New! War of Austrian Succesion for RoP

[mikeck]

I think AGEODS Rise of Prussia is one of the best this company has to offer. Face it, if you want to game the Seven Years War in Europe with the finest army of the time, it's the only game in town.

Well, this Monday, AGEOD is releasing RoP gold. It included national decisions, 2 years worth of bug fixes and improvements, 200 new leaders, a 4 person PBEM for the SYW...and best all of all: 2 scenarios for the War of Austrian Succession! "Maria Teresa at bay 1741" and " The Empire Strikes Back 1744" (also known as the first and second Silesia  wars)

Can be a standalone (a la WW1 gold) or bought as an upgrade kit

http://matrixgames.com/products/476/details/Rise.Of.Prussia.Gold

[Gusington]

Interesting. The War of Austrian Succession is one war I know nothing about.

[MengJiao]

Interesting. The War of Austrian Succession is one war I know nothing about.

Le Marchal de Saxe rings no bells?

Fontenoy?  Dettingen? 

[mikeck]

Mollwitz? Frederick the Greats first battle? Saved by his disciplined infantry? Hohenfriedberg? Scene for the most famous painting of Prussian arms "attack of the Prussian Infantry"!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Hohenfriedeberg.Attack.of.Prussian.Infantry.1745.jpg

A fantastic war!

[Sir Slash]

It's called the War of Austrian Success-ion but they weren't Success-ful. Whose turn is it now to make a pun?

[Bill Runacre]

Not forgetting that the Jacobite rising of 1745 formed part of this war, with Bonnie Prince Charlie's advance into England before turning round at Derby and returning to eventual defeat in Scotland at Culloden.

It's an interesting war that certainly deserves more attention.

[Gusington]

I have heard of de Saxe and know it was Frederick's first experience in battle from reading his biographies but beyond that...not so much.

[MengJiao]

It's called the War of Austrian Success-ion but they weren't Success-ful. Whose turn is it now to make a pun?

No pun, but the Austrian Succession did succeed since Maria Theresa became Empress (and lost Silesia, but held on to
everything else on all other fronts).

[mikeck]

I have heard of de Saxe and know it was Frederick's first experience in battle from reading his biographies but beyond that...not so much.

Well, if 18th century warfare interests you, it's an interesting war. Prussia sees the crowning of Maria Teresa as Empress of the HRE as an opportunity for a land grab. Frederick complains that women cannot hold the title based on a 400 year old document. He also claims he is entitled to Silesia based on an inheritance argument 200 years old. He attacks.

Meanwhile, The Bourbons of France and Spain  see this as a great opportunity to take the Hapsburgs down a peg or two and maybe grab some of the land lost in the war of the Spanish Succession.

So, France attacks with Spain. Prussia is an Ally in name only... Once Silesia is taken, Fred signs his own peace with the Empress. At first, the HRE and Sardinia are losing. But after the Prussians make peace, Maria turns the full weight of the HRE armies on the French and beat them back.

Now Fred, fearing that a victorious Austria/HRE will simply attack Silesia and reclaim it (which they would have) decides to re-enter the war against Austria/HRE. Britain, knowing that Austria is its only mainland ally and tiring of French support for the Jacobites, enters the war as Austria's ally.

Most of the fighting is between Prussia and Austria in Silesia, Spain and the Kingdom of Sardinia in northern Italy and France vs Britain/Hanover/Dutch in the Low Countries.

The latter of those theaters is where we see Dettingen(a British victory) and Fontenoy (a French Victory). Fontenoy is a fantastic battle between Lord Cumberland and Maurice de Saxe. An anecdote has General Hay (I think that's it) of the British Guards approaching the French Guards. Hay exclaimed "Gentlement of France...Fire your volley" to which the French general exclaimed "The Gentlemen of France never fire first ". So the British fired a close range devistating  volley that felled over 700 French troops and officers. Now it's unlikely the conversation occurred but the volley did. 

