Slow-Mo Piquet: Game 4, the story without the die rolls

As for previous Piquet games (here and here), after detailed game logs with all initiative pips and die rolls which are more for my own reference, I also want to post one summary with the story of the battle as it evolved.

You can click on the pictures to see a larger version, as always.

The previous two battles were kind of meeting encounters between retreating troops and the vanguard of the pursuers. This time I wanted to go for a classical linear battle, as outlined in the setting.

So as planned, the first few turns here and here were spent marching the armies on the table in long march columns organized by wings. 

The Empire received an extra move card as part of the army characterization, and were allowed to march on the table in two parallel columns. Although the Prussians stole a march on them in turn one with a timely heroic action, overall it began to show soon that the Empire would be deployed into line formation before the Prussians were ready. 

At the end of turn three, the Empire infantry on the right are already starting to form into line formation while the infantry intended for the Prussian center are still marching (dangerously close to the enemy cavalry in front of the villages on their side). On the Prussians far right, the skirmishing Frei infantry keep the deployed line of three Kurmainz battalions in check.

As you can see in the picture above, the Empire's Ansbach Dragoons are closing in on the Prussian infantry center while they are still in column of route. The Dragoons wasted no time and brushed one Prussian Fusilier battalion off the table with a quick charge. 

On the left and in the center, the Empire had formed line before the Prussians did, but got stuck in a fruitless firefight and, eventually, in a fatal attack where two (!) Kurmainz battalions were pushed back by the skirmishing Wunsch Frei-infantry, one of them even routing off the table in total disarray.

The protracted firefight on the Empire left. Frustrated because they completely failed to impress the opposing skirmishers, the Kurmainz battalions charge and are beaten back soundly by Wunsch.

In the center (as on the unfortunate left) the Empire is evolving its columns into line formation ahead of the Prussians, with the reformed Dragoons holding the Prussian Hussars at bay.

Things are very crowded, though, as the Empire struggles to develop two mutually supporting lines.

A view of the Empire center, which is actually getting crowded as the Empire reserves already advance to take pressure of their unlucky left flank units. The Croats have advanced to the tip of the hill on the Empire right.

The Ansbach Dragoons try to force another hole into the still forming Prussian line, but are thrown back by the Malachovsky Hussars who cause a one base loss with a timely counter attack.

The situation after the cavalry clash on the Empire right flank

In turn 6, there is general fighting along the line, but mostly inconclusive fire back and forth. 

Then, the cavalry fight on the Prussians left flank escalates, with Malachovsky Hussars charging Ansbach Dragoons, routing them but breaking itself on the Empire Grenadiers behind the Dragoons. 

Prussian left wing after the cavalry fight - Ansbach Dragoons are runnimg off the table at half strength, Malachovsky Hussars have been wiped out by fire from the combined Kurmainz and Ernestinisch Sachsen Grenadiers.

On the Prussian right, the skirmishing Wunsch Freikorps continue their unbelievable heroics, routing a Kurmainz batallion in a very close melee (tied die roll resolved in favor of the attacking Prussians). 

The skirmishing Wunsch Freikorps watch their opponents turn from "line" into "run" formation

The resulting gap in the Empire's left flank, and even more in its depleted morale chip pool, essentially forces the Empire to retreat despite all of its valiant efforts and local victories. 

I have played out a little bit of that retreat, and it might be fun one day to complete a retreat until all losing units are off the table, but here the Empire line was still organized enough, and the Prussians so cautious, that it didn't seem worth the effort and I ended the game a few initiative rolls after this.

Empire troops are beginning to retreat, Prussian infantry advances cautiously as the Empire center still has full strength battalions firing at them.

Learnings for future games

I had to relearn most items from the last game:

• cav units (not just elites) would have counted as two for army size determination - with my growing army sizes this is getting relevant as armies will get over the minimum three card allotment
• cavalry charging skirmishers does not have to wait for cav move, they can attack on an (opportunity?) pip
• movement in III/IV also allows all units more than 12" from an enemy to move (and all movement cards allow formation changes to such units). This is important if I play out the marching into battle.

And I ran into one new complication: I got confused how many morale chips can be lost in one melee. 

I saw some weird corner cases, like the Prussian battalion losing a melee by a factor of three (routing it) but with very low die rolls (few bases lost), so they were off the table with fewer chips lost than some Empire units who remained on the table and rejoined the fight after rallying, but lost multiple chips in high-roll, close results. 

For some time I thought there should be at most one morale chip loss per lost melee, not multiples for losing, becoming disordered, stand losses etc. But rereading the rules it seems clear that these chip losses add up, so a single unit with one or two unfortunate melee results can eat up five or more chips. Somehow this means that even if they remain on the table and not routing, a small number of damaged units can ruin the whole army's morale. 

I'll try to make myself believe that is historical until the suspension of disbelief fails even worse in future games. 

Slow-Mo Piquet game 4: turn 6 - End

 

Turn 6 (let's say 10:30-11:00 a.m.)

Sequence decks: Prussians remove one card for the routed Fusiliers and one for the poor command. Empire remove one card for the routing Kurmainz battalion.

Phase 1, roll 1: 11:12, Prussians turn dud.

Roll 2: 14:5, 6:3 pips

Empire turn dud, reload, use it on 4/Kurmainz and fire them at Wunsch once more, D10 d1 disordered, u1 pb, d2 target skirmishing for D6:D6, 2:3 no effect.

Then turn skirmish move and move the Grenzers towards the wooded area on the very left of the Prussian flank, and turn Officer check (with no need to test anything).

Prussians turn difficult move (not usable for marching anymore as all units are within 12" of an enemy), dud, cav move.

Roll 3: 16:10, all remaining pips are split 7:3.

Empire move their HQ to the right, turn cav move, retreat the Dragoons, turn dud, heroic moment for elite reload. Fire the converged grenadiers in the center (despite long range) at the Hessen-Kassel Fusiliers at D10 up1 1st fire, d2 long range, D8:D8 for 3:7 no effect.

Prussians don't charge their Hussars into an even D4:D4 cav melee, instead turn - another cav move :(, and an infantry move. Use that on their reserve first.

Phase 2, roll 1: 18:20, Prussians don't move the center and right wing infantry and turn cav melee and dress lines instead.

Roll 2: 18:19, Prussians turn cav move.

Roll 3: 13:10, 2:1 pips.

Empire reload and fire the Grenadiers again, this time D6:D8 without 1st fire: 2:7 no effect.

Prussians hold back on the cav move and turn Officer check instead, with no need to roll for survival.

Roll 4: 18:18, the heroic elite reload for the Empire goes unused.

Turn 7 sees the same sequence deck changes as before.

Phase 1, roll 1: 5:1, 3:1 pips

Empire turn useless deployment, dud, dud (2 art moves...). Prussians turn dud, too.

Roll 2: 10:2, 6:2 pips.

Empire turn officer check, don't need a survival roll, try to bring the Dragoons back in command: D20 d1 disordered, d1 enemy within 1 move for D10:D8, 7:6 success. Spend a pip and a morale chip to rally the Dragoons D6:D8, 4:4 fail.

Empire then turn difficult move and use it on the Grenzers on the very right. Then turn dud, dud.

Prussians turn dud, diff. move.

Roll 3: 3:7, 1:3 pips.

