I have managed to get about 5 hours gaming time in spread throughout Saturday and today. The number of turns completed is c 20 using my house SYW rules. The turns churn around quite quickly because (a) that's the way the rules are designed; (b) Kunersdorf presents a narrow front where most of the action is concentrted and there are a limited number of units that can do anything at any one time. This tendency was reinforced by the Prussians' refusing to pass the village of Kunersdorf and expose themselves to the Russian guns of the main position, and by the Russians' determination to hold their advantageous defensive position and not risk an equal combat with the Prussian cavalry.
The table set-up is shown in an earlier post
here and orders of battle are
here. House rules are explained in a number of posts last year,
starting here if you are so interested.
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| After an intense bombarment the Prussian infantry storm the Mühlberg defences and gain a toe hold in the NE corner. The Russian batteries were silenced then driven away. You can see here that I have had to use Bavarians and Austrians to stand in for the Observation Corps musketeers. |
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| Around to the west of the Mühlberg the Prussian right wing cavalry engages with their Russian opposite numbers. Here the Russian horse grenadiers do sterling work |
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| More Prussian infantry pour into the defences and expand their foothold on the Mühlberg. Slowly but surely they grind down the Observation Corps. In a couple of cases with nowhere to retreat to, units of the Russians lay down their arms and are massacred where they stood as in the real battle (i.e. if you can't retreat from a push back you take further hits). |
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| A wider view of the position. The cavalry actions continue on the left whilst the Austrian infantry corps can be seen marching up from the allies' right wing, above the stream to the right (block of six bases preceded by two bases of cavalry) |
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| Almost the end of the Observation Corps. Just two bases (regiments) remain on the Mühlberg. Two badly knocked about regiments have been forced off completely. The rest have ceased to exist as formed units. By this point the Prussians had still not lost any bases to about 8 Russians. |
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| The Russians form a new flank beyond the Kuh Grund (just in front of the grenadiers here) and the second line begins to move up in the distance. |
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| Having stormed across the Kuh Grund (the gap in the middle) the Prussian grenadiers enjoy mixed fortunes against their opposite numbers. One base ground down their Russian opponents, the other fought an inconclusive combat for several turns. Eventually the second Prussian base prevails but the first one is caught in the flank by a unit of Russian cavalry which sweeps them away. In the chaos Finck was struck down by a burly Russian curiassier. One Prussian base remains on the Russian side of the Kuh Grund whilst Prussian musketeers (left) pluck up their courage to renew the assault. |
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| On the western side of the Mühlberg the Prussian cavalry have ground down the Russians to just one untouched unit and two severly weakened ones (note the two units with two casualty markers - 3 wipes out the unit). The Austrian infantry have closed off this flank howeverand the Russian horse had driven away the Prussian artillery in the area. |
I'll decide whether to continue tomorrow. If I don't continue I'll have to assess the likely outcome. The Prussians have still only lost a few bases, but a breakthrough looks a tall order.
Excellent stuff! I am surprised by the relatively few casualties the Prussians have suffered, thus far. Very interested to see if you press on with a Prussuan attack out of the kuh grund and into the next line of Russian defenses. I like the look of your 6mm BMUs.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was surprised too. Part of the explanation lies in the fact that when any unit was pushed back from the initial attempt at getting into the earthworks they stayed back and fresh units took their place. Once inside the Prussian quality prevailed.
DeleteAn additional factor was that the Prussians had local superiority in artillery so some of the Russian units had been shot up before the Prussian infantry got there.
As the overall result was largely historical I didn’t question the mechanics, but I do need to rethink the effects of earthworks.
In my recreations, the earthworks offered good defensive benefits and sharply reduced the effects of artillery bombardments.
DeleteI maybe need a little tweak to give more of a benefit to the defender in infantry combat. I think the effect artillery is already OK.
DeleteMy reading of the historicl accounts suggest that there was what might be termed 'plunging fire' (delberate or not) on the Russian position. Because the Prussian batteries were on hills on three sides of the Mühlberg the Russians were susceptible to enfilade fire. So I allowed 'overshoots' if the initial target wasn't hit and there was a target behind. This increased the risk of losses on the defenders. Maybe too much, I don't know? The startling thing is, according to the Kronskaf account, the Prussians overran the Mühlberg in 10 minutes.