Last Thursday the Corlears Hook Fencibles played a game of the 1866 Battle of Langensalza using the Bloody Big Battles (BBB) rules. Langensalza is a smaller training scenario. I don't have Hanoverian troops and so used French Gardes Mobiles and Chasseurs instead. Bill commanded the outnumbered Prussians, Ken the rather Gallic Hanoverians and I umpired and checked the rules. The first four photos were taken before the guys showed up. Ken decided to deploy his 2nd brigade in the village of Maxleben; Bill deployed his advance guard in the nearby woods instead of the positions shown.
The following picture mistakenly switched the labels of 3rd and 4th brigades. Mea culpa.
The rule I forgot: infantry/cavalry units down to 1 base are removed from the table.
Wild Bill started off by rushing the 25th regiment over the bridge in road column and trying to storm Maxleben. Fortune favored the bold – the Prussian infantry bounced the Hanoverians out by a slim margin.
The Hanoverian 2nd brigade rallied and fired into the village as the Hanoverian Guards stormed back into the village – in road column. The first assault saw a tie – each side lost a base and the combat was immediately rolled again. This time the Hanoverians won by a healthy margin and drove the Prussians out with heavy losses. The 25th regiment should have quit the field but my error allowed them to stick around.
Bill now sent his 11th regiment over the bridge in road column, attempting a repeat. A hail of musket and artillery fire stopped the regiment cold as they set foot on the bridge. We broke for dinner at this point.
We picked up the game after dinner. Heavy fire convinced Bill to have the 11th fall back into the northern outskirts of Langensalza. This freed Ken to move across the river. 3rd brigade on Ken's left and 4th brigade on his right moved rapidly in road columns to exploit the unguarded Prussian flanks.
The Prussian advance guard moved out of the woods but was driven back by heavy fire. The 11th traded fire with the Hanoverians on the north bank of the river. Bill tried to stop the 3rd brigade with artillery fire. They were slowed down.
The 4th brigade advanced on Langensalza and traded fire with the Prussian Landwehr.
A Prussian battery got lost in the town (lousy movement dice) and did not deploy in support of the Landwehr. The 4th brigade charged and evicted the Landwehr.
Ken's guns got a lucky hit and knocked out a Prussian battery. The Prussian advance guard wasted time milling around the woods (more lousy movement dice). They were caught looking the wrong way when the 2nd brigade charged across the river and threw them out of the woods.
The nearby hill was crowned with Prussian artillery that had been firing on the flanking 3rd brigade. One battery limbered up and pulled out, leaving the other battery room to pivot. Before they could fire the 2nd brigade scattered them with close range musket fire. The Prussian 11th regiment fired on the 2nd brigade's flank but did no damage.
Meanwhile the 4th brigade stormed through downtown Langensalza, driving off an artillery battery and scattering the remains of the 25th regiment (who should have been removed turns back).
The advance guard was disrupted and facing the wrong way. It was the moment for the Hanoverian cavalry. A movement roll of 4 saw the cavalry decide it was time for schnapps instead. Perhaps the horses could use some oats. It didn't matter much since the 3rd brigade deployed and shot up the advance guard.
Now the Hanoverian Guards charged over the bridge and hit the 11th regiment in the flank as the 2nd brigade fired in support. The 11th folded and fled southward down the road. We had played 7 turns of 8. Bill now threw in the towel.
Prussian losses were 8 infantry bases and 2 of artillery. Hanoverians losses were 1 infantry and 1 artillery base. This was more lopsided than the actual battle. I attribute this to Bill's extremely aggressive tactics and Ken's hot combat dice. Sometimes Hanoverians didn't move but they always rolled well in assaults. Bill had one turn when most of his troops refused to move, some truly bad dice. This is a hard one for the Prussians. I could see trying them again though.
The game took about 3 hours. I think with practice we can speed it up quite a bit. There were no "how the hell did that happen?" moments. I am thinking of running First Bull Run in a week or two.
scratchbuilds another Victorian flying machine.