Prussians turn reload, fire and reload Wunsch at 4/Kurmainz, at D10 u1 pb range, d1 disordered, 4:3 for no effect. Then turn inf move.

Empire turn dud.

Roll 4 for 3 remaining pips, 1:7. 

Prussians move their reserve, turn cav melee, refill their 4th opportunity pip.

Correction

Looking at the morale chip situation, I think I penalized the Empire troops to highly for their lost melees. Multiple chip losses for one melee seem overly harsh and, rereading the table in the Cartouche rules on morale chip losses, unwarranted. I think I need to return at least two chips for the Kurmainz unit and one or two for the Dragoons. Before rereading the rules and blow by blow, I'll return 3 chips to make it 8:15.

Phase 2, roll 1: 14:9, 4:1 pips

Empire turn cav move, skirmish move and use it on the Grenzers, turn inf move.

Prussians turn command decision (at one of the best possible times...)

Roll 2: 1:17, 12:3 (only 15 pips left)

Prussians turn dud, cav move, melee (choosing not to melee their skirmishers), reload. Fire the skirmishers at D10 d1 disordered, up1 pb, D10:D6 for 6:2, OOC. Reload and fire again, 6:1 just missing a better effect.

Then turn officer check and attempt to rally the Hussars at D20 d1 disordered, d1 rally, d1 enemy within 1 move for D8:D8 7:2 ok. Note they can't be brought under command as cav that left a mixed command.

Then turn skirmish move, but find their skirmishers are already in melee (and thus probably couldn't have chosen to skip their melee some time ago...). So turning continues with a useless maneuver, difficult move, and then a cav move.

Empire first rout their 2/Kurmainz, then move their reserve and right wing.

Phase 3, roll 1: 7:12, 1:4 pips.

Prussians charge and melee the disordered Dragoons with their Hussars. Hussars fight with D6, d1 blown, up1 charging, the Dragoons fight with D8 d1 blown, d1 -1 stand, d2 disordered for the minimum D4. Roll is 6:4, one more stand loss, Dragoons rout. Empire lose a morale chip (not multiples as I played earlier), Prussians get two bonus pips. The Dragoons rout through the Grenadiers who turn unformed. The Hussars are disordered, and roll to prevent pursuit D20 d1 disordered, d2 prevent pursuit, d1 one move range for D4:D8, failing the check 1:7. So they pursue the Dragoons 6 inches, hitting the Grenadiers on the way. 

As elites, the Grenadiers fire a volley (their first!) at point blank range, D10 up 1st fire, d1 unformed, up1 range, D12:D6, 4:1 for 1 stand loss.

Prussians then turn infantry move. They move their reserve. Next they would like to advance the right infantry wing to move Hessen-Kassel through their retreating skirmishers and attack the spent 4/Kurmainz. However, the Wunsch Frei infantry is stuck in melee and will have to fight first. They do that on the last available pip, attacking their disordered enemy without a card and with D8 up1 charging, d2 disordered, d2 skirmish = D4 vs D8 d2 disordered =D4, 4:4 tie broken in favor of the attacker, routing the Mainz infantry.

Another Kurmainz battalion turns tail and runs, routed by the fearsome Wunsch skirmishers. 

Rereading the rules on morale chip losses I think these are cumulative, after all. I don't quite get it, because this treats a unit routing unralliably after a one stand loss in a 4:1 result much easier than a unit that loses two stands and rallies later, but whatever. I will remove the three morale chips from the Empire again which I corrected earlier, remove one from the Prussians for the Hussar stand lost to fire, and now 3 more from the Empire for losing a melee and routing with a 1 stand loss, so they only have a single chip left.

Empire use their one pip to let the Grenadiers melee the Hussars who pursued into them in disorder: D8 up1 charging, vs D6 down lots for disordered, lost stands etc. D10:D4, 9:1, the Hussars are wiped out for a chip loss of 1 (lost melee) +3 lost stands. Not sure another chip makes sense for routing the non-existing unit, but I'll award it to keep things a bit more interesting.

The Empire right wing is now devoid of cavalry - Ansbach Dragoons are runnimg off the table at half strength, Malachovsky Hussars have been wiped out by the Kurmainz and Ernestinisch Sachsen Grenadiers.

Roll 2: to be cont'd...

... or not? Looking at the morale situation with 1:8 chips remaining, I guess all that is left is a withdrawal of the Reichsarmee. I guess I'll first have to pass a player morale check before I play that out.

So let's take stock. At the moment, unit losses relevant for a major morale check would favor the Prussians. Although they have lost two units completely (one Fusilier battalion and the Hussars), the Prussians currently have three routing units and only one morale chip, i.e. one chance to rally one of them. The Empire would have to tie the Prussians by rallying one Kurmainz battalion, or routing another Prussian unit anywhere, to avoid their next Major Morale check.

Currently, this check would be a D20 having to roll >1, but only if there is a morale chip left to pay for that (so no more rallying for now). I guess the odds to make the first roll are ok, but as soon as the Empire loses a morale chip to something else their army will crumble quickly.

So the best the Empire can do is beat a fast and efficient retreat. I don't think I'll play that out, but will start to see how quickly things go south. So the goal is: don't spend pips on anything but retreating and maybe occasionally firing off a lucky salvo at the pursuing Prussians. Let's try that.

So Roll 2: 19:16, Empire turn a heroic... cav move to forced rout their Dragoons off the table.

Prussians advance their right wing and withdraw the heroic Frei infantry.

Roll 3: 11:17, 2:4 pips.

Prussians fire at their right wing opponents. 1/Hessen-Kassel at the routing Kurmainz infantry, D10 up1 1st fire, up1 rear, and I'll ignore formation modifiers for the target as they are currently half way between disordered line and routing column of march. D12+1 vs D6 is 3:4, no effect.

2/Hessen Kassel fire at the Grenadiers, D10 up1 for 4:1, one stand and the last morale chip gone. Then advance their reserve (now the left wing) but not the Fusiliers in the center. The left most Grenadiers stay back to face the Grenzers in the forest. These fire at the Grenadiers, D10 up1 1st fire, 10:4 disordering the Grenadiers, making them ooc and costing a morale chip (still 7 left for the Prussians to none for the Empire).

The Prussians then turn cav melee and maneuver.

Empire turn elites reload, but keep that active for later and refill one opportunity pip.

Roll 4: 4:14, the remaining 6 pips go to the Prussians.

Prussians turn a heroic deployment with no use, and another infantry move. They use it on their right wing to charge the routing Kurmainz battalion and the Grenadiers. 

They immediately melee Kurmainz at D10 up1 charging, up3 rear for D12+3 vs D10 d1 stand loss, d2 disordered for D4, 6:3 for 1 stand loss, 2 pips and 2 morale chips to the Prussians (lost melee, stand loss) and a 3" retreat.

They turn dress lines and an officer check. The commander loss roll is a 14, no problem. They try to rally the victorious Fusiliers, D20 d1 disordered, d1 rally, d1 enemy within one move for D8:D8, 5:3 ok. Then try to assert command over them, D20 d1 for enemy distance, 2:4 fails. The poor CiC tries to rally the Grenadiers on the left wing, D20 d1 poor, d1 disordered, d1 rally, d1 enemy near, for D6:D8 for 3:1 success.

