Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Taurenwald Aftermath

Before the end of the year kicks off and hobby-time falls away, I just wanted to post about the results of the recent battle of Taurenwald. I played it out with the rules-set 'Table Top Battles' by Mike and Joyce Smith, and a lot of fun it was too. Not as 'serious' as the usual Might & Reason rules I use, but just as much fun, and probably concluded in about a third of the time!

So, the Luftberg attack is beaten back, but each army comes unstrung. Clearly, unless each army annihilated itself, the units destroyed in the battle are routed rather than dead, so we can check for rercovering them. Lacking any system, I decided on a straight D6 dice roll of 4+ to recover them. However, the strategic situation is a bit different for the protagonists. Luftberg is fighting with it's main supply dunp barely a few miles back down the road, while Aschenbach is deep in wooded territory with a long road, a pillaged city, a river, and a range of hills between it and home-base. It seems far likelier for Luftberg troops to be regrouped quickly after the battle, so I gave their roll a +1 modifier. Aschenbach soldiers, being far likelier to go 'missing' on the long trek back to a rallying point, got a corresponding -1 modifier.

The results of the rolls (once per regiment destroyed) produced the following armies ready for continuing the campaigh:

Luftberg: 6 Infantry, 1 Croat, 1 Dragoon, 1 Hussar, 1 Artillery.

So, not too bad for Luftberg...

Aschenbach: 1 Grenadier, 3 Infantry, 1 Cuirassier, 1 Dragoon, 1 Artillery.

Hm, Aschenbach maintains it's quality, but is painfully outnumbered. Looks like fighting various skirmishes and three pitched battles is a bit harder to recover from, when you've the smaller army!

If it was a pitched battle, then maybe it could be fought out again - except there's no chance of that. Luftberg are safely locked up tight in their fortress of Blinzburg, ready for a siege. Aschenbach have to besiege a force who outnumbers them 3:2 in infantry, in deeply wooded country while the enemy has irregular light troops to raise havoc in their rear. It can't be done! So, it looks like the campaign in the province of Spitzplatz is coming to an end, militarily a stalemate while the diplomats agree negotiation terms. We'll have to see what they come up with in the new year, when doubtless the armies will find themselves launching into some new campaign over a tiny province. For now though, it looks like a peaceful christmas - Happy holidays, everyone!


Bluebear Jeff said...

Happy Holidays back . . . and just think of how many times a clear military victory has been undermined at the negotiating table. It might be that whatever the diplomats come up with will only be a 'causus belli' for next year's action.

-- Jeff

A J said...

A good historically-accurate result. Not satisfying for Aschenbach perhaps but very much so for the wargamer. We'll see how the diplomats handle matters. Which system will you use for deciding the issue?