Finally tracking his house down, we made our way upstairs to join Mark, John and Frank for the Battle of Hochst (June 1622) where the Protestants and Catholics clashed.
The ruleset was Rennaisance Principles of War with some house rules added (and much better in my opinion). With Ian refereeing it made a big difference to the flow of the game and his ruling on some close calls was crucial to the eventual outcome.
The terrain was superb - some finely painted Timecast pieces really helped set the scene - and added to the overall atmosphere.
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| The battlefield from the direction of the marsh |
The Armies
Myself, Russ and Frank took the Catholic army (a mixture of tercios, currasiers and musketeers) with Frank in overall charge while John and Mark took the Protestant army. I managed the Catholic League and Russ the Spanish.
The battlefield
The field was dominated by a number of features. The road to Hochst was flanked on the left by the Nidda Marshes (impassable to artillery and slow going for horses) and the Sulzbach river which then turned right at the town of Sossenheim (which included one of two bridges and was therefore a key objective). The river separated the two forces and was dominated by another key feature - a large hill with a windmill (and gibbet!). |
| The town of Sossenheim with its key bridge |
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| The hill with the windmill and the town in the distance |
The Objectives
This was a timed game - starting at 12 noon and finishing at 7pm. Every movement pip and shooting pip took time off the clock. The Protestants had to stop the Catholics from reaching the end of the road to Hochst and capturing the baggage train (and therefore the Protestant money bags) by 7pm - the Catholics clearly had to reach the end of the road in time.
The Protestant disposition
The Protestants put one group of pike in the town to hold it - with a redoubt behind the town (and over the bridge) to protect the road - and holding two units of musketeers. The cavalry were lined up at the rear of the Protestant battle line (pike and musketeers) to protect the road.
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| Protestant disposition. Cavalry cover the road and the redoubt can be seen by the town. Note the undefended marshes. |
The Catholic Plan
After discussion and seeing the Protestant disposition, we planned initially to bypass the town and throw everything across the river (with the Spanish cavalry swinging round the hill and attacking the road from behind the Protestants. The marsh area was undefended though and offered a chance to ride the Catholic League cavalry through the marshes unchallenged (albeit fairly slowly).The key issue was artillery. The heavy artillery - once placed - could not be moved. The light artillery could move but only over a bridge and - once placed, could not be moved. So placing the heavy was key. My thought was to point it all at the town / redoubt to batter the defenders and thereby open the road. Frank (as C in C) decided to keep one on the town / redoubt and spread the other two cannon pointing at the Protestant line.
So after deliberation we decided we were going to take the town after all (as it was the only way the light artillery could be brought to bear) and the Catholic League were charged with taking it, the redoubt and then plunge down the road. The Spanish would simply go toe-to-toe with the Protestant line while the cavalry rode round the back.
Opening moves
The Spanish cavalry rode for the river - and found a nice place to ford (as well as a horrible place to ford). The latter was so bad that the cavalry had to contract and form column to try to get across the decent ford quickly.
The tercios followed their lead and sprinted (i.e. crawled slowly) to the river. They had to keep going straight to keep the channels open for the heavy artillery to shoot through - and one tercio hit the same poor crossing point that the cavalry had found. Consequently they crawled across the river and - had the Protestants held the river bank, would have found it hard going to get across. As it was they crossed unchallenged - just slowly.
Meanwhile my Catholic League surrounded the town and rained shots in, reducing the defenders to Shaken.
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| The Spanish rush for the river |
The Spanish cavalry took their time firding the river. In response, Mark moved a hefty chunk of cavalry forward to the side of the hill to protect his troops. Meanwhile, Russ moved his 3 bases of musketeers forward to shoot one of the enemy musketeer units - as the tercios finally made it to the riverbank.
