Might & Reason testing the game flow Part 2

Our second Impulse for Turn 1 occurred as follows;

Du Muy rolls a two dice with an additional +1 (did not have initiative last pulse) and gets a 2, 2 +1 = 5.  Since he rolled doubles he also gets the number on the Average Die of additional command dice this turn (3).

Erbprinz rolls 2,1 = 3

French win and take the initiative.

Musketry segment - No action as all units are out of range still

Artillery simultaneous segment - no hits recorded (pretty poor shooting all around, but you do need a 6 at long range which this is, even with 2 dice per battery instead of 1).

Pulse 2 - Du Muy gives 2 CD to Fischer to make sure he reacts to the flanking movement on a timely basis and gives no CD to any other commander (concerned about needing CDs to react to combat results perhaps?)

Fischer rolls 6, 3, 3, 2 and takes the 6 and 3 for 9 = Active so moves his regular infantry forces to the left flank in March Formation whilst the irregular troops move (and must always move) in Fighting Formation

Segur rolls 4, 4 = 8 so is active and stays put

Lutzelberg rolls 6, 1 = 7 so is active but stays put

Meaupeou rolls 5, 3 = 8 so is active buts stays put

Pulse 2 Erbprinz gives 1 command die to Zastrow to make sure he moves out of the village and engages Meaupeou before then end of the day.

Zastrow rolls 5, 5, 5 takes 10 and is active so advances out in front of the village.

Granby rolls 6, 4 = 10 so Active and advances to keep near to both the infantry wings.

Brunswick rolls 3, 2 = 5 so Inactive (perhaps the Erbprinz should have given him a CD to give the 'flanking movement' some teeth?)

3rd Pulse turn 1 rolls

Du Muy rolls 2, 1 = 3 CD but also rolls the average die for a 3.  Since the Avg Die result is equal to or less than last pulse the turn ends automatically. 

Both commanders are left with extra Command Dice which they must lose once the turn ends.  So part of the command mechanics are set to cause players to think about possible 3 or 4 pulse turns when they actually probably only occur infrequently?

Here is the table at the end of the first turn, 2nd pulse activity:

Turn II

Roll for Command Dice for the turn

Du Muy rolls a 5 (so has rolled a 6 and then a 5 for 11 CD's - far in excess of what could reasonably be expected for a Poor commander per the rules).

Erbprinz rolls 3, 1 = 4 for command dice.

1st Pulse rolls for initiative:

Du Muy rolls 6, 2 = 8 plus an Avg Die of 3

Erbprinz rolls 5, 2, = 7.  Erbprinz then sacrifices 1 CD to re-roll the 2 and try to win the initative, unfortunately he rolls a 1 so ends with 6.

French take the initiative for Pulse 1

Musketry segment - no one is yet in range so no firing

Artillery segment No hits yet made by either side!!!

French action pulse 1:

Du Muy rolls for Fischer with 2 CD added and gets 6, 6, 3, 1 and selects the 6 and 3 for 9 = Active and Fischer continues his movement to the flank.

Segur rolls 5, 2 = 7 so is active buts stays put

Lutzelberg rolls 6, 5 = 11 and must Attack so is forced to charge down off the heights and engage some of Granby's horse and some of Zastrow's grenadiers.  He wins none of these combats and as the attacker must fall back 3 Base Widths after taking 2 hits on each unit that was in the various combats.  The allies take 1 hit per combat as they won but did not defeat the French by double.

Meaupeou rolls 4,3 = 7 active buts stands pat.

Allied action pulse 1:

Granby gets 2 CD and rolls 6, 6, 6, 2 and takes the 6 and 2 = 8 and is active.  He adjusts his lines by way of a slight forward advance.  (Seems he does not relish the idea of attacking uphill into the untouched French regulars and heavy cavalry there just yet.)

Zastrow rolls 6, 2 = 8 and is active so advances 2BW towards Meaupeou's line but remains just out of range.

2nd pulse turn 2:

Du Muy rolls 2, 2 = 4 CD but also rolls the average die for a 2.  Since the Avg Die result is equal to or less than last pulse the turn ends automatically.   (Again some CDs are lost as the turn is over after only a single pulse occurs).

