Skip to main content

Move One Underway. . .

Here is a sketch map from Greg, er, General de Latte of the  battlefield, indicating where certain units for Zichenau and Stollen have been ordered respectively.

As the sun rises higher in the sky and the morning mist begins to clear, orders are written and dispatched by the generals at their respective ends of the Sittangtal (Sittang Valley).  Very briefly, they look like this:


General von Tschatschke:
1) Order my Jaeger zu Fuss to retreat from the village of Eispicke and make hell-for-leather back to the hill and marsh on the (right) side of the table.  

2) I will also order my artillery battery to limber up and reposition itself on that same hill as soon as possible.  

3) Withdraw half of  my cavalry a full move to the south of the marsh and the other half to the left of Neu Sittangbad to guard my flanks.  

4) Finally, I am ordering my two regiments of infantry to march out of town and converge to form a single line of infantry midfield just to the north of the improvised field works.


General de Latte:
1) The Mittau infantry shall make for that same hill as your Jaegers and Artillery. If they find it occupied, they are to clear it of the enemy.

2) The 11th Hussars shall circle North around the village of Eispicke and attempt to intercept the Jaegers.

3) O'Malley's shall move with all dispatch to occupy the Sittangwald, lining it's Western Fringe with the aim of harassing that of your cavalry regiments which is attempting to cover your left flank.

4) In the unlikely event, my artillery will fire on targets of opportunity.



And so, the last of the campfires extinguished, the Zichenauer and Stollenain sergeants spit, curse, and drub their less cooperative charges into something resembling infantry lines.  The cavalry units mount up while their snorting horses fill the air with puffs of steam. And the fortunate gunners warm their frozen hands over fires they have managed to keep going where their guns are deployed and wait.  To the sounds of drums and trumpets, then, the respective armies creak into action on this cold February morning.  And from amid his coterie of officers, the watching General Phillipe de Latte is heard to exclaim loudly, "Ah, black powder. . .  I love the smell of black powder in the morning!"

Comments

Conrad Kinch said…
A grand opening.

Popular posts from this blog

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

And It's the End of September!!!

  Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November.  With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important,  I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

    T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part.  To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view.  The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group.  Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one.  It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise.   ...