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| The Protestant cavalry move to the hillside as the Spanish head for the far side of the hill. Meanwhile the Spanish musketeers aim to kill off their outnumbered opponents. |
As for the town, a Spanish tercio (#22) got within touching distance and I decided to get shoot the defenders up a bit (with a view to getting them Shaken) then charge the tercio in. My cavalry were waiting for the town to be cleared before rushing through and down the road.
This is where - in hindsight - we made two mistakes. Firslty, if all three cannon had been deployed to take on the town and redoubt, we would have been inflicting 4-5 casualties on the town defenders each turn and soon got them (and the redoubt defenders) out of the picture. As clearing the town was key to getting to the end of the road, then the cannon would have made most impact here.
In addition, we could have moved the Catholic League cavalry through the marsh and reached the other bridge (just short of the objective) - and at least forced the Protestants to move their forces around to meet this challenge (especially as more than half their cavalry were at the other side of the battlefield). As it was, they stayed still - waiting for the bridge to be captured. This proved costly in the end.
Tercio 22 took two casualties from the town defenders and went Shaken. The return shooting kept on reducing the defenders' numbers - but only by 1's. In addition John made some stunning morale saves - all suspiciously with a 5 on a d20 (which led to calls for the referee to check the dice for lead weights!).
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| The Protestant defenders hold on against all comers - and keep battering tercio 22! |
In the centre, the Spanish musketeers saw off the Protestant musketeers and started peppering the Protestant line. Behind them, the cavalry finally forded the river and rode for the back of the hill.
Middle battle
Tercio 22 continued to trade casualties with the town defenders (who should have been long gone). Seeing the battle develop, John moved the remaining cavalry behind the redoubt to protect the road, the redoubt and the pike who were facing the Spanish tercios (who had also finally crossed the river - just about).
The town defenders were reduced again, but stayed put thanks to John's magic dice. But Tercio 22 became the most shot-up unit on the table by taking more casualties.
In the middle, the Protestant musketeers charged the left-most unit of Spanish musketeers. The flanking unit of the Protestant line also pivoted to get shots in and the Spanish musketeers found themselves shot at from all sides (and all three went Shaken). This pivot created a gap (see picture) which Mark couldn't resist pushing through (that's aggressive commanders for you!.
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| The gap - and Mark's cavalry pour through |
The town defenders took another 3 casualties and STILL stayed put. They seemed determined to die to the last man!
The clock now said 2.04pm - 2 hours gone and the town was still held and the Protestants were unscathed in the centre - it was time to go to war in earnest.
The Spanish cavalry shot round the hill, the Spanish tercios moved forward from the river while we decided to rush the town regardless of the shooting outcome.
Talking of impetuous, Mark decided to move his cavalry through the newly created gap to chase after the Spanish cavalry. He was then reminded that they moved at the same speed and would simply end up creating an equine merry-go-round and also leave the rear unprotected. The next two turns saw him slam the brakes on and move 180 degrees to close the gate before it was too late.
The town defenders took another hit and made another morale check!
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| The Spanish cavalry get a double move - but still have to go around the farm. You can hear the screech of brakes as Mark tries to turn his cavalry back on themselves before its too late. |
The attack on the town went in - with the general joining Tercio 22 to see them home. For his pains, he took a bullet in the head and fell to a heap on the floor. Time for another commander to take his place and make his mark!
The cannon aimed at the town shifted fire to the redoubt (causing a morale fail and a casualty). Then Tercio 22 charged into the town itself. The time was now 3.02.
In the melee, John rolled another 5(!) for morale but they finally retired Shaken and (on the way out) met their Maker and Tercio 22 finally took the town.
The centre Catholic tercios were now getting into range and some shooting saw the Protestant musketeers rout.
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| The town falls - finally! Everyone rushes for the bridge. |
The strategically placed cannon took another shot at the redoubt and hit again - causing another failed morale check (just as the Catholic League were marching through the town). The Catholic League musketeers marched through the marsh on the other side of the river to bring their guns to bear on the redoubt as well.
