"I was given a regiment of Prussian hussars." So says Wally Simon in the Feb 91 PW REVIEW. I am now trying to recall exactly how the Lion of Osland was given that regiment. I seem to recall the conversation going something more along these lines than Wee Wally being "given" a unit. (I must admit that Wee Wally was not so wee after thirds or fourths of Mom's chili.) "Lil' Jeff, I think that we should plan to destroy the enemy by overwhelming the French on the left flank. I will command the glorious charge and you will have the honor of defending the right flank from the possible French counterattack. However, when they see so overwhelming a force aligned against them with the Lion himself in the van, they will doubtless find someplace else they would rather be." So awed was I by this speech by the Lion that I readily agreed to this plan. "Here Lil' Jeff, you take this one brigade of men and I will take this brigade plus the brigade of guards. I need the guards to make my side overwhelming." It seemed to make sense, so I agreed to this plan. "How to the cavalry, I'll take the dragoons, the cuirassiers and the hussars to help give me overwhelming cavalry superiority. I need cavalry superiority if I am to lead an overwhelming force. Here you go, Lil' Jeff, here are some fine looking lancers. Don't let the fact that they're called militia fool you, they are good soldiers, everyone." "But..." "You, young lad, can have both artillery batteries." "Really?" "Ho, I am just kidding, I will need both batteries myself to support my overwhelming attack. You did agree that we should have an overwhelming attack on this flank, and my force would not be overwhelming without artillery." All choked up was I, but the Lion seemed to think that it was the natural reaction of one so young as I being exposed to the Lion's tactical sense. I went to the part of the table where my command was widely dispersed. I glanced over to the Lion's half of the table where some of his men had to balance on the shoulders of others just to be able to deploy in the set up area. The French must have read from the same play book as the Lion and started an overwhelming attack on their left flank. They, however, made their flank a little less overwhelming, giving one battery to the soon to be overwhelmed flank. They also had a third battery which they placed in the middle of the table able to help either flank. This battery was protected by the Old Guard. Needless to say, my line was pummeled in the fight but the first battalion of French guard was,over 50% losses as well. Once you are over 50% losses you basically need to throw an 18 on three dice to pass morale. Guards need only throw a 17. I threw an 18. We all retired and I had managed to save the guard but at the cost of my largest battalion. I had to now bear the brunt of the attack with only three battalions left and two of them were woefully undersized. Meanwhile, over on the left, Wally was able to close with the treacherous German allies of the French. They were considered mere second class line, and with the little cavalry support chased away by Wally's superior cavalry, they were soon overwhelmed by the Lion's overwhelming force. Once again on the Prussian right, I pleaded and begged for more troops and Wally consented. He gave me two Landwehr infantry battalions and (believe it or not) three squadrons of dragoons. The reason seems to be that he was still unable to fit the troops on his side of the table. The French Artillery had taken a heavy toll on my men, with one of the undersized battalions retiring and the other one getting close. The Landwehr went to fill the gaps as the French heavy cavalry came to the fore. One important aspect of ITGM is the maneuver of cavalry squadrons. You must leave room for your cavalry to retreat after...combat. The theory is that after a melee the unit retreated to rest before it was sent to fight again. Once the combat has been decided, the winner must roll the dice. If he rolls high then he can "rally on the spot" and be ready to fight the next round. With an average roll the unit will retire to the baseline for two turns. If the roll is very low the unit will pursue the enemy for a time before he has to retire and rest. (Needless to say, the British have a negative modifier.) If you must retire there has to be a gap for the unit to pass through or it will disorder whatever is behind it. Fred Haub was not used to these complexities with cavalry, and it hurt him on one turn when his chasseurs fell back through his lead cuirassier squadron, thus immobilizing his whole cavalry force for the next turn. I launched my dragoons at the aforementioned chasseurs and engaged them in a melee that lasted only one round, with the chasaeurs routing and the Prussians retiring to rest. I had no trouble creating gaps for my men. With only four infantry battalions holding four and a half feet of table space, I had plenty of room for my cavalry. It was the other two dragoon regiments which won the battle for Wally's army. They both charged French columns which were moving to engage my line. Infantry vs. Cavalry melees are very simple affairs. The cavalry roll dice to see if they break through the infantry. If they do then the infantry are basically annihilated. If they don't, the cavalry bounce and must retire for two turns. I needed to roll around a 15 to break a column. I managed to break both. One French column was cut down and the second one was routed. As for the dragoons, they tried to rally on the spot. Modifiers for the attempt to rally are not that many pluses, but one of them is "fresh cavalry within a charge move." In other words, is there a cavalry unit that can support you in a second round of melee? There stood the Landwehr cavalry which had won the first melee of the game. With that little bit of inspiration one of my units rallied. They turned and faced the flank of another French column. In the next turn they hit the French before they could form square and broke them as well. They were able to do this because the Cuirassiers were still trying to form. The three, lead columns were overrun and two more started to retreat. With all these units falling back, the retreating units turned into routing ones. Only two Legere regiments still stood and they were trying to cut me off from the overwhelming force on my left. The French had no infantry left to speak of, and the artillerymen were accompanying the infantry to the rear. Still, I had only two Landwehr regiments, a badly shot up third battalion and two squadrons of Landwehr cavalry to stand up to five squadrons of Cuirassiers. All the Prussian dragoons were resting on the baseline after their glorious charge, whereas five squadrons of French dragoons were behind the cuirassiers. With no support, Fred decided to call it a day. - As you can see, the Lion's tactical genius shown through. His plan of overwhelming force won the day. It was assisted by quite of bit of luck on my flank, but the plan worked. When Wally was asked to comment about the victory, he simply stated, "I wonder if there is any more chili?" I think that there can only be one reason that Wally did not mention the way that he was "given" the hussars. This reason is right from the Lion's mouth (or pen)! Back to PW Review January 1995 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com