On their right wing, the Prussians start to advance and drive the crumbling Empire left off the table 

Phase 3, roll 1: 18:8, 7:3 pips.

Empire reload both Grenadier units, and immediately fire the Grenadiers facing Hessen-Kassel in the middle of the fire fight shown above. D10 d1 stand loss, up1 range, 3:5 no effect.

They refill an opportunity pip, turn musket reload, use it on the Grenadiers and fire at Hessen-Kassel again, this time for 4:3 and again no effect.

Prussians turn dud and musket reload, use it on Hessen-Kassel.

Roll 2: 3:12, 3:6 pips. 

Prussians reload Frei and 1/Hessen-Kassel, then fire 2/Hessen-Kassel at the Grenadiers D10 up1 range, 4:5 no effect. It must be raining.

They turn cav move, Officer check. No casualty roll needed. But try again to bring 1/Hessen Kassel in command at D20 d1 enemy range, 9:2 ok.

Empire turn dud, maneuvre, cav move.

Roll 3 for one pip: 3:18, Prussians try to assert command on the Grenadiers on the very left, with another d1 for the poor commander, 8:8 no.

Phase 4, roll 1 (only 1 card left in the Prussian sequence deck...): 3:6, 1:2 pips.

Prussians advance their brigade commanders, Empire turn melee resolution.

Roll 2: 11:18, 2:5 pips. Prussiand turn their last card to end the turn before the Empire Grenadiers can melee Hessen-Kassel...

Turn 7

Sequence decks: Prussians are two units down, Empire 3. Both sides add a major morale check (one turn late). 

Thinking about what the armies will try to do this turn I can't see much that is worth playing out anymore. The Empire will retreat as fast as possible, and the Prussians will not be willing to follow too aggressively, risk taking close range defensive fire while trying to charge the retreating units. So I'll leave the march off the table to the imagination of the reader and consider things a clear Prussian victory despite valiant efforts of the Empire to seize the initiative and make the best of the day.

Slow-mo Piquet: game 4, turn 4-5

 

First shots were already fired at the end of turn 3, while both armies were still deploying. Let's see how aggressively they continue in...

Turn 4

There are no casualties yet, so sequence decks remain unchanged and complete, except for one card removed from the Prussian deck for their poor commander.

Phase 1, roll 1: 16:2, 10:4 pips.

Empire turn infantry move. For the right wing, infantry speed is not enough to let the Dragoons charge home, so they only move the mandatory inch to avoid exposing their flank to the Prussian Hussars. The rest of the right wing and reserve move up and start forming into line.

As per the Piquet house rules, I will allow the 90° turn from column to line on a move command, even to the Prussians who have enemy cavalry approaching and should be even more motivated to pivot quickly.

Empire then turn dud, dud, cav move. This is when the Dragoons charge Hoffmann Fusiliers and catch them in column of march. This flank attack immediately disorders the Fusiliers, and can be resolved immediately without waiting for a melee resolution card.

The Dragoons get a D8 up 2 flank for D12, the Fusiliers defend with a D8 d2 disordered for the minimum D4. Roll is 5:2, one stand loss and doubled so the Fusiliers rout. 

The Prussians lose 4 morale chips (disordered, lost melee, lost stand, rout),but still have 3 more chips left than the Empire started with. The Empire gets two bonus pips for the rout. I forgot to mark them out of command for leaving the command group, will do that now.

The victorious Dragoons are blown and disordered after melee, and roll their morale D6 vs D10 for routing infantry to check pursuit. They check successfully 6:2, and use the 2 bonus pips to retire one move to get out of the Prussian Hussars' way. They will be blown but good order on their next move.

After all this excitement, the Empire next turn dud, melee resolution, dud, dud.

The Prussians see cav melee, dud, reload and use that for the Frei infantry.

Roll 2 for 6 remaining pips: 17:11, all 6 go to the Empire.

They turn cav move amd let the Dragoons inch towards the right, threatening the Hussars and giving the Grenadiers behind them a bit more space.

Then turn dud, elites reload, native mobility (not used to keep the Grenzers in command), and dud.

Phase 2, roll 1: 18:7 for 8:3 pips.

Empire see inf move, move their right and reserve. The leftwing stays put. 

Next they turn officer check. They move the C in C towards the center, otherwise there's nothing to do.

Next they see cav melee, reload and reload the 2nd Kurmainz bat.

The Prussians turn a dud and infantry move. They have to rout Hofmann off the table first and leave the rest of the move to their next initiative. 

Roll 2: 1:8, 2:5 pips.

Prussians form line with their left wing, Then their reserve advances, still one move behind the left. On the right wing they advance Dossow Fusiliers a bit.

They turn a difficult move next and bring up their rear to catch up.

The Empire reload the 4th bat. Kurmainz, and fire the 2nd bat. at the skirmishers again. This time they fire D10 d1 for range, d2 at skirmishers. D4:D6 is 3:1 for no effect.

Roll 3 for the last two pips: 17:17 ending the turn.

Turn 5: Prussians replace two cards (poor commander, one unit lost) with duds.

Phase 1, roll 1: 13:4, 5:2 pips.

Empire turn an unhelpful cav move, dud, deploy to wheel the Kurpfalz guards into line, and reload.

Prussians turn two duds.

Roll 2: 12:8, 3:1 pips.

Empire load and fire 2nd Kurmainz at the pesky skirmishers, D4:D6 for 1:3 no effect, and fire 4th Kurmainz at 4:2 still no effect but to be reloaded.

Prussians turn Maneuver.

Continued, but ineffective, firefight between Kurmainz and the Prussian skirmishers in the center 

Roll 3:  8:10, 2 Prussian pips to let 2/Dossow swing into line and turn cav melee.

Roll 4:  5:3, 2 Empire pips reload 4th/Kurmainz, and turn a heroic moment.

Roll 5: 16:19, 1:2 pips.

Prussians urn tdud and their first command indecision at a good time (end of their initiative anyway). Apparently the staff work better than the general's poor quality would suggest.

Empire turn a dud, keeping the heroics dangling for...

Roll 6:  12:6, the remaining 2 pips go to the Empire to turn a useless heroic elites reload and a dud.

Phase 2, roll 1:  15:5, 7:3 pips.

Empire turn dud, cav melee, inf move for their right wing and the reserve. Then turn a dud and their bonus inf move.

Prussians turn unhelpful native move, inf move and first march the leading grenadiers on the table and advance the left wing Hussars.

Making the best of their extra infantry move card, the Reichsarmee is already filling the center with its infantry lines while the Prussian grenadiers are still marching on the table.

Roll 2: 14:11, 2:1 pips.

Empire advance their right and reserve. Prussians advance their rear.

(here, my lack of connectivity ate a few initiatives' worth of notes, including the first very exciting clash in the center where the Wunsch skirmishers saw off an attack by two Kurmainz batallions)

The first infantry melee in the center (spoiler: it didn't go well for the Empire...)

Phase x, roll 1: 9:2, 5:2 pips

Empire turn the Dragoons a bit to have the Malachovsky Hussars in front, turn a useless native move, Officer check. Barely make the Officer Survival (D20 roll of 3), don't waste chips and pips on the disordered infantry, turn Cav move and charge the Dragoons into the Hussars in another attempt to land a decisive blow.

Prussians turn another Officer check in a row, and a melee.

Roll 2: 6:18, 4:8 pips.