Meanwhile, the Catholic cavalry were turning the corner by the farm and changing formation to meet Mark's cavalry haring around from the other side of the hill - also changing formation. Meanwhile a unit of musketeers was rushed to the hill to protect the Protestant pike's flank.
While the placement of the cannon may not have been perfect, they still forced morale checks and fails in the Protestant lines.
The time was now 3:50pm.
The Spanish tercios moved at a snail's pace (as Russ kept on throwing 1's for pips) and seemed to be stationary for ages. No such problems in the town as the tercios moved through to take on the redoubt and the Catholic League cavalry began entering the town itslef (aming to rush down the road as soon as the tercios got into the redoubt).
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| John and Mark beaming at the slow Catholic movement. The smiles were soon removed from these faces. |
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| Russ and Frank (who thanks to motion blur looks like a cross between Dobby and Nosferatu) plan the Protestant demise |
All the movement and shooting was running the clock down, however. As Tercio 22 started exchanging shots with the redoubt (aided by the musketeers who were firing from the far side of the river) the time was now 4.26pm - just 2 and a half hours left to fight.
At this point the Spanish tercios finally reached the Protestant line and charged in and handed out a whupping with 4 casualties to 1.
It was at this point that their smiling commanders suddenly looked grim - rolling a total of 3 movement pips between them! All they could do was move their horse to head the Spanish off at the pass stop them rampaging towards the road.
The grimness continued as the Spanish tercios made mincemeat out of the opposing line inflicting 3 more casualties on the units facing them. A desperate cry of "That's another 2 minutes on the clock!" came from Mark as he realised that their line troops were looking sick as dogs.
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| Ian as referee disputing the Spanish claim that they should be allowed to smash the Protestants with tanks and helicopters with the weak argument that they hadn't been invented yet. Has he never heard of Leonardo da Vinci? |
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| Ian's whiteboard showing the map and the all important timeline ticking down. |
Russ moved his cavalry within 2" of Mark's cavalry. Again, in hindsight, it would have been better to ride on (his orders were to attack the road, not the opposition). Whether this was down to the C in C or Russ is unclear - but it meant that the cavalry were now embroiled in a scrap they were unlikely to win.
Mark proved this point by inflicting 5 casualties on the Spanish cavalry (who wanted to get stuck into a melee but couldn't as the Protestants had to be Shaken before they could do so). Consequently they were being shot to pieces without doing similar damage back.
It was now 5.08. The Spanish tercios were getting stuck in and I asked Russ not to throw a '2' - which seemded to be the only number his dice had thrown up in the last 5 turns. He didn't throw a 2 - he threw a 1 instead! But that was still 4 casualties and the Protestant line was crumbling.
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| Protestants having their lunch handed to them |
Also crumbling was their right flank as Tertio 22 charged the redoubt and (despite taking more casualties) ejected the pesky defenders - one of which routes and the other fell back. Finally, the road was open!
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| The redoubt falls. The cavalry surge forwards and the musketeers behind the river rush downstream to shoot the Protestant horses. |
But it was far from over. The Spanish cavalry were bogged down by the hill, and I had only just got the lead elements of mine out of the town. My musketeers were making good shooting (forcing a cavalry unit to retire Shaken) but it was now 5:18pm. "Another 2 minutes!" shouted Mark - at any opportunity.
And now every minute counted. To save time the Catholic cannons were silenced and any troops unlikely to make a difference were left behind. The Protesants (in return) aimed to use up as much time as possible through shooting and Ian had to be strict in preventing the Protestant pikes doing a shuffle from side to side to eat up precious minutes.
The Spanish tercios continues to chew up the Protestants and push them back - but it was slow going. On the left flank my musketeers got alongside the holding Protestant cavalry to get some good shooting in while my cavalry rushed headlong out of the town and down the road.
