

With the stakes high for both sides, the battle begins...

The Prussians, knowing the British's strength, are reluctant to engage them from the front, especially at their fortified positions. Instead, they try to send their forces all around their left to cut off the British retreat path.

At the start of the battle, the elite Prussian cavalry and the elite Hanover infantry on the far right failed their discipline checks and charged each other in the first round.

The Prussian elite cavalry skirmishes with the Hanover elite but ultimately falls back.

In Round 3, the Hanover elite again fails discipline and keeps charging down the hill, with light cavalry in support. Seeing the weight of the British reserves committed, the Prussians send reserve fusiliers to trip through the forest and flank the British attack.

Meanwhile the Prussians start pressuring the other side of the British ring to break through, but little progress is made early on.

By Turn 2, the Prussians are cutting around the left to get at the British flank. Hessian dragoons are sent to harass them but are driven off by the superior Prussian cuirassier.

At the bottom of Turn 2 Round 1, the Prussians mob the flanked Hanover elite corps and destroy 1 brigade.

Seeing the flank problem in Round 2, the Hanover elite starts to sidle to reposition towards the friendly rear town and escape route, while being harried by Prussian cavalry.

Meanwhile, lucky shooting clears the supposedly fortified town of Hastenback from the elite hessian grenadiers guarding it, resulting in a swift capture of the town, well before what was expected.

Similarly, the outmatched Hanover line corps guarding the stream is outgunned and begins to disintegrate by end of Turn 2.

At the beginning of Turn 2 Round 3, holes are developing all around the British defensive ring... with Hastenbeck taken by surprise, the British attempt to withdraw across the field in good order while the forward units sacrifice themselves for time.

On the right the Hanover dragoons spend a couple rounds preventing the Prussian flanking force from advancing but are forced to retreat after heavy losses.

By Turn 3 the Hanover infantry guarding the stream completely disintegrate, leaving the left half of the Prussian army to sweep across the center.

On the right, the Hanover guard continues to withdraw in good order, flanked on both sides by solid Hanover cavalry, and supporting fire from the heavy batteries. A small hessian regular corps guard the the retreat point, facing down the rushing Prussian units on the left.

Seeing that this will come down to guarding the retreat point, the British send the last Hanover line brigade to block the advancing Prussians to the south while the elite brigades continue to retreat.

The Hanoverian heavy cavalry succeeds in driving back the numerically superior Prussian hussars, AND a corps of garrison troops while the Hanover elite line up to defend the retreat point.

By Round 2 the British successfully forms a solid box around the retreat point, and it looks challenging to take.

They also hit their break point so they know this may be the last turn. if they hold the retreat point they will get a chance to escape and run for the ships.

Meanwhile the Hessian elite are mobbed on all sides by rearguard Prussians, and destroyed.

At the bottom of the turn the Hanover batteries are charged down by flanking Prussian cavalry, but the infantry behind them are well set up to block them after.

Forming a final ring the British seem to have a strong position, fresh troops, and only 1 more round until getting a chance to retreat.

However in Turn 3 Round 4, the Prussians lay down withering fire on the fortified retreat point town, and the Hessians once again fail most of their saves, taking 4 damage. Seeing the successful shooting, the Prussians charge from all directions, destroying 2/3 completely fresh Hessian brigades and take the town without effort.

Meanwhile the elite Hanover brigades, having successfully gotten back to the retreat point, fail their discipline for a 3rd time, charging out of the ring directly into the Prussian elite cavalry.

Charged on all sides by cavalry, the Hanover elite roll a 6 in both combats, which, when combined with beaten up Prussian units, wins both combats and send the right side Prussians running in 3 directions, with only minor Hanover casualties to show for it.

Despite this last victory, the retreat point is overrun and the British are in no position to retake it.

At the end of Round 4, the turn ends, and the British have no choice but to surrender completely. This ends the game on Turn 3, with a complete victory for the Prussians with no broken units.