Monday, December 7, 2015

The Battle of Pristina - Dec 11, 1745 - scenario notes

Thwarted in his attempt to push the Gourmandie army away from the fortress of Champaigne to the northeast during October, Il Prinicipe Martellato pulled his army back to Charmensac. It seemed he would continue his retreat north and back toward Libagioni territory, proverbial tail between his legs. But apparently, Il Prinicipe is made of sterner (or more stubborn) stuff. The Gourmandie army, under command of Le Marquis de Fromage, was apparently in no particular hurry to follow up on his victory at Frontenard and allowed an unmolested retreat by the Libagioni army. Martellato was quick to notice that there was no pursuit and decided to stop at Charmensac to re-assess his options. Once again, couriers hustled back and forth between his field headquarters and the court of his ally KronPrinz Friedrich Wilhelm. From the latter (surprisingly) came agreement to continue the campaign and even some much-needed reinforcements, in the form of the Grenadiere zu Pferde Warsteiner cavalry regiment. This is a heavy KaiserReich cavalry regiment  with the capability to seriously bolster Martellato's offensive predilections. After several weeks of inactivity, Il Prinicipe decided to avoid the defences at Frontenard and attempt to draw Le Marquis farther away from Champaigne. With this in mind, he pushed his army southwest to Pristina and promptly sent out scouts farther to the south and west. 



Soon after sending out a sizeable portion of his cavalry arm to scout the countryside around Pristina, Martellato is awoken on a chilly and misty December morning to find the Gourmandie army drawn up in the fields east of Pristina, with the apparent intention of immediate attack. Il Prinicipe hastily calls his regiments to arms to receive the expected attack but looks around to see only a single friendly cavalry regiment present on the field. Couriers are hastily dispatched to recall the missing cavalry, as the drums begin to beat across the field.





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