Then one of those moments you love in wargaming. Russ rolled yet another 1 for hits, lost the melee and was making a morale check and rolled a 20 - a shocking fail and potentially disasterous. Just as Mark (and probably as a consequence) shouted in triumph the dice rolled back and showed a 2 - a clear pass. Shouts of laughter and joy from the Catholics, grunts of disbelief and 'what the ****' from the Protestants.
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| The offending d20. |
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| "You're not smiling any more! You're not smiling any more!" |
Frank had to leave at this point - thinking that the hard work was done and that all we had to do was carry on the good work. But the clock was down 6pm. Would there be enough time?
It was looking better for the Protestants. Russ made a 10 roll on the morale test and some of his cavalry retreated. Then Mark threw a 10 as well and his cavalry general had a rush of blood to the head and charged and ran himself off the table. Mark claimed he was hanging on to the table edge but Ian adjudicated that toucing the edge meant he was off. John had popped off for a toilet break and returned to the battle (much as Napoleon did at Waterloo to find Ney had messed things up) and harshly called Mark a 'gimp' for leaving his cavalry leaderless. This also allowed one of Russ' cavalry free to charge for the road - which he did. It was now all down to the clock.
By the redoubt, one of my musketeer units charged and routed the remaining Protestant musketeers. In addition, the Catholic League cavalry rushed headlong into the remaining cavalry protecting the road (reduced to a shadow of themselves by adept shooting from my marsh-based musketeers) - who then hightailed it for the end of the road as well.
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| The Catholic League cavalry aim to smash through the Protestant cavalry while the musketeers get a last shot in before running for the baggage train. |
It left the Protestants doing the equivalent of taking the ball to the corner flag in the dying seconds - wasting pips where they could to run down the clock. Meanwhile, we were husbanding our pips to eke out time. However, as most units were on attack orders this proved impossible. The tercios continued to advance (eating up precious minutes) despite the enemy being out of range.
In the horse battle by the redoubt, I needed anything but a 1 in order to sweep the enemy cavalry from the field - so inevitably threw a 1 and failed. The rest of my cavalry swung past this battle but as they started from further back they simply were not close enough. All now depended on Russ' rogue unit that was rushing for the road as the sun dipped behind the hill.
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| The Catholic League cavalry break through and ride pell mell for the end of the road. Too late, boys. too late. |
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| The solitary unit rushing for the rapidly retreating baggage train and the Protestant loot. |
All eyes turned to this solitary unit but we knew that it was too far away.
Ian called the result - a draw. Both sides emerged with honour but it was definitely a case of what might have been for the Catholics.
Aftermath
It definitely felt like defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. The Catholics had pummelled the Protestants (except in the cavalry battle by the hill) but we had failed to clear the town in a timely fashion - and so failed to get the reserve into place. Those light cannon would have really battered the remaining Protestant forces.
As mentioned before, having all heavy cannon on the town and redoubt would have opened both up much quicker - and given us time to roll down the road. Or moving the cavalry through the marsh (just 20 minutes of game time) would have forced the Protestants to shift their meagre forces around more - and maybe opened the centre up sooner.
The charge round the hill almost succeeded - Mark's desire to get to grips could have left the rear unguarded and the Spanish would have been eating paella in Hochst (paying with Protestant funds) before the sun had begun to set.
The key though was the town - and the defending Protestants deserve the title of Unit of the Match for holding out (and holding us up) for so long.
Other post-action comments included the idea of putting the Protestant musketeers on the hill to better support the flank AND engage the cavalry as they rode round. As it was, the cavalry cancelled each other out but the Protestant horses did their job.
What we did agree on was that having a referee in Ian made the game quicker, smoother and more enjoyable and that he had put on a fantastic day. He was kind enough to supply sausage rolls, mince pies and continuous drinks all day - and put a load of effort into staging the battle, drawing up the orders of battle and sketching the scenario.
Mark and John put up a great defence and deserved to eke out a draw in the face of unassailable odds - and also played in a fantastic spirit.
A most enjoyable day!