The Battle of Liegnitz 1760 fought solo. Turn 5

Initiative A11 / P3: 

At Panten AIR50 repeatedly fires into the artillery shattered buildings now occupied by the Garde (PIR15 lose 2UI) and AIR29 pulls back into the church to gain a firmer hold of the village. 

Frederick fails a Major Morale check by rolling a 1! (1 morale point and 2 Dress the Lines cards). 

Initiative A5 / P0:

The Austrians prepare what must surely be their last effort to oust the Prussians (they have an Infantry Move in the Open card showing) and fire all of their artillery at their available targets. Though the fire on the hill is relatively ineffective (1 UI loss) the Garde suffers greatly and is forced to retreat out of Panten (with 4 UI loss).

Initiative P7 / A3:

At the hill's summit the Prussians bring their line forward (aided by a Heroic Moment / Infantry Move in the Open card combination) with some precision under ineffective fire forom (battle weary) AIR10. Damn me, those Prussians are good!

The Austrian 'Second Line' advance uphill and, after a sharp volley from the Hungarians of AIR2 into the guns of Anhalt-Bernburg's brigade, AIR2 charge home with sabres drawn, the gunners die at their guns (destroyed) and the Hungarians occupy the ground.

Initiative A4 / P2:

Nothing of note happens in this short initiative. So, here is a general shot of the action on the slopes above Panten.

 Initiative A11 / P6: 

The Austrians bring up the last of their fresh cavalry. AIR14, on the right flank destroys PCR2 in a hail of lead.

The artillery of Zeuner's brigade, with nothing else to fire at, engages in counter battery fire. The result is astounding - the Austrian guns in front of Panten are silenced (destroyed) - was that the sound of 10 Thalers changing hands!

 Initiative A3 / P4:

The Austrians of the 'Second Line' advance through the smoke of musketry to contact with the Prussians standing at the crest of the slope. The smoke was so thick that when all four units fired on each other, not a single casualty was effected.

The Prussians advance their fresh dragoons (Meineck's brigade) on their right and pull back the tired cavalry on their left.

Initiative P7 / A2: 

The Prussian musketry can be truly awesome when the luck goes their way. AIR14 (which did such dreadful injury to the Prussian cavalry) is sent packing (with 3UI loss); the Hungarians (which took out the guns) of AIR2 are routed (with 2UI loss); and AIR22 suffers too (2UI loss). The front line of the 'Second Line' has just disintegrated!

As the Austrians of the 'Second Line' stream downhill their commander tries to rally them. As he rides into the fray he is hit by a stray musket ball and falls from his horse (1 morale point and 1 Dress the Lines card).

The initiative phase action continues into the next picture. 

 At Panten the Hungarians of AIR31, no doubt inspired by the feat of their bretren on the slopes above them, throw themselves against the Prussian fusiliers of PIR37. The Hungarians win in a swift violent action and the fusiliers are evicted (with 2 UI loss).

At this point the Prussians only have 2 morale points and the Austrians only have 3 morale points. It's a close run thing but the Austrians have turned both Major Morale cards so the Prussians, no matter what happens, will be safe until the next turn.

Initiative P9 / A6:

Firing down the Prussian line continues unabated. In the musketry which follows ACR25 are routed by PIR1 (with 3 UI loss), PCGIV routs AIR10 (with 3 UI loss) and PIR3 rips into AIR25 again and they are sent helter skelter down the slippery, bloody slope.

The Austrians have 0 morale points. They have little chance of bringing the Prussians down to zero and beyond (at which point they would recover morale points) and until they do they cannot rally any troops. They have evicted the Prussians from Panten and they securely hold Bienowitz so they can cover the retreat of their troops. They throw in the towel, awarding Prussia a hard fought marginal victory. At the end of the battle the Prussians had lost ten units to the Austrian loss of twenty. 

I made a few mistakes with the Austrians and the Prussians during the game. Most glaringly I should have pressed the Prussians harder with musketry, especially with the grenadiers when I had the chance, even if it meant they were destroyed a little earlier. This might have softened up the Prussian line more for the following waves. I made the same mistake with the cavalry of both sides (the Austrian elite squadrons on the southerly wing, and the Prussian cavalry caught between the two lines of opposing infantry on the northerly wing) when I let them get mown down by musketry - I should have charged them, even though losses would probably have been similar it would at least have given them a fighting chance of inflicting some pain on the enemy. Apart from that, the mistakes I made were small ones, I think.

Then, as if by magic, along came my fairy godmother. She waved her magic fairy stick thingy and Hey Presto! Everything was set up for it all to start again on Wednesday night. I'm hoping then, it will be a four player game (Peter J., Graham H. Mark D, and myself), with each player taking a 'wing'.