My Seven Years War 15mm figures have been a labour of love for a long old time, it's one of those groups of figures that I have gathered together over the years (20 plus) but never really gamed with. I have enjoyed the process of building and painting the units as I build towards completing both sides for the Battle of Minden.
No one else in our little gaming group have figures in this period / scale so there is no rush to complete stuff to compete against the forces of other people, just a steady ongoing plod of 5 to 10 units every couple of years.
I've tried a few times over the years to get things moving on the SYW front but never seem to get it right, that and having so many projects on the go means that most collections only see the table once a year, the gaps between attempts just get wider and with the new Crusade and Italian Wars armies hustling for game time it's not going to get any better !
Our chosen rule set is Die Kriegskunst, the SYW version of General de Brigade. As we already use GdB and British Grenadier (from the same stable) they are the obvious choice. Sadly DK hasn't recieved the Deluxe edition and upgrade that the other two have.
Historical Background.
I was looking for a straight forward job to get the SYW games moving and Bergen fits that in that it's a fairly stand up fight, no real finesse just two Armies crashing into each other.
I can wholly recommend the Kronoskaf website for all things SYW and below is a link to that sites page on the battle and an excellent job it does of describing the background of the build up to the Battle and give a good account of the action as well.
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1759-04-13_-_Battle_of_Bergen
In summary Ferdinand of Brunswick in command of the Allied forces comprising units from Hanover, Hesse, Prussia, Britain was aware of the French capture of Frankfurt, was moving to counter the French.
De Brogile concentrated his forces near Bergen to counter that move, Brunswick attempted to break through.
Set Up
I did a video run through of the set up for the game showing the layout of the table.
The Kronoskaf website gives excellent orders of battle, below is our OOB which reflects the figures I have available (so British Infantry being subbed in for Brunswickers), but actually it is not that far off. All bar the Hanoverian Infantry are 16 figures, the latter 20. The Cavalry is usually 12 figures representing a 2 Sqn unit whilst larger Cavalry regiments are represented by 18 figures.
Our morale grades are rolled up at the start of the game. Seasoned is as a Line unit but with +1 On morale, no other benefits. Average Commander unless stated.
French Forces
Right Wing (in Bergen)
1st Brigade 4 x French Line - 1 x Seasoned, 2 x Line, 1 x Militia
2nd Brigade 4 x French Line - 1 x Line, 2 x Garrison, 1 x Militia
In Reserve behind Bergen
3rd Brigade 4 x French Line - 2 x Line, 1 x Garrison, 1 Milita
4th Brigade (ex com) 4 French Line - 1 x Line 2 x Garrison 1 x Militia
5th Brigade (poor com) 5 French Foreign Line - 2 x Line 3 x Garrison
Artillery (to the left of Bergen)
4 Artillery Bases 1 Veteran 1 Seasoned 2 Line
French Centre (Excellent Com)
4 Artillery Bases 1 Veteran 1 Seasoned 2 Line
1st Cavalry Brigade 3 Guard Regt - 2 Elite 1 Seasoned
2nd Cavalry Brigade (poor) 3 Line Regts - 1 Vet 1 Seasoned 1 Line
3rd Cavalry Brigade (poor) 3 Line Regts - 2 x Veteran 1 x Line
4th Cavalry Brigade 3 Line Regts - 2 x Veteran 1 x Garrison
6th Infantry Brigade 5 French Grenadier Regts - 2 x Veteran 2 x Seasoned 1 x Line
7th Infantry Brigade 4 French Line - 1 Seasoned 1 Line 2 Garrison
French Left
3 x Artillery Bases (on warte) 2 Seasoned 1 Line
8th Infantry Brigade (poor) 4 x Swiss Infantry - 2 x Seasoned 2 x Line
5th Cavalry Brigade 4 Line Regts - 2 x Veteran 1 x Line and 1 x Garrison plus 1 Hussar - Garrison and 12 x Line Skirmishers
9th Infantry Brigade 6 x Saxon Infantry - 2 x Line, 4 x Garrison
10th Infantry Brigade (Excellent) 6 x Saxon Infantry - 5 x Line, 1 Garrison
Allied Forces
Allied Left opposite Bergen
1st Cavalry Brigade (Ex) 1 x Han Line and 1 x Han Dragoon both Seasoned
1st Infantry Brigade 5 x Han Line - 2 x Seasoned 2 Line 1 x Garrison
2nd Infantry Brigade 1 x Han Grenadier - Vet & 4 x Hesse Infantry - 3 Seasoned 1 Line
2nd Cavalry Brigade 4 x Hesse Cav - 1 Guard, 2 Veteran 1 Line
3 Artillery Bases all Seasoned
Allied Centre
3rd Infantry Brigade 3 x Han Line - 1 Guard, 1 Veteran 1 Garrison
4th Infantry Brigade 2 x Han Line 1 British Line - 1 Vet, 1 Seasoned 1 Line
5th Infantry Brigade 3 x British Line - 1 Vet, 2 Seasoned
3rd Cavalry Brigade 3 x British Regts - 1 Elite, 2 Veteran
1 Artillery Base
1 x Artillery Base Line
Allied Right
Vanguard 3 x Veteran Skirmishers (Rifle 3 x 8 figs) 1 x British Cavalry - Veteran, 1 x British Grenadier and 1 x Han Grenadier both Elite
6th Infantry Brigade 3 x Hesse Infantry - 2 x Elite and 1 x Veteran
7th Infantry Brigade 3 x Hesse Infantry - 2 Veteran and 1 Line
4th Cavalry Brigade 1 x Hesse Cav - Line and 2 x Prussian Cavalry - 1 x Veteran and 1 x Line
2 Artillery Bases Seasoned
So there you have it with the set up, the game is currently ongoing, it's been great to get tons of units on the table all lined up old school style. Fully AAR after we finish !
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