SYW - Bloody sunday - A game after the rules of Field of Battle 3

Manufacturers:   FrontRankMiniatures, CrusaderMiniatures, WargamesFoundry and

DreispitzMiniatures

Scale: 28mm

Hi,

Sunday, 9th July 2023. It is about 1 pm and the sun is shining really hot. Almost 34°C outside. Best time to be in the cellar to cool down and enjoy a battlegame with some fellows. :)

After some test games we had our SYW game of Prussians against Austrians following the rules of Field of Battle 3 using some houserules that worked very well.

We decided to use a blinde for a hidden deployment of both armies. Franz, Oliver and I played the Austrians, Christopher (aka "Axebreaker") and Sebastian had to command the Prussians. So every team placed its units on the table hidden from the eyes of the other team. 

The Austrians´ plan was to concentrate their complete cavalry on the right wing and also to concentrate the infantry in the centre with two brigades as reserve behind the centre being in march columns to be able to rush to the places they could be needed in the game.

We had a brilliant plan. Our thought was that the Prussians would deploy their cavalry on both wings, so the right wing of us would overwhelm the Prussian cavalry and after that we would be able to attack the Prussian infantry into its flank. BRILLIANT!!!

After lifting the blinde we got aware that the Prussians had the same idea. The whole Prussian cavalry was in front of the complete Austrian cavalry. The Prussian infantry was not as concentrated in the centre as their Austrian counterparts but both teams knew that the battle would be decided by winning  the clash of both cavalries. The Prussian cavalry had the advantage that all units had been placed in attack column while the Austrian cavalry was all in line as the Austrians were not allowed to be in attack columns. So the Prussians would crash with two units into only one unit of Austrian cavalry and would outnumber them in melee. SHI.....!!!

So - will the Austrians be able to win this battle?

This post has a lot of pictures and I hope they don´t bore you. But they will give an idea of how the battle developed, so I hope you will enjoy this post.

Please feel free to leave a comment. They are all welcome may they be good or critical. :)

Cheers

Mike

The blinde for hidden deployment.

Placing the Austrian cavalry...

...and the infantry.

Order of battle after replacing the blinde.

The view on both cavalries...

...and on the infantry deployments.

The Austrian cavalry starts the battle by moving forward.

The infantry waits for its commands.

Some civilians watching the combat.

Now the Prussian cavalry starts its advance.

First firing action initiated by the Prussian horse artillery with no effect.

The Prussian infantry in advance.

The Austrian cannons shooting their first round.

Hurray! The first Prussian unit is routing!

The battlefield after the Prussians advance.

The next "Move"-card allows the Prussian cavalry to charge and to get into melee with the Austrian cavalry. Here the Austrians are able to countercharge.

The Austrian hussars are heavily beaten...

...and are routing.

Another two units of Prussian cavalry attacking Austrian Cuirassiers. This time the Austrians failed to countercharge that gives a bonus to the Prussians.

Again the Austrian cavalry has no chance...

...but the result is a fall back not a rout move.

And the next Prussian attack - again the Austrians fail to counter charge.

And the last Prussian cavalry unit touches a unit of Austrian Dragoons within its flank while the horse artillery gets in position to fire against the Austrian infantry. But it has to reload first and isn´t able to shoot right now.

The move card caused a flight to the routing Prussian unit and it left the table.

The infantries getting closer.

The Prussian guns firing at a unit of Austrian Fusiliers...

...causing a retreat.

Another Prussian unit loosing one stand. Till now the battle seems to be balanced concerning the losses on both sides.

The Prussians get a melee card and a unit of Austrian Cuirassiers is routing.

Now the Austrian cavalry attacks the Prussians,...

...getting defeated in the first melee,... 

...in its second fight (fall back),..

.. and guess what?...

...caused to rout in its third melee.

WHAT...

...THE...

..:F...!!!!

Charles of Lorraine (Franz) asking General Nadasdy (me) how this could have happened. You can see the Leader of the cavalry crying. :):):)

Not only to be defeated and having several units of cavalry routing the Austrians have to play a Movement card, meaning, that the routing units will have to move their movement range plus the roll of a D6.

And so the desaster started. Two routing units...

...gone.

Another routing unit...

...gone.

And another two routing units...

...gone.

The Austrian cavalry had only two units left with the Prussian cavalry consisting of seven units that had been almost complete.

The Austrian cementry.

The Austrians activate their reserves and bring them from march column to line.

Another attack of the Austrian cavalry...

...just causes another heavy defeat with one unit falling back...

...and the last unit of Hussars routing.

The Prussians just strike back...

...and the Austrian Cuirassiers fall back.

No chance.

The Prussians draw another movement card and the cavalry is turning left to get into position of the Austrians´ infantry´s flank...

...while the Bosniaks...

...destroy the last unit of Austrian cavalry.

Now the Austrian centre is vulnerable.

It had been the day of the Prussians - another movement card and the Austrian infantry is attacked within its flank.

The Fusiliers had been wiped out.

The next cavalry attack.

Just guess....

Now the Austrians are allowed to move, turn...

...and take fire on the Prussian Cuirassiers.

Just a little effect.

After the Austrian cavalry had left the gaming table the infantry had to fight.

Prussian Musketiers in firing battle with Grenzers.

The Grenzers are gone.

Fire fights with no effect.

Also no effect.

The Prussian Cuirassiers doing a fall back move just to give the other units of cavalry enough space for an attack.

What would you have done playing the Austrians?

Melee! Prussian Musketiers crush into the Austrian Grenadiers flank.

And Prussian Jägers getting into melee with the Austrian artillery.

The Austrian Grenadiers had gone away...

...and the artillery also lost its melee and has to retreat.

The BRILLIANT plan of the Austrians was lost.

Charles of Lorraine surrendered and the Prussians had won the battle.

But what a game. Though it had been desastrous for the Austrians we will replay it soon.

The rules and our houserules had worked very well.

Here are just another few photos Oliver had taken from some other perspecive. :)