The Battle of Hawthorn Heights: A MAURICE AAR

We played another game of Maurice last night at the MONDAY KNIGHTS.
This time it was an ‘introductory’ battle between myself and our good friend Arnaud using Stan’s army.
Arnaud won the scouting toss and with some advice from Stan decided to defend.
The objective was the hill (Hawthorn Heights). Arnaud (or should I say Lieutenant Governor Arnaud) deployed with his three regiments of cavalry on or near the hill.
The ‘Elite’ Red Dragoon Guards were conspicuous with their tricorn hats and big chestnut horses sitting as bold as brass on the objective.
He deployed his two batteries of Artillery next in line and then his first infantry force consisting of the Governors’ Hessian Guards and two Regiments of The Line. Next were another 3 Infantry Regiments and finally a Regiment of Conscripts and a Regiment of Irregular ‘Rangers’ infantry.
The Lieutenant Governor gathered his officers and Chief of Staff around:
“As inexperienced as I might appear, I am well educated in the Arts of War. I can assure you we shall be victorious today as long as you all follow my direction to the letter. Besides, my father knows people,..”.

I decided that his Elite units were best dealt with by shooting them to death rather than trying to match them in hand to hand combat, given a cannon ball doesn’t differentiate between Guards and conscripts.
Consequently I massed all my horse on my right with my Grand battery consisting of 4 batteries of Artillery between them and my Massed infantry. Finally on my left I positioned my sole regiment of irregular infantry, Bailey’s Jaegers.
SEE DEPLOYMENTS BELOW as seen from my lines

My plan was simple:
Soften up the enemy’s left wing with artillery before launching a massed cavalry assault on the objective. I would then advance my Infantry ‘en mass’ into the enemies centre and win the day; HUZZAH!
My first turn and my grand battery commenced the bombardment. The red Dragoon Guards on the hill sustained most of the casualties, and even attempted to rally off some of the disruption. Incredibly Arnaud refused to move them back behind the safety of the hill. By my third round of bombardment they were destroyed, and at that point the other two horse regiments took their queue to retire. Lieutenant Governor Arnaud complained bitterly that his Cavalrymen were lacking in zeal. His Chief of Staff explained all the ‘Zeal’ in the Free State wouldn’t stand up to 32 Cannon,…
BELOW: The enemy horse are driven from the Heights, and my Cavalry advance.

With the destruction of the Dragoon Guards I felt confident my cavalry were now in a position to see the remaining enemy horse off. As my cavalry advanced my artillery shifted their fire onto the enemy battery and commenced a counter battery duel.
All the while my infantry stood still and patient.
BELOW: My massed cavalry regiments poised to launch their charge on the enemy horse,...

 ... as the enemy's infantry commence their advance!

 BELOW: The cavalry brawl begins with an impetuous 'rush of blood' by one of Arnaud's Light Dragoon Regiments, (I played the 'Heat of Battle' card compelling one of Arnaud's regiments to charge my horse)

Shortly a massive cavalry battle erupted on my right flank and soon both of Arnaud’s remaining horsemen were routed.
Glasses of brandy were sent crashing and smashing to the ground at Arnaud’s HQ. Musicians were hurriedly packing away violins and Chellos as the Lieutenant Governor cursed his equestrian arm:
“These horsemen are pathetic. I’ll turn them all into garrison infantry”!

The enemy started to refuse their new left flank, as the Governor’s Hessian Guards edged backwards to cover their exposed flank. Oxen were brought to their gunline in preparation of a ‘Tactical Retrograde Movement’
“Oh, that’s what they are calling it when we run away now”? A gunner was heard to comment.
As Arnaud moved his left back he advanced on his right.
As that was happening drums started beating in the Electors ranks of Infantry:
“Vorwarts Mein Kinder”!
The infantry advanced.

 ABOVE and BELOW: My cavalry regiments rally behind the objective, and in the 'Confusion' one of my Regiments (the Blue Dragoons) charges the ememy artillery! fortunatly no real harm was done and they withdrew. All this activity was burning up cards in my hand however,...

Even though the leftmost battalions had to cross a huge cultivated field, scouts had discovered that it was surprisingly good going, and no disruption resulted (read: a "FIND THE WAY "card was in play).
Just as suddenly as my infantry advanced, we were confronted with a major problem. Clearly our scouts were so busy congratulating themselves on discovering a path through the potato fields they had failed to notice a massive swamp directly in the line of advance of the massed infantry, (read: "That's Not On The Map" card).

The Elector moved to a position to better control the now massed but intermingled regiments of Cavalry. Much time was spent in attempting to sort the confused clump of horseflesh and motivate it to continue its attack on the enemy’s flank.

