A Seven Years' War Encounter

An encounter scenario with both sides trying to take control of a collection of villages in the "crook" of a river .. 

Nationalities: Austria v Prussia

Commanders: 
- Austrians: John Ewing (D10 commander, Poor deck)
-- subordinate: Douglas Thomson

- Prussians: David Knight (D12 commander, Superior deck)
-- subordinate: Tim Couper

Scale: 15mm

Rules: Piquet Field of Battle 2

Scenario & Figures: Douglas Thomson
Game Master: Tim Couper

Place: Falkirk & District Wargames Club

Date: Monday 5th June 2017

The setup - standing at the Austrian end of the table .. 

                                        David          Douglas       John

The objective was to hold the village, and have control of at least one side of the river .. the villages were weakly held by a couple of Austrian infantry units, supported by hussars on their left flanking hillock. There was a certain quiet confidence in the Austrian camp as experience had shown them that the Prussian commander was very adept at rolling 1's ... 

Here's the starting lineup of Prussian units ..

and the Austrian ...

The Prussians make the most of their Move cards, the curassier and dragoons making an unopposed crossing into the "crook" ...

while, ironically, the Austrians are plagued with 1's .. and deploy their forces in the "crook" in readiness to receive the cavalry onslaught

... looking elegant and ordered, close up ...

On their right wing, the Prussian commands close in on the weakly-held villages, whose tenacious defenders look in vain for support ....

(spot the deliberate mistake - SYW Prussians in column is not allowed .. fortunately this was corrected before any benefit accrued - by referring to the rules (what?? reading the rules??)

error corrected, a supported (ie Outnumbered) melee of the Prussians at the village which destroys the Austrian unit there .. while hussars are facing off against each other at the edge of the table .. 

the Austrian hussars charge into contact with the Prussian, only to be routed ... (so much for the fabled Prussian 1's, methinks).. 

and the Prussians continue their advance ...

coming up against an advanced Austrian dragoon unit...

who also suffers a rout from infantry fire

and a general engagement ensues

while the Prussian cavalry tightens its hold on the "crook" villages

Finally time was called, the Austrians having only 2 Army Morale Points left, while the Prussians had only lost less than 10. So while the Prussians had achieved one objective of holding the villages, the battle in the centre was far from finished - which was an impressive achievement for the Austrians who were generally worse in units number and quality, CiC and sequence deck makeup .. but then who says life, or war, is fair?