From a post to the San Antonio Yahoogroup list by Mark Reed
Our group replayed the Battle of Reichenberg last Tuesday, the 17th. We used a set of SYW rules written by Steve Leopard and myself. They are a fun set that gives enough detail to be fun and semi-historical, but not complicated to the point they cannot be learned quickly. They allow a fair number of dice to be thrown and can be bloody.
Sadly, we brought a camera, but no pictures were taken. I’ll try and do better next time. We are debating on Freiberg, Gross-Jagersdorf or Maxen as our next battle. I’ll send a report of it and hopefully pictures as well.
Reichenberg is on the Neisse River, in Bohemia, now called Liberac in the Czech Republic. In April 1757, the Prussians moved towards Prague. They broke into 4 columns and this represents the 2d column from the east, under the command of Bevern. It consists of 14 battalions of line inf and grenadiers, 1 12 pdr battery, 3
regts of Dragoons and 1 regt of Hussars.
Opposing the Prussians was the force of Konigsegg. It also consisted of some 14 infantry battalions; line and Croats. A single battalion equivalent of grenadiers is spread historically across the commands, in our fight they were formed as a battalion. Amazingly enough, they held outbuildings of Reichenberg and were not engaged by fire or maneuver.
There are 3 dragoon regts and 1 hussar regt as well. The Austrians have 3 batteries of artillery and redoubts along a ridgeline that drops away to the Neisse valley. In our game they were considered gentle hills and light cover. The map is attached, as is the OB. Hopefully, Yahoopolice won’t eliminate it.
The Neisse river is considered unfordable, it is April, and there are bridges. The Prussians open the battle with only the arty in range of the enemy and thus are able to march in column. (Our set allows units out of the battle line to march if in column at the start and end of each turn. Thus a unit can redeploy up to 24 inches in a single turn).
The Prussians divided their commands and some 6-7 battalions marched over the Neisse and advanced on the Austrian right flank forces. Facing them were 4 battalions of line and Croats, along with 1 hussar regt and 2 batteries.
The Prussians deployed their cav to their right and quickly engaged the Austrian dragoons. This fight raged for the entire game as units won and lost their combats.
The center Prussians pushed forward and soon were under fire from 2 batteries of arty, the lone Prussian battery returning fire to hopefully drive units from their redoubts.
By turn 3, the Prussian cav engaged and the vaunted Prussian hussars were blown away by a dragoon force, this in turn fell victim to a 2 unit attack of Prussian dragoons. The Prussians seemed destined to drive the Austrians back, but failed to destroy any stands in numerous combats. The Austrian left seemed to be threatened for a period of time, but the massed cav attacks bogged down as commanders were lost and units disordered.
The Prussian center took fire from its front and left flank, but continued to steadily march forward. On the Prussian left, the units advanced rapidly and boldly, shouting on to Prague. With light losses they drove into the redoubts, but then the engagement slowed and it became a slogging match. 1 Austrian battery fired and the gunners beat feet behind formed units as 2 battalions of grenadiers stormed over the walls and into the units behind the guns. The line units with grenadiers were slowed from fire and had to be rallied to advance again. The Austrian hussars attempted to melee the grenadiers from the rear as the grenadiers advanced into a Croat unit in the wood line. The hussars and Croats were thrown back by the grenadiers, but this was the end of their success. Both grenadiers on the left were worn down and destroyed by fire and numerous Austrian assaults. The second battery eventually turned back to face the threat to its front and fired into assaulting line
driving them out of the redoubt.
After many bounds, the Prussian left fell back with heavy losses and the Austrians were in similar straits, the only units still at strength were the 2d arty battery and the Hussars. The Prussians held just short of the redoubts, but their fire kept the Austrians from re-manning the trenches.
In the center, Prussian fire drove several units from the redoubts, but quick leadership returned them after only 1 turn and undamaged units replaced them as the recovered from rally hits. (In our game, a general must attach to a unit that gets a rally marker, then they are able to advance again).
GenLt Bevern received an injury from the arty fire during 1 of these and had to be replaced. This slowed the Prussian advance for several turns. In addition, the cav command lost its general twice and the command structure had to be reformed to continue the fight.
The Austrians in the center seemed to have called for a cotillion, they danced around and recovered from rally markers much faster than the Prussians did. Perhaps it was the step forward that undamaged units did to cover the recovery of units in a rally state, and the fact the Austrians did not command from the front as the Prussian generals did.
By 10 pm (3 hours of gaming), the Prussians had forced the redoubt line, except on the left, though the Austrians had reconstituted forces to continue the engagement. It appear red that the Prussians could have brushed them aside and advanced, though the losses were heavy on both sides. The cavalry had worn itself down to the point that only 1 regt of hussars on the Austrian side had the ability to continue combat, but it was needed to keep the Prussians on the Austrian right from advancing.
Thus the battle was deemed a draw, with the Austrians out of position and the Prussians worn down to almost ineffective strength.
We had over 10 players cycle through the game, some had to leave and others were given sub-commands as they arrived. Initial start was with 7 commanders. All in all a good game and it moved well after the first few turns. Positive comments came from both sides, though there were very few shouts of “On to Prague” at the end!
Reichenberg was a difficult set-up, a ridgeline with redoubts, the Neisse running through the battlefield and the inverted funnel of woods the Prussians advanced out of made it visually stimulating, but difficult to lay out and maneuver across.
My thanks to all who helped me track down the info for terrain and my thanks to Ed Youngstrom for the additional troops and help with setup and teardown.
