The Battle of Hexenburg: Frederick the Great in Bohemia

Background

This game was played in my basement on March 23, 2003, between myself and Ralph Morrison as the Austro-Russians, and Rick Ferens and Terry Dehrkoop as the Prussians.

This was an a-historical battle set in Bohemia, in the Spring of 1760. the scenario assumes that Frederick has crossed the Erzgebirge Mountains, and that the Austirans and Russians are waiting for him as his army debouches from the hills north of Prague.

The game rules were Old Dessauer. The game lasted about four-and-one-half hours, excluding one hour for setup. The Prussians would win if they broke the allied army morale, or captured the town of Strednitz. The allied army had to prevent this from happening.

Setup Conditions and the Armies

The allied army could set up up to two feet onto the table. The Prussians could set up eighteen inches onto the table, and had the first move.

The Russian army consisted of:

3 regiments of dragoon, regular morale, medium cavalry
2 batteries of 6 feld guns
1 regiment of militia, poor morale
4 regiments of grenadiers, veteran morale
12 regiments of musketeers, regular morale
2 generals

The Austrian army consisted of:

2 regiments of hussars, regular morale light cavalry
4 regiments of cuirassiers, regular morale heavy cavalry
1 battery of 4 light guns
2 batteries of 4 field guns
2 batteries of 4 field guns, veteran morale
4 regiments of grenadiers, veteran morale
12 regiments of German musketeers, regular morale
6 regiments of Hungarian musketeers, poor morale
3 generals (the Austrians were deliberately given very poor command control)

The Prussian army consisted of:

4 batteries of 8 field guns, regular morale
2 regiments of guard grenadiers, elite veterans
4 regiments of line grenadiers, veteran morale
4 regiments of veteran musketeers
20 regiments of regular musketeers
2 regiments of hussars, regular morale light cavalry
2 regiments of dragoons, regular morale medium cavalry
2 regiments of cuirassiers, regular morale heavy cavalry
2 regiments of cuirassiers, veteran morale heavy cavalry
8 generals

The Course of the Battle

Initial Placments

The Prussian strategy was to hold on their right and make a strong push in the center, hoping to break through the Russians and capture Strelnitz. To that end, they concentrated most of their veterans along the Strelnitz Road, backed by one battery of artillery and most of their cavalry.

The Prussians held their center with two batteries of artillery and a thin line of musketeers.

They concentrated another battery, several cavalry regiments, the guard, and the rest of their musketeers on and about the Loberg Hill.

On the allied side, the Russians held the center-right and right, tasked with keeping control of Strelnitz. They placed all of their artillery on the small Schatzen Hill, put a regiment of musketeers into the Tremmin Wood, and lined up the rest of their troops in two lines facing the enemy attack.

The Austrians put their best troops in the center, between the Tremmin Wood and the Hexenberg itself. This included their four weak batteries of field guns, the grenadiers, and their heavy cavalry.

On their left the Austrians placed their Hungarians, the light battery, the hussars, and a few regimentsof musketeers.

The Austrians were expecting a strong Prussian push around the Hexenberg, where they would do damage with their poor troops then face the main assault with their better men, but this did not happen.

first moves

First Moves

Fontenoy Revisited: The Prussian Assault on Strelnitz

The Prussians advanced rapidly on the Russian center, but took heavy losses from the 12 guns on the Schatzen Hill. The Prussians pushed several regiments into the Tremmin Wood, but the Russians met them manfully and the fight swayed to and fro among the trees.

On the very far Prussian left, a regiment of Prussian cuirassiers confidently smashed into a Russian dragoon regiment, but amazingly the Russians held out for three turns (rolling lots of 5's and 6's!). When the dragoons were finally forced back, the Prussians had become blown (in Old Dessauer, cavalry is blown and less effective after two rounds of combat). This allowed a second dragoon regiment to meet the tired cuirassiers on even terms and repulse them.

But the major action was along the Strelnitz Road, where a crowded Prussian assault met the Russian line. The Prussians were in line, but squeezed so that in was really more like a grand column of regiments. This allowed the Russians to concentrate fire on the head of the "column", forcing regiment after regiment to break and retreat, almost like a conveyor belt.

It was not enough, however to prevent superior Prussian training from finally withering the first Russian line, which retreated into Strelnitz itself.

Two weakened but undaunted regiments of Prussian grenadiers also managed to overrun the Russian batteries, to the great relief of the rest of their fellows.

In Old Dessauer, steady infantry gets defensive fire points which make it very difficult to attack them head-on; you must first weaken the enemy with firepower before going in with the bayonet. But artillery gets no such advantage (this is not Napoleonics); it is relatively easy to overrun enemy batteries because guns get no defensive fire points.

But the capture of the guns was the last Prussian success. They had themselves been too worn down by the assault to have any hope of breaking the second Russian line, so Von Zieten reluctantly ordered a retirement back into the hills.

As you can see, this part of the battle bore a remarkable resemblance to Fontenoy, with the Prussians playing the part of the British, and the Russians reprising Marshal de Saxe's hard-won victory.

assault

The Main Prussian Assault

The Magnificent Austrian Attack

(Well, Ok, maybe I'm a little prejudiced...)

The first two hours of the battle in the center was simply an artillery duel between the Austrian and Prussian batteries, with no decisive results either way. Both sides kept their lines out of range and indulged in counter-battery fire, with each side hoping to roll more sixes than the other.

But after some dithering, the Austrians managed to lurch around the west side of the Hexenberg and propel themselves toward the Loberg Hill. The Prussians made no strong attempt to stop this advance.

There was one brief cavalry melee, where a regiment of Prussian hussars chewed up their Austrian counterparts, but then the Austrian line shook itself out and the enemy cavalry wisely retired.

The Austrians were in a sort of converging ring around the Prussians, who could not bringthe same firepower to bear as their white-coated opponents; this allowed troops with inferior training to actually push back their betters.

The Prussians might have mounted a counter-attack,but by then the main assault on Strelnitz had failed andthe game was over.

final

Final Positions

Conclusions

After the game, the four of us had a short brainstorming session. We agreed the scenario went well overall; the Prussians had lost, but this might have been due to us simply not giving them enough troops to do the job.