DANES V PRUSSIANS: 1st SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN WAR

 

The Prussian Advance

Greetings, dear reader(s).  Recently, I wanted to introduce fellow Chocolate Box Wars (CBW) enthusiasts in the club to an alternate use for their CBW armies. Specifically, using my Volley and Bayonet battalion scale post-19th Century variant. In this case, the multi-stand version, which pre-dated CBW and shares the same figure and stand structure.  I had intended that there would be four players with me facilitating, but one of the lads couldn't make it, so I wound up taking up the fourth seat and both playing and facilitating. The players had all participated in the CBW Tournament, so were keene to find an expanded use for their budding Post-Napoleonic CBW collections. As usual, in this post, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

The scenario was an amalgam of my Frontier Clash and Battle of Schleswig scenarios. I pitted Danes against Prussians in a meeting engagement. The intent of the scenario was to promote engagement so that players would get exposure to full rules system. Towards these ends, each player had two brigades, with a lead brigade starting on the table and the second following. There were 8 objectives on the table, 3 on each side and 2 in the middle.  The side that controlled the most objectives at the end of the opposing side's turn would win the game. Control was defined as having the only unit within 4" of the objective (so if both sides were within 4" it was contested).  Open or contested objectives were marked by yellow chips: flipped to blue for Danish control and Black for Prussian.  

    In this game, buildings were "null" terrain: block line of sight and fire, and cannot be occupied or moved through. Units fight between them, not in them. When using this terrain model, I employ 15mm buildings (one scale down: the figures are 28mm), so their footprints are small, and I can arrange them in groups to shape play.

Illustration of a Lead Regiment with Brigade Units (left) and a follow on Regiment (right)--pictured units are Prussian. The markers on the back indicate the number of hits per battalion (or half Bn/Squadron). The color indicates the regiment. The stand with the number is the waver level of the regiment (when a unit takes a hit, a marker is removed from the unit and placed on the stand--markers are magentized and both the strip on the back of the stand and the tracking stand are metal). The brigade units (and the cavalry squadrons) have square markers: they don't count towards waver. 

The lead regiments for both were organized in "advance guard" configuration, each with a light cavalry squadron (hussars), a half battalion of jagers, and 2 line infantry battalions. Each brigade also had two brigade level units: a Field Artillery Battery and cavalry regiment (a Dragoon for each of the Danish Bdes, and a Dragoon in the Prussiann 1st Bde, and an Uhlan in the Prussian 2nd Bde).  The follow on units in each brigade were 3 battalion line regiments, each with an attached half battalion of jagers. One of the brigade units would deploy with a regiment (player's choice). The brigade HQ would start with the lead regiment. 

Illustration of Army Level Units (in this case Prussian, again)

Each side also had army level units, consisting of a Heavy Cavalry Regiment (Cuirassiers for Prussians and Garde Du Corps for the Danes), an elite infantry units (Grenadiers for the Prussians and the Grenadier Guards for the Danes), and a Field Artillery Battery.  These would arrive anywhere on the baseline between the original deployment areas (inclusive) on turn three--handling and allocation to be determined by the players. The "X" strength point markers on the Army level units indicates that they are independent (and don't count towards waver). 

Prussian Army Command

Each side had an Army HQ stand (of course).  The dice on the command stands (Army and Bde) indicate the number of command points available. These could be used to re-roll morale results or to reduce waver. The Army command points could be used by the Army Command stand or transferred to Bde Commands. Once used, they were gone. If curious about these, see the Rationale and Explanation on the VnB Variant Page. In this game, the Danes had 2 reserve infantry battalions with variable morale, so I gave them an extra command point (Prussians 4 overall, 2 Army and 2 for each Bde; Danes 5, 2 for each Bde and 1 Army). 

Earl (standing, left) and AJ took up the Prussian cause. I was teamed with Mike on the Danish side (but did not get a pix of either he or myself). 

The ball opens:  I was on the right with the Danish 2nd Bde. facing off against AJ while Mike and Earl faced each other on the Danish left/Prussian right. 

Left: A detail of Mike's Danish advance guard and artillery taking up positions. Right: the bully lads of my Danish 2nd Bde bravely advancing to contest the ground vs AJ's Teutonic butchers.

On the other end of the line, elements of Earl's advance guard regiment, a squadron of the Prussian Madgeburg hussars and half Battalion of Jagers, push on under the watchful gaze of the 2nd Bde HQ stand.  

A shot of the conclusion of first stage of the battle, with each side deployed across the field and controlling 3 objectives--the next stage would be the "meat grinder" phase, where the lines would advance to contest the middle objectives. Given that I was involved with playing the game, I did not get any shots of the mix up that ensued...

...however, I can report that it was a victory for Prussian efficiency over Danish elan, but a good time was had by all.  And given that I got thumped, I can only surmise that the "new" guys in the room had certainly learned the rules: mission accomplished. 

Excelsior!