... it was time again for 28mm, Seven Years War, the Saxon crossing of the Elbe, but then Bart wanted his Polish cavalry on the field so we changed war, but not the scenario. It was raining, any unit that shot had a 50% chance for wet powder and artillery had only 6 rounds of ammo. anyone who wade through the river got definitively wet ammo, was disordered and (in case of the infantry) could drown in 1in6... extra point for guns that made their way over the pontoon...
Bart and Tim (the Polish-Saxon side) were relatively shy and just send some tartars over their pontoon bridge - who got promptly shot back to Warsaw. Apart from that it was onto me and the Prussians to carry the war to the white skirts.
My Hussars got over the river and attacked but got beaten back. Then after Barts ammo was going to end my whole Prussian line started the crossing at once - it was exhilarating like the crossing of the Marne must have been, but also with the same frustration in the end.
His Tartars attacked my cuirassiers and what a shame fought them to retreat back over the river, the dragoons the same, I nearly lost my centre. If the river wouldn't be so deep the tartartwoud have killed them in a sweeping advance.
Then all my units got shot back over the river again - nobody drowned, but still my all-out attack was crumbling.
Yes its a good idea to cross a river in bad weather (no shooting!), but no it is still hard work even with just the melee.
At the end we called it a draw, but I had unit loss 2 vs 1, while I got a honourable mentioning for more units over the river than they had (4 vs 1).
Now I have enough of river crossing battles for the next 24 months...
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| Initial set up: Left the Prussians - right the Polish/Saxons |
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| My light right wing with the Hussars... |
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| Tims large two brigades of Saxons ... |
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| My heavy left flank with Grenadiers and medium guns ... |
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| Dogs! Advance! |
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| The elite of Dresden awaits ... |
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| The Prussians reach the river ... |
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| The Poles just wait ... |
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| There, tartars at the bridge ... |
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| My Hussars just over the river ... |
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| The tartars attack ... |
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| Bart does not dare to commit ... |
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| The Prussians at the river ... |
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| The Saxons still don't move ... |
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| Tims frustration while trying to find dry gun powder ... |
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| My attack faltered ... |
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| Toims brigade advance to the river ... |
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| No real advance of the left flank ... |
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| The guns ablaze ... or more often not ... |
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| My cavalry goes over ... |
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| Re-arrangeing guns ... |
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| The Prussians wait too .. |
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| Shortly before the crossing ... |
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| Guns fire... the Prussian powder seems dry ... |
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| Then the whole Prussian army crosses ... |
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| 4 units were over!!! |
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| Then the Cuirassiers got hit ... |
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| Tims brigade withdraws back ... |
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| And one after the other unit got shot and pushed back ... |
The rest was censored by King of Prussia because of concerns for the battlefield reputation ...
Next time maybe I'll fight like a Prussian, today I'll drink like a Rhinelander. :)