Turn 3 Command Phase

Du Muy rolls a 6 (really that's a 6, 5, and 6 for 17 CDs already, either this guy is misrepresented as Poor or is incredibly lucky so far in this game)

Erbprinz rolls a 1, 3 = 4

1st Impulse Initiative rolls:

Du Muy rolls 1, 2 = 3 with a Avg Die of 4 (so again likely a one impulse turn ahead for us)

Erbprinz rolls 4, 4 +2 (not having the initiative for 2 turns now) = 10.  He also gets 4 extra CDs from rolling doubles.

Erbprinz naturally takes the initiative for the turn.

Musketry Segment - allies with initiative fire first and cause casualties:

Brunswick scores 2 hits on Segur's line troops and they return fire causing 1 hit.

Zastrow scores five hits on Lutzelberg's cavalry which is still trying to recover from last turn's unexpected charge.  This almost destroys the 2 Dragoon units in Lutzelberg's force as they only start with a strength point value of 4 instead of the 6 for regular horse.  (Maybe they should have remained a supporting line instead of trying to match frontages with Granby's forces?)

Artillery segment - no hits scored again.  (seriously need more training)...

1st Pulse turn 3 - Allies with initiative move first

Brunswick gets 2 CD and rolls 2, 2, 3, 4 = 7 and is active by taking the 4 and 3 together (had he not been given both extra CDs he would have been inactive.  His dragoons charge the french irregular troops and one unit evades but one is caught and must fight on the Heimberg. 

Brunswick has one stand of Dragoons with SP 6 plus 2 dice (one for combat and one for regulars fighting irregulars) and rolls 6, 6, 4 = 14

Fischer fights one stand of lights with SP 4 plus 1 die for combat and rolls 6 = 10 loses but not doubled so takes 2 hits while the Dragoons take 1 hit and fall back 3BW

Granby gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 4, 2, 1 = 8 taking the 6 and 2 and is active so attacks at his leisure some of Lutzelberg's cavalry to his front.  (Had he taken the 6, 4 and made 10 he would have had to attack with all his troops). 

Granby fights the two French cavalry stands and loses both combats so both his stands take 2 hots and fall back 3 BW while Lutzelberg's horse take 1 hit each.

Zastrow is not given any CDs so rolls 3, 1 and is inactive this turn.


French impulse 1 actions:

Fischer gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 6, 6, 6 and must take 12 = attack so he must deploy his regulars out of March Formation and try to engage along Brunswick's front but is just out of range to do so.

Segur gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 4, 3, 1 and takes 6, 3 = 9 and is active.  He repositions his line a bit to avoid being outflanked by Brunswick and to engage more of Granby's cavalry in the coming pulse.

Lutlelberg gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 5, 2, 2 and chooses to take the 6, 5 for 11 = attack.  He destroys a cavalry stand of Granby that was damaged before but is repulsed from Zastrow's grenadiers easily.  (Given the start SPs for both troops types the 6 for the French horse plus a 6 on the combat roll amounts to only 12 - and is the best they could do while the Grenadiers start at 7 so can't be doubled)

Meoupeou also gets 2 CDs and rolls 1, 3, 3, 4 and takes the 3 and 4 to = 7 for Active but can't reach Zastrow's troops to attack them without leaving the hill so he adjusts his line and waits developments...

Here is a final view of the table prior to the end of the test match:

French Left flank

French Right flank

Comments to follow upon suitable reflections about these rules.....

Might & Reason testing the game flow

Our group has been playing a Horse and Musket homegrown set of rules for several years based loosely around the DBX system and the more we changed it, added to it, tried to make it better the more we came to realize that it had some flaws in basic design. 

After looking around a bit we decided to try out Might & Reason, an older Sam Mustafa game that looked like it might adapt to a 'battalion on a base' playing and allow us to use realistic OBs in largish sized games (40-50 battalions and squadrons per side) with 2 to 3 players per side.

This post records a solo effort at working through the game mechanics using the Warburg scenario included in the rules as a test case.  After reading the rules the actual combat mechanism seemed clear (you shoot and need high dice to cause hits and then you fight and need to double the opponents score to win, otherwise someone bounces back). 