Prussians resolve the cavalry melee, with (counter) charge advantage: D6 up1 charging vs D8 d1 blown, 6:4 for one stand loss and a morale chip. The Hussars roll to prevent pursuit: D20 d1 disordered, d2 prevent pursuit, d1 for the nearby Dragoons for D6:D8, 6:4 and stay under control.

Then turn cav move, but keep the Hussars back (they would melee the Dragoons at a risky D4:D4). Turn cav melee, reload, use that on Frei, infantry move. Use that to turn the leading Grenadiers into line, and refill one opportunity pip.

Roll 3 for one remaining pip: 3:3, ending the turn.

End of turn 5, on the right flank: watched by the Grenzers on the hill on the left, and the Prussian HQ in the village in the back, Malachovsky Hussars have beaten back the Dragoons, giving their Grenadiers at the very right time to deploy in line.

On the left flank, one Kurmainz battalion is running away, two others with a cav unit on the end of the line for support barely hold the line against, well... a lonely Freikorps battalion in skirmish formation. All clichées 

Slow-Mo Piquet: Game 4, turn 2 - 3

We continue the ballet moves to unfold the battle lines from turn 1. 

There are no changes to the sequence decks yet.

Turn 2, phase 1, roll 1: 20:13, 5:2 pips.

Empire turn and use native mobility for the Grenzers. Then turn inf move and move right and left wings.

Prussians turn two duds.

Roll 2: 4:5, Prussians turn deployment.

Roll 3: 13:17, 1:3 pips.

Prussians use the deployment to form the leading Frei batallion into skirmish formation. Then turn (and skip) cav move, then a difficult move.

Empire move up the rear.

Roll 4: 19:8, the remaining 8 pips go to the Empire who turn 2 useless cards and a maneuver and use that to turn the leading two Mainz batallions into line formation (I'll be generous and let them do that on one pip for the two units from the same group).

Then turn 3 duds and officer check.

The Prussian right wing starts to appear, led by the skirmishing Wunsch Frei-infantry and the Dragoons.

At the end of turn 2, phase 1, the Reichsarmee has more units on the table as both wings entered in two parallel columns. Right wing in front is led by the dragoons, followed by Mainz Grenadiers &Co. Left wing is led by the 2/ to 4/ bat. of Kurmainz infantry.

Phase 2, roll 1: 11:17, 2:4 pips

Prussians use three pips to move all three wings. Then turn Native mobility (not needed anymore as Wunsch won't advance more).

Empire pull their HQ back a bit in the face of th Prussian Freikorps, then turn dud.

Roll 2: 9:6, 2:1 pips

Empire turn difficult move, move their left wing first. 

Prussians turn Inf Move.

Roll 3: 7:9, 2 Prussian pips move the right and left wing.

Roll 4: 6:19, the remaining 9 pips go to the Prussians who move their rear, turn officer check for no action, 2 duds, a cav move they will skip, a dud, a maneuver used for 1 pip to form line with the right wing dragoons, and two reloads.

Phase 3, roll 1: 13:10, 2:1 pips. 

Empire move the right wing and reserve. 

Prussians turn difficult move.

Roll 2: 19:7, 8:4 pips.

Empire move the left wing. Turn and use inf move, starting with the left wing, then right wing and reserve. Turn cav move but skip it to keep the dragoons in the right wing group. Turn elites reload.

Prussians continue their move, and turn a dud.

Roll 3: 16:15, Empire use one pip to turn Dress Lines

Roll 4: 2:1, Empire turn dud

Roll 5: 20:10, the last 3 pips go to the Empire who turn Cav Move, another cav move and reload to end the phase.

Phase 4, roll 1: 9:20, 3:8 pips.

Prussians turn officer check twice, dud, maneuver. Maneuver the right wing infantry units into line formation. Turn dud, reload, heroic moment for... we'll see.

Empire turn Info move, move their right wing and reserve.

Roll 2: 19:8, the remaining 9 pips are 8:1.

Empire turn dud, officer check, reload, dud, heroic moment for a diff. move. Form line with the right wing cavalry with a heroic double move to threaten the Prussien columns, and Grenadiers, march up the rest.

Prussians turn a heroic cav move. They might have to use that to bring up their left wing cavalry to protect their infantry deployment...

Phase 5, roll 1: 10:14, 1:3 pips.

Prussians split off the Hussars from their left wing and let them do a double move. Then turn infantry move :(, and move up the left wing (leaving the reserve a move behind).

Empire choose not to end the turn yet (they only have one card left), but use the open difficult move for their right wing.

The first fire fight breaks out on the Empire left between two batallions of Kurmainz and the Prussian free Infantry of Wunsch.

Roll 2: 15:4, 8:3 pips. Empire move up their reserves, and advance their left wing to within firing distance of the Wunsch Frei infantry. As they march up, Wunsch uses an opportunity pip to fire at the 4th Kurmainz batallion on the right. They fire D10 d1 for medium range u1 for 1st fire, for 2:5 and no effect.

The two right most Kurmainz batallions fire back. 4th bat. on the right fires D8 u1 1st fire, d1 medium range, d2 for skirmishing target, D4:D6 for 1:4 no effect, the 2nd bat. in the middle rolls 4:4 also for no effect.

Empire then turn their last card, cav melee, to end the 3rd turn.

The table from the perspective of the last Prussians marching on the table (except for the reserve which is one move behind). the Empire Dragoons are dangerously close to the Prussian fusiliers still marching in column formation.

Slow-mo Piquet game 4: ratings and turn 1

Commander ratings

Prussians D20+2, rolling a 1 for a poor commander. Add a command indecision to their sequence deck.

Empire D20-2, rolling 15 for an average commander, no deck change.

Army characteristics

Prussians have 9 units, plus 2 for the two elite grenadiers. Draw the minimum 3 cards of 6 or higher: Cavalry Morale, Infantry Morale, 10. Discard Cavalry Morale, draw 9 for 19 morale chips and Inf. Morale up 1.

Empire have 11 units, plus 2 elites, and with a card divisor of 4 they also get the minimum three cards: 6, 7, Infantry Move. So 13 chips.

Terrain

I will treat the slopes of the higher hills in the corners as level III terrain, but the lower hills as kind of level I.5, i.e. stop on contact, move at normal speed and melee affect up 1 for the unit with the height advantage.

The grey marsh/stone patches and forests are level III, the brown earth patches are level II.

Turn 1

Phase 1, roll 1: 15:8, 5:2 pips

Empire turn Infantry move, bring up all three brigades. Turn another infantry move!

Prussians turn dud, cav move.

Roll 2: 1:9, 2:6 pips.

Prussians turn dud, infantry move, move all three brigades. Turn officer check.

Empire bring up the right and left wing columns.

Roll 3: 3:9, 0:5 pips.

Prussians move up their HQ, turn another officer check and advance their HQ into the Eastern village. Turn two duds.

The two Reichsarmee columns are starting to march on the table. In the background, Prussian HQ in the right hand village and the Prussian vanguard.

Phase 2, roll 1: 20:5, 10:5 pips.

Empire move their rear guard, turn dud, then maneuver - just a little bit too early to be of much use. Then turn 3 more useless cards and a cav move (but again too early to split off cavalry units from their command group's movement). Although they are still in march column, I will allow the Grenzers to make an extra move on that card. Then turn another useless reload.

