Monday, September 03, 2007

The Furst is Furious! --

Furst Bruno von Ursa, Prince of Saxe-Bearstein is furious.

His joy at the report of the successful relief of the city of Stinz (villainously occupied by the Duchy of the North) turned to fury as he learned the details of the battle.

His son, Brigadier Prinz Gunther von Ursa led four different cavalry charges into close combat! He narrowly escaped death on one charge (and will bear the scars to prove it), yet then took control of yet another unit (the totally untested Hopfenperle Hussars) and led the final decisive charge that prevented necessary Nordic supplies from reaching Stinz -- thus saving the city.

While this did force the Nordic forces to sue for terms (thus regaining the city for Saxe-Bearstein), the risk to the Prinz distressed Bruno greatly.

General Baron Helmut von Pilsner will find himself very much in the royal doghouse for allowing the Prinz to lead any charges -- let alone so many.

But, truth be told, he tried to stop him -- the first two times the Prinz (who had joined the Edelbrau Dragoons) ordered a charge, the Baron was able to counter it (i.e., I twice rolled a 6, failing the charge tests).

However, for the Prinz, the third time was the charm. And that charge not only routed a dragoon unit, but also pushed back a counter-charging unit of Kuirassiers! His follow-up charge routed them, clearing the way for other troops to attack the supply lines.

His continuing pursuit destroyed the remaining heavy cavalry and then converted into an infantry unit. Later, the Prinz, although wounded, took command of the Hofenperle Hussars and led them on yet another key charge into wagons and the flank of yet another infantry battalion, routing it and saving the city.

Both the Edelbrau Dragoons and Hopfenperle Hussars were awarded battle honors for their outstanding service in this engagement.

An artist on a hill overlooking the valley where the battle was fought painted that final charge (as can be seen above).

==== comments ====

This was another very interesting battle. Not knowing what would show up (or where) caused me a considerable uncertainty. Fortunately I got a number of units to arrive at some very opportune times. And, once again, Pete had difficulty controlling his troops.

My biggest problem (at the time) was twice failing to succeed on my charge test . . . but actually that worked out well, since two other units arrived to support me, just as my charge finally went through. I'm sure that Murdock will have a good account (plus lots of better pictures) on his blog within the next day or two.

If things work out properly, he and Pete will play this scenario yet again tomorrow -- with Murdock running the supply column and Pete trying to stop it. I've randomly determined their forces and emailed those to them -- so there may soon be yet another battle report.


-- Jeff

4 comments:

old-tidders said...

Congratulations on your victory.

Sounds like Prinz Gunther is as headstrong as the fighting Kings of Wittenberg who also make rash cavalry charges.

-- Allan

marinergrim said...

I do like this "personalising" of your games.

excellent stuff.

Frank said...

A mighty fine looking supply train.
I will have to assemble one of those too at some point.

Congratulations on a superb victory with your excellent troops.

Frank

Auston Jeff Butler said...

Awesome battle report. I so enjoy reading all of our histories in the world of 18th century blogging.