All the while the enemy infantry commenced their envelopment of my left flank.

It seemed the whole battle rotated 90 degrees. (see below)

The Elector sent messengers flying in all directions to each of the cavalry regiments:

“For God’s Sake, just get the cavalry moving; regardless of their disorder, or all will be lost”!
Soon the disrupted mass of Cavalry was crashing into the enemy’s Gun Line, hacking down both gunners and civilian contractors alike, and consequently the open flank of the Hessian Guards, Due to the disruption on the cavalry however they were unable to destroy the Guardsmen quickly.
By the time they did, the enemy infantry was pouring volleys into the flanks of my strung-out regiments.

The cavalry had also lost a regiment in the process of cutting up the Guards.
Soon my infantry collapsed under the withering fire on their exposed flank.

The battle ended with my Army Moral at 0 (obviously) and Arnaud’s at 1!
At one point Arnaud’s Army Moral had dropped to 5, and mine was still at 12. How the situation had turned.

Things I learned.
1. Always have a 'Plan B'
2. Never say die. Even when all appears lost you can still turn the battle around.
3. Open flanks = death on a stick!
4. Avoid ‘Target Fixation’ and maintain situational Awareness. Yet again I was focused so much on one part of the battle (The cavalry battle) I ignored the obvious calamity that was about to befall us (the enemy infantry massing on my left). When I did I found myself devoid of cards to remedy the situation.
As usual comments welcomed.

The Battle of Fronkanstein: A MAURICE AAR

ABOVE: The Battlefield at Fronkanstien

BELOW: The Elector reviews his troops before battle.

Hi Guys
Yep, another MAURICE AAR!
Yet again I was the defender, and yet again I used my 1806 Prussians as substitutes for my 'yet to be completed' imagi-nation, Electorate of Clements Unt Edwarts.
Stan played with is victorious (see Battle of Stansburg) Free State of Northern Virginia.
My army consisted of 6 REGULAR Trained Infantry, 3 REGULAR Trained Cavalry, 4 Artillery Batteries and 2 Irregular Infantry.
National Characteristics were: ARTILLERY ACADEMY, LETHAL VOLLEYS, and MASS FORMATION.
Stan's Army consisted of 1 REGULAR ELITE Infantry,5 REGULAR Trained Infantry,  1 REGULAR Conscript Infantry, 1 ELITE CAVALRY, 2 REGULAR Trained Cavalry, 2 artillery and 1 IRREGULAR infantry  and a Mercenary unit of REGULAR Trained Infantry.
National Characteristics were LETHAL VOLLYS, and two other I just can't recal just now.

 ABOVE: My left flank. 3 units of Cavalry
BELOW: My right flank. 4 batteries of Artillery, 6 Infantry Regiments and two Irregular regiments, (one of Jagers garrisoning the town of Fronkanstien)

 BELOW: Stan's left flank, one lone Irregular regiment of rangers in the woods and the bulk of his infanty massed in 3 lines facing the town with his two batteries to their right.

 BELOW: Stan's right flank, 3 cavalry regiments and his Guard infantry supported by a trained Regiment of infantry. The Cavalry Regiment on chestnusts are his Elite Regiment of Dragoons.

 BELOW: Stan in miniature; the Govenor of the Viginian Free State.

BELOW: 'Baily's Jagers' garrison Fronkanstein. "None shall pass"!

The Elector rode along the long line of his infantry regiments. Their colours fluttered above them thanks to a strong southerly wind. It was another bitterly cold day, but things would soon heat up.

"Our last action saw these invaders snatch a victory out of your hands. the decision that day went against us, but through no fault of yours. Today we will avenge Stansburg! The fight shall be hard, but God is with us this day, even if our priests are not. Fear not mien kinder, for today we shall triumph"!

My first move. I swing my Artillery in to prepare to bombard the enemy, (see below). My plan was tonot complicated. try and win the firefight in the center. I was confident that my Cavalry would hold up any attack on that flank with the assistance of a Regiment of infantry on the hill.

 BELOW: Stan's first move wasto advance his cavalry. No surprising really. He had one regiment of ELITES and a Notable that added PLUS 1 in combat!

 ABOVE: Stan charged in with is Cavalry. Things looked grim for me, but I threw out an "ATTACK FALTERS" card which I hoped would take some of the sting out of his ELITE Regiments attack.

