Saxony 1745 Campaign - First Moves

Monday 29th saw the first moves of the campaign. I made less progress than I expected due to 'Real World' intrusions. But still, it's started. Here is the campaign diary with a couple of maps showing relevant stages.

Opening positions at 20 November 1745.
A = Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau; F = Frederick; L = Lehwaldt; Z = Ziethen
R = Renard; D = Diemer; R = Rutowski; G = Grünne; C = Charles

20th November

Saxe-Weissenfels is confirmed CinC of all Saxon forces (i.e. -1 to all Saxon rolls for forward movement).

Rutowski wants Diemer to advance to Leipzig but Saxe-Weissenfels, fearful of committing himself too early, overrules Rutowski. (i.e. the die roll was too low).

21st November

Grünne continues to Luckau. Charles remains at Zittau guarding his eastern flank.

22nd November

Grünne advances to Jüteborg.

23rd November

Grünne reaches Trebbin.

Frederick crosses the border into Lusatia at Naumburg. Frederick’s and Charles’ advance guards miss each other.

24th November

Grünne moves to Königswesterhausen.

Still no large-scale contact between opposing advance guards in the Görlitz region, but hearing Frederick greatly outnumbers him Charles retreats to Zittau (rolled a 4 when 5,6 = stand, then a 1 when 1-4 =-3 move to Zittau or 5,6 = to Weissenberg).

25th November

Frederick takes Görlitz. Leopold receives the order to invade Saxony. 

Grünne inches closer to Berlin.

Contact between Buchner and Ziethen at Leube by the Lausitzer-Neisse! This leads to the first tabletop action. I studied the detailed map of the area north of Zittau on the road from Görlitz and found a place that looked suitable

Positions on 25th. Grünne is heading off the map. Anhalt-Dessau has not yet moved from Halle.
In the southeast Ziethen clashes with Buchner at a place called Leube north of Zittau. PS, I added a few more points on the map than the first version above since it was looking too sparse especially on the east.

Prussians enter from the top near Nicker and Bertschdorf. The Saxons are on the high ground near Nider-Leube

20 squadrons of hussars and 10 squadrons of cuirassiers under Prussian general Ziethen pour down from the north. The Saxons (2 battalions and 6 squadrons) guard the road by Nieder-Leube. The Lausitzer-Neisse (unfordable) is the right-hand table edge. Saxons will seek to retire off the table on the road.

The table here is 100x60cm representing roughly 1.5 x 1 mile.

So the table is set for a short game on Tuesday. After some pondering I decided to use Twilight of the Soldier Kings for this action, even though it is small, rather than the WRG 1685-1845 rules. The latter would provide a more interesting game I think, over less quickly, but it would take too long given my aim to complete the campaign over the holidays. However, following a suggestion months ago from David-in-Suffolk, I doubled up on the number of bases. For example, normally, 2 battalions would only be 1 base. It is still 2 bases per unit - a 'regiment' instead of a 'brigade'. Move distances and ranges will also double.