Farewellensburg: A MAURICE AAR

ABOVE: The Battlefield as seen from my Right Flank. I attached one notable to my Guard Du Korp Cavalry Regiment. Just prior to the the start of the battle an additional Regiment of Foot joined the Grenadiers on the right. The 'Green' Regiment of Foot Musketiers

 

Hi Team

I thought I'd take the opportunity to share another After Action Report (AAR).

This time it’s another MAURICE Game report. Stan and I decided to use two late 18th century Imagi-Nations. For this game I'll be using my 1806 Prussians as the Imagi-Nation '1780ish Germanic' State you may recall as 'The Electorate of Clements Unt Edwarts'.

My 100 point Army will look like this:

3 REGULAR ELITE Infantry (1^st 2^nd and 3^rd Grenadiers)
3 REGULAR TRAINED Infantry (The Red, Yellow and Blue Brigades)
3 REGULAR TRAINED Cavalry (Guard Du Korps, the White Dragoons and the Blue Dragoons)
3 Artillery Battery’s

My National Advantages are (and with suitably 'Germanic' renames):

LETHAL VOLLEYS (or "Tod Feuer")

STEADY LADS (or “Hold Fast Mien Kinder”)

La BAIONETTE (or “VORWARTS”!)

Notables:

Two each. :)

Some notes on Army composition. This Army is a re-think of my previous version where I had more Artillery (4 Guns) and an ‘Irregular Infantry’ unit. Again I have made INFANTRY my dominate arm as I believe they are more powerful and versatile in this period than cavalry. Six infantry Units (Regiments or Battalions) will give me ample firepower when combined with 3 Artillery units (Batteries). Add 'LETHAL VOLLEYS' to the mix (the ability to 'Re-Roll' and failed disruption) and I think defensively the Army's firepower is quite deadly. All this firepower does come at a cost, and it means only 3 trained cavalry could be purchased. I upgraded 3 of my Infantry to ELITE and exchanged ‘CLERICS’ and ‘ARTILLERY ACADEMY’ with ‘STEADY LADS and La BAIONETTE. Total cost 99 Points. What you end up with an army suited to both the DEFENCE as well as ATTACK in my humble opinion. If I did end up as an attacker, then as such I would be entitled to the support of a Mercenary unit of either Infantry of cavalry so could increase my stock of horsemen that way. As it turned out for this battle I took an extra Regiment of Infantry.

Stan created the Free State of Northern Virginia, (FSoNV) looking very much like a mix of American Revolutionary War British and Continental Regiments? Apparently they have no issues with taxation without representation, meh.
His Army consisted of:

1 REGULAR ELITE Infantry 
5 REGULAR TRAINED Infantry 
1 REGULAR CONSCRIPT Infantry
1 REGULAR ELITE Cavalry
2 REGULAR TRAINED Cavalry  
3 Artillery Battery’s
1 Irregular Infantry Unit of Rangers (the town Garrison)

The FSoNV National Advantages were:
OBLIQUE MOVEMENT
MASION du ROI
and
LETHAL VOLLEYS

ABOVE: The battlefield as seen from my left flank.

Stan won the toss and decided to defend, so I picked another Infantry battalion to add to my force, (the Green Brigade).

The objective for me was to seize the town of Farewellenburg. My plan was rather straight forward. Break Stan’s Army or take the objective.

Stan massed his horse on his left. This was also the most likely approach to the Town for me, as attacking up hill in the face of three Artillery batterys wasn’t terribly appealing for me. Cavalry don’t shoot and in a headlong charge at my Infantry I was confident my chaps would have the better of the confrontation. I massed my Grenadiers together with the Green Brigade to lead the attack on the right (Stan’s left). My Artillery would sit behind the rough ploughed fields and support the attack on the right or aid in the defence of my left, which I decided to refuse.

My Cavalry would support the assaulting Grenadiers.

Success depended on how well my ‘Shock’ troops would do. If I could crack the FSoNV Cavalry and the infantry before Farewellenburg then I stood a reasonable chance of driving the enemy from the town. If Stan was forced to bring troops from his right to sure up his left then I might rout enough of them to break his army and make capturing the actual town irrelevant.

The battle opened with an advance by my force of Grenadiers on my right. Stan immediately charged them with is Regiments of Horse. After about three or four rounds of combat I had lost one Regiment of Grenadiers, but all of the FSoNV Cavalry was destroyed, and both of the enemy’s notables were either dead or fleeing the field. Stan started with an Army Moral of 13, but it was already down to about 6 or 5!
My Army Moral was still in rather good shape, with a fall from 13 to 11.

As the FSoNV Cavalry was battering away at my Grenadiers, Stan marched almost his entire infantry force from his right flank across to his left to confront my victorious Grenadiers.

BELOW: Stan's cavalry charge my Grenadiers,......

BELOW: And the results are: Scratch three regiments of Horse and one Regiment of Grenadiers. Stan's Infantry move 'Retrograde'. soon they will be engaged by my Grenadiers also.

Not content with destroying just Cavalry, my Grenadiers charged forward with the Bayonet. The use of a couple of “For The King” cards and a very appropriate “Grenadiers Forward” card saw the FSoNV infantry on Stan’s left flank swept away, for the loss of another regiment of Grenadiers. This was almost enough to push Stan’s army over the edge, with his Army Moral at 1. It was at this point a much beloved noble in the FSoNV Army was carried off with a shot to the head from Feldwebel Stammer of the 1^st Grenadiers, (I played the 'DEATH OF A HERO' Card). This proved too much for his army and they routed just as his infantry from his right flank redeployed in preparation to repulse the battered Grenadiers. I ended the battle with my Army moral at 8.

ABOVE and BELOW: My Grenadiers close in on the FSoNV infantry as more of their Infantry redeploy from their right flank to the threatened left.

BELOW and BOTTOM: The situation at the end of the battle.

FYI, my army is all AB MINIATURES 1806 Prussians. Stan's army is a mix of Minifigs and Old Glory. There might be some ESSEX miniatures in there also.
As usual another fun game of MAURICE. All over inside 3 hours. We were left with enough time to get a game of Dux Britanniarum in. More on that in my next post.

Comments Welcomed.
Cheers