Proxy Battle Search - Naval Raid - Tipplebruder Partisans

To continue the 'Seben Year Warz" that I started last year, now another move across the board.

The Russians have broken out across the rivers into Mieczyslaw and have sent a raid into the Duchy of the North. The raid is at odds of 2:1, with the intent and orders to destroy or damage military naval vessels in the port of Stockholm. The Russians want to have local naval supremacy in the Baltic before winter sets in.

Further to the south in central Uropa Saxe-Bearstein has been overrun by the Altmoranian forces. Now Wein comes within the grasp of King Billiam of Brandenburg. The Austrians have massed forces to cover the capitol and maintain a flank force to press across the Danube should the Altmoranians take action against the fortifications. More forces are being pulled back from the Dobrudshiva borders across the Hungarian plains. Will the Brandenburgers be able to take Wein before winter proper sets in?

Stagonia, having torn off their mask and fully supported Prussian aggression into Saxe-Bearstein, is now facing a pressure force from Gallia, these Frenchies mean business and the Stagoians only have some hastily raised militia and 4th drill battalions to defend the royal holdings. While the army has settled into the mountains including Tipplebruder in their supply lines. While not the center of operations the town of Tipplebruder is facing a stripping of local supplies to feed the Stagonian forces preparing to support Prussian advances on Wein. In the Atlantic, Spanish and French fleets have re-deployed, to support a Spanish blockade of Gran Bretan fleet in Gibraltar. This has pulled many Britannia ships from patrols and released pirate activity in the Mediterranean. All communications with Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt have been cut off. I have no naval game assets, so if there are EvE active members that would like to do the 2:1 odds Naval Raid at Stockholm - again this is a raid and the aim of the Russians is to sink, burn or damage as many Swedish ships as possible. Not a landing of troops. For those with skirmish forces, or an interest in doing a mountain raiding party sort of game (or games) then Tipplebruder militia could be active in messing with the Stagonian supply lines during autumn and early winter in the mountains around Tipplebruder. (Maybe a new storyline?)

Further movement in a seven years warz game

The Grand Mappe after three major moves ...

This time the big battle actions took place:

The BIG BATTLE was for Pilsner, the capitol of Saxe-Bearstein, facing odds of 1.4 to one the Austrian armies under Daun and Bearstein forces fought hard, even having a successful round in the middle of the day, some 4 hours after the first artillery barrages though the Austrians and Bearsteiners were in retreat. Indeed the pursuit was fierce enough to wipe out the remaining Bearstein forces. With some 60% casualties overall the allied force under Daun, who narrowly escaped injury when a battery nearby exploded, has consolidated in Burtzenia. A new all-Austrian line now faces the Altmoranian hordes. In the same battle Prince Henry of Altmorania was badly wounded when thrown from his horse following a charge that the had successfully led. Though sill with the army Prince Henry is not able to effectively take command.

On the east front of Altmorania, the siege of Miastokrol is over, with some 25% casualties the Altmoranian forces have withdrawn leaving Russians in control of the defences under the command of General Solikov.

East of Tipplebruder a Stagonian army was repulsed by the forces of the Empress.
Those retreating Stagonians will now be seeking shelter and not in any mood to be rebuffed...

Further Stagonian aggression was into Vienna! Again the results were terrible for Stagonia ... 55% casualties and the rest were taken prisoner.

Other actions were at sea with the Britannains utterly destroying Dutch shipping off the coast of Ober Nord Westfalen.

Captions, Captains?

Captions have been posted to the Tipplebruder battle pictures on the Frankszonian blog.
Sorry about the delays.
A

Tipplebruder

Draft battle report in four installments on the Frankszonia blog.
Remember, in reading blogs, the last IS the first ....
Also some pictures of the sample figure Frank sent me from Minden's ... painted in the colors of my Sage Guard, but I broke off its musket during painting (yes, as the figure should show, I am half blind and shaky, LOL)

A.

A stagonian Disaster?

Retreating from Tipplebruder, the forces under Gen. Drednoz encountered a brigade of Frankszonian cavalry which had apparently been carefully moving over mountain paths to shadow their movements. The Gen. feels that his withdrawal at Tipplebruder possibly enabled him to escape a desperate Frankszonian trap.
Before the forces can engage, however, dreadful and unseasonal storms break over them. The Stagonian wagon train suffers horrific damage, but the Frankszonian cavalry is also dicomfeted and disappears back into the mountains.

(Okay, the tornadoes missed the farm (Arkansas Ozarks, but every parish around us has taken horrible damage ... and as music minister and so forth, I've been rather unable to take the huge time uploading images requires ... I do have the CD's and, Lord Willing and the Creeks don'trise, I'll get this all finished next week).

A question of poxy ... uh .... proxy! ethics ....

This post sounds ten times more maudlin than I feel, just late and I'm tired.
Also, I will delete this post next weekend or earlier, as frankly it's a tad off topic and personal.