It's been awhile since I read about it so I may have missed a few things, but that's the war in a nutshell.

[Sir Slash]

A+ Mikecek. Go to the head of the class. Living in Florida, I can also add there was serious attempt by the English to take St. Augustine, Fl. during this war if I'm not mistaken and the fortress there, one of only a few built along Vauban's line here in America, Castillio de San Marco held-out until help arrived from Cuba. Been there several times, St. Augustine that is, and a great place to visit.

[mikeck]

Such a great era for gaming. War was so formal: like chess. Lots of great generals of great armies. The War or Spanish Succession, Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War are crying out for strategic gaming treatment. Problem is there isn't a big audience....so it's easier to crank out a WW2 TBS

The AGEOD game is fantastic and I am checking Matrix hourly for the update

[Gusington]

It's like you were there mikeck. And St. Augustine is a great city...I passed through there a couple of years ago. Hot as Hades but still very cool :) lots of history.

[MengJiao]

I have heard of de Saxe and know it was Frederick's first experience in battle from reading his biographies but beyond that...not so much.

Well, if 18th century warfare interests you, it's an interesting war. Prussia sees the crowning of Maria Teresa as Empress of the HRE as an opportunity for a land grab. Frederick complains that women cannot hold the title based on a 400 year old document. He also claims he is entitled to Silesia based on an inheritance argument 200 years old. He attacks.

Meanwhile, The Bourbons of France and Spain  see this as a great opportunity to take the Hapsburgs down a peg or two and maybe grab some of the land lost in the war of the Spanish Succession.

So, France attacks with Spain. Prussia is an Ally in name only... Once Silesia is taken, Fred signs his own peace with the Empress. At first, the HRE and Sardinia are losing. But after the Prussians make peace, Maria turns the full weight of the HRE armies on the French and beat them back.

Now Fred, fearing that a victorious Austria/HRE will simply attack Silesia and reclaim it (which they would have) decides to re-enter the war against Austria/HRE. Britain, knowing that Austria is its only mainland ally and tiring of French support for the Jacobites, enters the war as Austria's ally.

Most of the fighting is between Prussia and Austria in Silesia, Spain and the Kingdom of Sardinia in northern Italy and France vs Britain/Hanover/Dutch in the Low Countries.

The latter of those theaters is where we see Dettingen(a British victory) and Fontenoy (a French Victory). Fontenoy is a fantastic battle between Lord Cumberland and Maurice de Saxe. An anecdote has General Hay (I think that's it) of the British Guards approaching the French Guards. Hay exclaimed "Gentlement of France...Fire your volley" to which the French general exclaimed "The Gentlemen of France never fire first ". So the British fired a close range devistating  volley that felled over 700 French troops and officers. Now it's unlikely the conversation occurred but the volley did. 

It's been awhile since I read about it so I may have missed a few things, but that's the war in a nutshell.

There are lots of versions of the invitation to fire story.  The upshot (haha) of them all is that the French Guards get blasted.  Still, the rest of the battle went okay from de Saxe's point of view:  The British and Hanoverians advanced into a killing zone between Fontenoy and the old forest.  the Dutch and some other support columns failed and Cumberland failed to call up the Imperial reserves (it wasn't called the Pragmatic Army for nothin') so the "infernal column" remained stranded sort of half-way into breaking into the French defenses and eventually had to withdraw, resulting in a victory that Napoleon said saved the French monarchy for almost another fifty years.

[mikeck]

Yep...and the whole time Saxe was sick as hell.

[mikeck]

It's like you were there mikeck. And St. Augustine is a great city...I passed through there a couple of years ago. Hot as Hades but still very cool :) lots of history.

Gus, if I had to be a general in any time period, that would be it. Truly the game of kings. Choreographed battlefield movement, vibrant uniforms and emerging firepower based tactics...oh my! Now... As much as I admire Frederick's Army (and its administration) I sure as hell wouldn't want to be a soldier in it.