A Bridgehead Too Far

As planned, the Rebel mercenary general, Ritter Esthvany de Kispilis-Chopak had made a crossing on the Große Grühne near Mathiasbad, and set up a pontoon bridge to carry the rest of his troops across.

As a reminder, he had two battalions of regular foot, a battalion of militia, two companies of Feldjäger and two squadrons of hussars.

To employ this force in the planned activities of "small war", he had counted on Marshall von Leuchtenberg's main force to the north to make a demonstration in force against the Böhnstadter-held Grübsheim stone bridge. However, von Leuchtenberg, as usual, was tardy with the deployment of his troops.

The time gained allowed the Böhnstadt general, Dietrich von Spülge, to gather his reserve and move on the Flossian bridgehead near Mathiasbad, and launch a suprise attack with a well-organized force.

He had with him a battalion of Grenzer, one of fusiliers, one musketeers, two field guns and two squadrons of hussars. The forces were thus evenly matched, but von Spülge had the better deployment, catching the Flossians effectively cut in half by the Grühne, with only the hussars and jäger across the (Böhnstadt-held) right bank.

Battles to be Fought and Won

Now that the scene is set, the next thing to do is deciding the sequence of events that will follow. Of course there are a few less and more important ones, so when evaluating the outcome of the campaign, I shall judge the victor based on these. I scored importance from one to three in brackets in the list below. And lastly, I indicated the rules which I intend to use.

Nordgrühne theater

1. Flossian demonstration against the Grübsheim bridge (1) - ET2 

2. Flossian forced crossing of the Grühne to the south (1) - ET2 

3. Böhnstadt countermoves (2) - ET2 

4. Possible action against the full Flossian force (2) - Maurice

5. Possible pursuit (2) - Maurice

Störkburg theater

1. Flossian raid on Alt-Störkburg (1) - ET2 

2. Flossian advance on Rosenheim (1) - ET2

3. Possible investment of Rosenheim (2) - ET2

4. Timely Böhnstadt reserve advance into the valley (2) - ET2 if battle is joined

5. Pitched battle against the Flossians (3) - Maurice

6. Possible pursuit (2) - Maurice

That gives me at least a couple of battles to fight in the near future, all I have to do is build the remaining terrain for the necessary actions.

The Cards Are Revealed

This post is about what the Schultze-Böhnstadt army had actually been doing while the Flossians prepared for war.

Initial OOB for the Flossian Army of Invasion

Drawing on my previous notes, here is the complete OOB (now that I have the painted figures to back it up) for the planned Flossian invasion of the Störkburg Valley.

The Flossian Regular Army Rebuilt

As referenced previously, I have completed the main battle components of the army of the Union an dem Flosse. Just as with the Böhnstadters, I used 6mm Commission Figurines lasercut figures. I have a third complete army in the making, that of Medvetland, along with another large irregular component.

Now as you can see the original plan of fielding one militia, two musketeer/fusilier and one grenadier battalion per brigade, along with light cavalry support, kind of did not come through. Organizational blame is to be put on arguing electoral subordinates. Still, the most important thing is that they are ready for the campaign.

The Flossian army currently stands at:

6x line infantry units in bicorne/tricorne, 24 figures each

2x grenadiers in bearskins, 24 figs each

2x light infantry or militia, 16 figs each

4x field guns with 4 crew

3x8 dragoons

2x9 cuirassiers

2x9 hussars

1x command stand

Painting these figures is very, very easy and good results can be achieved with little effort. I made another order with Commission Figurines in fact, to bolster light cavalry with hussars and boys in tarletons, and then some militia types. Hopefully they will arrive at the theater in time to make a difference.

The Flossian War Plan

The Flossians, although their army is not as ready as they might desire, are ready to deliver their first strike to the Principality of Schultze-Böhnstadt. 

They are well prepared, have stockpiled rations and ammunition, and a frantic anti-spy activity ensued all along the border, including hinting at an invasion force marching towards the Nordgrühne Kreis.

The Flossian war plan involves:

a) a demonstration with limited foces towards Nordgrühne, perhaps with an opposed landing with boats and pontoons across the Grühne. The force present there should not engage any enemy main army, but tie down Böhnstadt manpower and resources so that they could not be redirected to the main theater.

b) a large irregular raid on the Alt-Störkburg vicinity, using the barely navigable mountain passes from the direction of the Oberschwanseewald. If the raid succeeds, light troops can roam freely and disrupt enemy lines of communication.

c) a main army advance to the Störkburgerthal, including investing in the siege of Rosenheim with heavy artillery, which would be a slow advance and require precaution. If Rosenheim is gained, the valley opens up for the attackers. There was a secret reconnaisance mission conducted by South Flossian Feldjäger a few months back, which showed the fortress in a dilapidated state.

Militia and irregular units are still being directed to their areas of deployment, but the regular troops are already there. Every communication remains secret. The Four Electors are dead set on regaining the Störkburgerthal and oust the Böhnstadter local government.

The Army of Schultze-Böhnstadt Rebuilt

I sold or binned all of my 6mm figures during the Covid lockdown. I needed the money more than the figures. 

In last October the time has come to start purchasing 6mm figures again, and I duly did so.  The ones in the picture are Commission Figurines lasercut 6mm figures for their Napoleonic line. In this scale they are quite appropriate for the period, and nothing beats their prices on the market.

I primed all of these figures back in March and completed them by June. All major components of the regular forces of Schultze-Böhnstadt are here.

Infantry and cavalry are based on 75x25mm bases, 8/9 horse or 24 foot to a base, and one base would equal one unit in Maurice for a while.

Artillery is based on 25x35mm bases and commanders on 25mm round ones. The majority of the bases are produced by a local hobby guy and also bought on the cheap.

Map of the Störkburg Valley

I'm working on a universal map that would eventually encompass all of the imaginary continent (and beyond) in my Schultze-Böhnstadt world.

I started small, with drawing up the Störkburg Valley area, setting up the style, map icons and ground scale.

I have a badly compressed hex map and the material from the 1st Störkburg Campaign to draw from. I also have a hand-drawn map somewhere that I seem to have misplaced.

If any inconsistency arises, I can blame it on villages receiving new names by the ever wise Princeps Erhard Berthold von Jazygen, and the new map should be the one which is up to date.

What the Flossians Learned

With trouble looming to the east, the humbled and humiliated Flossian Union now watches over the internal dealings of her neighbor, the Principality of Schultze-Böhnstadt, with renewed interest.

The Flossians know that a large part of the Böhnstadt Army was sent to support the Rebels with their ongoing fight against Medvetland. They also know that General von Hohenspitz, now well past his seventieth year, has finally retired and there is no true replacement for a character like that.