The Corlears Hook Fencibles played a game based on the 1848 battle of Pakozd using the Bloody Big Battles rules. The scenario is brand new and not fully tested. Warning: we did not have the correct figures for this. 1866 Austrians played the part of the Croats attempting to stamp out Hungarian independence. The Magyars were portrayed by 1815 Austrians, many of them grenzers. I'd rather play the game with incorrect figures than not play. Rick decided he wanted to play the greatly outnumbered Hungarians. I played the Croats with Ken as my left flank commander. Here's the opening deployment, lead Croat elements off camera to the left.
Ken marched forward and deployed his lead unit.
I marched into Pakozd. My plan was to pin the Hungarians with an attack or threat while exploiting the gap in the Magyar center and clear up the resistance in front of Ken. Ha.
Rick began rolling some hot artillery dice. His juju was strong early in the game.
Undisciplined Croat units kept the advance off balance.
I was victim of accurate artillery again.
Ken threw a bayonet attack in.
My advance went forward in a jumble. Perhaps we should have spent more time training the army…
Ken met a reverse.
My troubles continued.
Now Rick's dice heated up again, at Ken's expense.
Most of my infantry wouldn't move but my cavalry surged forward into the gap, setting off a flurry of enemy cavalry activity. (5 of my 6 infantry units refused to move this turn. It's what happens when you lead a mob of looters rather than soldiers.)
There was a brief and bloody cavalry fight that saw both units gone.
My mass of infantry was still blundering around, though now mostly in musket range.
Ken had been rolling well on the random events table. We had troops that didn't show up in time for the real battle and had only one landwehr unit run off to loot.
On the last turn of the game these units stormed the hill in a sanguinary contest.
No such luck on my flank.
My only claim to fame was finally silencing both Hungarian batteries opposed to me, just as the sun went down. We had not taken any of the three objectives, had just barely managed to match the Magyar successful assault and hadn't lost any of our supply train. The Hungarians won 3-0, one more than they needed for a win.
We played 8 turns in less than 3 hours. Croat losses were 6 infantry stands (1 ran away), 1 cavalry (1 ran away) and 1 artillery battery blown to pieces. Hungarian losses were 1 infantry and 1 cavalry, both lost in tied assault rounds.
At the start of the game, all sides thought the Hungarians were done for since they were outnumbered at least 2-1, not counting the optional reinforcements (half of them showed up. But the deep crappiness of the ill-trained and disciplined Croat forces told, that and the rough terrain that funneled the advance into easily blocked routes.
While leading the rabble was frustrating, it was very interesting. Rick's high dice early in the game were offset by Ken's rolling up reinforcements (OK, he also got one Hungarian one) for us and having only one of ours go off looting. The random events table really adds to the game, knowing that the landwehr might run off after wine cellars or sheep herds at any moment. It's hard to tell based on one game if the scenario is balanced or not, but the Croat walkover all feared is definitely not the story.
We had a good time and dinner too (between turn 4 and 5). Now I'm considering that Crimean war battle Krudere, between the Russians and the Turks. Of course, we don't have any figures for that…
reveals a long-lost Martian tripod.
