The First Silesian War

A Dominion of Frederick the Great Mini-Campaign

A couple of weeks ago I picked up the new titles in the Dominion series.

• Dominion of Frederick the Great
• Dominion of the Claymore, Tomahawk, and Talwar

I decided to try out Frederick with a mini-campaign, using scenarios from the book.

Mollwitz

King Frederick of Prussia takes advantage of the Austrian succession crisis by invading the Imperial territory of Silesia. Field Marshal Neipperg leads the defense.

King Frederick the Cat
A Chat GPT pic based on a photo of my cat Fred

Frederick's artillery bombards the Austrian infantry to no effect. The infantry charges and overruns the guns.

Frederick brings up his infantry, which rout the Austrians. But the Austrian cavalry on the right overwhelm their counterparts.

A concerted attack on the left and center decimates the Austrians.

But the Austrian cavalry continues its success.

Before the Austrian cavalry could follow up its success, the Prussians hit the Austrian infantry's flank.

The battle was close - the Prussians were also near defeat. But they emerge victorious.

Chotusitz

This time, Prince Charles of Lorraine leads an army against Frederick. But Frederick takes the initiative and attacks.

The Prussian cavalry on the right kick off the battle. The Austrians rout them.

Fredericks elite infantry advance and drive off the Austrian cavalry. Meanwhile, the infantry in the center battle to a bloody stalemate, with both sides rendered ineffective for the rest of the battle.

At this point, Prince Charles feels confident. His army outnumbers Fredericks. Then disaster strikes as his flanks collapses.

Another narrow victory for Frederick!

Aftermath

After these defeats, the Empress Maria Theresa has no choice but to cede Silesia to Frederick.

Some Random Thoughts

If Only

While perusing some battle reports on my old blog, I began thinking about my miniatures history. I kept leaping about among multiple periods and scales. I counted at least 20 abandoned projects on my old blog. It made me wish I had settled on counters ages ago. It would have saved a lot of work.

Marker Musings

I'm debating with myself if I should revise my markers. Right now, I have pill-shaped gold, red, and silver markers to represent elite, ferocious, and armored units. Initially, I put the markers behind the units. Lately, I put the markers on the units.

The idea is that the markers could represent flags. Now I wonder if I should get markers that look more like flags. The easiest would be to switch to rectangular markers. Another idea I had was to sit them on the side, but I don't think they'd be stable enough.

Anyway, just something I'm pondering.

Dungeon Crawling

Played a little Pathfinder last week, It has me hankering for some dungeon crawling. I need to work up the monster cards for my micro dungeon rules.

Dominion Reference

I spent some time this weekend organizing my Dominion files on my tablet. I had every single title downloaded, which was taking up a bit of space. To streamline things, I created my own reference document with the quick reference sheets for all eras. I debated adding the army lists. At first, I was just going to add some representative armies, but I could not decide which ones. I eventually added them all. It is still smaller than the separate files, and they're now all in one document.

Dominion Naval

I was toying with ideas to use Dominion for galley battles. Well, Mark Cordone beat me to it. Over at the Portable Wargame Facebook group, he posted galley rules. I'll have to try them out while I'm on vacation.

Battles of the British Isles - Part 2

Using 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

I have 2 more British battles to report. Again, I used my virtual board.

Summary

Here are the battles. Details below.

• Hastings - Normans 5, Anglo-Saxons 1
• Bannockburn - English 4, Scots 1

Hastings

Duke of William of Normandy lands in England to stake his claim to the throne. His Norman forces (blue) attack Harold's troops at Hastings.

And it's a disaster for the Anglo-Saxons. The archers strike down Harold and the Breton cavalry rout the spears on the flank (R).

The Bretons continue their charge, slamming into the reserve spears. These also rout. Battle over; England falls to William.

Bannockburn

King Edward II leads an English force (red) into Scotland. Robert the Bruce's Scots confront Edward.

The English cavalry charges with devastating effect, routing two units of spears, including the Bruce.

The English cavalry on the flank continues its charge, attacking the reserve spears. Just like Hastings, the reserve routs. Edward is victorious.

Wow! Those were two ridiculously short battles!

Battles of the British Isles - Part 1

Using 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

Continuing with 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear. However, I decided to play them in themes, rather than strictly chronological. Now we have the first three of five battles located in the British Isles.

Summary

Here are the most recent battles I played and the results (showing units remaining at game end). Brief accounts below.

• Badon Hill (517) - Saxons 3, Britons 1
• Nechtansmere (685) - Picts 4, Northumbria 1
• Brunanburh (937) - Anglo Saxons 4, Scots 1

Badon Hill

For these, I did not want to pull out my counters. Instead, I did them on paper and then transcribed them to the computer.

• Sword = elite, shield = armored, and skull = ferocious

After both slides lost a unit of spearmen, the cream of each army met. Arthur and his knights (red center) faced off against the Saxon leader and his hearth guard. The Saxons remained steady and drove off Arthur.

Later the hearth guard flanked and routed the British spears, ending the battle.

Nechtansmere (685)

The Northumbrians (red) face off against the Picts.

The Pict spears ambushed the enemy (treated as ferocious), wiping out 3 of their enemy counterparts, including the Royal Bodyguard. This left Northumbria with some archers and militia.

The Picts spears on the left charged through a hail of arrows and routed the archers for the victory.

Brunanburh (937)

This time Scots (red) vs. Aethelstan's Anglo Saxons.

In the initial attack, the Scots lost their archers and Norse-Irish allies.

Then, the flanks battled. On the right, the Highlanders and Saxon fyrd battle to the death. Then the fyrd on the left overruns the Scottish spears. Oops. The spears on the left should not be ferocious. I think I played it right but transcribed it incorrectly.

