Another Bloody Hill Line

The latest battle again featured a hill line defense. This saw Otherwhen attacking Nodd to open the central road and continue their campaign to seize the eastern province of South Riding. For a change I made this primarily an infantry battle, with the cavalry fight taking place unseen and off board. Otherwhen had a slight numerical infantry advantage, a few superior infantry units in their Queen’s Own Guard, and Zeebataillon (their elite Marines), and double the artillery. Both sides had a smattering of light horse to help guard against flanking attacks and plug the inevitable holes in the line. Each side expected additional infantry reinforcements. I made an error in my measuring and the central hill that was supposed to give Otherwhen’s artillery a useful supporting position, turned out to be just out of range against the main infantry line of Nodd.

The opposing forces. Otherwhen on the left, Nodd on the right.

The battle opened with Otherwhen launching a general advance across the entire line. This surprised me some as during the planning part of the game they had talked about starting with a bombardment before advancing. This was something I thought was a wise choice given the length of time they had to accomplish their goal, (ten turns and only needing about four turns to bring their infantry into contact against the enemy’s main line). Both sides artillery played a substantial roll in the outcome of the battle.

On Nodd’s left flank the Black Barron’s brigade was withdrawn behind the hill line while all their artillery concentrated on the advancing center units of Otherwhen. The casualties inflicted were moderate, but the outcome was substantial. Otherwhen’s Senior brigade had three of its four battalions panic, meaning they could take no offensive action for the rest of the day. This included both elite units. Substantial counter battery fire eventually drove off or destroyed Nodd’s artillery, but the damage had been done.

The Black Barron’s Brigade withdrawn behind the hill. Otherwhen’s Senior Brigade advancing in the top center.

View from the center of Nodd’s defensive line, The target of the attack.

On the flanks it was a different story. After a slow start, Otherwhen’s right flank began driving in the Black Barron’s brigade This was helped by a daring attack by the Barron’s cavalry against the battery of artillery and an advance off their hill line to support this. Rather than maneuver to the artilleries flank the cavalry launched a head on charge from maximum range. While the battery had been reduced to half, it was still a not well thought out assault. Covering such a long distance into a firing line had predictable poor results for the cavalry who were driven off repeatedly. Their supporting infantry came off the worst in the firefight and having come down off the hill were finding it hard to get back up against the pursuing infantry.

Otherwhen attacking the remains of the Black Barron’s Brigade on Nodd’s left flank after the hussars failed charge on the artillery.

On Otherwhen’s left flank their infantry line supported by highly effective artillery fire was making dynamic headway. When their reinforcements arrived in the way of a flanking attack the results became catastrophic for Nodd. The cavalry and infantry defending this flank stood their ground repeatedly while being virtually annihilated in the process. Otherwhen commanders had become so obsessed with this success that they had overlooked a serious problem. There was no attack being made on the central position that was the objective. With both flanks collapsing Nodd’s generals were using the command abilities to their fullest to delay Otherwhen’s progress until the sun had set and time had runout.

Nodd’s right flank under heavy pressure. Casualties are already mounting as the flanking attack through the forest begins to develop.

Otherwhen pressing in on the right flank while Nodd’s forces stubbornly holdout.

Nodd forces holding on until the end.

It was a costly victory for Nodd, but they had finally stemmed the tide of Otherwhen’s success. The keys to this victory was the unusual result of three infantry battalion’s morale collapsing with so few casualties, especial for elite units, and the failure of the attackers to switch any forces over to the center to capture the objective. Overall this was a very well-played game by all parties.

Nodd infantry holding strong. This central hill was never attacked.

Otherwhen’s Senior Brigade seen at the end of the battle where it had stalled early on.

We Came, We Saw, We Got Our Butts Kicked.

This past week my local group gathered to play a game of Honors of War (HoW). The game pitted the Austrians and Prussians in an epic clash. We had eight players, four to a side and around one thousand figures on the table by games end.

The Austrians were tasked with holding a ridgeline and two small towns against a massive Prussian assault. Initially only a vanguard of grenadiers was available along with a substantial cavalry element to hold the planes on the right flank. The plan was to hold the ridgeline awaiting reinforcements to solidify the position and for the cavalry to engage their opposite number and upon that success to launch spoiling attacks against the then exposed Prussian infantry’s flank. As you can likely tell by the title none of this went as planned.

Austrian cavalry prepare to vanquish their Prussian opponents. The troops on the right are destined never to leave this spot.

On the first turn our grenadiers moved up and took their position at the front of the hill while my cavalry group headed off to attack, however the other half of the cavalry failed to activate. The Prussian infantry rushed forward making good time, while their cavalry oddly held back. 


On turn two our cavalry group again surged forward. Little was I to know that this would be the last time our second cavalry group would activate. Over the next few turns our reinforcements arrived and to my surprise the Prussian, after making amazing progress simply halted outside of musket range. I had to wait for the cavalry reinforcements to catch up because my right flank support repeatedly failed to move. I was finally ready to launch my attack against the enemy cavalry, when suddenly the Prussian reinforcements of hussars arrived on our flank, and just behind our dawdling cavalry. The rear attack against them potentially left them vulnerable, but since our cavalry was not pinned each unit contacted had the opportunity to turn and face the enemy charge with each only needing a 3+ to succeed. Five out of six units failed the roll. I was forced to send part of my cavalry back to try and prevent disaster. By games end our cavalry force was a mess. The Prussians still had a fully intact brigade of dragoons ready to go. We had lost 5 battalions and over half of the remaining were blown. The Prussian hussars were also spent, as was more than half of the rest of their cavalry. For us the battle was over.

Reinforced, the Austrians cavalry advance against the Prussians.

The Austrian central hill position await the Prussian infantry advance.

Prussian grenadier capture the town. Austrians linger just outside musket range.

After the unexpected flanking rear attack by Prussian hussars half the Austrian cavalry are in a major disarray.

Having seen off a battalion of Prussian grenadiers the rest of the Austrian cavalry await the inevitable Prussian cavalry charge.

On the opposite flank the reason for the Prussian infantry delay became clear as a pair of fresh infantry brigades came crashing into our left flank. With both flanks compromised and a force of nearly intact veteran Prussian infantry to our front we concede the game. 

The main Prussian battle line engage the central hill.

The disarraying outcome of the cavalry battle with units scattered across the field. Prussian hussars lower left, dragoon and cuirassier right. Austrian cavalry upper left and center. 

As one sided as this turned out everyone, save one of us, had a good time. For obvious reasons the poor fellow who never got to play, other than by rolling poor dice, did not enjoy the experience. What I took away was the need to limit both Dithering and Dashing commanders. Their extremes of a one third chance to either not activate, or on the opposite side, a one third chance to double move, are real game changers. Personally, I hate a system that prevents you from playing simply because of luck. I am considering modifying the effect to only allowing half of a force to advance on a Poor result, while a Feeble result will be no units may advance.