One Esci set I especially liked was the Napoleonic Prussians/Austrians. However, they never got much use by me. I had planned to use them as two small warring states, but never got around to it.
With my new attempt at gaming, I decided they would finally get to fight it out. They would fight Scenario #1 from One Hour Wargames on my 6x6 Battlescale battlefield. For rules I used a variation of Command & Colors. Instead of the usual 3-2-1 fire of the infantry, the range would be two hexes, with the 3-2 fire for the infantry. For artillery, I used the range from The Stronghold Rebuilt "See the Elephant" rules` of 3-2-2-1 range. For dicing a 6 was a hit, a 5 caused the unit to retreat. The armies were picked by using OHW army selection charts. The Prussians drew 3 infantry, 2 light infantry and 1 artillery. The Austrians drew 4 infantry, 1 light infantry and 1 artillery.
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| The Austrians at top, draws first blood on one of the Prussian jager units. |
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| The Prussians push the Austrians back all along the front. |
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| On the Prussian right a jager unit moves forward, trying to cut an Austrian unit off. |
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| The Austrian artillery drives the right Prussian jagers back two hexes and loses one man to the Austrian fire. |
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| The Prussian jagers in the center and artillery eliminates the Austrian jagers. The Prussian jagers on the right drives one Austrian unit back two spaces. |
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| The left Prussian jagers push forward to split the Austrian center. The right Jagers cuts off the Austrian leftmost unit. |
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The Prussian artillery drives back the Austrian unit next to the jagers. The jagers
take that spot and then kills another Austrian infantryman. One the right the jagers kills two Austrians, while the Prussian infantry kills one Austrian and rolls a retreat roll; however, the two hexes to it's rear is blocked. Although C&C rules calls for the soldier to die, the Prussians take him prisoner. On the left two Austrians are surrounded by six Prussians. |
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| The two Austrians surrenders. |
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| The situation on the Prussian right. The Austrian on the right is about to surrender. |
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| A Prussian leading prisoners to the rear. |
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The end of the game. The Austrians' center has collapsed. It is a Prussian victory.
I was looking for a quick, fun game, and this game met both requirements. The game itself lasted about 20 minutes. |
I used something very like your system in my 'Vales of Lyndhurst' battles a couple of years back. They might be of interest.
ReplyDeletehttps://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2018/10/vales-of-lyndhurst-to-be-continued.html
Thank you for pointing this out to me. A quick check has me wanting to read more. I have been thinking of ordering some of Hats Seven Years Wars Austrians; you might have just pushed me over the edge to buy them!
DeleteIn the first battle, I used Wargames Factory WSS figures, in the later battle I used different figures: Revell Prussian horse and foot, and Austrian arty; Esci Prussian foot, cavalry and Airfix gunners. Instead of 4-figure foot and 2-figure cavalry units, I built them up to 8-figure and 6-figure horse.
DeleteAs I recently bought more of Bob Cordery's The Portable Wargame books, and the size of Battlescale hexes, I started thinking of basing some of the plastics I have. Last night I based up a sample Airfix French Napoleonic regiment. I will check tonight on how it came out.
DeleteNice sharp action with your 6 hex deep battlefield.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a short term answer to getting more games in. I am thinking of working on more hexes to get some river hexes done.
DeleteGood to see the Prussian Austrian set in action, I only had one set in the 1980s but I have recently acquired a mixed bag of these and Airfix AWI which will be excellent in future for ImagiNations.
ReplyDeleteSome of these figures were painted as Imagination armies. The Prussians I painted as Revolutionary French infantry.
ReplyDeleteTwenty minutes? Wow!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you getting some old favourites out John.
Regards, James
With a play area this size, there is little delay before the action starts. With the chessboard, half the game is trying to get the battle started. When time is short, getting the action started right away helps.
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