Korbitz 1759, Part I

First post of the year…I am desperately short of time and to add insult to unjury, my camera broke. So I was unable to post my progress in completing the Hannoverian Army or the Husar complement which necessary to refight Kolin. The Kolin “case study” still idle, I was toying myself with a Scenario for Korbitz, 1759.

At a glance Korbitz seems a carbon copy of Strehla: the Reichsarmee attacking the main Prussian position, the Austrians enduring a flank march, a prompt Prussian reaction disrupting the whole plan. A complete description is on Kronoskaf and Duffy dedicated some wonderful pages of his book “Instrument of War” to the action.

  

Hovewer there are some differences, of course. The director of the whole plan was nonetheless than Giovan Battista Serbelloni, he the “Stonewall of Kolin”. A very quirck character from the Milanese aristocracy, detested by all his colleagues.

His subordinates were Zweibrucken and Hadik: the last was one of the best Austrians generals but no wonders that he and Serbelloni were at loggerheads.

He was entrusted with the flank attack but the muddy roads delayed his march. Twice he asked Serbelloni to recall the attack but the permission was twice refused. When the whole plan was upset by the Prussian reaction, Serbelloni charged Hadik of misconduct. The whole affair strained further the relations between Austrian generals and only after a couple of months the honour of Hadik and the Empress confidence were restored. From a tactical point of view moreover it seems that the Reichsarmee did a best job than at Strehla the following year.

On the other side of the barricade we have three characters of future Maxen fame: Finck, Wunsch and Rebentisch. I was able to find only a portrait of Wunsch:

Indeed they were at this stage three of the best Prussian subordinates and the campaign of Finck in Saxony allowed him to recover most of the territories lost after the summer disaster apart from Dresden. Further the Prussian position was lesser exposed than that of Strehla. However all these interesting facts are below the grain of the game and was not satisfied by the Scenario I obtained: what i didn’t like was the special rules needed to recreate Hadik’s ordeal.

Then, one day, I had in my hands an old copy of the now defunct “Wargames Journal” and I looked at a very nice mini-campaign scenario for Brandywine and so I decided to borrow the mini-campaign rules and translate the whole situation from the North-America to Saxony.

This is the map of the area: the square are 1 foot width and are the classical V&B squares. In a next post I’ll give the detailed V&B map of the area within the squares. The idea is that since the actual battlefield was divided in two separate zones by the marshy-banked Triebitsch, the two separate “battles” can be refought on a 3x3 square area. 

The following rules are copied straightforward from the Brandiwine mini-campaign: I only added the “mud effect” to represent the difficult roads Hadik had to follow; I think this rule should make any flank attack as time-consuming and not completely predictable as possible.

Korbitz 1759 Mini-Campaign Rules (from Brandywine 1777 by Bruce McFarlane and Bob Barnelson, Wargames Journal. Issue 8).

COUNTERS

There are three types of counters: commanders, units and decoys.

• Commanders represent senior commanders and their staffs.

• Units represent the troops set out in the V&B roster.

• Decoys are simply to confuse and upset your opponent.

Counters are double-sided. On the front is the name of the subordinate or commander and their command number. On the back is the command number of the counter. The exception is commander counters that have the same information on both sides.

DEPLOYMENT

All counters start the game face down. All Austro-Imperial counters start at “Austrian Start”. All Prussian counters start within the grey squares.The only stacking limitation is that inside the battlefield, a player may only have two counters (excluding commanders) per square. There must be at least 2 Prussian counters, one of which can be a Decoy, in grid squares C6 or C7 or both.

MOVEMENT

Play begins with the Austro-Imperial  player attempting to move some, none or all of his counters. To move a counter, the player nominates a counter and rolls 1D6. If the roll is greater than or equal to the counter’s command number, the counter may move from one dot to another along a road or from one map grid square to an adjoining grid square, either contiguously or diagonally. If the die roll is less than the counter’s command number, the counter is not activated.

Austrian counters attempting to move along a major road (yellow) add one (+1) to their dice roll; when trying to move on the “muddy” roads (those with the brown clouds) the Austro-Imperial players rolls 1d6: on the results in the cloud the road is blocked and no units can’t move on that road that turn.

Commanders move in the same way as decoys and units but may move two dots or grid squares. Furthermore, they may activate one other counter at their start location, even if this additional unit failed its own command roll in that turn. The commander and the unit/decoy do not have to move to the same location on a successful commander’s roll. It is, therefore, advantageous to roll commanders last so that the commander can activate a brigade/decoy that has otherwise failed to activate.

Notice that Hadik can give command only to “pink” units, Zweibrucken only to “gray” whereas Serbelloni to both.

Once the Austro-Imperial player has attempted to activate all of the counters desired, play passes to the Prussian player. Prussian counters may never leave the battlefield portion of the map.

BATTLE

When Austro-Imperial and Prussian counters are adjacent, the moving player must flip over his counter(s), revealing if it is a unit or a decoy. If it is a decoy, it is removed and play continues. If it is a unit, the non-moving player reveals his adjacent counters. Again, any decoys are removed. If both sides still have units face-up, a battle is in the offing. The battle is played on a 3x3 area: players should decide on which 9 grid squares of the battlefield map will offer the best focus for the miniatures battle. A regular Volley and Bayonet game is then set up and the troops deployed. At the end of each game turn (ie. every hour), the players returns to the map game and play an additional turn of the map game. As counters arrive at the grid squares represented by the miniatures table, the appropriate miniatures troops are added to the battle. 

