Standoff in Scandinavia, part 5

 

Danes win the dice off for initiative, and for 1 impetus; they choose to go first. 

ARMY MORALE – since they have at least one routed/destroyed unit, it costs them an impetus to play the card. the Danes have 5 Morale Points left (red chip) , so they do not need to take an Army Morale Test (which often ends the game!). 

Every commander whose command has been shot at or in melee (even if no losses were sustained) must test for survival- “Don’t roll a one”… like the unfortunate Danish officer above!

The Swedish card is ARMY MORALE. All of the Swedish commanders roll a D12 – no ones amongst them! 
The Swedes win 1 impetus, and turn and act upon MOVE. A double Magic Move – Charge!
The Danish Dragoons rout their Swedish opposition! 

The Danish Hussars also prevail in their melee, rolling even, they follow up and “seize the position” occupied by the Swedes originally. 

Single Magic Move.

The “won even” roll allows the Swedish Infantry brigade to face the threat of the Danish cavalry. 

Another “won even” roll allows the next Swedish brigade to adjust its facing as well. 

The reserves are picking Lingonberries…

Double Magic Move!

The heavy battery redirects its fire… to deadly effect!

Another Double Magic Move!

A mutually insipid exchange of fire!

Single Magic Move. 

Situation on the Swedish Left. 

Danish card is LULL!  The Swedes seize the initiative…. 

and turn TACTICAL ADVANTAGE, and save it. 

Danes with the roll off for 2 cards again!

First Danish Card is TACTICAL ADVANTAGE, which is saved. The second is MOVE. 

Routers MUST move on this card; This Danish regiment does the “Shuffle off to Schleswig”!

A timely Double Magic Move for the Danish Cavalry. 

Attacked from the flank and the front, the Swedes are eliminated!

A Double Magic Move for the Danish Infantry. 

Opportunity Fire by the Swedes; with a low roll, they play their Tactical Advantage card to re roll the D12. 

Talk about underwhelming!

Danish infantry fire in to the flank of some Swedes, inflicting modest losses. 

The Danish Jagers… miss!

Danish Infantry charge the unloaded Swedish battery… and are defeated!

Danish Livgard til Fods finishes off a Swedish regiment in convincing fashion!

The Danish Battery and the King’s Livjagers combine fire upon the Swedish Grenadiers, inflicting modest losses. The Swedes are out of Moral points, and must pay 1 to the Danes!

Ineffective volley at the threatening Swedish Cuirassiers. 

Danish Volley; Danes sue their Tactical Advantage to make the Swedes re-roll the “5” on their D6. 

But the outcome is the same!

Danish Light Dragoons set off in pursuit of their battered Swedish counterparts, enduring some fire from the Swedish infantry in the village in the process.  

Danish artillery fires with good effect – Swedes are passing more Morale points to the Danes!

The initiative passes to the Swedes; they turn MELEE and save it. 

The next Swedish card is INFANTRY FIRE, which they will use now. 

A touch of Danish Disorder. 

More Danish ,losses. 

Miss!

Swedes play SPECIAL EVENT from their hand!

Found the range!

Likewise!

Bang!

The charge of The Swedish Cuirassiers routs the Norwegian Liv regiment. 

Swedish dice are hot this impetus… now it is the Danes who are paying Morale points to the Swedes!

and another!

Rally attempt fails!

So does this one. 

Better luck here. 

Routers gotta rout!  Swedes have built up a few Morale points now. 

The road to Rugen!
Well, that saw quite a bit of back and forth; the game is still up for grabs. 

In working on these posts, I cam upon a series of silly You tube/FB posts by a pair of Norwegians, Helgi and Erlend. Here’s one:

25e Regiment of Dragoons

We interrupt the game narrative for a Dragoon moment! 

The The regiment traces its origins back to 1665, when a new cavalry regiment was raised and named Bourgone in 1685, renamed in 1711 as Bretagne. It reverted back to Bourgone in 1751, becoming Royal-Bourgone in 1788. The Regiment became the 17e Regiment de Cavalerie in 1791 and the 16e Regiment de Cavalerie in 1792. It finally became the 25e Regiment de Dragons in 1803

The 25e regiment saw plenty of action during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars:  1792: Valmy, 1793: Hondschoote, 1794: Etreux, Mons, and Maestricht, 1800: Offenbourg and Holzheim, 1805: Elchingen and Austerlitz, 1806: Halberstadt, 1807: Ostrolenka, 1808: Baylen, 1809: Lugo and Alba-de-Tormes, 1810: Lines of Torres-Vedras and Ciudad-Rodrigo, 1811: Fuentes-de-Onoro, 1812: Arapiles, 1813: Vitoria, 1813: Dresden and Leipzig, 1814: Saint-Dizier, Brienne, La Rothiere, Mormont, Fere-Champenoise, and Paris