Our only changes were to adopt the policy that one stand was a basic unit, not two, and that brigades would contain several basic units.  By effectively doubling the infantry firing power over one base frontage we added that artillery would fire with 2 dice instead of one, thereby evening up the rate between infantry and guns.  Since we also doubled the cavalry strength by going to single stands as well we thought we should be okay in that regard as well. 

Here are the forces from the scenario - the SP is the strength factor assigned per stand:

French Army:
Du Muy (Poor)

Left Wing: Ségur (-2)
2x Swiss Inf (6SP)
1x French Inf (6SP)
1x French Inf (5SP)

Center: Luetzelbourg (-1)
2x Cuirassiers (6SP)
1x Dragoon (4SP)

Right Wing: Meaupeou (-1)
1x French Inf (6SP)
2x French Inf (5SP)

Reserve: Fischer (+1)
1x Irregular Inf (3SP)
2x French Inf (5SP)



Anglo-Allied Army
Erbprinz von Hessen-Kassel (Average)

Right Wing: Brunswick * (+1)
2x Grenadiers (8SP)
1x Hanoverian Inf (7SP)
1x Hessian Dragoons (5SP)

Left Wing: Zastrow (0)
1x Brunswick Inf (7SP)
1x Hessian Guards (7SP)
1x Hessian Inf (6SP)
1x Hanoverian Dragoons (6SP)

Cavalry: Granby (+1) V
1x Guard Dragoons (8SP)
2x Dragoons (6SP)

So on to the trial.  Here are the troops deployed in the noted deployment areas with the French having four commands.

Deployed in 2 lines of infantry with the reserve in columns behind the hills.  The cavalry is the center command in this scenario and I was curious how that was going to work out as we went forward.

And the Allies deployment opposite:

Again infantry commands separated by a cavalry command.  Must have been the villages on both wings that lead to this?

So before anything you determine how many Command Dice (CD) - a big factor in this game - each side starts with.  Du Muy being an unimaginative dullard is rated Poor so gets one D6 but manages to roll a 6, while the Erbprinz being Average with 2 dice rolls  that total to a 6 also.  These 6 dice are placed behind the respective command figures for the turn coming up.

Next you roll to see who has the Initiative for the coming turn.  Both commanders roll two D6 for this and one also rolls an Average die to determine the starting number of the turn (so a 2, 3, 3, 4 , 4 or 5).  The average die is important since each 'Pulse' you roll the AVG die and if you get the same or a lower number the turn ends at that point.  Apparently some of the tension in the game revolves around how many pulses you will possibly have and how you manage your Command Dice across that number.  Without going into the statistics of it it would seem that most turns would have 2 or maybe 3 impulses and if you roll a 4 on the first roll you aren't likely to have a second impulse, but let's see how it goes...

Du Muy rolls 4, 3 = 7;  Erbprinz rolls 6, 2 = 8 plus the Average Die with a 2

The Allies decide to take the first movement segment.  But before that happens both sides fire muskets and then artillery.  The initiative player gets first shot in musket fire and the opponent takes hits before replying.  This we guess is to simulate the gaining of some advantage in firing but since it occurs each pulse it doesn't have anything to do with better fire discipline or tactics as far as we can see, just a game development issue but we can live with it.

No one is in musket range this pulse so we go to simultaneous artillery fire and here no hits are obtained by either side.

Before the Erbprinz can begin to execute his flawless tactical plan he can assign 1 or 2 Command Dice to his subordinate commanders to use when taking their activity check.  So he assigns Brunswick 2 dice out of his trove of 8 and Brunswick with 4 dice rolls 6, 4, 3, 2 and selects the 6 and 4 to give his command a total of 10 which makes it Active for the pulse.  He promptly advances the lot as a single line 1BW (some of his infantry are in the town and can only move this fast) and breaks off his Dragoons to go for the Heinburg slopes on the French flank.

Granby gets no extra dice and rolls a 3, 2 = 5 so is Inactive this turn and stands pat.

Zastrow with one CD granted rolls his 3 dice and gets 6, 5, 1 takes the 6 and 5 to get 11 and is Active so advances 1 BW (some of his infantry are in the town and can only move this fast).