 Unfortunatly for me the ELITES still managed to break my Regiment of Cuirassiers! Fortunatly my blue Dragoons beat back their attackers and soon the infantry on the hill was coming to the cavalry's aid. (See Below)

 BELOW: With the cavalry battle on my right stalled, Stan now launched an attack in the center. His drums started beating and the Redcoats advanced.

 BELOW: At the bottom of the picture we can see Stan's Mercanaries approaching my lines. As usual, Stan was happy to use his mercanaries as a 'shield'. These 'Spanish' chaps must have been concerned with activity that was seen taking place on my gun Line. "Double shot and canister Lads,... let's give them a warn reception"!

 ABOVE and BELOW: My line prepares to greet the Redcoats with hot lead.

 Meanwhile on my left my sole infantry Regiment delivered a crashing volley that destroyed on of Stan's Cavalry regiments. We we now both down 3 moral points. This was to prove to be the consistant factor in the battle. I would lose a Regiment, then Stan would. This was going to be a very close battle,...
BELOW: A crashing volley, and one of Stan's Cavalry regiments is gone!

 ABOVE and BELOW: The Firefight erupts in the center. The first casualties are the Spanish mercenaries. In the photo above they can be seen blazing away. In the one below their position in the line is soon a gaping hole due to the combined fire of the Artillery and a Regiment of Infantry.

 The battle soon devolved into a series of running firefights in the center, with first stan losing a regiment, and then I. On my left we spent our time conducting cavalry melee's and then rallying of disruption

 When stan eventually advanced his small force of infantry, (two Regiments, one of which were his dreaded Hessian Guards), I tossed out a "That's Not On The Map"! card. (See Below). The boggy ground saw the Hessian's halt and settle down to blazing away at my infantry that was in turn trying to shoot down one more of Stan's cavalry regiments.  Eventually another cavalry regiment of Stan's broke, but then stan returned the favour and broke the infantry responsible.

 We were both down to only 2 Moral points each. I even managed to stael one point off him when one of his much loved heros wa killed by a stray shot.
Thigs were looking grim for us both. We had been through the ACTION CARD DECK once already and were now resuffling for a second time.
Suddenly his CONSCRIPTS had a 'Rush of Blood' (thanks to a niffty "Heat Of Battle" card I played), and they burst through on of their own regiments to charge into my infantry line. Stan trew a '2' and I threw a '6' and his conscripts (Militia) were soon fleeing to the rear. (SEE BELOW)

 BELOW: As the smoke clears the militia are nowhere to be seen. VICTORY!

 This was enough to break Stan's army, and my lads drew a collective sigh of relief.
My men slumped to the grown they had successfully defended amoungst their own dead and dying.
Those that had the strenght sang hymes of praise, but most remained silent. Some forever.
Their would be no pursuit. Stans Elite Dragoons were still on the battlefield, and my sole regiment of Dragoons were too blown and cautious to tempt fate.
BELOW: A grim face Elector grateful for his 'near run thing'.

ANOTHER CRACKING GOOD GAME.

The game lasted a little under 3 hours.

I tried MASS instead of CLERICS for this game. Not a wise choice. Mass is really only useful I think if you intend on being aggressive.

Considering the defensive posture I took in this game, CLERIC would have been far more useful. The extra unit of Irregulars I had didn't really help that much.

Comments welcomed.

Cheers

Battle Of Stansburg. Another Maurice AAR

 Hi Guys
I recently played another game of MAURICE and thought I would share.
I used my 1806 Prussians again as substitutes for my 'yet to be completed' imagi-nation, Electorate of Clements Unt Edwarts.
Stan played with a rebuilt Free State of Northern Virginia.
The battlefield was as follows.
On my right there were two lage cultivated fields (rough ground) with a long wall running along the southern edge of the field nearest to my center. This field had a small hill (Potato Hill) next to it. Running down the center of the battlefield was a road running from the north to the small hamlet of Stansburg. A road branched off heading west to the Apple Orchard.
Further north was a large hill (Observer's Mound) and on the road heaing north was the village of Puckavonyal.
I was tasked with defending.
My deployment can be seen above and below.
BELOW: My left flank. All my cavalry massed in one force making up my Left Wing Command, with the Jagers and 3 Regiments of foot making up my Center Command.

BELOW: My right flank. 3 Regiments of infantry, with one deployed behind the Tall Wall, one Regiment on Potato Hill and a thrid Regiment deployed behind the Grand Battery of my Artillery Command.

 BELOW: My notables. They achieved nothing in this batte, 'sigh'.

ABOVE: My notables for this battle.
BELOW: Stan deployed in three commands. Four infantry regiments on his left flank, including a Regiment of Mercenary Militia. In the center he massed four Infantry Regiments including his Govenor Of Free Virginian Hessian Guards plus a regiment of irregulars. Between these two Infantry commands were his tows Batteries of Artillery.

