Battle of Preisserstadt (Part II)

Here is the second part of the pictures that I took at the OSW Big Game on Saturday October 13th in the Chicago suburbs. As with all of the photographs, please click on the picture in order to enlarge it to its full size.

Prussian Cuirassier Regiment No. 2 "Prinz von Preussen" crashes into one of the French regiments as a prelude to the ultimate show down of the cavalry forces. The 60-figure French Carabiniers await the outcome of this melee in the second line. To the left of this action, the Mestre-de-camp regiment of the French cavalry arm is about to run off the Prussian Lieb Cuirassiers. At the top of the picture, the Prussian Brown Hussars clash with some Saxon Cheveau-legers. The French seemed to have done a better job of massing larger forces of cavalry whenever they engaged in a horse melee. This and some unfortunate dice rolling put the Prussian horse at a disadvantage. As the game progressed, the Prussian cavalry commanders learned their lesson and began to fight the French with equal numbers, achieving some successes late in the game.



This is the fight that we've all been waiting for: the French Carabiniers (aka "The Thundering Herd") versus the Prussian CR2 Prinz von Preussen (aka "Death by Cavalry"). There are 60 French and 45 Prussians in this grand melee. Next left, we see the CR1 Buddenbrock Cuirassier Regiment of Prussian cuirassiers advancing into some Spencer Smith dragoons. In the background, remnants of the French regiment that meleed with the Prussian cuirassiers are seen fleeing for thier lives. Meanwhile, the French cavalry regiment Royal lurks behind the Carabiniers, ready to add their weight to the second round of melee. How did this all turn out? I can't recall. We may have called the game before this melee could be concluded. I will have to ask my French colleagues what happened.


The Prussian Garde Brigade (III/15 in the foreground and IR6 at the top) form the last line of defense on the Prussian right flank, guarding Schloss Heyde, which was one of the terrain victory points that the French needed to capture. A battalion of Prussian fusiliers was billeted inside the Schloss, but the French didn't know that. A battery of horse artillery supports another brigade of Prussian cuirassiers and two squadrons of hussars to further buttress the right flank. Papa didn't raise no fool when he brought Der Alte Fritz into the world. There was no way that I was going to allow the French to turn our flank, at least not without defeating my best infantry first.

Some other points of note are that all of the buildings were constructed by Herb Gundt, of H.G. Walls. The white monuments that you see near the Schloss Heyde are the victory columns that we earn whenever we first win a battle. So each player brings his own victory column, which is placed on some "victory hill" somewhere on the battlefield. The larger white crypt-like monument is given to the army commander for each side. It is a traveling trophy that goes to the person who commanded the army in its most recent victory.

You may have also noticed an ammunition cart in the lower left portion of the picture (Front Rank Miniatures) and the little green tag. The tag depicts the number of ammo rounds that each gun has, or in the case of an ammo wagon, the number of rounds that are in the supply wagon. A little "bomb" symbol denotes round shot while a square denotes cannister. Each cannon starts the game with 4 round shot and 2 cannister rounds.


Meanwhile, back at the other end of the table, the Austrians were finally making a determined push to capture the Preisser Heights on the Prussian left (Allied/Austrian right). The Prussians appear to be using a "rear slope" defense of the heights. The Austrian hussars in the middle of the picture charged up the hill and were repulsed by the infantry battalion in the center of the picture. While this was going one, the Croats were pushing the dismounted Prussian hussars (Foundry figures) back through the Jungwald towards their supporting Prussian infantry.