No combats occur so the Erbprinz pulse is done.

Du Muy Gives his reserve commander Fischer 2 extra dice and Fischer rolls 6, 6, 5, 5 and takes the 6 and 5 to = 11 and is Active (had he taken 12 he would have had to attack instead of maneuver).  He moves the reserve towards the Heinburg reacting to the Erbprinz's detachment there.

Segur gets 1 extra die and rolls 4, 1, 1 = 6 which makes him Inactive for the pulse.

The other 2 commands get no extra dice and roll Active but do not move forward off their hill slope defensive position.

Next posting - 2nd Impulse of Turn 1 where certain themes develop.........

Megablitz game system

I have been preparing both sides for the 1940 campaign intending to use the Megablitz rules and system to play through a number of battles to see if they accurately portray the chaos and lack of purpose amongst the French forces while giving a fair representation of the German forces abilities and capacities as well. 

Likely we will play what-if scenarios and battles since I find that it provides more options and freedom to the players than to make they once again be forced to refight scenarios that are forced by historical hindsight.

The scale and figures I chose to go with were the 10mm line by Pendraken miniatures and I coupled that with the decision to base all the basic units on 2" hexagons and play on a hex grid.  This for a number of reasons but chiefly because it removes the need for constant measurements and it also represents a 'square' kilometer of ground which is about the lowest a battalion would be expected to deploy in.

From previous playing in other scales and circumstances it became obvious that being able to identify what a unit was and what 'division' it was a sub unit to are critical to playing multi-divisional games on the tabletop.  When you have 12 infantry stands and 3-12 transport stands plus various guns/tanks/fuel trucks etc... per division it is easy to lose sight of where your guys are and whether they are in or out of command and supply and any moment.

As you can see I have amassed a few divisions per side:

Each division resides in its own bow and has its roster (including strength point rosters) in with them.  While I originally thought we would play using the SP formula as noted in the rules I am now more inclined to the Memoir 44 approach of having all infantry stands (battalions) have a similar strength (4 SP) so in large multi-player games you can tell at a glance how units are doing by checking the number of plastic rings placed over the figures to count losses.

Each divisions has all its subordinate units identified with a unique and color coded tag on the stand, you can tell your troops from your buddy's (and even from the opponent's) at a glance.  Stands that get 'lost' during a furious engagement eventually find their way to the home box.

Here is a French Division Legere Mechanique (mechanized division) by contrast.

And here are the stands used to represent Cirps and Army HQs.  In the French army this is where Army level reserves of Heavy Artillery, Independent tank battalions, Pioneers and Pontooners and assigned Air Force coordination was held.

Here we see a 'typical' French infantry division of three regiments (3 bns each) plus supporting stands deployed 2 up one back with the HQ securely protected in the rear.

Here the same with a few tiles from Memoir 44 to show they can be used out of the box in this scale.

And here is the DLM strung out on an approach march with recon elements to the fore and the rest of the division in column down the road behind them.

We have had a few familiarization games to brush up on how troops move, fight and fit on the table and are now ready to play out a real campaign.

More to follow.

The Nine Years War Campaign Part IV

The Nine Years War Campaign

Part IV – The Battle for Amsterdam and After

1693 – The Bourbons had made much progress in the previous year, advancing to Nijmegen in the Low Countries and threatening Madrid in the South.  As their first act in this year they fought a decisive battle to try and end the war by seizing Amsterdam and driving the Dutch Republic out of the war.

The battle field was flat and swampy and the Alliance determined to defend with a stronger army against the advancing Bourbon forces deploying to the right side of the field.

The Bourbon army was organized into two large ‘corps de battaile’ of 24 battalions and 24 squadrons each with a small reserve of troops form the Maison du Roi.

The Alliance had three roughly balanced Divisions of Anglo-Subsidy troops (24 Battalions, 12 squadrons) on their left, the Dutch with 22 battalions and 14 squadrons in the center and the Imperial troops with 18 battalions and 28 squadrons on the right flank.  Both wings of the Alliance force attempted to advance whilst the Dutch held fast the center.

