Big SYW Cavalry Battle - The Light Cavalry Phase

The garrison town of Gross Kammin

Last evening saw the long awaited start of my all-cavalry SYW game that I had talked about in the months prior to Historicon in July. As you might guess, Historicon game preparations took up most of my hobby related time. However, the conventions are over and now I can get back to doing some solo gaming on the home pitch.

Background to the game

The all-cavalry game is a contest with Prussia and Russia as the combatants. The Russians have been on a roll destroying villages in Pommerania and the Trans-Oder (the eastern bank) regions of Prussia. The most outrageous example is the burning and destruction of Kustrin during the Zorndorf campaign of 1758. Following Zorndorf, the Russians have been sending out hordes of the Cossack light cavalry, backed by some hussars, out into the Prussian hinterlands to capture stores, burn villages and effectively deny resources to the Kingdom of Prussia,

The Prussian high command sets its plan to bag the Cossacks.

Frederick has had enough of these Cossack depredations and so he has called on his light cavalry genius, Lt. General Joachim von Zieten, to devise a plan to lure the Russian cavalry into a trap and destroy it once and for all.

Phase One - the light cavalry game

The cavalry game will be broken down into several phases of action, with each phase building on the results of the previous phase. We start with the light cavalry game that features Russian hussars and Cossacks on a  raiding mission; and they are opposed by an assortment of Prussian light cavalry consisting of hussars and Bosniaken lancers,

Russian Order of Battle

Don Cossacks - 2 polks 12 x 2 = 24 figures

Chugevsky Cossacks - 2 polks 14 x 2 = 28 figures

Volga Cossacks - 1 polk = 10 figures

Horvath Hussars - 2 squadrons  2 x 12 = 24 figures

Gruzinski Hussars - 1 squadron = 12 figures

Total 62 Cossacks and 36 Hussars = 98 figures

Prussian Order of Battle

Zieten Hussars (H2) - 12 figures

Green Hussars (H1) - 12 figures

White Hussars (H4)  - 24 figures

Black Hussars (H5) - 36 figures

Red Hussars (H7) - 12 figures

Bosniaken Lancers - 12 figures

  Total 108 figures

As you can see, the two sides have relatively equal strengths in figures, however, the vast majority of the Russians are the irregular Cossacks whereas all of the Prussian light cavalry are regular line regiments of varying quality.

The Terrain Map

The map below shows a sketch of the layout of my game table. The center horizontal line indicates where the two tables meet. The top table is 5ft by 12ft and the bottom table is 6ft by 12ft. There is an aisle between the two tables. I'm sorry about the poor quality of the map but Adobe Acrobat won't let me do any editing to the map even though I paid for the service. Don't get me started.

The town of Gross Kammin is located in the lower righthand corner of the map. This is where the Prussians have their fortified encampment. There are three earthworks that guard all of the approaches to the town.

The Prussian town of Gross Kammin

Moving north onto the top table we see the town of Zicherwitz, a rich agricultural community that has a very small garrison of about a dozen men.

The Prussian village of Zicherwitz

Moving west from Zicherwitz, we travel across the great Kammin Heide which is a vast open lands area Continuing on that road we arrive at Sagwitz, which is basically a fortified farm building/house. The Prussians are building a field bakery outside of the farm building and this serves as the bait to entice the Russian mice to attack.

The farm house of Sagwitz. A Prussian field bakery is sited next to the walled farmhouse. 

And finally we travel down the south road to the small hamlet of Frobeldorf, which is known for the world famous Savage Swann inn and tavern. Here is a link to the back story about The Savage Swans on Belisarius' blog "Another Slight Diversion. The tavern is run by some fellow named Seamus Gunter von Donavan. Stop in and tip a mug with von Donavan the next time you travel through Frobeldorf.

Frobeldorf

Some unruly Cossacks are shown the door at the Savage Swan by some 
Prussian Black Hussars doing a side hustle as bouncers.

The Kammin Heide is the great expanse of wide open field that is perfect for a cavalry fight or a traditional linear warfare tussle.

The great Kammin Heide, where history will soon be made.

So there you have it. Your very own Baedeker's  Guide to Pommerania and Trans-Oder Silesia

We have introduced you to the forces in the respective Prussian and Russian armies, gone over the terrain and maps, and have set the stage for the great Cossack trap. With that, this blog post is starting to get a bit long so I think that we will wrap it up and put a bow around it and divide the light cavalry game into a two-part episode, coming within the next several days.

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