The Battle of K2, Turn 1 1752
Morgronskia vs. Eisenmark

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Background

This game was played in my basement on May 22, 2010, between Terry Dehrkoop as the Eisenmarkers and Joe Waddington as the Morgronskians.

The game rules were Old Dessauer. The game lasted about four hours, excluding one hour for setup. Morgronskia was on defense. This meant Eisenmark had 16 turns to break Joe's army morale or they would lose the game.

The figures were 15mm size. The Eisenmarkers were Terry's Prussians. The Morgronskians were my Russians.

The game was a Morgronskian victory after 16 turns.

Eisenmark

  • Generals 1,3,4,5
  • 84 C inf
  • 136 D Inf
  • 12 C HC
  • 48 D LC
  • 4 Field guns
  • 2 Heavy Guns
  • 20 C gunners
  • 10 Grade D Gunners
  • National modifier: Enemy troops failing fire tests vs steady musketry suffer 1 extra rout hit
Morgronskia
  • Generals 1,2
  • 96 B Inf
  • 24 C inf
  • 12 C MC
  • 11 C HC
  • 2 Field Guns
  • 8 B gunners
  • National modifier: Stationary infantry is +1 to pass fire tests

Summary of the Game

The Eisenmarkers outnumbered the Morgronskians, but had a much worse morale grade overall. Their strategy was to sweep around the Morgronskian field works with their cavalry and best infantry, while pinning the green-coats in place with their artillery and poorer-quality infantry.

The Morgronskians had a simple goal: Survive. Joe had saved 7 crowns in his warchest, enough to buy 28" of works. He placed these on his left flank guarding the village of Lassfeld and curving north to protect that flank.

morg setup Morgronskian Setup

morg setup Eisenmark Setup - right flank
The ruins in the background indicate the bombarded suburbs or K2. Joe's army had been masking K2 in a desultory and ineffective siege for all of 1750. After his defeat at his capitol in the north he had to reduce the size of this army, while Terry (having conquered Voldane) was able to make his army bigger. K2 is a port city so he was able build new forces despite the siege since Joe had no fleet in place to blockade it.

morg setup Eisenmark Setup - Center
Most of these troops are Grade D.

morg setup Eisenmark's troops begin their right-flank push
Terry's mistake was to have his cavalry in line too soon. It took a few turns longer than it should to clear the fieldworks.

morg setup Morgronskian Left Flank Awaits the Attack
The works had a "disorder zone" about an inch deep behind them. Troops in this zone got green disorder markers. Fieldworks are very good defenses against small arms and light artillery, but not actually much help in combat. Troops in them are disordered and so get no defensive fire points.

morg setup The center holds
Terry's troops in the center hold back, hoping to roll a few lucky hits. The D gunners needed a 6 then a 4-6 to score any hits. The black marker tells us one battery has failed a fire test and been forced back shaken.

morg setup Eisenmark's troops begin to sweep the works
The sight of this wall of blue was making Joe distinctly nervous but his phlegmatic officers merely steadied their lines.

morg setup A firefight develops in the Center
The morale grade plus national modifier of the Morgronskians made it nearly impossible for them to fail a fire test. They were in an ideal tactical position.

morg setup Hussars Stalled
This group of grade D hussars (Bozniaks or Pandours most likely) left the city of K2 late. They were out of command. In Old Dessauer an OOC unit must roll a 4-6 to move. This unit wound up sitting for 4 turns before finally lurching forward.

morg setup Cold Steel - the Main Assault
The Eisenmarkers' big attack. This hit the works plus overlapping somewhat north fo them. Yellow markers indicate charges. Green = disorder.

morg setup More on the Assault
The recrits charge a couple of columns into Lassfeld.

morg setup Result of the Assault
Terry's attack was reasonably successful, driving back several of Joe's units. But could the Eisenmarkers exploit?

morg setup Closing the Box
The bluecoats have finally swung north around the works and are ready to launch what they hope will be the crushing blow. The sun is nearly touching the horizon (turn 13 or 14 at this point).

morg setup One last Throw!
This is it -- whom will the dice favor?

morg setup Final Positions
Turns out they favored Morgronskia. The Germans could not break through and Joe's men forced the enemy back on all fronts. At this point the game ended.

Joe wisely retreated north toward K1 while Terry's men (claiming to have repelled the invaders) dragged their wounded back into K2.

Eisenmark Losses

  • Initial:
    • 32 C inf killed, 20 rout hits
    • 20 D inf killed, 16 rout hits
    • 3 C HC killed
    • 7 D LC killed, 8 rout hits
    • 4 D gunners killed, 2 rout hits
  • Regained:
    • 31 C inf, exhausted
    • 22 D inf, exhausted
    • 1 C HC, exhausted
    • 9 D LC, exhausted
    • 3 D gunners, exhausted
  • Final:
    • 21 C inf
    • 14 D inf
    • 2 C HC
    • 6 D LC
    • 3 D gunners
  • Promotions:
    • 10 C promoted to B
    • 10 D promoted to C
    • 4 D gunners promoted to C
    • 2 C gunners promoted to B

Morgronskian Losses

    Initial:
    • 32 B inf killed, 10 rout hits
    • 4 C inf killed, 7 rout hits
    • 2 C MC killed, 4 rout hits
    • 1 B gunner killed
  • Regained:
    • 34 B inf, exhausted
    • 10 C inf, exhausted
    • 5 C MC, exhausted
  • Final:
    • 8 B inf
    • 1 C inf
    • 1 C MC
    • 1 B gunner
  • Promotions:
  • 4 gunners promoted to A
  • 3 C inf promoted to B
  • 24 B inf promoted to A