Honours of War - Game Report 4

The Battle of Neuberg - Prussian encounter with the Austro-Imperial Corps of Prinz August von Baden

Introduction

This was to be our fourth outing with HoW. As you can probably guess we rather like the rules. They give a very good flavour for the period. In this game Paul took command of the Austro-Imperials and I took command of the Prussians.

If you have been reading other battles we fought the counters around the troops designate their cohesion points. Whilst the counters next to the commanders are to identify who the commander is!

Scenario

In this, fictional, scenario, a Prussian force under Lt Gen Retzow has been sent to attack the detached Austro-Imperial Corps of von Baden near Neuberg.

Orders of Battle

Prussian Forces under Lt Gen Retzow

Austro-Imperial Corps under Prinz August von Baden

Ground

As usual Dave had done his bang-up job on the scenery. Schloss Neuberg with its ornamental garden was a nice touch; until it was trashed by some hairy Imperial Grenadiers. 

And now for the view from the East

Initial Deployment

Austro-Imperial Corps

From the reconnaissance we conducted this is how the Austro-Imperial Force had been deployed to confront my Prussians

Although it transpired in debriefing the prisoners taken that the Austro-Imperial Chief of Staff the Prinz August had argued strongly for a different deployment and had been overruled. Moe of that later. 

Prussian Forces

In my combat appreciation I determined that I was at a disadvantage in numbers. However, I knew had better trained troops. My principle advantage was that if I could close on the enemy quickly I cold destroy them in detail before they cold react.

Consequently although I committed myself to load up my right flank to attack the Austro-Imperial left I was determined to ensure that they couldn't do the same to me. This is why I employed the Jagers and Bulow to protect my left, until such time as I could redeploy them.

Game Turns 1-7

After seven game turns we had certainly made some progress. The pictures and annotations are the work of Dave; many thanks!

My attack started, predictably, slowly on my right. Munchow's Bde did not advance as quick as I would like. However, their intimidatingly inexorable march in line forced the Austro-Imperial cavalry to retire in its face. By game Turn 7 they decided that they had had enough and the Austro-Imperial Cavalry charged Munchow's Bde. My dragoons supporting Munchow's right countercharged in support. 

In the ensuing melee my lead dragoon unit destroyed a regiment of Imperial Cuirassiers, in the pursuit they destroyed a regiment of Austrian dragoons and in doing so themselves were done for! Meanwhile Munchow's Bde stood firm and destroyed a regiment of Cuirassiers and Hussars.

On the left flank my Jagers moved forward and occupied the time of the Austo-Imperial Converged Grenadier Bde whilst they tried to extricate themselves from Neuberg Castle's formal garden.

In the centre Rohr's Bde has moved forward to conform to Munchow's left flank. To the left of Rohr, Bulow's Bde has started to move south to conform to Rohr's left flank, and to respond to the advance of the Austrian Bde.

After having no targets the 6lb battery has decided to vacate the crag and find better fields of fire elsewhere. The Howitzer Bty continued to engage the Austro-Imperial Artillery. Surprisingly most of the fuses were lit successfully, although they caused only little damage.

Game Turn 8 to 13

On the Prussian right, where my main effort was directed, Munchow's Bde contracted its line to form a supporting line to the front two battalions. This made room for the Hussars and remaining Dragoon unit to close in on the remaining Austrian cuirassier regiment. The latter sacrificed itself bravely to buy time for the remaining Austrian Hussars to withdraw to the North behind their infantry. It took all my cavalry attacking from the flank and the front to destroy them!

Once Munchow had redeployed, and Rohr's Bde was firmly protecting his left flank, Munchow launched his front line of two infantry battalions forward to close range to finish of the Austro-Imperial infantry line. And this is where it all went pear-shaped for my Prussians. 

In the fire phase the Austro-Imperial forces seized the firing initiative, and the defenders fired first, rather than, as I would have expected or hoped for, us the Prussians. Munchow's two battalions took severe casualties, but still managed to send one of the Imperial battalions to the rear in their meagre fire response. Munchow decided at that point to withdraw his lines to regroup behind the supports. 

In the centre Rohr's Bde were similarly disadvantaged by the Austro-Imperial fire and also fell back to regroup. This was fortunate for the enemy as it gave time for a much more orderly withdrawal of the Austro-Imperial forces.

On the Prussian left the intention was for Bulow's Bde to form on the left of Rohr's Bde. However as they were advancing to position the Arnberg's Austrian Bde presented their flank. A target too juicy to ignore. The rear two battalions of Bulow's Bde column of battalions smartly formed line to their left and engaged Arrnberg's right forward battalion in the flank and front destroying it with a couple of well ordered volleys.

The Jagers continued to protect the Prussian left flank and provided ample distraction for the Bde of converged Grenadiers. 

Outcome

At that point we decided that the Austro-Imperial force had been sufficiently badly mauled to withdraw. 

That evening Lt Gen Retzow dined at the Schloss Neuberg with his Brigade Commanders to plot what they would do next to pursue the Austro-Imperial Corps and how far they would pursue it! 

During the preparations for dinner one of Lt Gen Retzow's aides found this intelligence assessment prepared by Prinz August von Baden's Chief of Staff. It could have been a very different battle if he had listened to his Chief of Staff. We might have been severely mauled because he had predicted where our main effort was going to be directed at!

A few hours later the aide also discovered a partially burnt parchment with the battle plan the Chief of Staff had proposed and which was rejected by Prinz August.