Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Battle of the Hilton Heights - St. Maurice and Ardoberg-Holstein crossed swords yet again today in the Battle of Hilton Heights. This was a full scale battle, pitting approximately 1000 infantry and 300 cavalry in combat for a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday afternoon. Gary (the Ardo in Ardoberg), and I are working out the bugs in a very strait forward set of rules based on the DBA mechanism. It will allow us to fight truly large battles over a very short time, with the focus being on those headaches a commanding general would have to deal with. Movement trays are 2"x6" for all troop types which allows both movement and storage convenience. Here's a little picture essay of the engagement:
Here's the initial disposition of the A-H forces, with heavy cavalry to the right (foreground), light cavalry to the left and his household troops in the center.








Here's a rather poor shot of the early deployment of the St. Maurician forces.

At the beginning of turn 4; some serious maneuvering going on on the St. Maurice left. The center has closed to artillery range, and the guns are in operation. On the right, the Arquibusiers are moving up the Hiltonwald, and the Gendarmere are moving in on the hussars. It's almost crunch time.


By turn 7 we see some serious combat underway on both flanks, and with the center involved in both artillery and small arms exchanges. The battle is well and truly involved.









By move 10, things were still up in the air, but seemed to be moving slowly and steadily in favor of the A-H forces. At this point Marshall Neigh formally requested to disengage. This was granted and the fighting ended after approximately five and a half hours of solid fighting. All in all, a very enjoyable little contest.










6 comments:

Snickering Corpses said...

You have such gorgeously done figures. I'd love to see a full profile of each regiment for both sides, with photo, something akin to Alte Fritz' grand reviews or my own Unit Profiles (which lack photos because I haven't painted them yet :P).

abdul666 said...

A very pleasant an enjoyably illustrated report of an impressive battle between *large* armies!
Large armies of Big Battalions of very well painted minis (and this covers also the choice of uniform colors, the flags..): largely equivalent to C. Grant's Mollwitz, but in full colors: compliments!

And an opportunity to learn that, the OSW photos albums notwithsatnding (enjoyed the closer view of the Carpathian Pandours), we may still have to discover a few units of both sides?
I warmly second 'Snickering Corpses'suggestion...

Best wishes,
Jean-Louis

Fitz-Badger said...

Splendid!
Great minis, nice colors, wonderful battle report.
Nice work :-)

Bluebear Jeff said...

I too would like to see a "grand review" of the troops on both sides.

I'd also like to know what figure manufacturers the various units are . . . and the table size.

It is an impressive looking game.


-- Jeff

justMike said...

The table used is 6'x20', and saw figures almost from end to end. The majority of the figures used by Ardoberg-Holstein are Spencer-Smiths (of the older plastic variety), while the larger part of the Army de ST. Maurice is Staddens and Surens. Both forces are supplemented with other troop types (Mini Figs 30mm's, a couple of Hinchliffe, and two regiments of the old Wally Simon 30mm figures).
There is 4 pictures of the St. Valentine's Day grand review of Les Hommes de St. Maurice on file in the pictures section of the OSW site. Look under St. Maurice. Thank you all for the nice words.

Mike

Robert said...

What a great battle report, and a wonderful blog generally! The enthusiasm really comes through.

I raise my glass to you, sir!