Dear friends,

First of all the many messages of encouragement to my wife and I during this illness have been very, very welcome. Though I'm clearly out of any immediate danger now, the infection seems to be a resistant one, and it'll be still a couple of weeks before I'm supposed to sit up longer than a couple of hours (to be honest, that's one rule I broke the day I was home ... it hurt, all right, but moving around and doing things made me feel a lot better anyway!).

Now here's my dilemma. Edie knows where the bogs are (after all, she is playing Tipplebruder) and I don't. Edie knows which infantry forces and cavalry forces are really under those cards ... and I don't. Now, if I resolve the battle from bed, it would be in 12 figure battalion scale, and she would only be able to take pictures and not play out her side. Given that her dice rolling and the barriers she's got in place, she has a real chance (as usual, alas) to give Stagonia a real bloody nose.
So, I'd really like to wait until we can set the game up in the living room and see what she would do.

ON the other hand, I've several minor scenarios in mind for the Ancient Nations blog, and those plastic ancients are already in the bedroom.

So, should I wait for Edie to feel comfortable with me sitting at the table for the four hours set up and play may take, meanwhile playing with my toy soldiers in bed, or resolve the scenario (which after all involves other gamers) first, or simply wait .... I feel bad playing new scenarios while an unfinished battle remains.

I'll tally up, and play SOMETHING dad bang it, next weekend.

Your servant
Arthur

Field report from the Tipple-Bruder Swamps ....

Actually, the weather had been very unstable at Tipple-Bruder ... and it seems the Stagonian General has fallen seriously ill as a result and thus has only made dilatory moves.
There has been considerable skirmishing around the convent of St. Mary Hildegaard Kunegunde of the Holy Rose Water. Since it is in range of the Tipplebruder artillery, however, Stagonia has not made a serious effort to storm the place, in spite of the alleged presence of virgins still sheltered in its walls. There are at least two battalions of Allied infantry in position to rush to the defense of the light infantry who are enjoying shelter within the cloister.

However, in his defense, the frequent rains have prevented the ground from drying out enough for him to employ his superior cavalry well.
However, the Tipelbruder forces have been driven in to their outer defense line ... as soon as the ground dries enough for the cavalry to sweep around their flanks, the affair should come to a conclusion.
The Stagonian intelligence service has planted rumors of bands of rogue cavalry in Stagonian service in the mountain flank, thus pinning some of their better forces in the hills and out of the main line of our advance.

Major Edsel ....

Colusions interupt us at Tipplebruder .....

The game had begun, the Stagonians were advancing in close knit force to break apart the Alliance (whom I foolishly permitted to have all five of my chevaux au frise pieces, playing with one's wife has unforeseen hazards); when the storm caused problems with the lighting. Koenig's Krieg games are in two parts, the first part involves "hidden" movement using cards instead of figures until the forces close into contact. So, no pictures yet. Game resumes on Wednesday, health permitting.
I'd thought I'd managed to get into a position where even my wife's incredible dice luck couldn't save her .... but, she's got the first initiative role and a battalion flanking my front three! I don't know that she'll spend the battalion (after all, it's dog meat on the next turn if it does attack), but it could stop the breakthrough long enough for the reinforcements to form a solid line ..... I haven't pointed this out to her yet, so hopefully she'll do something else with the roll ...
This post will be deleted when the game is finished.
For those following the battle thread, the Stagonians did decide to advance on the flood plain, their sabotage of the flood gates is successful and the ground is probably firm enough for their cavalry superiority to tell ....

Tipplebruder Allied Headquarters

The Manor House chosen by Count Hans Trunkenbold von Misthaufen, was empty of command officers now, save for the mud-splattered Hit Man Kasper Ksawerić, his red lapels now a damp brown and green tunic covered by his riding cloak had fared better.

After the decision to move out was made, he lingered, knowing full well that his horses were very nearly blown in the rush to arrive. Now that battle was not imminent, and that the Stagonians were most certainly going to have a series of skirmishes along the mountain roads, the Hit Man had decided to tell the Count that his horse needed rest, more than the forces moving in the woods needed battle cavalry.

First he lounged in a sofa while the other military leaders conferred about the movements of the enemy. It mattered little that he was not further in the conversations since they took forever to get about to the point as they were constantly having to re-translate things again and again. Kasper Ksawerić was from a military family in The Duchy of Mieczyslaw, where he was exposed to the Germanic languages of Burtzenia and Altmorania, with his uncles he had travelled to Bavarian holdings where he was exposed to French and Italian. Combined with is own family's slavic holdings he was reasonably comfortable in most languages of the center of the continent. The stumblings of the other commanders trying to make on in each others' tounges was of some amusement to Kasper while he rested, gathering his courage to present his situation to the Count in a glass of reasonably good wine.

Now the room was cleared, Kasper stood at the map and made notes of the distances and took some measure of the limited immediate defences as well as the restricted routes that the Stagonians would have to use to approach Tipplebruder proper.

The Count was finishing with another written dispatch and seemed to be ending his conversations with his secretaries near the great huge desk that was very ornately carved, now pressed into service for the Count's command table.