6 Colonels of the Regiment attained the rank of Brigadier or higher: 
Louis-Rene Le Mouton de Boisdeffre,  General de Brigade 1792; 
Nicolas Cugnot d’Aubigny, General-de-Brigade: 1794, Officer of the Legion d’Honneur: 1804, Chevalier of the Empire: 1810, Baron of the Empire: 12th April 1813;
Jean-Oliver Gaudin, General-de-Brigade: 1794;
Archange-Louis Rioult d’Avenay, General-de-Brigade: 1807, Officer of the Legion d’Honneur: 1808, Died: 1 June 1809 (Died of wounds received on 8 May 1809);
Antoine Rigaud, General-de-Brigade: 1807, Commander of the Legion d’Honneur: 1805, Baron of the Empire: 1809;
Philippe-Antoine Ornano, General-de-Brigade: 1811, General de Division: 1812, Count of the Empire: 1808.

The regimental facing color for the 25e- 30e regiments was aurore; I have used Delta CC “Calypso Orange” here. I think it looks quite striking! The figures once again are Piano Wargames by Lucas Luber. The next Piano Wargames Kickstarter commences October 14th!

Standoff in Scandinavia, part 4

 

The 2nd turn starts with the Swedes winning the roll off for 1 impetus; they act to go first and turn LEADERSHIP. 

With many units with UI losses (“hits”) and/or disorder, they choose to act upon it right away. Each command group rolls its modified Leadership die type against the opponents D8; the LD can range from D8 to D12+1; for this game I made everyone LD 10 to keep things simple. The Swedish roll fails to beet the opposing D8, so no effect. 

If the modified LD roll exceeds that of the opponent’s D8, Disorder will be recovered, and routed units will rally back to good order. 

The modified LD here is D6 because there is a modifier for rallying Routed units. If the modified LD roll is a “1”, then no more rally attempts may be made by that commander, and the free change of facing or formation on the L:EADERSHIP card cannot be used by that command. 

If the modified LD roll exceeds the opponent’s D8 by 3 or more, one UI (“hit”0 is regained for every 3 pips difference. Nothing here, though.  

No UI regained, but the Light Dragoons do rally from routed. 

Not having much luck with rallying!

Well,  that was a bust!

The initiative passes to the Danes, who turn ARTILLERY FIRE. 

Nuthin’. 

And Nothin again!

and yet again!

Complete bust for the Danish card action as well!

Swedes win even, and opt to take their 2 impetus. 

The “Wild Card!”

Swedes take it into their hand, and turn ARTILLERY FIRE. 

They act upon it right away. All smoke, no action here!

The fire causes some Disorder, but no significant losses. 

No effect!

The roll would cause Disorder, but the target is already Disordered; a second Disorder has no effect. 

Next card is LULL, but the Danes fail to seize the initiative. 

The first Danish card is INFANTRY FIRE; they act upon it now. 

1 Ui and one Swedish Army Morale Point (AMP) lost. 

Swedish return fire is ineffective; hardy surprising with 3 UI loss and in Disorder… as bad as it can without being elimnated (4 UI loss of infantry and cavalry, 3 for Artillery). 

Danish fire is ineffective, but the Swedish fire is not. The Danes are forced back 4″ (difference in die roll) in Disorder, take 1 UI, and lose one AMP. 

Danes are more effective here. 

Return fire causes them to become Disordered. 

No effect.

Target is already Disordered, so no effect here either. 

Same here. 
The second Danish card is MOVE, and they again chose to act now. Triple move, but no Magic!
The Norwegian Liv regiment moves to cover the battery. 

Double move, no magic. 

The Danes move up and volley fire at the Swedish battery to effect. 

Cavalry get a Double Magic Move… CHARGE!!!

Round 1 of melee between the Danish and Swedish Dragoons sees both fall in to disorder, with the Swedes having 1 pip on the Danes. 

Round 2 to the Danes; the Swedes retreat 4″ with the loss of 1 UI and AMP. JHaving roled EVEN in the last round, the Danes can advance to “take the position”. 

The Danish Hussars are defeated, and forced back 4″ with the loss of 1 UI and 1 AMP. 

The last Danish command rolls a single move, and decides to stay put. 

Standoff in Scandinavia, part 3

 

The Swedes have 2 impetus; they turn INFANTRY FIRE. 

Eagle’s eye view of the battlefield, note all the “smoke”, indicating “unloaded” units. 

The Swedes, however, decide to hold the card, and draw MELEE. 

In the battle of the small cavalry units, the Swedes are victorious! 

The Swedish Cuirassiers change the Livgard til Hast… routing them!

Next, the Swedes draw Artillery Fire, and act upon it immediately. 

Accurate shooting by the Swedes cripples the opposing Danish battery. 

Just managed that overhead shot!

More well aimed fire!

The Swedes win the LD roll off even for 1 impetus. Now they decide to play their INFANTRY FIRE card. 