As the full extent of the size of the armies was revealed the Bourbons enjoyed success on both flanks by pushing back the Alliance cavalry wings.

But the terrain slowed the advance of their infantry, particularly in the center.  The Anglo-Subsidy foot made a valiant attack to restore their field position but it ran into a wall of Bourbon foot and the Bourbon horse was moving behind their flank, perhaps to roll up the line.

The Imperials, reinforced with all the Dutch horse was making life very difficult for the Bourbon left wing, although one brigade of foot penetrated almost to the line to the stream before being halted.

The Alliance commanders:

The Bourbon Commanders:

The combat at its height:

As the Bavarian contingent advanced to the Dutch held village the fire seemed to go out of the Prince of the Royal Blood.  Realizing that his forces would be disordered crossing the stream and then have to fight through into a heavily defended village against troops that he had been unable to damage yet his resolution failed.  Marechal Catinat, likewise, on the left flank seemed to have a crisis of spirit (or perhaps just too many oatmeal raisin cookies) and the joint decision was made to pull back and reorganize the army.

The elated Alliance command group began plotting the retaking of the Low Countries and we moved back to the campaign map to run through the rest of the events of the year.  These can be summarized as follows:

1.      The Bourbons main army was forced out of the Low Countries, yielding Nijmegen, and Antwerp before they could recover their full order.

2.     Both sides launched ill-advised and costly attacks on each other outside of Madrid and in these the Bourbons came out the worse for losses and wear.  Marechal Lorges will undoubtedly be re-posted in the fall season.

3.     The Alliance completed the sieges to bring all Northern Italy under their sway and also to bring support up towards the Duke of Savoy as he was projecting incursions into France itself.

4.     The line of the mid Rhine is still held by the Alliance even though they were thwarted in their attempts to penetrate into France proper.

Our next session will pickup and make the end of year actions occur and the start of a new campaign year – 1694.

The War of the Two Churfursts Part 5

The Wars of the Two Churfursts

(Hohenzollern versus Wittelsbach)

Chapter 5 The Battle of Rosstal

Field Marshall Lottum with additional allies from the Franconian Circle had the numerical superiority he deemed necessary to recapture the Duchy from the Bavarians.  He therefore advanced resolutely south and south west from Nurnberg until he found the position that the Count de Maffei had fortified and planned to defend the Duchy from.  The photo below shows the initial placement of the Bavarian forces:

As can be seen Maffei kept the balance of his good infantry in the center of the valley, posted behind a row of boar spears embedded into posts to serve as an obstacle to the larger Brandenburg cavalry contingent.  These were stored in nearby Ingolgstadt in any case when the troops had returned from the Turkenkreig campaigns.  The artillery was behind some quickly dug out positions while the cavalry covered the left flank (the easiest to approach) and some new infantry were posted on the hill to his right.

As Lottum surveyed the scene from his advanced location in the spire of the Vierzehnheiligen Kirche he would have seen the following:

Determined to take the bull by the horns he deployed his Brandenburg troops to assault the center with his much stronger cavalry massed to his right, and the Franconian forces covering his left.

The straight ahead advance was only interrupted by the Bavarian heavy artillery which irritated the Brandenburg foot but then went on to destroy the advancing Brandenburg artillery in short order.  (We were surprised by this but the DBAHXT QRS clearly shows that artillery when out-piped, even when not doubled, is Destroyed. Here is another case where various DBX versions differ in some ways). 

The Franconians due to their perhaps less than enthusiastic interest, promptly rolled a 1 on three of their first five pip dice so were slower to advance than their Brandenburg allies.

The first major crossing of fire over the row of boar spears was about a wash, both sides seeing some units rebuffed backwards, but the Bavarians were able to recover and man the line more quickly and soon the Brandenburg forces were halted by losses of four stands to one.  The image below shows the Brandenburg contingent as it closed to effective range.

Note that Maffei is already having his reserve force move towards his right flank as the approaching, but delayed Franconians come forward on the far side of the ridgeline.

With the halting of the Brandenburg forces the issue would be decided by the efforts between the Bavarians and the Franconians on the right.  Both sides had units fall back but come forward again into the firefight.  The skill level on either side was not very high but eventually the Bavarians found Fortuna and they stopped the Franconian advance late in the afternoon.

