Ye Shall No Take My Hill

Somewhere, Somewhen upon a line of hills

the Reichadler again was flying over the ranks of the Whitecoats

the audacious Imperial General gave no order and only this to say:

These Prussians Dogs Shall No Take This Hill Upon This Day.

The Austrians drew up their forces along a line of hills.  The French allied column arrived later in the day and took up position along a creek facing the open fields to the north.   Coordination between the forces was limited.  The Austrian general was already well on his way to drunk and lacked a plan other than to hold his lines.

Pretty Austrians.  These battalions would be greatly reduced by the end of the day.

Austrian center and the French to the north.

The Prussian steamroller of General von W. advances.  It appears he is screening the rest of the field and concentrating everything on turning the Austrian southern flank.

The might of Prussia about to smash some hapless Austrians.

Prussian meets Austrian all along the southern flank. The Austrian artillery positioned in the center was out of position and unable to even importune the Prussian advance. 

The only defense must be Austrian Lead and Steel.

The Imperial General, flask in hand and apparently of Scottish extraction, encourages his troops from the front with cries of "Ye Shall No Take My Hill!" 

And yet the Prussians take the hill... 

but the Prussian thrust on the village church was thrown back

and now the breakthrough has left its flank hanging in the air

A second brigade of Prussians is brought up to try to rescue the advance.  The lone Austrian battalion remaining in the center sees the Prussian Bayreuth Dragoons advance and prepares for the inevitable-forgoing the firepower of line and just hoping to survive.

The French.... continue to provide moral support.

Don't worry, the skirmish line fighting with the Prussians are actually Austrian Grenzers

The Bayreuth Dragoons ultimately break the square, are charged in the flank, rout the flank attack, killing the commander of the Hussar brigade and proceed to nearly break the remaining Hussars to their front.

On the far left the death knell of the Prussian attack.  Three of the four battalions routed and the fourth grenadier battalion surrounded and captured, 

The hill retaken!

The Prussians fail to take the hills and the French are now advancing to brush aside the Prussian screens and roll up the northern flank. Gen. von W. conducts an orderly withdrawal.   It is later discovered von W. had sent a flanking attack, which ended up getting lost along the way (2% chance to fail!)

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The above was played out with Flint&Steel back in March 2015. The terrain was in fact, randomly rolled and the scenario decided per the rules was a set piece battle (defender sets up and then attacker).

 Gen. von W. was very crafty and tried to send a flanking force which very unfortunately got lost.  Had it gone to plan I would have had 8 battalions of Prussians, not 4 smashing turning my flank and smashing into my poor whitecoats.  I also remembered with consternation the initial setup, as I knew von W. was going to concentrate and overload one of the flanks if I defended the whole table, it was just a question of where.  Only a very very very poor roll by von W. for orders saved the Austrians.  Even as it was, the Austrians were sorely pressed and nearly broke in the center from the Bayreuth Dragoons charge.

This game was meant to be a break from the "serious" Napoleonic gaming and it was for me.  I played up the hapless Austrian, able to barely cling to my defensive terrain and boasted of the invincibility of my hapless Austrians.  In our SYWs games it rarely goes well for the Austrians... but von R's collection is too beautiful not play with! 

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General von W.

Tragically, our group suffered the grievous loss of a True and Honest Prussian.

This was the last game I had the Pleasure of playing with Gen. Wayne ("von") Wendt who has been mentioned many times on this blog.  He was the heart of the group and graciously hosted many of our games over the years.  He was a Great and Thoughtful Friend who found enormous enjoyment in history and this Hobby.  His influence on getting me into this hobby will long be remember and his presence is sorely missed.