War of Imperial Succession - The Grand Duchy Invades...

The commander of Ursaminor's 3rd Column, General Ulf Eriksson, was not one as a rule to wait upon events. The town before him was occupied by the enemy; cast out they must be. Upon arrival before its north face, 3rd Column at once deployed: the uhlans and artillery upon the ridge beside the north road; Norrbotten infantry astride the road itself.
 

The commander of Podolia Infantry in the town was not slow to respond to the arrival of hostile forces. The infantry marched in line out of the town to face the Ursaminor infantry. Having the greater numbers (32-24 in the firing line), the M'yasma infantry were confident of an easy victory. To be sure, they got considerably the better of the firefight - 9 Ursaminor figures laid low to just the 5 from M'yasma (the shooting was very good from both sides).  But the infantry of both refused to buckle under the heavy losses. What led to the infantry firefight being broken off were events elsewhere.

Uhlan vs Cossack

The M'yasma light horse proved reluctant to try conclusions with the uhlans on the ridge. Partly they were discouraged by the slope - partly by the artillery rapidly deploying beside the Ursaminor horse. Their practice was immediately on target, the cossacks lost 3 of their figures. That was enough for the uhlans.  Down the slope they came, fell upon the cossacks, and into a wild melee. The uhlans got the better of the close quarter fight, too, but at a heavy cost. 

The fearsome fighting between such small forces might well have led to both breaking off and fleeing north and south. The dice you see are the morale, or reaction, rolls: Cossacks and Norrbotten infantry rolling '1's, Podolia Infantry a '2' and the uhlans '4'. My first thought was that at least two units would flee, one fall back, and the uhlans might go one way or the other. I had forgotten my own rule set! Low rolls, I (re)discovered are what you want for reaction - and the three lowest scores meant the units remained unfazed by their losses. It transpired that the uhlans - just - were also in good heart. 

All the same, General Eriksson pulled back his horse and foot, and redirected his gunfire upon Podolia infantry. Rather than wheel to take on the guns at short range, the M'yasma infantry, still quite in hand, in good order fell back upon the town. The embattled cavalry were also inclined to call it quits, the uhlans returning to the elevated ground, the cossacks to the river side of the east road.

The decision by Podolia infantry not to carry on the fight was possibly due to the arrival of the Ursaminor 4th Column - a regiment of dragoons, the Vastmanland Infantry regiment and the battalion of Jonkoping Jager. As they advanced deployed into the field, Butyrski Infantry were still filing through the streets of Hardbitten town, before deploying into line along the west face. 

The long range fire fight that soon developed as Butyrski deployed was more equal than the earlier had been, with the jager in skirmish order, advancing along the river bank adding their popping musketry to the Vastmanland heavier volleys.  This was to cause Marshal Bychovski some concern - enough to alter his river crossing programme and bring across the cavalry in order to vacate the south bank west of the town for his own light infantry. 

Before the 1st Jager were in any position to lend help, Butyrski Infantry were just barely holding on against the combined firepower of the two enemy units. They had also to concern themselves about the Kronoberg Dragoons off to the north flank of their immediate adversaries. The loss of the colonel, felled by a musket ball, decided the regiment upon a withdrawal into the town, where at least they would have the cover of the houses and walls, and would be safe from the enemy dragoons.

All this while, the Ursaminor artillery pounded the Podolia infantry, which had pulled back into the town and were lining the north face.

Meanwhile, the M'yasma troops were still pouring across the bridge, through the town and out along the east road. No threat had yet developed along that way. The hope was that before any such development, enough force could be gathered betimes that the column to the north might be swept aside. As it transpired, this was not to be. 

When the M'yasma jager deployed along the far bank of the river, their Ursaminor counterparts very soon disengaged from their firefight with Butyrski, which unit had withdrawn into the cover of the town. To keep up the pressure, Vastmanland infantry formed into an assault column and flung themselves upon the suburb of the town that projected itself like a bastion along the west road. Though this sector was peopled by the Butyrski grenadier company, they failed to stop the importunate Ursaminorians breaking into the place and putting most of them to the sword.  

It was not quite enough. Though getting much the better of the encounter, the Ursaminor infantry were unable to push further into the town, and, as the enemy remained unbroken and still full of fight, deemed it meet that they withdraw from the place. That pretty much ended matters - at least for the time being - in this sector of the field. 

This left the eastern flank of the field. Immediately upon emerging from the town's eastern exit, Galicia infantry deployed in line to face the ridgeline. Behind them the Chevalier Garde were marching to take up a position upon their right flank. Such a development seemed promising, but was spoiled by the discovery of  more Ursaminor troops - two infantry regiments - marching up and alongside the road.

Malakhov Cossacks having recovered from their earlier encounter, was at once dispatched to engage the enemy on the road. There the way passing through a forest formed a defile, and awkward place for the cavalry to fight. Not a simple matter for infantry, either, but the lead company were grenadiers. Emptying many a saddle before contact, they deprived more mounts of their riders in the close quarter scramble. The cossacks soon routed away with losses heavy enough to put paid to anything that might be further expected of them in this battle. The grenadiers of Sodermanland Infantry lost hardly a man (i.e. zero figures).

For their part, the Uppsala Uhlans hoped at least to match their morning's partial success and charged the approaching Galicia infantry. The latter had already taken some loss from the Ursaminor artillery. How the M'yasma troops wished their own guns across the river, but they had been deployed on the south bank to cover the low lying ground between the town and the outlying farm along the east road. They never did find a satisfactory target.

But the Galicia troops had no need of their artillery. Calmly awaiting their assailants, they delivered a blistering volley, before sending the uhlan remnants back up the hill.

So far it had not been a good day for the cavalry when facing foot. So what might have been expected from the charge of the elite Chevalier Garde against the Ostergotland Infantry lined up between the forest and the marsh? It was a disaster. Even firing at a longer than desirable range, the accurate Ursaminor shooting staggered the cuirassiers - 4 figures lost.  In the melee the horsemen inflicted 5 'hits', but took 9(!). Resolved into casualties: 4 infantry to 6 cavalry. It seemed the Ursaminor foot were taking extreme umbrage at M'yasma's invasion! Faced with such a lashing, the Chevalier Garde incontinently fled towards the town.  

The Chavalier Garde charging to their ... 

That put a term to the battle. The invaders felt themselves unable to break out - certainly not to north and west, and, from the east, the two newly arrived Ursaminor infantry regiments, fresh from victories over M'yasma's cavalry, seemed unlikely to be overcome by Galicia and Ekatarinberg even though the latter had not yet seen action. They were still filing through the town.

Bit neither could the Ursaminor army quite break in and expel the invaders once and for all. The action slithered to an impasse whilst the survivors collected their dead and wounded and rallied the stragglers.

Although both sides, as is usual, claimed the victory - M'yasma claimed the capture of the town; Ursaminor to have halted the enemy advance beyond it - probably the latter had more cause to celebrate. Ursaminor had lost 41 figures overall; M'yasma 57 - and that included two colonels (Butyrski and Podolia).  In my campaigns, the side that keeps the field get back immediately half their losses as stragglers returning to the colours; the side that abandons the field get back one-third, the 'missing' sixth going to prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy.

Neither side had given way, so both sides recovered half their losses - 29 M'yasma, 21 Ursaminor. So total losses were 28 M'yasma and 20 Ursaminor figures. If we take 1 figure to 20 men, M'yasma lost 560, Ursaminor 400.

So: a deadlock at Hardbitten border town. Both sides, then, awaited with considerable trepidation the outcome of the encounter between the Ursaminor Field Marshal's own column and that of General Glupiev...

To be continued...