Although a minor action and a minor victory Maffei realized that at any time his forces would have been defeated if only the Franconians would have been able to seize a 6 from the dice instead of the several rolls of 1 that seemed to roll out of their musketry volleys…

We agreed to continue this irregular series of battles between these two less than super powers of the period and our next effort will be when the Brandenburgers switch the scene of their assault and come at the Duchy from the west and under a new Field Marshall.  De Maffei also was glad to retire to his properties on the Stammerklammer lake and will be replaced by another grizzled veteran of the Turkenkreig period.

The War of the Two Churfursts Part 4

The Bavarians defend the Duchy of Anspach after it is awarded to Bavaria by the Reichskommission.

The Wars of the Two Churfursts

(Hohenzollern versus Wittelsbach)

Chapter 4 The Battle of Cadolzburg

Field Marshall Lottum brought his forces across the Zenn stream (here barely a stone throw across) in good order to find the Bavarians under General de Maffei deployed to both sides of the chausse leading southwestwards towards Cadolzburg  with his defense centered on the hamlet of Unter Vestling.  All the cavalry force of the Bavarian army was on the right thrown out and forward to give advance notice of any turning movement from that direction.

The field of battle was open rolling countryside with the ground sloping gently to the northeast, the direction from which the Brandenburgers were approaching as they made the long easy uphill climb from the Zennfluss.  De Maffei initially posted troops in the village and to the right of it but left a reserve his second line in column of march upon the chausee directly behind the village so as to be able to react to the Brandenburg maneuvers.  The Bavarian artillery was in two sections, one adjacent to and left of the village and one on the supporting at a distance his cavalry vanguard.

Lottum placed his own and slightly smaller cavalry force to his left as a counter to the Bavarian horse and then sent his infantry forward in two largish bodies across some open fields to his front.  His artillery was broken up into two groups, one to support each of the infantry masses but they were still deployed as the range was too distant yet for close support work.  Lottum was worried about his cavalry as the trend towards largish men on very large horses had begun under the new Elector and his troops seemed to move ponderously and without spirit.  He himself observed several troopers falling from their horses when the simplest maneuvers were attempted.

Here is the view from the Bavarian side of the advance of the Brandenburg right wing of infantry.

And here is the view of the Brandenburg left wing of infantry.

Whilst his right wing stepped off promptly his left wing found the ground extremely boggy and difficult to traverse in anything but a march column.  Poor reconnaissance from the Brandenburg staff corps thus ensured that each of his infantry wings would be committed but not supported by the other.

The deep frown on Lottum’s visage tells the story as surely as any narrative.

Responding quickly, de Maffei brought his reserve up on line to counter the Brandenburg right while waiting until only part of the Brandenburg left had emerged from the muddy fields when he then sent his own right against them.  Although their fire discipline remained excellent, both Brandenburg wings found themselves outflanked with additional Bavarian units being able to pour supporting fire into the general combat area without reply.  Sensing some disorder also in his own right wing Lottum withdrew it in part behind his second line but the continual excellent fire from the Bavarian troops who now were spirited by the Brandenburg retirement, was too much for the Field Marshal and he had to order his troops to retire towards the Zenn River in order to regain their order and determine another approach to engage the Bavarians.

Although but a small scale battle Lottum’s confidence was dealt a blow and it took him several weeks to replenish losses, re-drill his cavalry until it was fit to see action and receive some additional forces from the Franconian Circle (FrankenKreise) which the Emperor had granted as a reinforcement of the Brandenburg initiative.

During this period de Maffei was able to dispatch additional small columns to bring most of the rest of the Duchy under Bavarian control and to secure his forces in an excellent position near where the Zenn runs into the Regnitz, on high ground which was partially fortified in the manner of the times with a few small redoubts and the local woods being cut down so as to block any large scale passage by troops.

It was here that de Maffei expected to fight the next battle in the wars of the Churfursts.

