"In Jesu Nahmen, Marsch!": Kesselsdorf 1745 Scenario

[RMD]

Well I'm sitting here bored on a sickie from work, so thought I'd write a scenario for the WAS/SYW Saxon army I haven't painted yet...

Kesselsdorf was the final deciding battle of the Second Silesian War between Prussia and Austria (this time also including Saxony on the Austrian side), pitting the Prussian corps of 'The Old Dessauer' (Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau) against the main Saxon Army under Graf Rutoswky, on a frozen battlefield outside the gates of Dresden.

Standard Disclaimer: This article may cause drowsiness. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery while reading this article. In rare cases it may cause readers to buy lead.

http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2024/06/18/ ... r-tricorn/

[Willz the Wargamer]

Excellent post, lots of interesting stuff.




Willz.

[RMD]

Excellent post, lots of interesting stuff.




Willz.

Thanks Willz!

[ochoin]

Mark, you are an inspiration.
BTW tonight will see a continuation of our mini-campaign for the SYW.
A demoralised Prussian army is retreating into Saxony, pursued by the Austrians.
The battle will be mostly cavalry on both sides + skirmishing infantry & light cavalry. Not a big fight but the outcome will determine the next game's Big Battle dispositions.

donald

[RMD]

Mark, you are an inspiration.
BTW tonight will see a continuation of our mini-campaign for the SYW.
A demoralised Prussian army is retreating into Saxony, pursued by the Austrians.
The battle will be mostly cavalry on both sides + skirmishing infantry & light cavalry. Not a big fight but the outcome will determine the next game's Big Battle dispositions.

donald

Thanks Donald!

Sounds great! As mentioned in the article, 'Retreating From Bohemia' certainly was a life-long hobby for Fred The Big. I'll have to go through the books and count exactly just how many times that happened from the 1st Silesian War to the War of Bavarian Succession...

[RMD]

The time of miracles is at hand and I've actually got a game next Tuesday!

Cue one very quickly knocked-up small scenario...

[ochoin]

Mark - looks good. I may (with your permission) "steal" it for the next campaign game - the Big Battle.
As an Austrian player as well as the organiser, I need to be demonstrably fair. It would be useful to circulate a similar map before the next game (explaining the source) & letting the winners of tonight's game choose which position they wish to fight.

Please let us know how Tuesday's game goes.

donald

[RMD]

Mark - looks good. I may (with your permission) "steal" it for the next campaign game - the Big Battle.
As an Austrian player as well as the organiser, I need to be demonstrably fair. It would be useful to circulate a similar map before the next game (explaining the source) & letting the winners of tonight's game choose which position they wish to fight.

Please let us know how Tuesday's game goes.

donald

Steal away!

[Spanner]

Kesseldorf is one of those battles that leaves a lot of questions, Mark. What were the Austro-Saxons thinking? Were they dreaming of winter quarters and warm feet? Was Fred's hatred of Saxony (after they changed sides) a reason for his pushing Old Dessie to do something?

Are you blooding any of the new Brit-Han units in your next game?

[RMD]

Kesseldorf is one of those battles that leaves a lot of questions, Mark. What were the Austro-Saxons thinking? Were they dreaming of winter quarters and warm feet? Was Fred's hatred of Saxony (after they changed sides) a reason for his pushing Old Dessie to do something?

Are you blooding any of the new Brit-Han units in your next game?

It is utterly baffling and probably the ultimate expression of everything that was wrong with the structure of 18th Century armies; When you have a commander for each line, but then a commander for each wing and then a commander for all the infantry, a commander for all the cavalry and a commander for all the artillery and engineers, who exactly is responsible for each sector of the battlefield?!

Another interesting aspect of this is that the Saxons had a perfectly good army on a unit-by-unit basis, yet their 'leadership' was a complete bag of spanners (no offence).

I've added a couple of 'Umpire's Eyes Only' notes at the end with suggestions as to how you can mess up the Saxon player's day, but even those would cause nowhere near as much batshittery as the Saxon generals did in reality (it would be nice if the Saxon player actually had a fun game).

Re the Brit/Han units; they all got blooded at Warburg last Christmas mate (and Clostercamp last September)! All that's left to be blooded is a single Hessian regiment, which will get a run-out next week. I've not painted anything since Christmas, due to ongoing blepharitis.