Prussians turn dud, officer check for no action, dud, premature cav move, cav melee (which, I just noticed, also allows Prussian regulars to melee!).

Roll 2: 17:16 for a single Empire pip, turning - dress lines.

Roll 3: 2:8, Prussia geta the last 4 pips. Turn heroic moment for - a difficult move they can use to advance their troops as they are still far enough away from the enemy! I will apply the restriction to "one unit" to the whole right wing, and will charge them two pips for that. The last pip moves up the left wing.

Phase 3, roll 1: 2:6 for 1:3 pips.

Prussians move up their rear, turn another slightly premature cav move, and a reload.

Empire turn a dud.

Roll 2: 2:12, 3:7 pips.

Prussians turn a dud and an inf move, move all three groups. Turn two more reloads.

Empire turn officer check, bring up their HQ. Turn dud.

Roll 3: 7:7, turn ends.

The Prussians stole a march or two on the Empire... I just need to remember that their right wing is now a move ahead of the rest from the heroic moment.

Piquet game 4: the setting

After two fleeting skirmishes (here and here) I feel like trying another linear battle, with all the march and evolution from columns to battle lines included.

I still don't have the full historical OOBs from the battle of Zinna painted up yet, but will try to use the historical unit values this time to reflect some of the differences between the involved armies.

The battleground is pretty open, with low hills, except for some steeper hills and trees on one edge. I will ignore the low hill edges for movement and only use them for line of sight and an uphill melee modifier. The steep hill edges stop move and are half move to cross, but on any movement card and without command penalty.

I will let the Prussians enter from the top right corner of the table in a single column. They will come in in three brigades:
1. Right wing with Wunsch, Plettenberg Dragoons and the 2 batallions Hessen-Kassel
then army HQ
2. Left wing with Salmuth, Hoffmann and the Dragoons
3. Reserve with the two grenadier batallions

The Reichsarmee will march in from the bottom left, with two parallel columns
1. at the very rear of the table: right wing with the Grenzers, Ansbach Dragoons, the converged grenadiers of Mainz &Co, Ferntheil and the 4th batallion of Mainz
2. followed by the reserve of the other converged grenadier batallion and Kurpfalz guards
3. in front of them, marching on the near end of the large hill, the left wing of the remaining 3 batallions Mainz and the Hohenzollern cuirassiers.

Piquet game 3: the story

As last time, I want to wrap up the blow-by-blow game reports for my last game (here and here) into a quick photo story.

The scenario: after the last engagement, a small Empire corps keeps following a retreating Prussian corps (OOBs here). The Prussian rear guard is just leaving their night quarters when the Empire van appear on the other side of the table.

As always, click on the pictures to see a larger version.

In front of the building, the Prussian rear (Frei infantry and Hussars) have turned around to face the Empire vanguard (Grenzers and a converged Grenadier batallion) while the first Prussian units return to the table from the left table edge.

What I like about the rules of Piquet (or Shako, for that matter, with its special rules for marching to battle in the SYW rules option) is that they allow you to play out the historically critical part of battles that happens before the actual shooting. Who turns more move cards at the right time, and can bring his units to the table and unfold them into battle lines before the other side is ready?

The first race was to see whether the pursuing Empire troops would be able to charge the retreating Prussians before they could organize themselves. Spoiler: they wouldn't...

In the center, the Empire Dragoons threaten to attack the Prussian rear guard, but they have managed to face the Empire with their cavalry protected by a skirmisher screen.

While the first units on the table face each other, both sides are starting to bring more units onto the table.

On the left table edge, the Prussian HQ brings up the first Fusilier battalions

From the right table edge, the Kurpfalz guards are the first reinforcements marching onto the table.

After some hesitation, the Dragoons took heart and charged the Prussian rear, hoping to force a breakthrough while the Prussian main wasn't ready. It didn't go well.

The Wunsch skirmishers receive the charging cavalry with a crushing volley, killing one Dragoon stand and disrupting the attack.

After some more units came on the table, the Prussian Hussars counter attacked the Ansbach Dragoons and swept them off the table.

Situation at game end

With both sides firmly established on the table, both HQs remember their original goal for the day - avoiding a useless larger engagement and just staying on the move.

Slow-Mo Piquet game 3: turn 5

Turn 5, phase 1 (14:30)
Sequence decks still unchanged

Roll 1: 10:13, 1:2 pips
Prussians turn diff. move, dud
Empire dress lines

Roll 2: 1:10, 3:6 pips
Prussians turn deployment, deploy Salmuth and the Grenadiers (2 and 10" off table) to line formation, turn inf move and advance the main (the disordered Frei inf can't move).
Empire turn cav move, withdraw the Dragoons, and deploy their Cuirassiers (just off table) into line formation.

Roll 3: 9:8. Empire turn musket reload.

Roll 4: 4:17, the remaining 8 pips go to the Prussians.
They move up their rearguard to a bit more than 2 moves behind the main.
Then turn dud, cav melee, diff. move, officer check. Try to rally Wunsch, D20 d1 for disordered, d1 for rally, d1 for enemy within 1 move for D8:D8, 7:3 fail.
Turn elite reload, native mobility.

Phase 2, roll 1: 5:7, 2 Prussian pips turn dud, musket reload.

Roll 2: 19:11, 6:2 pips
Empire turn melee res., inf move. Move up the main. Turn cav melee, dress lines, mov in III/IV.
Prussians turn maneuver, dud.

Roll 3: 5:3, 2 empire pips turn elites reload, art reload.

Roll 4: 3:18, remaining 8 pips go to the Prussians. Tuen cav move. As the Prussian Frei infantry are already disordered and confused (they even forgot to reload when they had a chance), I will let the Hussars charge through them without further damage (which is my reading of the letter of the rules, anyway).
Next, turn musket reload and this time reload Wunsch. Turn Melee resolution and fight the already disordered Dragoons at D6 u1 charging = D10 vs D8 d1 for 1 stand lost, d1 blown, d2 disordered = D4 (I guess it can't get worse than that). Result 8:2 wipes out the Dragoons.

This ends the battle - the Prussian intention is to keep marching and there is now no way the Empire infantry can stop them from doing that.

The Empire cavalry is gone, and the infantry too far away to bring the Prussians to battle

The biggest tactial learning from this engagement is not very surprizing at all: without artillery it is hard to damage or even pin an opponent who doesn't want to engage. Even more reason to push ahead and paint up some big guns (the first artillery unit is already waiting to be cleaned and primed).

Learnings / rule mistakes noticed while playing:

• cav units would have counted as two for army size determination
• cav charging skirmishers does not have to wait for cav move, can happen on an opportunity pip
• movement in III/IV also allows all units more than 12" from an enemy to move (and all movement cards allow formation changes to such units)

Slow-Mo Piquet game 3: turns 1-4

Turn 1, phase 1 (let's say, 12:30)

Roll 1: Empire 12, Pr 1. Empire get 8 pips, Prussians 3.
Empire turns dud, dud (I won't bother to distinguish between dress lines, artillery cards etc. if the cards do nothing), musket reload, native mobility, officer check (no use as their army command moves with the main for now), deployment (I will let the vanguard change from march column to column off table for one pip), and a heroic moment for whatever comes next.
Prussians turn melee, dud, musket reload.