We continue to play out these small scenarios between our forces organized around a 'battalion on a base' rules and have been using the latest DBA-HXT 3.0 Humberside extension rules as our latest in house rules for the period.  In the next match the stalwart Bavarians will be entrenched on a high slope with both flanks secured by impassable woods whilst the craven Brandenburhers will have to advance from the foot of the hill in a swamp to meet them.  At least that's how I remember the scenario unfolding....

The Wars of the Two Churfursts Part 3

Here is the third chapter in this ongoing series:

The Wars of the Two Churfursts

(Hohenzollern versus Wittelsbach)

Chapter 3

After the Battle of Erlangen, the Brandenburg forces were marched directly off to Speyer and incorporated into the army under Prinz Eugen.  During the long war that followed Max Emanuel was forced to abandon his ancestral lands and served as the Viceroy of the Spanish Netherlands.  His forces likewise were moved to the Low Countries and served with distinction as allies to the Bourbons.

The long history of that war has no place in the current narrative except that it explains the length of time separating the battles between the two Churfursts.  During 1705 the small garrison in the ‘Alte Veste’ of  Kulmbach was approached by the Austrian troops who had occupied all of the Bavarian lands of the Churfurst and asked to surrender the fortress or be starved out during the coming winter.  The garrison of 27 men and 6 reserve artillerists had no choice as they could scarce cover the gates and man the walls on any kind of routine basis.  With the return of the Veste the province was able to be controlled by the Brandenburg representative, Count Dohna.

Under the terms of the Treaties of Utrecht and of Rastatt and other documents signed by Max Emanuel he was finally restored to his Electorate and returned to Munich to reign in 1715.  It was particularly galling that Frederik III had achieved the distinction of King in Prussia from the Holy Roman Emperor as part of the settlement and had been crowned at King in Prussia in 1701.

Frederick I Elector of Brandeburg and King in Prussia

The death of Frederick I in 1713 saw the next of the Churfursts of the Brandenburg line achieve the electorship of Brandenburg as Elector of Brandenburg and King in Prussia.

Frederick William I

One of the first acts of Frederick William I was to renew the dispute before the Reichskommission over the lawful succession over the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

The Reichskommission had withheld any action on any proposal regarding this during the late wars and they were reluctant to once again try to unravel this spool of intrigue and in-family matters.  Under the request of the Emperor, however, they were bound to do so and it was speculated that the decision would serve as another punishment for Bavaria who had taken sides against the Empire during the late wars.

Little did the world anticipate the decision granted by the Kommission in 1717 to award the tile of Margrave to  Bavaria claiming the agreement with the widow of George Frederick II supplanted any other action that Brandenburg had made.  The fact that the commission was held in Cologne under the auspices and influence of Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, brother to Max Emanuel and who was even then trying to build a Family Compact among all the various Wittelsbach branches, should have made Frederick William concerned but apparently he did not at first voice opposition to the ruling.

Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, Archbishop of Koln, Trier and Koblenz

While Frederick William dithered, Max Emanuel ordered General Allesandro, Marquis deMaffei to once again occupy the Margrave and this was done promptly without interference by the Emperor or the Diet at Frankurt.  Schwabach and Windsbach were occupied with no problem, the city of Anspach managed to form a deputation to greet FZM De Maffei and remind him of the Imperial Rights held by the city and their expectation that Max Emanuel would honour them.  Once secure in this they placed the keys to the city in his hand and passed under the Blau/Weiss banner once again.

In Berlin the court council finally decided that something would have to be done and Graf Lottum the new Field Marshal was appointed to lead the forces that would regain the Duchy for the House of Brandenburg.

Recently recalled from his assignment as Governor of Cleves, he hastily assembled the forces assigned for the Liberation of Anspach consisting of several of the regiments he had led to success in the late War of the Spanish Succession.  While weak in artillery the force was a balanced one of 6 regiments of foot and 4 regiments of horse or approximately 15,000 men.  This was felt to be sufficient based on projections of the Bavarian forces in the area.

So in the month of May the Prussians made the march through the Franconia uplands and descended from Bamberg using the Regnitz River as a supply source.  The initial plan called for a maneuver to seize Nurnberg but the failure of Erlangen to provide sufficient supplies lead to a situation where De Maffei was able to select a good position covering the approaches to the Duchy and offer battle.  The results will be reviewed in the following chapter.