BELOW: On Stan's right he deployed his three Regiments of Horse.

Let battle begin.
A cold breeze swept across the valley floor.
The Elector is talking with his Regimental Commanders and RSMs.
"Today ve defend. I'm confident we we send ze Virginians packing like ve did last time ve met.* They have rebuilt their army however, and have worked on their Drill".
The commander of Prinz Peter's Cuirassiers spoke up;
"It will take more than fancy foot work to best us Sire"!
The Elector nodded as he looked past his officers towards the enemy forming up in the distance.
"We will let them come on and smash themselves on our Guns and muskets. Return to your regiments and prepare your men for the dance".

* See previous AAR HERE

Stan opened proceedings with a co-ordinated move by his left Infantry Command and right Cavalry command. I countered by wheeling my Grand Battery to lay on the advancing Infantry. A load groan was heard to come from the mercenary Militia as the realised they would be the fist the endure my gunners wrath.
BELOW: The Grand Battery wheels out in preparation to lay waste to the enemy infantry.

ABOVE: My artillery prepares to fire.
BELOW: Boom boom boom booom,......... boom boom boom! Within short order 3 disruption is inflicted on the mercenaries as roundshot plowes into them.

BELOW: Stan's left wing of 4 Regiments advances on my right. 

"Hmmmm, what's he at? Surely he doesn't hope to roll my right flank? the rough ground and wall will surely cause him no end of grief. I'll have shot him o shreds before he can hope to cross bayonets with me".
BELOW: Even with his 'OBLIQUE' national characteristic Stan's infantry still picked up some distruption due to the terrain. My mased cannon also added to his woes.

"He appears to be trying to get around my right. Foolish man! Now he's in range of my muskets. Pour it into them mine kinder"!!!!
BELOW: The first Volley phase of the battle. My muskets crackle and the mercenaries are reduced to a fleeing mob.

An ADC rides up to the Elector:
"Sire, the enemy have mangaed to get a Regiment pass the Long Wall"
"Ja, I see" replies the Elector, "But there seems to be some confusion in there ranks,.. look the lead Regiment is withdrawing through their own supporting Regiment! HA, das is gut. Dunderklompen"!
Below: I play a "CONFUSSION" card and Stan's attack on my right falters.

The faltering attack on my right seemed to be the que for Stan to advance in the center. Leaving his Artillery to the rear, his cetral Infantry command swept forward. (SEE BELOW)

Soon the two central commands were exchaging volleys and another one of Stans Regiments were soon feeling the hurt thanks to some hot work by my Infantry. My "LETHAL VOLLEY" characteristic was doing greater execution than Stans musketry.
BELOW: The fire-fight erupts in the center.

BELOW: More card trickery. The result was mass disruption on Stan's second infantry Regiment.

Stans Guards and the Infantry on their left flank now charged with the bayonet. The hand to hand was brutal, but my Regiments held their ground and then delivered more hot lead.
This proved too uch for the infantry on the left of Stan's Guards and they fled to the rear.
With the loss of the leading Infanrty regiment Stan moved up a 2nd line egiment into the gap. and more volleys were exchanged.
BELOW: The Fog Of War:

Stan's Guards seemed on the verge of breaking, but their Commanding Officer stepped forward to inspire his men:
"Die Hard Hessians! Look, your Govenor is watching you"! With that a mighty cheer went up and they delivered a crashing volley that broke my Regiment before them.
The Elector was not happy:
"Plug the gap! send forword Von Zillmann's Regiment; SCHNELL"!
BELOW: Von Zillmann's Regiment advances into the gap.

"That should fix th,........ WHAT! What is this"?!?!
How things can change. Suddenly two more volleys and the central command was destroyed by volleys and the bayonet. Two batteries were soon over run and moral collapsed as the Hessian Guards charged into Stansburg.

ABOVE and BELOW: It's all over. The Govenor's Hessian Guard storm into Stansburg. The Elector orders a withdrawal. Bitter defeat.

In the end Stan's army was 3 moral point from breaking, so it was a very close game.

What did I learn.

Place supporting units directly behind the regiment they are tasked to support.

Irregular units make good garrisons (well, I suspect they would).

Leathal Volleys is only a good characteristic if you actually score HITS. It's nice to be able to roll failed disruption, but it's no use to you if you can't score hits,...

This game confirms what I already knew about MAURICE. It's really really good fun.

All over in under two and a quarter hours.

Comments wlcomed.

Cheers