Roll 2: 2:7, 4 Prussian pips and one Empire.
Prussians turn cavalry move (ignored to keep the mixed rearguard as one formation), difficult move, cav melee, native mobility.
Empire turn officer check (useless so far and keeping the heroic moment alive)

Roll 3 for 4 remaining pips: 14:19, all pips go to the Prussians.
They turn musket reload, cav melee, officer check, 2nd cav move.

Phase 2, roll 1: 13:19, 4 Prussian pips vs 2 Empire.
Prussians turn dud, Deployment, use one pip to form column with both units, and turn another irrelevant officer check.
Empire turn melee resolution, wasting their heroic move, and dress lines.

Roll 2: 2:9 for 2:5 pips.
Prussians turn cav move and use it for the hussars, breaking the rearguard formation after all. Turn elites reload, maneuver and use the last pip to bring the hussars into line.
Empire turn dud, dud.

Roll 3: 15:20 for 1:4 pips.
Prussians use the maneuver card to wheel the Frei infantry 90°, turn another maneuver and face the Frei infantry towards the new front. Turn infantry move.
Empire turn dress lines.

Roll 4 for 2 remaining pips (I bet the Empire will win this one...): no, 5:14 and the last two pips go to the Prussians. They march Wunsch ahead and turn another infantry move.

Phase 3, roll 1: 10:4, 4:2 pips.
Empire turn dud, musket reload (twice!), dud
Prussians march Wunsch into contact with the class II rough ground, turn dud.

Roll 2: 16:3, 9:4 pips
Empire turn cav move, march onto the table the leading Dragoons, splitting them off their vanguard.
Turn cav melee, inf move. March their vanguard inf up to the table edge, and their main body to stay within one move distance to the van (but still in march column).
Turn move in diff. terrain, maneuver. Dragoons form line with the last pip.
Prussians turn dud, move in diff. terrain, heroic moment for officer check.

Roll 3 for the last pip: 10:10, ending turn 1.

Turn one stats:
initiative rolls difference was 7 in favor of Prussia, total pips 27-32
infantry moves / maneuvers / deploys turned / used: 2-4

Turn 2: reshuffle unchanged sequence decks. Assume it's about 13:00.

Phase 1, roll 1: 8:1, Empire actions lost from the records, one Prussian pip turns cav move.

Roll 2: 12:2, 7:3 pips
Empire turn inf move, bring up the van and the main keeps up one move behind.
Turn command indecision, losing 3 pips :(
Prussians leave the Hussars where they are, turn diff. move, cav move, dress lines,

Roll 3: 11:15, 1:3 pips
Prussians turn officer check, move their HQ up to the table edge and the vanguard commander to his front.
Empire dress lines.

Roll 4: 19:12, the remaining 5 pips go to the Empire.
Empire turn dud, diff. move, inf move and bring van and main one move forward.

Phase 2, roll 1: 1:7, 2:4 pips
Prussians turn musket reload, diff.move, deployment. Form Wunsch into line and their off table main into column.
Empire turn dud, cav move.

Roll 2: 10:18, 2:6 pips.
Prussians turn dud, maneuver (not needed), another maneuver, cav melee, dud, dud
Empire advance the Dragoons to give the vanguard's infantry space to deploy, turn dud.

Roll 3: 13:14, Prussians turn cav melee

Roll 4: 18:10, last 5 pips go to the Empire.
Empire turn cav melee, 2x musket reload, 2x dud

Phase 3, roll 1: 17:19
2 Prussian pips turn dud, cav move.

Roll 2: 1:1, turn ends.

Both sides are starting to add units to the table.

Decks remain unchanged for 13:30, Turn 3, phase 1, roll 1: 15:2, 9:4 pips.

Empire turn cav melee, 2x dud, officer check, musket reload, dud, cav move (unused to keep shielding the arrival of the van's infantry), melee, inf move.
Prussians turn elite reload, diff. move, inf move and advance the leading unit of their main onto the table.

Roll 2: 14:13, Empire advance their van.

Roll 3: 8:1, 5:1 pips (only 6 pips remain in the phase)
Empire advance their main to within 2" of the table edge, turn dud, inf move, form skirmish line with the Grenzers and prepare a second line with the Grenadiers, and bring up their main onto the table.
Prussians advance their rear to 3 moves distance to the main.

Phase 2, roll 1: 1:3, 2 Prussian pips turn deployment, deploy 1/Hessen-Kassel into line formation.

Roll 2: 3:20, 5:12 pips
Prussians deploy Wunsch into skirmish line, and 2/Hessen-Kassel (still just off table) into line.
Turn dud, native mobility (dud for Prussia as only Grenzers can use that), cav melee, musket reload, melee, heroic moment for (dud) maneuver they don't need, inf. move and advance Wunsch through the light terrain.
Empire turn diff. move, dud x3, deployment.

Roll 3 for the last pip: 4:7, Prussians bring up their main one move, with Salmuth 2" away from the table edge in column.

Phase 3, roll 1: 2:2

Turn 4 (14:00), phase 1, roll 1: 14:4, 7:3 pips
Empire deploy the Kurpfalz guards, the off-board Cuirassiers and the first off-board Kurmainz bataillon to line. Turn Officer check, bring their staff and the commander of the main forward. Turn heroic moment for...
Prussians move the rearguard to stay 3 moves behind the main. Turn Officer check, bring up the main's commander.

Roll 2: 3:7, 1:4 pips
Prussians bring up their HQ staff. Turn dud, cav move, retreat the Hussars towards their skirmishers to gain time.
Empire turn dud, keeping the heroic moment alive.

Roll 3 for 5 remaining pips: 3:9, 1:4 pips
Prussians turn musket reload, dud, cav move, inf move.

Phase 2, roll 1: 12:1, 8:3 pips.
Empire turn diff. move (wasting the heroic move), maneuver, wheel the Guards a bit, turn musket reload, cav melee, musket reload, cav move and advance the Dragoons to threaten the Hussars.
Prussians would like to advance the Frei infantry to shield the Hussars from the Dragoons atack, but they will run into the uneven ground on the Hussars left flank before having enough space for two ranks. Roll a difficulty roll to check whether they can pull it off: D8 up 1 for skirmishers vs D8 for 7:1, easily making it.
Then the Prussians move the main: Hessen-Kassel in line, Salmuth come on in line.
Then advance rear to stay 3 moves behind the main (actually more like 2.5 moves as they remain in marching column on some semblance of road).

The Prussian main body starts to march onboard, led by the Hessen-Kassel Fusiliers.

In the center, Wunsch Frei infantry has formed a skirmish screen in front of Malachovsky Hussars.

The Empire main body starts showing up, as well, led by the Kurpfalz guards.

Roll 2: 16:8, 6:2 pips.
Empire turn elites reload, dud, cav move and try to attack with the Dragoons.
I'm totally blank on the topic of cavalry charging skirmishers. Browsing around the rules I see

• resolving a cav melee against skirmishers doesn't need a cav melee card
• the Dragoons could have charged the smirmishers on an opportunity pip at any time
• the Skirmishers (being rated as regulars) can react to the charge by opportunity firing at mid point of the charge. As skirmish fire it doesn't look promising, but other than spending the "1st fire bonus" there seems to be no penalty for trying it (I remembered a melee penalty for firing at chargers without impressing them, but that is a rule in shako, apparently not in Piquet / Cartouche).

