A Post-Game Report. . .

For you fans of cavalry, here are a couple of pictures. Above, we see the underutilized 4th (Trakehenen) Dragoons on the Stollenian left flank before the battle began in earnest.

And here's a second picture, this time of the Electoral Garde Grenadiere zu Pferd, who actually sat out the whole battle on De Latte's southern flank. It is reported that some of the officers and troopers wept with rage at not being able to join in the fray.

Thank you everyone for your enthusiastic and supportive remarks during the passed few days. It has been terrific fun playing the game and posting the photos/updates for you to enjoy. We’ll do it again really soon, as General von Drosselmaier’s superiors in the Stollenian War Ministry are, shall we say, not pleased. Neither is Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, who emerged from his miasma of Greco-Roman fantasy long enough to rant about von Drosselmaier’s abilities and defeat at the hands of General de Latté.

I thought an order of battle and a summary of the game’s turns might be interesting to post for those of you who are interested. Here we go:

Grand Duchy of Stollen

Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers

2^nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers

Jäger zu Fuβ

4^th (Trakehnen) Dragoons

Princess Waltraud’s Battery of Artillery

Electorate of Zichenau

Ermland Garde (“The Newts”) Regiment

O’Malley’s Irish Grenzer Battalion

Freiherr Wilhelm’s Pioneer Battalion

Independent Company of the Wolmar-Bock Regiment

Garde Grenadiere zu Pferd

1^st Battery of Foot

Turn 1

De Latté advanced The Newts, pioneers, and one company of grenzer.

Von Drosselmaier moved the Von Laurenz Musketeers up to Pelznikkel, his jäger into the copse on the southern edge of the field, and was invited by Major von Gherkin to open fire first.

Turn 2

Chance Cards were drawn. De Latté drew the "damp musket cartridges" card (no firing for one turn). Von Drosselmaier drew the "sudden summertime cloudburst" card (lasts two turns).

Turn 3

Cloudburst continued

Turn 4

Chance Cards: Whoops! Neglected to draw these in the heat of battle and excitement of seeing my troops finally on a real table!

De Latté closed in on Pelznikkel and moved his artillery forward to cover the right flank of his line. One company of O’Malley’s Grenzers occupied a copse on the northern edge of the field with some small ponds to their right.

Von Drosselmaier moved one company of the Von Laurenz Musketeers into Pelznikkel, deploying the other two companies into line just north of the town. He then fired his artillery at “The Newts”, inflicting no casualties at long range (3 feet).

Turn 5

De Latté fired his muskets and artillery at the Von Laurenz Musketeers, scoring heavy losses.

Von Drosselmaier fires artillery at “The Newts” again but scored only light casualties (two).

Turn 6

Chance Cards drawn: O’Malley’s Grenzers surprised by marauding squadron of 4^th (Trakehnen) Dragoons and thrown into disarray, fighting with a -1 on all dice. The dragoons, thanks to a fiery speech by their colonel that morning, fought with a +1 on all dice. Ultimately, the melee was inconclusive, with a few casualties on each side and both units involved withdrawing after one round.

De Latté’s infantry suffered a few more casualties from long range artillery fire while his own artillery battery tore the Von Laurenz Musketeers to Pieces with canister at close range.

As far as musketry was concerned, the Von Laurenz Musketeers managed to inflict a few light casualties on "The Newts" during their attempted defense of Pelznikkel, but not enough. "The Newts", on the other hand, seemed to have superior training in their use of firepower at close range and shot the enemy defenders to pieces.

Turn 7

De Latté moved Freiherr Wilhelm’s Pioneers, who had been on the southern end of his main battle line (to the Newt’s left) into the southern side of Pelznikkel to reinforce "The Newts'" advance into town. Again, heavy casualties were suffered by Stollen’s Von Laurenz Musketeers due to Zichenauer artillery fire and musketry at close range.

Von Drosselmaier saw the von Laurenz Musketeers wavering and made the decision to commit his reserve – the elite Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers. His battalion of jäger also emerged finally from the copse on the southern edge of the field at this point. But it was a case of too little, too late.

Turn 8

Chance Cards drawn: De Latté drew the “rough ground before your cavalry” card, halving all movement this turn. Von Drosselmaier drew the “courier slowed by enemy activity card”, but neither affected the outcome of the battle for Pelznikkel appreciably.

De Latté’s pioneers rushed into the town, joining "The Newts", and forcing the remnants of Stollen’s Von Laurenz Musketeers to give way and retreat to the northwest along the postal road toward Krankenstadt in the twilight.General Von Drosselmaier, sensing the pointlessness of continued resistance, ordered the rest of his army to make an orderly retreat from the field as the sun set on the battlefield. . . and perhaps the Grand Duchy of Stollen.

So, the Electorate of Zichenau has now defeated the Grand Duchy of Stollen twice in battle. The contested Duchy of Schleiz has been reclaimed by Zichenau. The Zichenauers are marching up the postal road in the direction of the Stollenian capital to the northwest. In Krankenstadt, there is panic as those with the means to do so flee northward toward Riga and Mittau, and those without loot the empty city, making do as best they can.

Meanwhile, the Stollenian government has set itself up, at least temporarily, north of the city at Spiessburg Palace, the summer residence of Irwin-Amadeus. And Grand Duke-Irwin Amadeus II has taken to screeching a bow across the strings of his violin, while clad in only the top half of his lobster costume, as his ministers cover their eyes and ears in protest, demanding some kind of meaningful action from the Grand Duke’s English valet Hives. How will the situation develop in the coming weeks? Stay tuned to find out!