Oct 16, 2015

Another nameless battle

The Swedish-Varangian army had taken its baptism of fire last weekend. I have used the Maurice army designer to balance a 120 point Varangian and Flossian army. 
The Varangians had 3 cannon, six trained and one elite cavalry units, three elite infantry units (the ones in karpus at the front line), four trained infantry units; the Great Captain and A la Baionette national advantages, and a notable added to their left flank elite cavalry, adding +1 to their charges. 
The Flossian army consisted of six units of trained and two conscript regular foot, three units of irregulars, an elite grenadier battalion, a battery of four guns entrenched on a hilltop position, and six units of trained cavalry with a notable added on their right, bringing the unit's score up by 1 both when attacking and defending. They had the Steady Lads national advantage. 
The battlefield featured four hills, two woods and a small creek separating the Varangian left and Flossian right. The Flossian infantry was stationed on another hill position to the right of the cannon; on the far left, in support with two cavalry units, the conscript foot manned a redoubt. The irregular infantry was set up as a screen before the artillery, mainly to hinder the main Varangian advance. The overall Flossian strategy was to hold positions, stack up on cards and pass as many times as possible to exhaust the attackers' resources.
The Varangians used a traditional two-line setup, with the intention to get the main line of elite infantry to grips with the Flossian defenses as soon as possible.



The Flossian Jäger dance back and forth before the Varangian regulars, using retrograde movement. For a long while nothing else moved on the Flossian front.


With a series of maneuvers the Varangian left negotiates the creek and charges the enemy standing there.


On the right, the Varangian cavalry charge is disrupted: the enemy takes little losses and pulls back behind the redoubts. With the Flossian Jäger wheeling to positions on their open left flank (the infantry hadn't caught up with them yet), the Varangian horse pulls back - this will not be the point where they break and roll up the enemy lines.


The disordered Varangian horse on the left charges again, this time wiping out the Flossian cavalry in the front line.


The Flossian delayment tactics almos succeed, but with the last few cards remaning before the deck runs out, the Varangian line reaches the Flossian defenses: the elite infantry sweeps the redoubts clean of the cannon, complete with a -5 reduction to enemy army morale. 


There is no time to rally, the Varangians throw themselves at the Flossian infantry again, breaking two units... which is enough by a hair's breadth to cause the rest to retreat off the field. The Varangian army exhausted, they do not pursue.


An image of all the Flossian units destroyed during the battle. 

I imagine battles like this to be minor affairs, with each unit equaling only a few hundred men, so one side's complete force is about 4-6 thousand. Battles like this are rarely mentioned in the Schultze-Böhnstadt history books, giving me the liberty to fight endless chains of them.
All three armies are currently residing in my Budapest dormitory room, along with all the necessities to play Maurice. I'll be inviting friends to try the game out - hopefully they have a fracture of free time I'll be having until December.

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