Bohemian Blitzkrieg: Turn 4, The Battle of Sobotka - the set up.

At about the same time as Bevern and Macquire were undertaking their action at Niemes, a far larger action was in the offing 25 miles to the south at the small town of Sobotka. Here, Schwerin and the newly combined forces of Konigesck and Serbelloni met on a large, open plain dotted with small villages.

At Sobotka: Round 1 of the Pre-battle Manoeuvre phase:

Konigseck (53 SPs) rolls 3 +3 +1 = 7. 

Schwerin (42 SPs) rolls 3 + 5 = 8.

Schwerin wins the initiative. He has the choice of the following battlefields: 15, 25, 27, 36, 58, 63. He chooses three: 15 deploy northern edge, 25 western edge, 27 northern edge. 

The battlefield roll is a 2 indicating battlefield 25. 

Both sides commit to battle. 

This is the largest battle to date with two large armies meeting in the open field. Last Wednesday night I indicated to the players that as this would be a large battle (68 units all told) I would be using the drop leaf extension to increase the table dimensions to approximately 15' x 6'. The extra table space would, of course, mean extra terrain so I informed the players that I would add some of adjacent battle map 22 to the northern end of the table.

As with all of the terrain maps I can only go so far in accurately depicting what is shown. In this case, the woods and villages were not a problem and I could do a fair job at representing the high ground (though the large hill runs somewhat straighter across the table end to the south than it should) but, as with a previous map, I have come up short big time on the road front - about 10' short. 

Having looked at the map I decided to lose three lengths of road (indicated in the photograph of the map with an asterisk). 

I chose to keep the road running behind the long high hill at the southern end of the table because a road traversing rough terrain might prove useful to one side or another (all roads being type i and easy going). I was sorry I wasn't able to do the road that joins the village in the south west corner to the road running behind the hill but I thought the central road, and the road running off table to the north, were superfluous so I didn't mind losing them at all.  


This is a map of what I came up with, it's not inch accurate, but it is fairly close.

Taking one photo of the whole field, when the drop leaf table extension is up, is almost impossible so I've taken two shots. 

This one is from the eastern edge looking south....

....and this one is from the eastern edge looking north. 

The Austrian Army (53 SPs): Eatern table edge: Konigseck commanding.

4 Hussar Regiments (20 squadrons)
4 Dragoon Regiments (20 squadrons)
1 Combined Elite Squadrons (5 squadrons)
6 Cuirassier Regiments (20 squadrons)

2 Combined Grenadier units (4 battalions)
13 German Infantry Regiments (26 battalions)
2 Hungarian Infantry Regiments (4 battalions)
4 Grenzer Battalions

2 Heavy batteries (represented by four guns)
2 Medium batteries (represented by four guns)

The Prussian Army (42 SPs): Western table edge: Schwerin commanding.

3 Hussar Regiments (20 squadrons)
4 Dragoon Regiments (20 squadrons)
6 Cuirassier Regiments (20 squadrons)

3 Combined Grenadier units (6 battalions)
10 Musketeer Regiments (20 battalions)
2 Fusilier Regiments (4 battalions)

2 Heavy batteries (represented by four guns)
1 Medium batteries (represented by four guns)

This battle will be started on Wednesday night. I expect it to take two or three sessions to play.