Regular Monday SOW HITS games

For Monday 3rd May at 20:00 BST / 21:00 CET:

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The rivalries of bloodline and border that have riven the recent histories of the Vereinigte Freie Stadt and the Grand Duchy of Lorraine have blown hot and cold for decades. It is now the mid 1740s and while the greater states of Europe are torn asunder by wars of great dynastic argument, in the middle Rhineland on the Franco-German border the concerns of lesser men bring no less a strife and disharmony to the stout citizens of these two states. Once again Fritz von Tarlenheim and Grand Duke Charles are drawing their two states into wars which, while petty sport for them, are dramatic enough for their soldiers, burghers and peasants affected by these games of aristocrats.

In the spring of 1744 the diplomatic question of the province of Nancy, on Lorraine's north east border, was answered by application of the sword, where the pen had failed; a corps of Vereinigte Freie Stadt troops (in effect much of their small army) struck with speed and daring into the scattered formations of the Lorraine defenders and secured the provincial capital. With this accomplished von Tarlenheim's emissaries applied additional political and economic pressure on Grand Duke Charles' parlement, insisting that the mostly German-speaking region be given up to become a Freie Stadt province.

The Battle of Nancy (fought Friday 20th March by Roland, Kevin and Martin) was supposed to secure peace but far from it, the diplomatic settlement of the marriage between Lady Nancy, the Grand Duke's niece, and Generalleutnant Halket, Graf von Ollendorf of the Freie Stadt army collapsed into farce when it was revealed that "Lady Nancy" was nothing more than a local barmaid from one of the town's bier kellers! Bearing a close likeness to the true Lady Nancy, the buxom and comely Esmeralda of Rosieres was, at the very least, satisfactory enough for Halket to make his wife!

Nonetheless this state-sponsored deception was an affront to the honour of von Tarlenheim and worse was to come!

South of Nancy lay a western province of the VFS, namely Cadaval, a narrow north-south finger of good rich farming soil lacking large communities but producing a great surplus of grain. The breadbasket of Freie Stadt was somewhat vulnerable to Lorraine attentions but for the alliance between the VFS and the Bishopric of Ehnheim, a small but plucky state that lies south of most of the VFS and east of Cadaval. Ehnheim's capital is Santerem and here VFS diplomats held sway, the good Bishop, Ernst von Tippleskirch, being more interested in wagon loads of cheap grain than the hard cash offered by Lorraine.

Last autumn however the harvest was not good, Cadaval's grain surplus was assigned by VFS accountants to be stored against possible famine in the state grain houses and little was available for von Tippleskirch to purchase, at least at the prices he had been hitherto accustomed. No sooner was this news about than Lorraine diplomats once again pressed gleaming coin into von Tippleskirch's hand. What exactly was their purpose was never made plain but by the autumn of that fateful year the Lorrainer army was on the march and this time south, over the border into Cadaval.

Fate played the Grand Duke Charles a contrary hand and his plans were exposed by none other than Esmeralda von Halket herself. Bitter at being so tricked by Lorraine, when she became privy to some snippets from the Grand Duke's council chambers via her companion Lady Augustina Schatlouten, she at once passed the news on to von Halket in their bedchamber. Halket passed the shocking news to his superior officer, Prinz Karl August von Waldeck who in turn informed von Tarlenheim himself.

The Lorraine plan was thus exposed - they intended to use the bad harvest and the lack of grain surplus to buy the Bishop of Ehnheim's neutrality while their army invaded Cadaval! With his famed military adroitness von Tarlenheim ordered Prinz von Waldeck to march the VFS army south-west and occupy Cadaval province there to secure vital places and receive the unsuspecting Lorraine columns and give them a bloody nose!



We shall be using the Crampton Gap map from the Antietam add-on, so you will need this add-on to play.

The player-commanded side is the VFS, defending Cadaval Province. Prinz von Waldeck's headquarters is at Azambuja with General Ilten's and General Alvensleben's divisions posted to block access to this vital crossroads. General Halket's division is in reserve guarding Cadaval itself. Cadaval is the objective for both sides.

The Lorraine army is thought to be marching south on two converging highways that run from the Grand Duke's southern border, and are said by locals to be nearing the town of Caldas.

The Bishopric of Ehnheim is neutral. The border between Cadaval and the Bishop's lands runs along the crest of the Schwarzenberg range of hills. No troops may cross to the east of the red-marked border.

The Lorraine army will be AI controlled. The VFS army will need 4 players to command it as a minimum but as each division comprises two foot and one horse brigades, plus two companies of artillery, there are several brigade-size commands available.

