Friday, February 9, 2018

One Hour Wargames Campaign: The Third Battle - Fortified Defense

 The "War of Great Grazing Area Succession Dispute" or simply "The Pig War, is not going well for the Grand Duchy of Bluhofen. After preventing the army of the Principality of Redersteinerburg from crossing the Lahn River, Redesteinerburg is now prepared to seize the towns of Lederhose and Kotzen. Though defeated on the open field of battle and currently outnumbered, the Grand Duke has decided to fortify the two towns with garrison regiments and a small portion of his regular army in a bid for time . . .

This is Scenario 15: Fortified Defense from One-Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas.  It seemed to me to be a logical scenario to play as one army desperately tries to delay another, much superior force.  There are two unique rules for the scenario that add some flavor to the game.  The Bluhofen team must place a garrison unit in each of the fortified towns; as long as the garrison survives, the town also receives a "shooting" die with a range of 12".  The rest of the Bluehofen army is set up anywhere in Zone 1 within 24 inches of their baseline.

Army's were again rolled randomly and Bluehofen has 3 Infantry, 2 Cavalry and 1 Skirmisher.

The other special rule is that the Redesteinerburg army at anytime during the beginning of a turn could declare a "refit"; all Redsteinerburg units would leave the board and then reenter at full strength.

Redsteinerburg would have 4 Infantry, 1 Cavalry and 1 Skirmisher.

Bluehofen deployed first and the Army of Redsteiner decided to put the weight of their forces against the town of Lederhose and quickly established a firing line.  The forces of Bluehofen screaming "For the Duchess" moved aggressively to protect Lederhose.
The Bluehofen forces see a gap in the Redsteiner line and attempt to use their superior numbers in cavalry take advantage and out flank the attackers of Lederhose.

The garrison and town of Lederhose hold out as the cavalry come to the rescue.  Note the skirmisher unit harassing the Redsteiner Cavalry.  The skirmisher unit caused just enough of a distraction and losses to concern the Redsteiner commander.

 Though the garrison of Lederhosen is destroyed, the Grenadier Guards occupy the town as the cavalry outflank and start to systematically destroy the Redsteinerburg infantry with a series of flank attacks. 

 "Well that didn't work", declares Baron von Joe and Redsteinerberg declares a "refit" on turn 7.

 The second Redsteinerberg attack.  Unfortunately for them, they start to focus on destroying Bluehofen forces in the field instead of attacking the towns.

Unfortunately I forgot to take more pictures.  The Redsteinerberg cavalry was overwhelmed by the Bluehofen cavalry and the firing of the Grenadier Guards.  The Redsteinerberg infantry advanced on Kotzen but was caught in a crossfire between the two towns, the Bluehofen skirmisher in the woods and the victorious Bluehofen cavalry starting to hit the flank and rear of the remaining forces.  "This doesn't look good" decided the Redsteinerberg team and they graciously conceded the battle before the allotted 15 turns.  As both forces regroup, it appears that there maybe another fight near the Lahn River.  The current score:  Redsteinerberg 4, Bluehofen 2.


  1. Excellent work by the Bluehofen team!

    1. Unfortunately for Redsteinerburg, the Prince is out of the country and won't be back until Battle 6.

  2. The kids are really enjoying the battles as we are also writing a narrative based on the outcome of the battles to determine the next battle.