Thursday, May 07, 2020

Refighting The Battle Of Pfaffenhofen (part five)

TURN FIVE
I rolled 2 (left) - 10 (centre) - 3 (right). My gun opened fire on the Wittmer Foot, scoring a potential hit but narrowly failing to convert it into an actual one (I rolled a 4 instead of the necessary minimum of 5). Every other unit in the centre advanced. On my right the Batthyány Dragoons charged the Languedoc Dragoons, who were then charged in the flank by the Nádasdy Hussars. With my final right-flank action point I could have brought the pandurs down from the hills, but instead advanced the Liechtenstein Dragoons so they could be ready to intervene in the big cavalry melee in front of them. On my left the Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons charged the Hohenzollern Dragoons, which should make for an interesting melee as both units are at 50% effectiveness and so in danger of disintegrating completely. With my other left-flank action point I advanced the lagging Modena Cuirassiers.
We had three melees to fight in all as on the Austrian right there was the second round of the combat between my von Cordova Cuirassiers and De Ségur's Mestre de Camp Général Dragoons. We fought this one first, with the cuirassiers winning by two hits to one, which meant the dragoons were eliminated. On the other flank the Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons and the Hohenzollern Dragoons each inflicted one hit, reducing both squadrons to 25% effectiveness. That left De Ségur's Languedoc Dragoons taking on the Batthyány Dragoons and the Nádasdy Hussars. We decided this should count as one melee but with two separate combats. First the two squadrons of dragoons would fight as they undoubtedly would have clashed before the hussars hit the Languedoc squadron in the flank. After that combat is decided, we will fight the hussars against the French. Only then will we work out who has won the melee. It did not go well for the French - first they lost to the Batthyány Dragoons by two hits to nil, then the remainder were wiped out in the flank attack by the hussars, although they did reduce the latter by 50% effectiveness. The French left has ceased to exist!
De Ségur rolled 1 (centre) - 4 (right). He chose to to use the centre action point first so he could get his general to catch the fleeing La Reine Cavalerie. But the general's presence was not enough - the cavalerie continued their headlong flight and exited the battlefield, as did the remainder of the von Gschray Hussars. That left just the Hohenzollern Dragoons on the French right. The second round of their melee with my Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons brought De Ségur some respite when the Hohenzollern Dragoons emerged victorious.
But with four squadrons of horse eliminated, compared with just two Austrian squadrons, and with the left flank of his infantry completely exposed, my opponent took a leaf out of the real-life de Ségur's book and conceded the field.
The final scene ... as dusk falls, the outnumbered and outflanked Franco-Palatinate forces prepare to withdraw
AFTERTHOUGHTS
The Battle of Pfaffenhfoen cannot be called a balanced scenario by any stretch of the imagination - you would need to add the Bavarians, who left de Ségur in the lurch by withdrawing before the battle, to make an Austrian defeat at all likely. In stark contrast to our refight of Dettingen, it was my turn to get 'lucky' dice. It is somewhat unfortunate that in two such lopsided battles the superior force each time found the dice on their side.
As to the rules, we felt they worked smoothly but we agreed I have debuffed artillery too much. I am returning to the old rule that a gun's potential hit is turned into an actual hit on a roll of 4 or more rather than 5 or more. This should not lead to ridiculous bloodbaths as I have already made units less brittle by making it easier for them to pass morale tests and so be less likely to lose a further 25% effectiveness after taking a hit.

War of the Austrian Succession - campaign standings after five battles (Mollwitz, Chotusitz, Sahay, Dettingen and Pfaffenhofen)
2pts for a win, plus a bonus point if the win reverses a battle's historical outcome
PLAYERS
                    Wins Losses Bonus Points Total Points Score*
Me                   4        1               3                   11           110%
Opponent         1        4               1                   3              30%
NATIONS
Austria              4        0               3                  11            137.5%
France              1        2               1                   3             50%
Britain+             0        1               0                   0               0%
Prussia             0        2               0                   0               0%
 *Score is calculated on the basis that two points a battle counts as 100 percent, so it is possible with bonus points to score up to 150 percent.
+This is the Pragmatic Army, which was led and primarily financed by Britain.

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