This article presents three scenarios for wargames of the Seven Years War period. Each is hypothetical, having been designed to pose players a set of grand tactical problems. The situations depicted, though hypothetical, are typical of the Seven Years War.
These battle problems are intended to require each side to make several grand tactical decisions, such as "Shall we counterattack or fall back?", or "Which flank shall we hit?," as well as the usual minor tactical decisions, such as where the 51st Foot will fire this turn. In addition to handling the details of maneuvering their units, players must keep sight of the broad picture and play with some general plan in mind.
In making these grand tactical decisions players will discover that they have several real alternatives, with no pat answer evident. Each course offers risks and possible benefits; the players must trade off the former for the latter. These scenarios have been developed with some care and are not intended to be played off the top of one's head. They will be most enjoyable if each side can look them over in advance of the game, to think through the possibilities and make plans.
Opportunities
In each of these scenarios both sides have the opportunity and often the obligation, to do some attacking, either an assault at the outset or a large-scale counterattack later on. The scenarios also attempt to set up the possibility of flank attacks, usually by requiring or encouraging one or both sides to advance in such a way as to expose a flank.
Players more familiar with the Napoleonic period should be made aware of a few salient differences between that period and this, points which play a role in these scenarios. First, armies of the Seven Years War moved and fought as unitary bodies rather than as separated corps; the typical Napoleonic battle sequence, in which individual corps would make contact and be gradually reinforced by a hundred thousand or more troops, was simply not seen. Second, armies were kept together in a single body on the battlefield, in the commander's direct sight; enveloping maneuvers by detached forces were hardly ever tried (the way to turn the enemy was to place one's whole army on his flank; this was the basic idea of the famous 'oblique order,' which may be used to good advantage in these scenarios). Players will observe that units are required to enter in very limited spaces, usually on one part of one side of a map edge; this reflects these command control limitations. Finally, artillery was both less numerous and less effective; this is reflected in the orders of battle.
These battle problems were playtested using the unpublished set of rules BATTALIONFEUER (I. ed.) by Rick Martinez of San Jose, California. The scale is twenty-five yards to the inch and ten minutes per turn. Players may well need to adjust the size of the playing area and/or orders of battle to fit their own rules, troops, and playing time available. In that connection, we have found that about one minute per unit turn is about the right amount of time for players with a few games' experience to make their moves; thoroughly experienced players may reduce this by 25-35%, and of course a simpler set of rules leads to a faster game. The 'Assault on Heights' and 'Surprise of Detached Corps' scenarios below obviously presume several players to a side, moving simultaneously, if the game is to be kept to a reasonable length.
The three scenarios are presented as self-contained units, including a few 'Game Notes,' tactical suggestions based on playtesting and the designer's intentions. Players are cautioned that cavalry strengths are listed in squadrons, not regiments; Prussian regiments, for instance, usually had five squadrons, other nations' from three to five. Artillery strengths are listed in actual numbers of guns; if each gun unit in the rules set being used represents six guns, for instance, then divide the given numbers by six to determine how many units should be placed on the table.
The author wishes to thank Rob Emerson, Bryn Ekroot, Joe Hansen, Johnson Loh, and Randy McKinney of Santa Barbara for their help in playtesting. He would much appreciate comments and suggestions:
1: SURPRISE OF DETACHED CORPS
It was sometimes necessary to send out sizeable detachments for extended periods of time. On two occasions detached Prussian forces of this type were surprised and destroyed before aid could arrive. This scenario envisages such a surprise being made, but a large relief force arriving in the midst of the action. This setup puts each side in the attacking role for about half the game. The initial attacker must decide whether to assault through unfavorable terrain or turn the defender's flank; the latter is cheaper, but exposes his own flank to the relief.
Orders of Battle
We provide two orders of battle, one for a large action involving about 20,000 men on each side, the other for a battle about two-thirds that size.
Large Action
Attack Forces: 13 line battalions, five grenadier battalions, 15 cuirassier squadrons, 15 dragoon squadrons, 10 hussar squadrons, 12 each of light, medium, and heavy guns.
Detached Corps: eight line battalions, one grenadier battalion, five cuirassier squadrons, five dragoon squadrons, 15 hussar squadrons, 12 light guns.
