Warburg 1760 SYW - in 6mm with Might & Reason

Might & Reason - a review

Might & Reason (M&R) are intended to fight large-scale “grand-tactical” battles of the mid-eighteenth century.  I've always been a fan of Sam A Mustifa's rules.  They always play well and they are very clear, readable and understandable.  Might & Reason are an old set of rules which I have come to late.  It is easy to see a number of points in these rules which have influenced the design of later rules.  I don't claim to be an expert in these rules but I've tried to capture my initial thoughts based on having fought two battles.

Units have SP (strength points) which reflect their performance in combat.  This is very similar to a unit's Elan in Blucher.  As a game mechanic it prevents units being unbeatable killing machines, even the strongest, most elite guard unit will be worn down after a series of combats.  Although I enjoy playing BlackPowder2 with my friends it is possible for a elite unit to fight multiple combats and still be almost at strong at the end of the battle as at the start.  This is not the case in M&R.  In M&R sending in fresh reserves can have a huge impact as fresh troops will cut a swath through even the best of troops who have been worn down in a series of combats.

These rules and those in Sam's Fast Play Grande Armee share a similar approach to command.  The command system is based around the rating of the commander and in non-historical battles, poor commanders are given large armies to help compensate their command shortcomings.   The better a commander is the more command dice (CD) he receives.  These CD allow commanders  to improve the activation of their troops and influence combat odds.  Game turns have a variable length of 1-4 phases which adds an interesting challenge to commanders , deciding whether to save their command dice to later phases or to blow them all in the first phase or two.  

The rules have very comprehensive army lists for all of the major and minor powers of the period.  They also contain not one but two campaign systems.  For those of you who have always wanted to fight a campaign you may find these rule interesting even if you fight other systems.  I suspect they will be good between the Thirty Years War to Napoleonic's. 

The rules are very playable and reflect the feel of the period.  I found them a little slow when compared to Blucher but that may be my lack of familiarity. I have used, a slightly modified, Blucher to refight SYW battles and they do it very well once the power of Napoleonic cavalry is restrained.

Warburg is one of the example battles which are detailed in the rules. Chronologically it was after the Battle of Minden, which was the subject of my last blog post. See below for useful links:

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• Kronoskaf: Warburg
• British Battles: Warburg 
• The King's Royal Hussars

The plan

The Anglo-German plan was to refuse their left flank and swing the elite troops of the right flank into the side of the French and roll them up. The french plan was to react to the Allies and not move very much due to their poor leadership.

The plan started well. The Anglo-German right wing swung to attack the French left flank. The French commander personally took command of the left wing and lead them towards the incoming Grenadiers.
Meanwhile the poor level of generalship resulted in the French cavalry and right wing sitting still and take no action.

The fight between the Anglo-German elite troops and the best infantry of the French was a hard fight but in the end the French broke but not without wearing down the fighting capability of the Anglo-Germans.  The French cavalry eventually managed to get going and swung into combat with the weakened Anglo-German grenadiers. The intervention of the cavalry saver the French army from being rolled up from the flank.

The French reserve frustrated by the lack of motion of the French righ wing, advanced past the French front lines towards the Anglo-German centre.  The French right wing, bizarrely, taking over as the reserve.  The British cavalry in the centre bravely charged the advancing French foot, who repulse the British attacks.

By now the daylight was fading and the Anglo-German's had inflected more casualties than the French had on them however when the commanders rolled for moral they both decided that is was best to withdraw from the field.  The final result was a draw but a minor moral victory to the French as defenders.

Minden 1759 - in 6mm using Blackpower

The battle of Minden on the 1st August 1759 was a major battle between an Anglo-German army and the French towards the end of the Seven Years' War. Many years ago, I lived near Minden in Germany and this battle has therefore always been one in which I have been interested. For further details please see:

• Web site: Kronoskaf Battle of Minden
• Web site: Wikipedia Battle of Minden
• Book: Like a Brazen wall by Ewan Carmichael from Helion publishing

I'd casually suggested to my gaming friends that I'd like to refight Minden and found myself on the hook to arrange the battle, something I was very happy to do.  The next month was busy creating the order of battle, deciding on the attributes of the units and painting an extra sixteen battalions and three cavalry regiments. One of the joys of 6mm is I can paint and base a battalion of 24 figures in about an hour.

The Battlefield

Wikimedia Commons Battle of Minden - Situation at 6:30 a.m.

The forces

I was keen to try and reflect the historical advantages and disadvantages of the forces engaged in the battle, especially the performance (or lack of performance) of Sackville commander of the British contingent at the battle.  I'd always written him off a poor commanded but having read more about his courts martial in Like a Brazen wall by Ewan Carmichael I now wonder if he was thrown under the proverbial bus for political reasons. 

It was important to give the British troops stats that gave them a chance to perform as well as they did at the battle.  I was also aware that French battalions at the battle were in general smaller than those of the Anglo-Germans.

As the battle was going to be fought on a 6'x4' table in a morning, I reduced the number of units represented to One Battalion per two battalions actually present and each of my cavalry regiments represented about five squadrons. 

• Order of Battle and Blackpowder stats and special rules.
• Labels for the Generals with command rating and break point for their command.

The re-fight of the Battle

I was joined by three of my friends, Mark Browne, John Dance and Paul Smith.  Mark and I took the French-Saxon and John and Paul the Anglo-German.  Each of the commanders were labelled with their name, command rating and the break point of their command.

Pre-Dawn at the Anglo-German HQ

View of the Battlefield from Kutenhausen towards the French lines with Malbergen in the mid-ground.

French Right Wing

The assault by the French right wing played out historically correct.  The French Grenadiers bravely lead the assault on the Anglo-German left under Von Wangenheim.  Although brave the French forces could not withstand the bombardment by the allied artillery backed up by their Converged Grenadier Brigade and Hanoverian forces.  The French grenadiers under Comte de Saint-Germain's broke leaving the remaining French forces out numbered by the allies behind their field entrenchments. 

French assault reduced to by half after the loss of the Grenadiers de France & Grenadiers Royaux.

French Centre

The French centre pushed forward and took the village at Malbergen.  It was a good defensive position and they held off the frontal assault by the Anglo-German centre but the collapse of the French right wing left the right flank open and the command had to be given to withdraw back towards Minden.

French centre holding steady 

Flanked

The French Left

The role of the French left was to quickly smash the Anglo-German forces between Hahlen and the woods and then to turn the flank and then join the forced at Malbergen in the centre of the battlefield. Wave after wave of  French horse changed the allied forces, supported by French foot.  Unfortunately the British heavy cavalry were able to activate and advanced into the fight.   In the end the French won but had to throw in their Saxon reserve under Prince General Xavier.  

French push north from Hahlen the British just the other side of the woods

The French reserve (Saxon's under Prince General Xavier

The End

Despite a victory for the French on their left but to little and too late.  The French right was lost and the centre could not hold without support.  Maréchal de Contades was forced to concede defeat.  The battle fought out pretty much the way it did in history. The French righ were wiped out by Anglo-German artillery and the huge French cavalry force were wiped out, although in this version by Hanoverian Infantry and the British horse. 

Aftermath

It was wonderful to be able to play a game with friends after such as long lockdown.  I'd like to give a huge thanks to my friends, John, Mark & Paul, for indulging me  I bit off a little more than I could chew with this battle as I'd hoped we could run it in 2-3 hours and it took 4. Sadly several players had to leave and missed the last hour. I have some ideas on how to make our next battle quicker....