Dettingen - Take II

I finally got down to starting the second go at Dettingen late this evening. I made two tactical changes from the previous time:

I decided that Grammont's wing would get stuck in as soon as possible and in whatever order troops could get there - out would go any cautious approach of making sure flanks were covered. Brigades would be thrown in any how, just to get a march on the allies.

The second was to hold the allied cavalry rearguard further up the field, just to see what effect giving the French a free hand coming through Aschaffenburg, but not spend command resource on manoeuvring the cavalry.

So I got 6 turns in, in about an hour, and the pics below show a few points along the way.

After 2 turns the allies are marching away from the Main, under French artillery fire. The French have been quite successful, inflicting 3 hits on different allied units.

At the same time one of the French divisions has been able to form into column and march towards Aschaffenburg (off picture to bottom left) but the other has stalled (top right). The local commander was struggling to get his men organised (i.e. they failed action successive tests).

Meanwhile, Grammont;s infantry has got moving to the first stream (top) with Dettingen to the top left of the picture. Grammont's cavalry is formed up into columns to sweep around the left flank of the infantry.

After 4 turns, the Pragmatic army hasn't yet shaken themselves out into line. A traffic jam is beginning to form as the rear columns converge with the baggage train. French infantry, cavalry and dragoons march off towards and over the bridges downstream of Dettingen (top left).

Overall situation after 6 turns. Between Dettingen and the wooded hills, the allies have got into line in time, as Grammont's wing bears down on them (top). The traffic jam has not yet cleared in the allied centre-rear, whilst 3 cavalry brigades are ready to form a rearguard action. At the bottom, French infantry columns snake either side of the Main with Aschaffenburg in the bottom right).

A closer view of the impending clash, after turn 6. Things are set for the first proper confrontation of the battle.