Relief: eight line battalions, three grenadier battalions, 15 cuirassier squadrons, 10 dragoon squadrons, five hussar squadrons, 18 light or medium guns, 12 heavy guns.
Smaller Action
Attack Force: eight line battalions, four grenadier battalions, 10 cuirassier squadrons, 10 dragoon squadrons, five hussar squadrons, 16 medium or light guns, 8 heavy guns.
Detached Corps: five line battalions, one grenadier battalion, five dragoon squadrons, 10 hussar squadrons, 8 light guns.
Relief: six line battalions, two grenadier battalions, four cavalry regiments (may choose type), twelve light or medium guns, eight heavy guns.
The Attack Force should be typical Austrian or Russian troops of the period 1760-61; the Detached Corps and Relief, Prussians of the same period. This means that the infantry quality will be about equal, with the Prussian cavalry somewhat superior. The Detached Corps should be generally better quality than the other two forces.
Deployment
The Detached Corps deploys on the board, at least one foot from the lower edge and behind the line of the stream. The Attack Force enters on turn 1 on either the lower edge, to the right of the trees, or on the right-hand edge; it may use one edge or the other but not both. Troops may be held off the board until turn 2 if desired, entering on the same edge. On turn 8, roIl one die; on a roll of 1, 2, or 3 the Relief may enter on the left-hand edge. On a roll of 4, 5, or 6 enters on turn 9 instead. Units of the Relief may be held off for one turn if desired, as with the Attack Force.
Victory Conditions
A side wins by controlling (occupying or being the last to occupy) two of the three towns on the map at the end of the game. If neither side fulfills this condition, e.g. if one building of one town is held by one side, another by the other side, and they each hold one of the other two towns, then the game is a draw.
The game should last about three hours and twenty minutes scale time (twenty turns with our rules).
Game Notes
The attacking side's first problem is to destroy the detached corps in eight to nine turns with the minimum possible casualties. The approach from the lower map edge leads to flanking and eventual envelopment of the defender, permitting the attack force to exploit its numerical superiority in the best way. However, it has the great disadvantage of exposing the attackers' flank to the relief. Whichever way the attacker proceeds, he must press ahead rapidly to destroy the detached corps and start setting up a defense line by the time the relief enters. This does not mean pushing ahead in reckless frontal assaults; envelopment will collapse the whole defending line quite quickly once the flanks are turned, and will be far less expensive.
The defender needs to choose whether to defend forward along the ridge lines or pull back, say to the line of towns (b) and (c). The latter line is shorter and less easily turned, but the former offers the great advantages of being uphill. Finally the defender, now turned attacker, must decide where to send the relief column, how much to bring against each of the exposed towns. At this stage the attacker should analyze the relief column's intentions and commit his own troops accordingly; he will not want to keep large forces in front of town (c), for instance, if it is evident that the relief is pressing toward town (a).
Players should be warned that this scenario appears quite unbalanced at certain points in the game; but they should be reassured that if played to conclusion it offers a close-run battle. In the early stages the attackers may be discouraged by heavy losses while attacking the ridges. But eventually the detached corps will break, and because it can afford no reserves to speak of, it will be well and truly shattered. Then all will seem lost to the defenders as they contemplate their one or two surviving units. But finally the relief arrives and the game becomes a tense struggle, usually revolving around towns (a) and (b).
SCENARIO 2: RACE FOR THE RIVER CROSSING
The campaign in western Germany waged back and forth across several large rivers. The few good bridges across these rivers assumed great importance whenever one side was trying to cross a river and get at the other; lines of communication across these bridges were vulnerable to attacks from small forces. In this scenario a French and Allied army contest a bridge. Each can try to beat the other to the bridge and hold it, or instead beat the enemy first and then take the bridge. In advancing toward the bridge, each army must expose its flank.
Orders of Battle
Allied: one British grenadier battalion, two British line battalions, three Hanoverian or Hessian line battalions, three cavalry regiments (player may choose any combination of Hanoverian heavies, Hanoverian hussars, or British dragoons), one British light battery, two Hanoverian medium batteries.
French: six line battalions, one light battalion, one grenadier battalion, six cavalry regiments (player may take his choice of type, no more than three of any one type), two medium batteries and two light batteries. French player may include among his cavalry units two regiments of Austrian cuirassiers.
