From: Matt Bace <bace@PICTEL.COM>
Subject: Re: Lion of the North

Here is my _Lion of the North_ battle report.  I should note that
it was the first game for either myself of my opponent and
because of some key differences with the standard GBoH rules, big
mistakes were made by both sides.  Little differences in things
like orderly withdrawal as well as big differences in things like
missile (i.e. musket) fire made for a few confusing initial
turns.

I was playing the Imperialists.  At the beginning of the game I
moved several cavalry and light infantry units through the gap
in the ditch on the right flank (next to Lutzen).  I was hoping
that the fog would last for a while so I could destroy several
of the Swedish artillery units before the fog lifted without
suffering a counter-attack by the Swedish HI units. My opponent
forgot about the artillery abandonment rules and continued to
move his units forward during the fog.  Unfortunately, the fog
lifted just before my cavalry was about to charge his artillery
and I almost got creamed by charging Swedish heavy cavalry (some
lucky artillery rolls saved total disaster).

Meanwhile, on the left flank, the Swedes had brought up most of
their cavalry, light infantry, and regimental artillery during
the fog.  I had placed several light infantry units in the ditch
and I had my cavalry in a diagonal line behind the ditch, as
follows:


       (         CCCCCCC  --his HC
        \
         )        uuuuuu  --his LI/Reg arty
         /
        /===========iiiii  --my LI
       / C   |     c
      / CC   |    c
     (   |   |   c
      )  |   |  c  -- my LC/Croats
     /   |   |  c
    / his HC |
   /        elevated road
  river

Little did I realize my impending doom.  When his LI, HC, and Reg
arty engaged my LI in the ditch, my LI totally evaporated,
exposing the flank of my cavalry.  Although a few of his units
got disrupted crossing the ditch, most of them made it OK, and
with Gustavus himself leading them, they tore my wimpy LC units
apart.

As my cavalry was getting chewed up, I succeeded in launching a
few LI "abandonment missions" against the Swedish artillery.  I
eventually forced every Swedish Field and Heavy artillery crew
to abandon (and because the Swedes had no cavalry or LI anywhere
near to re-crew them, they remained abandoned forever).  I also
advanced my HI units past my artillery and into the ditch to get
the protective bonus in the meantime (this was a mistake, see
below).

Finally, near the end of the game the opposing HI infantry units
engaged one another -- and the effects of the Swedish double
salvo fire became painfully clear (definitely use the errata
rules here, because otherwise the double salvo would be even more
effective).  Unfortunately, my growing cavalry losses put me over
my withdrawal limit before anything interesting happened with the
HI.

In retrospect, here are the lessons I learned:

* Artillery units are not that great -- it's not worth it to go
after   them unless you can completely get away with it (although
I did manage   to rout a few units with luck artillery shots).

* Imperial LI can serve as no more than speed bumps on their own. 
They   must be stacked with each other or with cavalry to have
any kind of   life expectancy.  The same is NOT true for Swedish
LI units, as they   have higher TQs and may use salvo fire.

* It is a mistake for the Imperialists to advance at all.  The
best strategy   seems to be to form good flanks with the cavalry,
retreat the artillery   units back behind the HI units (they
begin in front of the HI units), and   wait for the Swedes to
cross the ditch/elevated road.  As the Swedes make the crossing,
many will disrupt and will be vulnerable to rout from fire.

* Swedish heavy cavalry are a virtual juggernaut. I am still
trying to figure out how to defend against them.  Charges with
Imperialist LC, CR, or Croat units are risky by comparison since
they incur adverse die roll modifiers in the charge check. 
Charging Swedish heavy cavalry probably accounted for 2/3 of my
losses.  The only Imperial units that can stand up to them are
the HI, and they can't be everywhere (unlike the Swedish   HC,
which can hit everywhere on the Imperialist line).

All in all, this is a great game. I think it has a lot more
flavor to it than some of the other GBoH games, because the focus
is on attrition more than morale (units can still rout, etc., but
hits are applied to the units' strengths, not their TQs). 
Unfortuntely, there are only two scenarios included in the game,
so it is not as versatile as some of the others.