So the Frei infantry fire at 3" range, i.e. D10 up1 1st fire, vs D6 for 11:1. This devastating salvo loses the Dragoons a stand and a morale chip and disorders them out of command.

Just out of spite the Dragoons spend a pip to melee the skirmishers anyway. They get D8 up1 for charging, d1 for 1 less stand, d1 for being disordered = D6. The Prussians get D8 d2 for skirmishing = D4. The roll is 3:1 for a "won tie" for the Dragoons, disordering the Prussians. Hmm, I'll indicate disordered skirmishers by reverting a couple stands to face backward. And the Prussians lose one morale chip.
I guess the skirmishers have done a splendid job holding the enemy cavalry at bay, and the Dragoons are now really at risk of a counter attack.

The Empire use their last pip to turn ... Command Indecision.

The Prussians turn diff. move and Officer Check. The commander casualty roll is easily passed.

Roll 3 for the last pip: 15:20, Prussians turn Cav move.

Phase 3 begins with one card remaining in the Empire's sequence deck. Roll 1: 10:2, Empire turn a dud to end the turn.

Turn 4 ends with an in conclusive but exciting melee in the center and clear advantage for the Prussians.

First blood goes to the Wunsch Frei-Infantry who kill a stand of charging Dragoons and are only disordered but otherwise undamaged as the Franconians charge home.

Slow-Mo Piquet game 3 - Setup

After the last battle the Prussians keep retreating followed by the Imperial army. This time the Imperial vanguard spots the rear of the Prussians as they get on the road in the morning, having spent the night in an old castle's blacksmith workshop.

OoB in order of march

Unit values per my take on generic game defaults here, with arbitrary deductions here and there and the Prussian infantry morale increase.

Prussians

Vanguard (two moves ahead of main)

Plettenberg Dragoons x-8-6

Hoffmann Fusiliers 10-8-8

Staff

Main

3x Fusiliers (2× Hessen Kassel, Salmuth) 10-8-8

2x Grenadiers (Willemey, Burgsdorff) 12-8-10

Rearguard (two moves behind main)

Wunsch Frei Inf 10-8-8

Malachovsky Hussars x-6-6

Wunsch Jäger (no stats, only one company)

Empire

Vanguard (one move ahead of main)

Ansbach Dragoons x-8-6

Karlstädter Oguliner 10-8-6

converged Grenadiers 10-8-8

Main

Kurpfalz Guards 10-8-6

Staff

Hohenzollern Cuirassiers x-8-6

4x Kurmainz 10-8-6

Rearguard (directly behind main)

Hohenlohe 8-8-6

Setup steps

1. commander ratings (D20 plus modifiers)

Prussians: 8+3=11, average

Empire: 8-3=5, poor

2. Army characteristics
Prussians: 9 units, incl. 2 elites (grenadiers), so get 11:3 = the minimum 3 cards. Draw 6, Infantry Morale and Cavalry Morale, replace the latter with 8 for
=> 14 chits and Infantry Morale (added above).
Austrians: 10 units, incl. 2 elite (Grenadiers and Kurpfalz Guards), get 12:4 = the minimum 3 cards. Draw 9, 10 and Extra Musket Reload (as last time, there must be something special going on here).

Slow Mo Piquet Game 2: the story

This post is the brief narrative of this scenario. The dice roll level nitty gritty is here. 

An Empire corps is in hot pursuit of a roaming Prussian corps that was operating ahead of the mail Prussian line. In the early morning they are trying to rush past a small town, unaware that the Prussians spent the night there.

As the vanguard of the pursuing Empire troops emerges from the hills, the Ansbach Dragoons leading the column take a surprise volley from the Wunsch free bataillon that occupies the woods in front of the city walls.

Flank fire from the woods hits the Ansbach Dragoons leading the Empire vanguard

As the Dragoons mill about, trying to decide between attacking the infantry in the woods or continuing their advance, the first Prussian bataillons  in the town wake up from the infantry fire and start forming up. The first to march out are the Salmuth Fusiliers.

The Empire vanguard tries to push ahead and shatter the Prussians as they march out of town. However, the first Prussian Fusiliers form line in time to receive the cavalry charge with a clean volley and push the Dragoons back.

Ansbach Dragoons charge the first Prussian infantry showing up, just to be beaten back

Some Grenadier officers of the Willemey combined bataillon seem to have spent the evening gambling and drinking, they are definitely slow to wake up. Heads will be rolling when this skirmish is over...
Although the Prussian infantry take ages to form up, enough men march out of town to block any advance of the two batallions leading the Empire vanguard (Ansbach Dragoons and the combined Grenadier batallion).

More Prussians beginning to wake up and march to meet the enemy

The Prussian lines form slowly but in time to block the rest of the Empire vanguard. The Ansbach Dragoons charge repeatedly, being routed with some losses.

As the main body of the Empire vanguard starts to march on the table, a heavy firefight breaks out between the Wunsch Freibatallion and the Grenadiers.

With the Kurpfalz guard advancing on the right, and the Hohenzollern Cuirassiers on the left, a heavy firefight erupts in the central woods

With the Kurmainz infantry, the main body of the Empire vanguard starts to appear

The Empire Grenadiers continue to battle the Freikorps in the woods with little progress and a lot of time gained for the Prussians. 

In fact, the Hohenzollern Cuirassiers do push through an attack on the Prussian right wing, but with the Fusiliers in good order (the Empire's lack of artillery to soften them up shows big here) and supported by their Dragoons, the valiant cavalry charge hurts the Empire troops more than the Prussians.

A last view across the lines of battle before the Empirentroops decide to call it a day and disengage. On the left of the picture, the Prussian infantry managed to form lines just before being hit by a valiant, but unsupported charge of the Cuirassiers. On the right, the Empire Grenadiers are still stuck fighting the Wunsch Frei troops about to retire on their Jager company in the woods at the bottom of the table.

At this point the Empire calls it a day. With only three morale chips left, the Prussian line fully formed and the Empire main body still marching onto the table there is no way they will be able to brush the Prussians aside and progress quickly.

The army characterization built into Piquet made a big difference in this game, giving the Prussians more morale chips and an extra infantry move (which they desperately needed to wake up their sleeping troups), while the Empire barely got its minimum morale chips, and much less effective extra cards (reload and cav move), so they quickly got near their breaking point when the cavalry attacks failed to shake the evolving Prussian line.

The Prussian Fusiliers one-upped the Grenadier batallions by showing up early and beating back two cavalry charges. They will continue the retreat with heads held high until the next clash with the pursuing Empire troops.

Slow Mo Piquet Game 2: all the dice rolls...

This post has the blow-by-blow, dice roll level detail from the rules perspective of Slo-Mo Piquet game 2. A quick narrative with a few photos is here. 
To be continued with a part two post.

Turn 1, phase 1

Roll 1: Prussians 9, Empire 12 for 1:2 pips

I won't jother mentioning that Prussia doesn't act before any Empire troops enter long fire range of the Wunsch Frei troops.