The troops are presumed to be typical units of their representative nationalities in the period 1759-60. This means that British infantry will have excellent fire and morale values, Hanoverian good, French not so good; the French cavalry will be quite valiant although tactically no better than the Allied.
Deployment
The French units may enter any time during the first three turns in the area marked on the east board edge; the Allies enter any time during the first three turns in the area marked for them on the south edge. If a unit enters at the same point as another unit entered on the same turn, it must deduct the length of the other unit(s) from its move. Exception: do not deduct for light cavalry units which entered earlier, as they would be moving some distance in front of the main army anyway.
Victory Conditions
The side which controls the bridge at the end of the game wins. Players should agree among themselves before the game starts how they wish to define 'control.' We suggest that having some unit between any enemy units and the bridge is a sufficient condition. Having physically occupied the bridge would not be relevant.
There is no reason to impose an arbitrary limit on game length. Play until one army is ineffective or until the game must be stopped for other reasons, such as the clock striking 4a.m.
Game Notes
The players have basically similar options at the start of the game: to head directly for the bridge, or to attempt a flank movement on the opposite end of the board, using the walled enclosure as a pivot. The French may find the latter movement appealing because their cavalry, the arm in which they have the advantage, is really effective only on the open ground to the south of the road leading from their entry area to the bridge. On the other hand, a flanking movement through that ground invites the Allies to establish themselves in a nice position in front of the bridge; from such a position they will be hard to dislodge because the Allied infantry is better. The Allies for their part must decide how to exploit this infantry superiority. They can bottle up a French move to the east of the enclosure; they can win a straight fight for the enclosure; they can hold a short line in front of the bridge against an attack up the road; but they cannot do all these things at once with only six battalions. The Allied player might try his own flanking move around the enclosure, but if it bogs down, he will not have enough units to retrieve the situation. Both sides should consider employing a large force of light cavalry to race for the bridge and delay the enemy infantry in its progress towards that objective.
SCENARIO 3: ASSAULT ON HEIGHTS
On many occasions Frederick the Great found himself required to attack strong enemy armies occupying favorable terrain. Although he preferred to maneuver his enemies out of such positions, time pressure sometimes compelled him to assault them instead. Indeed, much of his 1744 "Instructions" for his generals consists of examples of this kind of battle. The present scenario is typical of the stylized actions found in that work.
Orders of Battle
Attacker (Prussians): 5 first-line battalions, five second-line or fusilier battalions, four grenadier battalions, ten hussar squadrons, fifteen dragoon squadrons, five cuirassier squadrons, twelve light guns, twelve medium guns, eighteen heavy guns.
Defender (Austrian or Russian): five first-line battalions, six second-line battalions, two grenadier battalions, one light battalion, ten hussar squadrons, ten dragoon squadrons, five cuirassier squadrons, twelve each of light, medium, and heavy guns.
French troops may be used for the defending force also, but in that case the number of defending units should be increased about 30% to compensate for their lower qualities. Troop qualities are assumed to be those of 1757-58.
Deployment
Defender deploys first, anywhere above the upper dotted line shown on the map. The Prussians then deploy anywhere below the lower dotted line.
Victory Conditions
Each side wins by controlling two out of the three villages at the end of the game; if neither side does so, draw. The game should last about four hours (twenty four turns with our rules) in game scale time.
Game Notes
The Prussian player should think through carefully which flank he will hit and how he will allocate his forces. The Prussians have just barely enough units to win; one misplaced unit (e.g., a cavalry regiment sitting idle on the left when it was needed on the right) can decide the issue. The choice of which flank to hit will be dictated in part by the Prussians' subsequent plans: do they intend to roll up the ridge and take both towns on it, or drive instead for the third town near the river? The Prussians should be sure to keep up some pressure with the 'refused' flank as well, so that the defender cannot switch all his troops to the threatened side.
At least three defensive plans are evident: a cordon defense of the ridge line (which probably will not work, as the Prussians are too strong), a withdrawal of the threatened flank and counterattack with the other (difficult to pull off, but exciting), or a screening of the ridge with most troops initially in reserve, to counterattack or reinforce the threatened side. The defender should beware of keeping too much cavalry in reserve initially; if he places at least two regiments on each wing he will get superiority on at least one of them.
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