An ineffective volley – the Swedish commander call for a do-over!

BAM!  The opposing Danes are routed with heavy losses!

With a “chicken” (Disorder) and two rocks (hits/Unit Integrity losses), it’s not surprising this Swedish column’s fire has little effect upon the opposing Danish footguards. 

“Ja , der powder gevetted ist!”

The damaged battery’s fire disorders the Swedish battery, but causes no losses.  

Danish cannister empties many saddles in the Swedish Cuirassiers, but they hold firm. 
That’s a hit, Sven!
Whilst the Danes have 1 card remaining (a critical INFANTRY FIRE card), the Swedes have no cards left, so the deck is shuffled, and the Infantry Firepower card is unused. Note that if the opposing Leadership die rolls for initiative are tied, that will also end the card, with the decks shuffled, and any unplayed or unused cards are lost! That concludes the first turn of the battle; both sides are running low on Army Morale points!

Standoff in Scandinavia, Part 2

 

The Swedes turn TACTICAL ADVANTAGE; this card can be played at any time; it is now a reroll card rather then a simple UP 1 or DPWN 1 to any roll, potentially much more impactful. We will see. The Swedes hold the card (not technically in their “hand”). 

Swedes turn ARMY MORALE; this must be played, but with no troops yet in combat, and no lost or routed units, this card is is both “free” and without effect; thus another card is drawn in its place

Swedes tun LULL: this must be played, and the Danes attempt to seize the Imitative! 

If the Dames Leadership die for their C-in-C beats that of the Swedes, they get a “free” impetus point. That fails to happen here. 
The initiative passes to the Danes anyway, as the Swedes are out of impetus. They turn SPECIAL EFFECT (Wild Card). Each Danish Command individually can use this card as whatever they feel they need most. 

A Double Magic Move for the Infantry Brigade. 

The Cavalry rolled a single move; situation after both commands have acted. 

This Danish Brigade rolls a single magic move.
Situation after their move. 

Swedish infantry opportunity fires, causing one hit; there is no disorder as the Swedes rolled ODD. 

The Danes fire back, after taking into account the effects of the opp fire, but fail to have any significant effect. 

A triple Move (no magic) for the central Danish Reserve Brigade. 

The prior Danish Brigade now chooses to fire its “loaded” artillery, which it does to effect!

The Danish advance; Swedish opportunity fire is ineffective (being both disordered and with 1 hit didn’t help!). 

The fire of the Danish Livgards til Fods is more effective, inflicting more damage on the Swedes, and forcing them back! 

Double Magic move, with an EVEN roll, the skirmishing Danish Jagers will ignore the usual move penalties for the Class II hill.
The combined opportunity fire of the Swedish battery and infantry just manages to be enough to through the Danes back a bit in Disorder, and with some losses. 

A single move for the infantry and their attached battery. 

Single move for the Cavalry and Horse Artillery. 

Situation thereafter. 

2 Danish regiments volley fire at the Russian Jagers, diving them back in Disorder with losses.
The second Danish card is a MOVE: they opt to act on it rather than exchanging it for one of the other two cards in their hand. 

Triple Magic Move for the Danish Cavalry and their Horse Artillery!

“Hold on a minute there, Hans!”Swedish Horse Artillery Opp fire forces their Danish counterparts back in Disorder with losses; this also prevents them from unlimbering! Meanwhile, the Danish Fynske Light Dragoons and the Bosniaks charge home into Melee!

First round between the Danish Light Dragoons and the Sweuish Smalands Lette Dragoner results in an 1 pip edge to the Danes; the Swedes are Disordered. 

2nd round is another 1 pip edge to the Danes; the Swedes are already Discorded, and the Danes rolled even so they keep good order. Note that the highest possible score is “12”, not 13!

The 3rd round is different, and the Swedes are Routed with heavy losses, while the Danes maintain their cool and their Order. 

In the charge of 2 small units, the Bosniaks get the short end of the stick, but the Swedes are disordered (rolled odd). 

Double Magic Move!

An inefective Danish Volley… but wait; the Danish C-in-C plays his Tactical Advantage card to re-rol1 his D12. 

It works, and the Swedes suffer fairly heavy losses, but stand their ground in good order. 

Double Magic Move!

A missed opportunity when the skirmish fire of the Jagers fizzles. Wheres that TACTICAL ADVANTAGE card?  Oh yeah…
Single no frills move; the Danish Artillery opens up on the Svea Livgards, and causes heavy losses!

Situation after the move, and some more ineffective fire, this time by the Kings Livjagers. 

Single Magic Move. 

Situation thereafter. 

Single move.

The Danish infantry finds comfortable lodgings in the village, and decide to practice some hygge. The Cavalry are less sanguine, rolling a big fat 1. Uff da!  No move for you boys!  
Having finished that run of initiative, we’ll break now until the next part!