Empire: turn a dud and a Cav Move

Roll 2: 3:11 for 2:6 pips

Empire
move the Dragoons to just outside fire range, turn two duds, turn heroic moment, and the most appropriate Inf Move in Open to bring up the Grenadiers

Prussia is inactive

Roll 3: 4:4, turn 1 ends

Turn 2, phase 1

Roll 1: 16:13, 2:1 pips

Prussia inactive

Empire turns elite reload

Roll 2: 12:5, 5:2 pips
Empire turns another reload and a cav move

Roll 3: 15:15, turn 2 ends

Turn 3, phase 1

Roll 1: 9:17, 2:6 pips
Empire turn deployment, Cav move and use the it. Draw fire from the skirmishers in the woods: D10 up2 firing at flank, up3 at col. of route for D20+3 vs D6, 14:4, 3 stands (for skirmishers, this means OOC, DO, and lose a morale chip), and the Prussian guard can act now.
Empire then turn Maneuvre. Both units form line.
Prussians turn two useless cards.

Roll 2: 6:20, 2:10 pips (only 12 pips left in initiative)
Empire turn and use inf move, turn two empty cards and officer check. Cav try to rally from DO, D20 d3 (DO, rally, point blank range): D8vsD8, 6:1 ok
Then turn 4 useless cards.
Prussians turn move III/IV and reload.

picture: reformed cav face Wunsch

Phase 2, roll 1: 3:20, 5:12 pips
Prussians turn and use reload, turn another one, fire D10 up1 (point blank) 11:5 for another DO and chip lost, and reload again.
Turn inf move, march out the Salmuth bataillon.
Try to wake Willemey Grenadiers (fail) and HQ (fail).
Turn maneuvre and form line with Salmuth, turn another (now useless) maneuvre.

Empire turn a useless card, then heroic moment for Elites reload - but the Grenadiers field of fire is blocked by the Ansbach Dragoons... turn a melee and a musket reload for no use.

Roll 2: Prussians get the last 3 pips of the phase, turn 3 useless cards.

Phase 3, roll 1: 11:1, 8:2 pips
Empire turn a dud, then Officer Check. Rally the Dragoons D20 d1 DO, d1 rally, d1 point blank D8:D8 8:3.
Turn a dud, then inf move.
Turn and use cav move to retreat thr Dragoons out of the way of the Grenadiers.
Turn a dud.

Prussians turn two duds.

Roll 2: 3:11, 2:6 pips
Prussians turn 3 duds, then inf move to bring the Fusiliers forward to protect their bridge exit, then try to wake HQ again and succeed.
Empire turn two duds.

Roll 3 for two remaining pips: go to Empire who turn 2 dress lines.

Phase 4, roll 1: 1:5 for 1:3 pips
Prussians try to assemble Willemey (fail) and Hoffmann fusiliers (success), turn a dud.
Empire turn cav move.

Roll 2: 3:13 for 2:8 pips
Prussia turn heroic moment for (dud) cav move for no use.
Turn inf move to march out Hoffmann, fail to wake Willemey again, fail to wake the Dragoons.
Turn another inf move.
Empire maneuver and move the Dragoons towards Salmuth. Catch skirmish fire from the woods D10 up2 flank, 4:6 for no effect.

Roll 3 for 6 remaining pips, 7:9 for 2 Prussian pips marching out Hoffmann and failing to wake Willemey again.

Roll 4 for 4 pips: 5:6 for 1 Prussian pip waking the Dragoons.

Roll 5 for 3 pips: 14:17, 1:2 pips
Prussians turn two cards with no current use.
Empire turn cav move and charge into Salmuth. I will let the fusileers fire at short range, D10 up1 for 1st fire, 7:5 for 1 stand loss.
Prussians turn musket reload.

... photos cav charge, Plettenberg in town

Phase 5, roll 1: 14:17, 1:2 pips.
Prussians reload and fire the Wunsch free bat. D10 vs D6, 5:3 for no effect.
Empire turn a dud.

Roll 2: 20:17, 2:1 pips
Empire turn reload and end the turn.

Turn 4
Empire main body becomes available to march on the table as one corps.

Phase 1, roll 1: 19:8, 8:3 pips
Empire turn a dud and Inf move.
Grenadiers attack the Frei bat in the woods.
Main body marches on the field, led by Kurpfalz guards and the Cuirassiers.
Two more duds, then turn cav melee. Dragoons at D8 up1 charging, d1 -1 stand, Salmuth at D8 flat, 2:5, 1 stand cav lost and rout.
Prussians turn two duds and cav move.

Roll 2: 3:3, turn ends

Turn 5, phase 1, roll 1: 16:9, 5:2 pips
Empire turn a dud and a cav move for the routing dragoons, then turn two more duds.
Prussians turn two duds.

Roll 2: 16:8, 6:2 pips.
Empire turn two duds, then inf move, and move their main column.
Then remember to fire their Grenadiers at Wunsch: D10 up 1 1st fire, up 1 point blank, d1 for II light woods. 7:3, 1 stand loss.
Turn one dud.
Prussians turn inf move and bring Hoffmann into the line.

Roll 3 for 5 pips: 8:11, 1:2 pips
Prussians try to wake Willemey, still fail. Then try Burgsdorf, get up immediately.
Empire dress lines.

Roll 4 for 2 pips: 10:17
Prussians turn two duds.

Phase 2, roll 1: 5:10, 1:4 pips
Prussians turn maneuver, form Hoffmann into line.
Turn officer check for no action, then inf move
Empire dress lines.

Roll 2: 19:18, Empire turn a dud.

Roll 3: 20:7, 9:4 pips
Empire turn cav move and rout the Dragoons. Move the Cuirassiers towards the left flank, going ooc.
Turn dud, then officer check. Rallying the Dragoons at D20 d2 formation, d1 ooc, d1 for losses, up 2 for distance to enemy makes it D10 vs D8, 7:2 success. Then move staff forward.
Turn inf move, bring on more troops, starting with the on board Kurpfalz guard.
Prussians try to wake Willemey again, this time it works.
Turn a dud and a reload, reload the Frei bataillon.

Roll 4 for the last pip: 19:3
Empire bring up 1/Kurmainz.

Phase 3, roll 1: 11:2, 6:3 pips
Empire attack Wunsch Freibat in the woods, being on 2/Kurmainz, then turn a dud.
Then a heroic moment for musket reload, and reload the Grenadiers for a fire attack up 1 (next).
Prussians reload Salmuth, replace one opportunity pip, and fire Wunsch at the Grenadiers D10 d1 for stand loss, up1 point blank, D10 vs D6 6:3 for an OOC result.

Roll 2: 10:0, 2:0 pips
Empire Grenadiers fire at Wunsch D10 up1 for heroic moment, up1 point blank, d2 target cover, d2 target formation D6 vs D6, 6:6 for no effect.
Then dress lines.

Roll 3: 12:19, 2:5 pips
Prussians reload Wunsch and fire them at the Grenadiers again, D10 vs D6 1:6 no effect.
turn a dud and a heroic moment for melee resolution (bad news for the Grenadiers?)

Roll 4 for two pips: 6:13, 0:2 pips
Prussians: Wunsch melees the Grenadiers at D8 up1 heroic, up1 charging, d1 stand diff, no up1 for terrain cover for the Frei troops charging the Grenadiers in front of them, d2 skirmishers = D6 vs D8, d1 for opponents terrain (they don't get the bonus but somehow the advantage should tell) = D6, 4:3 for a close Prussian victory disordering the Grenadiers.
... do 1 more thing

then Empire do their two pips forgotten from the previous phase