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Prelude: By Fire and Sword Polish vs. Brandenburg pre-game sequence

This week, Kato and I will play another round of By Fire and Sword, once again fighting out a battle between a Polish force pushing into Prussia to attempt to force the Brandenburgian leadership to abandon it's alliance with Sweden.

The last battle saw the Polish make good progress, taking some key hills and breaking through the Prussian rearguard. This battle may see the tables turn!

I'm going to walk through the pre-game steps on this post and then will do another battle report once we've played. Hopefully this will be of interest to those who want to learn more about how a BFAS game is prepared.

First, the lists!

Kato's Prussian Territorial Defense


FSP 2: 2 Territorial Defense Reiters (A), 4 Prussian Musketeers (B&C)
FSP 3: 2 Territorial Defense Reiters (D), 2 Prussian Musketeers (E&F)
FSP 4: 2 Territorial Defense Reiters (G)
FSP 5: 2 Territorial Defense Reiters (H), 2 Prussian Musketeers (I)
+1FSP: Captain
+1FSP: 2 Unarmored Reiters (J)
+1FSP: 2 Unarmored Reiters (K)
+1FSP: 3 CP for the Lt. Colonel

In summary:
8 Territorial Defense Reiters 
8 Prussian Musketeers
4 Unarmored Reiters (professionally trained, better than the territorial ones)
9 FSP, 14 Reconnaissance pts (12 + 2 for On their Own Land)

Maurice's Polish Skirmish (1652-1657)

FSP 4: 2 Pancerni (A), 3 Cossack Style (B), 4 Dragoons (C&D)
FSP 5: 2 Tatars (E)
FSP 6: 2 Pancerni (F)
FSP 7: 2 Cossack Style (G)
FSP 8: 2 Elite Pancerni (w/ Spears) (H)
+1FSP: 3 CP for Colonel
+1FSP: Rotamaster
+1FSP: 2 Dragoons (to C&D)
+1FSP: 1 Cossack Style (to G), 1 Pancerni (to F)
+1FSP: 1 Elite Pancerni (to H), 1 Tatar (to E)



In summary:
6 Cossack Style
6 Dragoons
5 Pancerni
3 Elite Pancerni w/ Spears
3 Tatars
13 FSP, 26 Reconnaissance pts (20 + 2 dragoon units + 2  for scout unit + 2 for On their Own Land)

Scenario Selection and additional effects:

 With a 4 FSP difference between our forces, Kato now rolls for the scenario based on his commander's skill and the fact he is using a defensive skirmish force (which limits his options). He decides upon AMBUSH, which costs one of his 4 FSP difference due to the significant advantages the scenario provides him as the defender (this one normally costs 3 points, but his defensive skirmish force reduces this cost to 1).

I'll be stuck in the center square in the diagram below and the Prussians will be able to then deploy in the best positions possible.



Kato now gets to roll for 3 additional effects, 1 for each remaining FSP difference. He comes up with Insubordination, Panic, and Delay.

Combined with the additional Panic from the scenario, I'm looking at one unit of mine being harder to command, two that will become disordered (and this fall back if they are cavalry) right as the battle begins, and one unit not showing up until later. Plus I am starting out surrounded. Ouch!

The objective for the Prussian side is to inflict maximum casualties from their positions of surprise, while the Polish will seek to limit the damage from the ambush, reorganize their forces and strike back.

Reconnaissance:

 The Polish commander's aren't walking into this ambush completely unaware, however, as their significant cavalry numbers give them a reconnaissance advantage of 12 points to spend on recce effects. I choose: Decisive Moment, which allows me to force a reroll of the initiative  once during the game, and Chaos, which will force a unit of Kato's to potentially panic if they fail a moral test.

With that, we're ready to set up the battlefield and deploy. Check back in soon for the notes from the battle!


Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 21, 2017 at 11:07 AM

    Great explanation! And it's really nice and smooth to read. Good work, I'm waiting for more.

    ReplyDelete

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