GAME LENGTH

The map game lasts 12 turns.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

The Austro-Imperials, with a 2-1 numerical superiority were in the conditions to destroy the Prussian corps. Accordingly the Austro-Imperials victory condition is to exhaust all the Prussian Division.

The Prussian win by simply avoiding this, losing less troops than the Austro-Imperials. Any other result is a draw.

The Volley and Bayonet Order of Battle is:

Austro-Imperial Order of Battle (28.500 men in 38 battalions, 27 grenadier coys and 60 squadrons)

Field Marshal Conte Giovan Battista Serbelloni AC

Austrian Corps: Hadik CC

Field Artillery #1                  [_][_] 5 fld

Right Wing: unknown DC [_][_][_][_][_] ex=5

IR57 Andlau/IR49 Angern   [_][_][_] 5

IR12 Botta                            [_][_][_] 5

IR40 Jung Colloredo             [_][_] 4

IR Kurmainz (Reich)             [_][_] 4 PT

IR15 Pallavicini                     [_][_] 4

Cvg. Grenadiers                     [_][_] 6*

Centre Division: Lamberg DC [_][_][_] ex=3

IR51 Gyulay                           [_][_][_] 5

IR18 Marschall                       [_][_][_] 5

CR(iii) Alt Modena/DR39 Zweibrucken[_][_] 5 mixed

CR Hoenzollern (Reich)                          [_][_] 5 hvy

Left Wing: Brentano DC [_] [_] ex=2

Gz 1st Banal                    [_] 4 sk

Gz Karlstader-Oguliner   [_] 4 sk

Gz Warasdiner-Kreutzer  [_] 4 sk

Gz Karlstader-Szluiner    [_] 4 sk

Left Wing cavalry: Schallemberg DC [_][_] ex=2

CR27 Daun /CR20 Schmerzing [_][_] 5 hvy

CR12 Serbelloni/Cvg Elites       [_][_] 6 hvy

Imperial Corps: Field Marshal Count Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld

Field Artillery     [_][_] 4 fld PT

Heavy Artillery   [_][_] 4 hvy PT

Austrian Division: Macquire's DC [_][_][_] ex=3

IR47 Harrach            [_][_][_] 5

IR8 Hildburghausen [_][_] 5

IR25 Thurheim         [_][_] 5

Infantry Division: Stolberg DC [_][_][_][_][_] ex=5

IR Effern/Wildenstein [_][_] 4 PT

IR Furstenberg             [_][_] 4 PT

IR Pfalz-Zweibrucken [_][_] 4 PT

IR Varell/I.Hohenlohe [_][_] 4 PT

IR Kurbayern               [_][_] 4 PT

IR Baden-Durlach/Mengersen [_][_] 4 PT

Cavalry Division: Kleefeld DC [_][_][_] ex=3

CR21 Trautm./ CR29 Bretlach (KK)      [_][_] 5 hvy

CR Bayreuth/CR Kurpfalz                      [_][_] 4 hvy PT

DR9 Savoyen(KK)/DR Ansbach             [_][_] 4 med

Prussian Order of Battle (extimated 11.000 men in 16 battalions and 36 squadrons)

Lt. Gen Finck CC

Left wing: Maj. Gen. Rebentisch DC [_][_][_][_][_][_] ex=6

IR19 Mkgf Karl/IR14 Lehwaldt  [_][_] 5

IR20 Zastrow/IR47 Grabow        [_][_] 5

Cvg. GB Burgsdorff/Ripp            [_][_] 6 *

Cvg. GB Kreckwitz/Swolinsky    [_][_] 6 *

GB 11/14 Beyer                            [_][_] 6 *

Finck Heavy Artillery                   [_][_] 5 hvy

Left wing, Cavalry: unknown DC [_][_][_] ex=3

DR4 Krockow/DR7 Plettenberg    [_][_] 6 Med

CR5 Markgraf Friederich              [_][_] 6 Hvy

Hundt cvg. Husaren                       [s] 5 Lt

Right wing: Maj. Gen. Wunsch DC [_][_][_][_][_][_] ex=6

GB 4/16 Willemy/2-GII Nesse  [_][_] 6 *

IR45 Hessen-Kassel                  [_][_] 5

IR44 Hoffmann                         [_][_] 5

FR Wunsch                                [s][s] 4

DR11 Jung Platen/CR7 Horn    [_][_] 5 Mixed

HR4 Dingelsted                         [_][_] 5 Lt

Wunsch Artillery                       [_][_] 5 hvy

Terrain features The Triebitsch is marshy-banked. The Elbe is unfordable. The Prussian redoubts are “Hasty works” as in VBG.

Notes All units have battalion guns. No unit has grenadier, except grenadier battalion. The role of Serbelloni in the battle was an undistinguished one. Accordingly he can’t move from its initial placement on the battle map.

In the next post I’ll give the rosters for the two Armies and the Volley and Bayonet map.