An easy victory for Aethelstan.

Battles of the Roman Empire

Using 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

Recently, Shaun from Shaun's Wargaming started posting the scenarios from 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear. I started them a few months ago so I decided to get back into it.

I left off after completing the battles of the Roman Republic.

Summary

Here are the most recent battles I played and the results (showing units remaining at game end). Brief accounts below.

• Edessa (260 AD) - Sassanid Persians 2, Romans 1
• Immae (272 AD) - Romans 3, Palmyrans 1
• Adrianople (378 AD) - Romans 5, Visigoths 1
• Chalons (451 AD) - Huns 4, Romans 1

Interesting, the first two battles had historical results then the next two did not. 

I actually played these battles twice. I lost my records for the first time but I remember that the Romans went 0-4. They did better this time.

Edessa

A close and bloody fight vs. the Persians. Midway through the battle, the Persian elephants and Roman legionaries fought to a stalemate. Meanwhile, the horse archers on the left destroyed the Roman auxiliaries.

After this, the Roman cavalry reserve advanced in the center, but the horse archers hit their left flank, routing them.

Immae

Prior to this picture, the Romans sacrificed their cavalry on the right to destroy the Persian cataphracts.

Then their left wing cavalry likewise neutralized the cataphracts. This allowed the spears to mop up the field.

The legionaries in reserve never even broke a sweat.

Adrianople

Before this picture, the Roman right wing cavalry drove off the Goth cavalry. Then the cavalry and archers routed the enemy warriors.

Chalons

The Roman's allied cavalry did not fare well. This left the legionaries and archers unsupported.

When the archers moved into the battle line, the Huns flanked them and wiped them out.

Hassan vs. Harald

A Viking in the Sun campaign game

I'm completing my Viking in the Sun campaign. This time, I'm using Dominion rules on a 3 by 3 grid.

Previously

This campaign follows the exploits of Harald Hardrada in the Holy Land. He has led his force in two battles.

1. The bandit Hassan ambushed Harald's force, stopping him from escorting a Byzantine ambassador to his destination.
2. Then Harald ousted Hassan from a local shrine.

Set Up

Harald tracks Hassan's bandits to a box canyon. But Hassan is waiting on the cliffs, ready to attack.

Forces:

• Harald has his Varangians (elite), spears, archers, cavalry, and knights (armored). Harald is with the Varangians.
• Hassan has 2 horse archers, 1 cavalry, 2 archers, and a unit of spears. Hassan is with the spears.

Each leader wants to kill his opposite number (rout his unit).

The Battle

Harald (red) advances his forces. Hassan's horse archers on the right advance and engage the knights. The knights ride through the storm of arrows and rout the horse.

Then Harald's archers rout the horse archers on the left.

Harald's Varangians engage the cavalry on the hill. The cavalry routs.

Hassan can no longer skulk in the rear. His spears contest Harald's Varangians. But it is an unequal contest. The Varangians rout the spears.

Harald catches up with Hassan and kills him.

Aftermath

By killing Hassan and scattering the bandits, Harald helps bring a semblance of peace to the Holy Land (and wins the campaign!). Now his Byzantine overlords plan an invasion of Sicily. Harald prepares for his next adventure!

WHAT'S NEXT

Vikings in the Sun has two more mini campaigns. Before I get to those, however, I'm going back to Dominion. 

• First, I played some scenarios from the Dominion of the Spear supplement. 
• Then Dominion of Frederick the Great came out. I felt compelled to purchase it and to try it out. 

Stay tuned!

A Viking in the Sun - Part 1

On my old blog, I started a Viking in the Sun campaign, but never got far with it. I decided to rectify the situation using a mix of Dominion and 3x3 rules. I used a 3x3 grid but for the most part used Dominion of the Spear combat rules.

Ambush

Harald Hardrada leads a (red) force escorting a Byzantine ambassador. He gets waylaid by bandits.

• Harald has a company of elite Varangians (gold marker), heavy infantry, 2 squadrons of knights, and some archers. Probably should have made the knights armored. Oh well.
• The bandits have 2 bands of horse archers, 1 of cavalry, 2 archers, and some spears,

Harald must clear a path to the town before him. 

• The town is off the board in the bandit reserve area. 
• Because my mat is only 4 squares deep, Harald's reserve area is off the mat.

The bandit leader Hassan springs his ambush.

Harald destroys the spears in front of him but his flanks fall to hails of arrows.

Then bandit archers rout the Varangians. Harald must retreat with the ambassador.

• I assumed that the ambassador was with Harald and the Varangians. The loss of the Varangians meant game over.
• I gave units a chance to retreat instead of getting destroyed but Harald's losses kept failing the roll.

Disputed Shrine

Licking his wounds, Harald is spoiling for an opportunity to pay back the bandit leader Hassan. Harald learns that Hassan has seized a local shrine and is forcing pilgrims to pay an entry tax. Harald leaps into action.

I kind of messed this one up. I thought the bandit's back row was the reserve area, but it was really part of the board. This meant that the bandit troops weren't in the best formation. Ah, fog of war.

Harald crests a hill and sees the shrine below him.

Bandit archery takes out some of Harald's knights.

Harald attacks the shrine and routs the spearmen holding it. Meanwhile, knights from Harald's reserve wipe out the enemy archers.

Then the knights overrun more archers.

Looks like I'm missing a photo.

After the knights and bandit cavalry fight to a standstill, Harald's Varangians sally against some horse archers. The horse rout, leaving Harald in command of the shrine.

Aftermath

Harald has evened the score. Both leaders prepare for the climatic finale.

Stay tuned to find out what happens next!