The battle starts at 5:00pm. Cadaval must not be occupied or contested by Lorraine forces when darkness falls at 8:00pm.

if I am not mistaken this is the map where Kevin, Pepe and I have defeated a superior Russian force just a few weeks ago....

being on the defensive we should be presented with some fairly good ground to make use of our cannon...

Bah! The Lorrainers are nothing but a mob of village idiots. We will reenact Cannae.

I was convinced of that in my last battle - right up to the point where Pepe disappeared onto a hill and wrote: " I am fighting for my life..." and a certain someone else said "I first need to clear those guns in front of me.... "

Yes, it's always the tactical details that get in the way of a great memoir.

We'll start at 20:00 BST tomorrow. With 3 divisions the VFS army only needs 4 players and we have 5 so I'll take a brigade somewhere.

If we have a C-in-C that person can outline their plan here.

Volunteers?

I suggest Halket move up towards the HQ so we can engage well north of the grain silos. If we are heavily outnumbered, it will allow us to give ground slowly and wear down the filthy invaders. As we fall back, the enemy may make a mistake and leave a flank exposed which we can punish.

If we are not grossly outnumbered I suggest we indeed reenact Cannae. Halket will take the brunt of the attack and slowly fall back. Iten and Alrensleben will contribute a brigade each to this effort and keep a brigade out of the fight to use at the appropriate time to effect the double envelopment. Once the sack is closed I propose we take no prisoners. With their army gone, we can have the Lady Nancy or anything else we want from that benighted country. We should also then consider paying the bishop next door a visit.

thank you for volunteering then... for once I don't have to

thank you for volunteering then... for once I don't have to

Guess who's Halket.

I'd rather be at the center of the action than somewhere behind the enemy doing "maneuvers"...

Do you have room for one more?

I am free to play tonight .

What mods will I need? I havn't played this period before.

Mike

Always room for more Grog. I can only offer you a brigade though. Unless we get a couple more and make it a player vs player game

The only mod you need is Pom's Fontenoy Mod. There are 2 versions with lo-res and hi-res sprites, you decide which one your PC can handle, I believe it makes no difference in MP if there are different versions in use.

Files are here.

Thanks Martin

A brigade is good. I actually enjoy all levels of command pretty much equally.

I like the 'connection' you get with the troops at brigade level. Sort of, a regimental pride and more concern for their well-being and honour.

I wonder if voice commands will be a part of the new game. Done well, it would really add to the immersion IMHO.

We also need the KS Supplemental Maps if we are using the Portugal version of the map.

I think this warrants the expected question (since it hardly ever happens with the new Nappy mods anymore...)

in what order should be load them?

As yes, that reminds me, the minimap layout of Pom's mod doesn't work with the KS Supplementary maps mod, so we need to do some jinking around with files. I'd forgotten that bit

Best to turn up nice and early everyone - about 19:30 BST.

The answer is the same; the order doesn't matter.

For those that haven't played this before, you need to copy the /Maps sub-folder from the KS Napoleon mod into the Fontenoy mod.

I thought the usual starting time on Monday was 1930 BST anyway? - either way - I'll be around before that, so better stay clear of TS

Sorry guys. I can still make it today, but I've just seen the time has been brought forward. I will struggle to get there much before the original time of 20.00, but will do what I can.

Martin (J).

we can wait I believe...

Hi Guys,

Just got in after filling a skip since 730 this morning (yes its a weird life being a vicar) so unfortunately won't be able to join you this evening. Sounds like a good game set up, the Fontenoy sprites and especially the flags are superb. Enjoy.

Blessings

Phill

PC problems will get back when i get it fixed.

Morsey.

once again it has been proven that all wars are won or lost by politics and diplomacy...

the duty bound soldier does what he can - but if politics fail him - he will lose no matter his bravery in the face of the enemy!

PS: one should mention that since there was no treasure on the field our CinC performed outstandingly!

"Grain is not as valuable as silver spoons" - General Waldeck (ancestor of M.T. Georgia on the Dutch side)

Thanks to Digby for producing a challenging Lace Wars scenario for yesterday's game.

Next Monday's scenario will be another one from the 1st Carlist War in Spain in the 1830s.  Crikey has updated his Carlist War mod and we will be giving that a spin.

The armies are fairly small and so we will again be using a sprite ratio of 1:1 for this game.  A different experience with some exotic armies, on a very nice map of rural Spain.

Here's a doodle http://doodle.com/mecvef2bsbx8a8q5

Martin (J)