Refighting Hohenfriedberg (part four)

MY opponent is my guest and thus has the choice of commanding the Prussians or the Austro-Saxons.

As I have explained before, he is a huge Francophile, and so he has chosen to command the Prussians, who were allied with the French for much of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Accordingly he has sunk his identity into the persona of King Frederick, soon to be Frederick the Great (apparently it was after the Battle of Hohenfriedberg that people began applying that sobriquet), and I will refer to him as such in my write-up.

As usual I will be describing the battle as it happens.

Overview at the start of our refight, looking from behind the Austro-Saxon left

TURN ONE

Frederick chose to go first and for action points rolled 2 (left), 8+1 (centre, with Frederick's bonus) and 6 (right).

His artillery batteries opened fire - all three were in range, although two barely - but to no effect. Otherwise he ordered a general advance, but holding back somewhat on the left where he only had two action points.

The Prussian right advancing on the Austro-Saxon left-wing horse beside Pilgramshain

I rolled 4 (left), 6 (centre) and 3 (right).

My artillery batteries were just as ineffective as the Prussians'. On the right I advanced the front line of my cavalry, making a melee almost inevitable next turn. I also advanced two infantry battalions in the centre, and one to the right of Pilgramshain in the hope it can take on the Prussian jäger next turn.

Looking from behind Thomaswaldau on the Austro-Saxon right

TURN TWO

Frederick again chose to go first, and rolled a feeble 2 (left), 1+1 (centre) and 1 (right).

But in the centre his artillery battery nearest Pilgramshain found its range on my Graf von Brühl Foot, who had advanced on his jäger, scoring two hits. The Saxon infantry's morale held firm, but they had been reduced to 50% effectiveness. On his left the Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers charged my Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons, and the Württemberg Dragoons charged my Liechtenstein Dragoons. We fought the cuirassier-dragoon melee first, and it proved a bloody affair with the cuirassiers inflicting four hits while suffering two. The cuirassiers' saving-rolls for wearing a cuirass did them no good, but nevertheless they had wiped out the Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons. But the Prussian joy was short-lived as the result of the other melee was the exact reverse, meaning the Württemberg Dragoons were destroyed.

I rolled 1 (left), 6 (centre) and 2 (right), prompting my opponent to take a mock-serious close-up look at my centre die.

My Saxon battery scored a hit on the 1st von Hacke Foot, but their morale held. In the centre the Los Rios-Deutschmeister Grenadiers, despite a -1 modifier for moving, scored two hits on the Brandenburg-Schwedt Foot, although again morale proved satisfactory. On the right the Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers charged the von Buddenbrock Cuirassiers, winning the subsequent melee by three hits to two (no saving throws were successful). The Prussians narrowly missed losing a further 25% effectiveness to poor morale, but had to retreat for losing the melee. Unfortunately my Liechtenstein Dragoons missed a golden opportunity when the move-variation rule prevented them charging the Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers in the flank.

In the foreground are the Cordova Cuirassiers (nearer Thomaswaldau) and the Eugen von Savoyen Dragoons, while in the far distance the von Buddenbrock Cuirassiers can be seen fleeing the Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers

After two turns the Prussians have lost one of 34 army points and the Austrians have lost one of 40.

Overview at the end of turn two