1757 Campaign – Battle of Munchenberg

The first battle of the campaign occurred near the small town of Munchenberg when the advancing Prussians under Schwerin engaged the Austrians under Konigsegg. The Prussians had a slight manpower edge and an enormous quality advantage. It was assumed that they would brush aside the Austrians with relative ease. However…

Austrian deployment with their left guarded by the river & the town

Konigsegg, the Austrian commander, is not a very good general however of his three sub-commanders, two of them, Hadik commanding the cavalry and Lacy commanding the left half of the infantry were able generals. His third subordinate, Saint-Ignon with the right half of the infantry line, was steady but slow.

Schwerin advanced from the east with Keith & Manteuffel commanding the infantry and Kraig and Ascherleben the cavalry.

Prussians beginning their advance

By midday the Prussian infantry had engaged the Austrian line while the larger Prussian cavalry charged the Austrian horse.

The Prussian infantry immediately began driving back the Austrians, although taking heavier losses than expected. The cavalry however was unexpectedly repulsed by the Austrian Cuirassiers which resulted in the destruction of the brigade of Hussars.

For several hours the white coated defenders fought toe to toe with the advancing Prussians until it became obvious that they could not withstand much longer. They successfully withdrew their guns without loss however although their infantry losses were severe.

The battle was decided when the Prussian cavalry overwhelmed their outnumbered opponents and were able to crash into the flank of the Austrian infantry line. The defenders morale failed and they streamed off in retreat down the road towards Jungbunzlau.

Losses were heavy on both sides although the lack of surviving Prussian light cavalry meant that there was no pursuit of the retreating Austrians.

Losses	Prussian	Austrian
Infantry	2 Musketeer brigades destroyed – (14SP total)	2 musketeer brigades destroyed, 1 brigade reduced 4 SP –  (16SP total)
Cavalry	Hussars destroyed (they were depleted before the battle from march attrition), Dragoons down 3 SP – (6SP total)	1 cuirassier brigade destroyed – (7 SP total)
Artillery	None	None
Generals	None	Hadik killed

Overall the Austrian losses were slightly heavier, 23SP versus 20, however their overall larger army means that they can afford the loss better than the Prussians can.

 

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1757 Campaign – April

Now that I have a dedicated game room, it’s time to kick off my first campaign project. Just because it’s visually appealing I’ve chosen my Seven Years War armies for the initial foray. I use Sam Mustafa’s excellent Might & Reason rules for gaming the 7YW and it conveniently includes two different campaign methods. I’m using a “slightly” modified version of the 1757 campaign. I want to get my Russians on the table also at some point so I’ve replaced Daun’s Austrian relief army with a similar sized Russian force under Fermor.

Here’s what the map looks like that the campaign plays out on:

The Prussians begin north of the river, the Austrians to the south, and when the Russians arrive they’ll be coming on at Brunn. I’m playing this solo but the rules lend themselves very well for solo gaming and I think I can make the campaign work also with some judicious forgetfulness.

After deployment, the Prussians have initiative on the first turn and their moves are shown below.

As Brunswick-Bevern advanced into Reichenberg, Konigsegg successfully evaded and fell back into Munchengratz. Unfortunately, he failed to fall back as Schwerin advanced from the east and so the first battle is set to begin!

Might & Reason uses “brigade”  units, roughly 4 battalions of infantry or 10 squadrons of cavalry per 2 stand unit. The opposing forces are:

	Prussians	Austrians
Artillery	2 Units	1 Unit
Infantry	1 Grenadier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Fusilier	6 Musketeer
Cavalry	1 Hussar, 1 Dragoon, 2 Cuirassier	2 Cuirassier

The Prussians of this period are, “man for man” quite a bit better than the Austrians so I anticipate a victory for Schwerin & company however, we’ll see how it ends up on the table!

 

 

Finally, a dedicated game room

I played my first war game 43 years ago (Avalon Hill’s Waterloo for the curious) and in all the intervening years I’ve never had a dedicated place to game. For much of the time I would setup on saw horses in the garage. At one point I was able to use folding tables in a spare bedroom. In either case, the setup had to be removed once a game was complete and the space returned to its normal usage.

As of today though, I have a room of my own. I was able to fit in a 6’x9′ table, a really comfy Lazy-Boy dual recliner, and a 65″ Samsung super HD TV. It may not be the most spacious place on earth, but I’m tickled pink by it!

Game Room!

Nice storage under the table

Battle of Kolin using Might & Reason for a first trial