Background

This Blog follows an historical miniatures game I am hosting between 2 players.  I am acting as game-master, and not actually participating in playing the game per see.  The way it works is that the 2 players send in their moves on the campaign map to me, and I determine if any battles occur when they have forces at the same place.

I use the same campaign rules as the "Bohemian Blitzkrieg" campaign from "Warefare in the Age of Reason" rules, and will be just  in the Silesia area, for 1758.  I've created a map and special rules just for this campaign. It's not absolutely historically correct, but as close as I can get.

Once a battle is judged to occur, I send the players the order of battle for their forces based on the number of SPs (strength points) they had at the location, and the army list form the rules.

I've run these kinds of games before and it's a great way to be able to use your miniatures when you can't get to a hobby store often, or don't have many players in the area for the rules you play.

Here are the special rules I've created for this.  It's a work in progress (meaning I can change things at my whim and justify it any way I want):

1758 Silesian Campaign Notes

 Prussian Player Briefing

·         67 SPs at Breslau – Frederick, Keith

·         21 SPs at Sweidnitz (besieging) – Zeithen

·         7 SPs at Glatz

·         6 SPs at Neisse

·         5 SPs at Brieg

Possible reinforcements:

·         18 SPs from northwest edge – Henry, Maurice

Special rules:

Any force commanded by Frederick has a movement factor of 3 the first time he moves.  After that, he reverts to the normal 2 movement factors.

Intelligence:

·         You know that the main Austrian army has been at Konniggratz, but your intelligence is slightly stale, so you cannot count on them still being there.  They may be closer than that.

·         You have a force besieged at Sweidnitz, but you don’t know it’s composition.

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Austrian Player Briefing

·         96 SPs at Koniggratz – Daun, Loudon, Arenberg

·         6 SPs at Sweidnitz (besieged)

Possible reinforcements:

·         15 SPs enter at Koniggratz  – Serbolini, Harsh

Special rules:

The force at Konniggratz may begin the game subdivided into multiple commands (you don’t have to roll for initiative).  Any forces at Konnigratz gets to make one free 3-MP move before turn 1 without having to check initiative (this will be their starting location for turn 1). 

Special Leader restrictions: Daun and Loudon cannot be in the same dot together except for the initial set up.  They did not get along with each other.  They must go in different directions as soon as possible.

Intelligence:

·         You know Frederick is with the main Prussian army at Breslau

·         A smaller force (21 SPs) under Zeithen is currently besieging Schweidnitz

·         The Prussians have garrisons at Glatz, Neisse, and Brieg

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Variations to the standard rules:

·         See Victory Conditions later

·         Movement is simultaneous – I will adjudicate any irregularities that happen

·         On the first turn the Prussian forces DO need to make an initiative check just like the Austrians (I make the initiative checks and let you know the result)

·         Ignore the “Special Austrian C-in-C rule”

·         For now, we will stick to 12 game turns, unless things look interesting toward the end.  Remember this campaign did not happen in a vacuum.  There were other forces in the region (Russian, Hanoverian, Holy-Roman-Empire, Swedish, French) that might affect whether the forces on our map could stay there for long, so a turn limit is reasonable.  That’s one reason the reinforcements are only “possible.”  

·         If there is an enemy force at the next dot, you get to know that, but not the composition

·         On the Pre-Battle Maneuver Flow Chart, the Austrians do NOT get the +1 bonus for Round 0 or 2 (this was not an area where they had extensive knowledge of the terrain).

Variable Reinforcements:

·         Starting on turn 4 the Austrian player rolls a 1D6 for his possible reinforcements

o   Turn 4 – on a roll of a 1 the reinforcements arrive

o   Turn 5, 6 – on a 1 or 2 the reinforcements arrive

o   Turn 7, 8 – on a 1 – 3 the reinforcements arrive

o   Turn 9, – on a 1 or 2 the reinforcements arrive

·         If the Austrian reinforcements don’t arrive by turn 9, they never will.

·         If the Austrian reinforcements do arrive, the Prussian reinforcements arrive ½ D6 +1 turns later.  Round down, but the Prussian reinforcements will never enter sooner than 2 turns after the Austrians.

Siege rules:

·         In order to besiege a fortress you need to have at least 30 SPs at that fortress

·         The defending player must have “withdrawn” into the fortress, otherwise a regular land battle occurs.  The player occupying the fortress gets the choice of withdrawing into the fortress before anything else happens.

·         The player being besieged does not have to reveal the size or leaders present in his force

·         The besieging player DOES have to reveal the size and composition of his force

·         After a player has besieged a fortress for 5 turns, while maintaining a supply route, he may attempt to create a “breach.”  Roll a 1D6:

o   0 - Rebuff – the attacker has failed to create a breach, and has taken casualties while attempting it (between 2-5 SPs).  Must wait another 5 turns before attempting another breach

o   1-3 Unsuccessful – must wait another 5 turns before attempting another breach

o   4-6 Breach successful – the attacking player may now either offer the “Honors of War” (the garrison gets to go back to friendly territory and fight another day), or refuse the Honors of War, in which case the attacker will have to storm the fortress (see below).

·         The player with a leader commanding with a superior initiative than his opponent will have a slight advantage.  If the besieged play has the leader with superior initiative, subtract 1 from the die.  If the besieging player has the superior initiative, add one to the die.

·         If a force has to break off from  a siege and leave the dot it is on, even for 1 turn, then the 5 turn process of preparing for the siege must be repeated (the besieged forces are assumed to have sallied our in their absence and destroyed the siege-works).

·         Storming a fortress: The player with the smaller force (which can be the besieger) is totally destroyed.  Any leaders are considered captured.  The other player losses an equal amount.

Supply:

·         Austrian – trace to Konniggratz or off the map from Zuckmental, or to any friendly fortress

·         Prussian - off the map from Jelena, Smeidberg, or Liegnitz, or to any friendly fortress

Victory Conditions:

I’ve resisted creating formal victory conditions as per the original rules, and have instead elected to present the political situation as it existed at the time.  At the end of the game, you can judge whether you have achieved some sort of victory based on these, or any other basis you decide. 

The region represented by the map is the whole reason Prussia and Austria are at war.  Austria had it all (including the fortresses), and Prussia grabbed it.  Now Austria wants it back. 

The fortresses in this area are the focal points of the maneuvering and battles.  Although it would be decisive to take all the fortresses, it is an expensive and time-consuming process.  If you decisively defeat your opponent in open battle, any fortresses he holds will eventually fall to you.

In the end, I will leave it to you as to how well you’re done in the campaign.