The Loose Association of Wargamers

I'm minded to try a SYW solo battle.

My Prussians are ready to go but although my French army is even more so, I might use this game as motivation to add at least 3 battalions to my Austrian army to make it of sufficient strength for the game (their first).

It seems to me that surprising your enemy was something that happened regularly in the SYW. Whether scouts weren't regularly posted or what, I don't know. So the scenario will be an advanced guard of some 3-4 Prussian grenadier battalions, dangerously isolated, is unexpectedly attacked by a much larger Austrian force. Help from the main force won't appear until Turn 4. I'll add to this - for example, victory conditions - & create a simple map.

Both sides would be expected to win. LH vs RH won't be that fantastic a method but I think I will have a list of key events & simply use odd & even to see which way they go. eg Competency of general. Do the Austrians achieve total surprise & hence get first volley? etc

Any suggestions or comments welcome. I think the game should be in 2-3 weeks.

donald

Re. the frequency of surprise engagements in the SYW - we thought they fell more into the category of ‘unplanned battle’ - or at least, unplanned by one combatant - than outright ambush.

That being the case, we start off with a roll to determine whether or not one side has outscouted the other.

The roll is modified according to how much light cav each side has.
The winner of this roll is the attacker for this engagement, and gets the advantage of setting up second, after seeing the defender’s deployment.

If one side does dramatically better than the other in the scouting roll, they may get a larger deployment area on one or both flanks.

The defender always the option of keeping a brigade off their choice off the table, to be brought on as reinforcement anywhere in the deployment area.
This stops outscouting becoming too overpowering, and it gives a bit of ‘to and fro’ advantage.

Undoubtedly better concepts than mine but I'm hampered by the relatively small Austrian army I have (I'm hoping to have 8 infantry batts ready for the fight. The Prussians have 18 ready to use). I'll have to go with the Prussians being surprised this time. The staggered set-up is also a cracker of an idea. LHvsRH makes it a little less an advantage but I'll certainly use it once the lockdown is over & I can game with my pals.

donald