Kasper Ksawerić addressed the Count in German, having seen him appear most comfortable in that language earlier;

"My respects Count Trunkenbold von Misthaufen."
Hit Man Ksawerić made a customary curt bow, then took that moment to set down his wine glass. He tapped the map,

"I have noted that the Stagonians will have only a limited number of approaches, and as my Dragon are still not recovered from the rush to arrive, may I respectfully suggest that for this day we would be best employed to cover all the remaining approaches which the Stagonians may use to learn of your dispositions or make an appearance otherwise unannounced?"

Hit Man Ksawerić raised his eyebrows and awaited the Count's response...

Tipple Bruder .... last call

If I can get the 72 Austrian figures roughly finished tomorrow, the Stagonian army will have more white coats! Otherwise, there will be some formations with obviously mud stained clothes (sigh).

Whatever, last call for any notifications or Order of Battle or secret instructions is now in progress. If I haven't seen it by 9 P.M. Central Standard (USA) time on Wednesday, I will not be able to factor it into the game. I will post an improvised orbat in the comments here Thursday, if I get time! At the moment, it does seem that I will be able to use the 24 men = 1 figure scale, but this will require a bit of fudging ... especially for the Stagonian professionals, sorry about that ...

Bad news for Stagonia, I'm afraid that my wife will be rolling for Tipple Bruder as the planned opponent general will be involved in family affairs (his grandfather severely and probably fatally ill ... prayers appreciated for Ed ?Finly? and family).

By the way, I hope that the Intendant Bastille doesn't get too excited when all the Frankszonian units begin to file through town and assemble across the river ....

:)
A

Uniforms from Tippelbruder reach Monte-Cristo

When it was decided to triple the strength of the company of professional Carabiniers attached to the Palace, the necessary uniforms were ordered to David Linienblatt, the Master Military Tailor. Then the Stagonian threat was a source of anxiety about their delivery, but they were safely received to-day.
The wagons had left the town long before the Stagonian forces came too close (actually they had departed in haste following the agitation aroused there by one 7-feet tall eye-patched white-clad hussar). Thanks to a constantly updated and perfectly accurate intelligence of the various troops locations and movements, with some judicious detours they avoided any unpleasant encounter.

Mieczyslaw rides to the defence of Tipplebruder

In a hushed wooded area a small barn has a great host taking shelter around it.

The forces of The Duchy of Mieczyslaw are resting after another day of march, through progressively wetter and wetter days, thier lines have become somewhat slower in progress, though now that well maintained roads, some metalled, have been reached the speed by day has increased. The hours of light each day grow shorter, thus keeping the speed of march each day near the same.

Some delays were had in bypassing Burtzenia, now that they were revealed as a foe, and without diverting too far north, lest the Norden armies take action again it took some time and patience on the part of the column commander Hit Man Kasper Ksawerić of the veteran Wstrasowo Dragon to negotiate (even with letters of introduction) his way westwards. The column also contained an elite force, Wojskowo Piechota, though only recently fetted the pair of commands had served together before and a good comradeship existed between the countrymen; though at times recently the footsore Piechota had begun to lag behind more than the Hit Man liked.

A bare meal had finished that night and while enjoying some music about the bivouac fires there was a sudden hush over all...one of the outlieing piquets had brought in a strange pair of riders.

They were both heavily cloaked in plain riding clothes, a simple fact of life in the cold rainy weather, but there was something about their bearing and purposeful stride into the barn that said something more was about to happen.

The men of Wojskowo Piechota tried to ignore the obvious agitiation of the Dragons once their Wojskowo Piechota colonel was called into the meeting. Runners were sent to the Dragon formations, prepare the horse for rapid ride on the first light was to be the order of the day; nothing much in surprise save for one item, NO BAGGAGE. All troopers were to bed down immediately and farriers were to have travel kits ready to maintain the horses, there were to be no carts. These orders shifted the focus of the horsemen.

A while later the Wojskowo Piechota got thier own new orders, the column was to take on the supervision of all baggage for themselves and the Dragon, also half of all rations were to be gathered and distributed to the horsemen before dawn, there was to be a rush on ahead for the Dragon, for it appears that Stagonia had begun their advance...some place called Offenbach had been attacked by Stagonia and now the allied forces needed screening or battle cavalry urgently.

Just before dawn the strange becloaked riders at the head of the four Squadrons of the veteran Wstrasowo Dragon, commanded by Hit Man Kasper Ksawerić, broke camp and rode into the morning mists leaving their foot soldiery behind.

Hesse-Engelburg Troops arrive in Freistadt Tippelbruder

Word is spreading through the populace that a rider has arrived at the Palace to announce the arrival of the Hesse-Engelburg contribution to Tippelbruder's defense as of this previous Sunday, the 19th of August. An encampment has reportedly been set up on the windward side of town, on a commanding hill, and scouts from the Hussars and Jaegers were combing the woods for Stagonian agents.