Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Refighting Fontenoy (part nine)

War of the Austrian Succession - campaign standings after six battles (Mollwitz, Chotusitz, Sahay, Dettingen, Pfaffenhofen and Fontenoy)
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        2               3                   11             91.7%
Opponent         2        4               1                   5              41.7%
NATIONS
Austria              4        0               3                  11            137.5%
France              2        2               1                   5              62.5%
Britain+             0        2               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.

AFTERTHOUGHTS
It was a thoroughly deserved French victory and, from the viewpoint of casualties, a convincing one.
My opponent had a strong hand to play, to be sure, but I felt he played it well.
I knew that using my right to help in the assault on Fontenoy would expose these troops to flanking action from the main body of the French, but I did not do enough to prevent this, and de Saxe waited until I was committed before unleashing his forces.
Similarly on the other wing he only ordered a general advance once my troops there had exposed their left flank in their attempts to attack Fontenoy.
I do not think Fontenoy is as difficult for the Pragmatic army to win as Dettingen undoubtedly is, but nevertheless it is very hard.
As a result of this refight, I intend making one change to my Game Of Kings rules, and that concerns frontal attacks on infantry by cavalry.
Under previous command & control systems, I believed such attacks would (rightly) prove too costly. But under the current system, which we both like, where action points are diced for and it is possible for one army to move on successive half-turns, cavalry can unrealistically ride down properly formed infantry.
Accordingly, I am adjusting the following rule:
If infantry is contacted frontally by an enemy unit that began its move outside of musketry range, the infantry may fire prior to the melee being fought, but have a -1 modifier on each throw for a hit.
In future it will read:
If infantry is contacted frontally by an enemy unit, the infantry may fire prior to the melee being fought, but have a -1 modifier on each throw for a hit.

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