Oct 20, 2014

Maurice AAR - The Battle of Kromburg


In this battle the forces of The Greate Cake managed to stall the Böhnstadter attack at the village of Kromburg. The map above is incorrect as there was no Markwald! My 'forests' are too big for more  than one to be fielded at the current scale of engagements.

The figures and distribution is the same as in the previous battle, see the OOB at the relevant post.


The only way the Böhnstadter army could attack: properly. The Greate Cake (it's multiple puns worth not explaining, his real name is Tamás) played the card that let him place the Deathly Swamp in the Schlosswald: no running about in columns any more! The cuirassiers, despite the double hindrance (the enemy interrupting and not letting them move through the woods) quickly lined up on the far right.


This time the Principality's guns were dragged into position and begun firing. The Flossians did not mass their guns this time, but later on they were linked to two batteries of two guns - neither being very effective.


The infantry slowly reaches the field in Kromburg's vicinity.


A Flossian dragoon squadron spots the enemy cuirassiers and starts moving towards them without orders (evil laugh as I play the card)! Dietrich von Spülge sees the opportunity and countercharges, the dragoons are wiped out... does this remind anyone of the same thing happening on the Flossian left at the battle of Müllerstraße?


The Böhnstadter attack is hindered by terrain.


Not looking good for the Flossian infantry...


Charges and volleys follow and both sides rally like madmen.


It's quickly becoming a slugfest despite most Flossian foot not even being engaged!


The Böhnstadter take Kromburg, one Flossian battalion wiped out by charges and musketry, the other rears. This, however, breaks the Prinzipalität forces in half and there is fighting to be done on the right.

Meanwhile, on the Flossian right, the enemy places another Deathly Swamp and the Böhnstadter Leibhussars move in a rapid pace on the hill... The Flossians must retreat and reorganize their right - their commander is, however, too far to the left. The Böhnstadter commander feels the Lucky Goat Inn is in his hands...


The Flossian morale, despite having been battered and losing seven(!) battalions, does not fall below 8 out of 15. The Böhnstadter advance is slow as the ground is very bad for any straightforward attacks.

The Garde du Corps and the Annelise Cuirassiers sweep away another dragoon squadron after some melees and bombardment on the right and fall on the broken Flossian foot... one battalion is destroyed and the other must wheel. Two Flossian guns are caught in the charge and are captured.


Despite being an inch from a Böhnstadter tactical victory, we have only had five cards left from the last deck. The Hussars had to switch from column to massed formation as they were right in the enemy's face. I could have risked a charge to throw the Flossian right flank back and reach the objective but I was out of cards and I needed them at other places.
Playing lots of modifiers and events means the three decks had run out very fast, the Reshuffle card came about the first half of the second deck. As in the game, night fell on us and I had to travel back home - the Flossian defenders had held out this time, although the Böhnstadter had still 10 morale left - far from a strategic victory to the Union.
Maurice - at this level of complexity - seems a great fun and I can't wait to expand the armies to proper brigade level. Another option would be to use mixed units and represent multiple battalions as a single unit.
One thing is for sure: even with measurements so much set (a base width being exactly one inch), we always bend the rules a little - if the other player allows it. Say, a unit is 17 inches away but the player has cards only usable up to 16" in total: "could that be 16?", he asks, and the other player says yes - so the next time he misses volley range by a few millimeters he can ask the same, trusting in a positive answer. 

7 comments:

  1. i agree with you: elastic rules give more fun!
    bye

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  2. Replies
    1. It was to my low standards of appreciating fun :)

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  3. Always enjoy your Maurice BatReps. Although I am neophyte with Maurice, each of your replays nudges me closer to getting the troops back onto the table for a game.

    Keep them coming!

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    Replies
    1. Glad you liked it. There won't be much Maurice for a while, but there will be other game reports.

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