Could be worse you know: November-December 1759
Well after those disasters, its a case of damage limitation.
With the Russians I'll fall back to Danzig and hope that generates enough supply but leave one corps with the siege guns to prosecute the siege (I think I can just about supply this)
With the French, I'll pull back the Army of France from its rampage but leave a 4 battalion garrison at Munster to give Cumberland a bit of a problem. In the meantime a cavalry brigade is grabbing a number of Prussian supply wagons – this should also limit Cumberland's options
so at the end, I get whacked a few more times around Lobositz and Dippoldiswalde but it seems as if Daun's corp may actually escape with some stength
Over on the Rhine, it seems as if Cumberland has split his forces up. My hope is he goes to try and take too much and I can either ambush something or he makes little progress till the Spring.
... and I get a little but lucky with the Russians as winter lifts for a short while, this will help me to reach Danzig before the supply situation collapses
So thats where von Zastrow was off to, he managed to catch a small force (I think one of their supply wagons I'd earlier captured) but I reckon this might be a good chance to get the upper hand on the Rhine
so all of sudden the Russian siege machine roars into life just as (a) winter sets in and (b) they want paying ...
At least Daun has escaped the ping-pong process and most the remaining Austrian-Bavarian army is now at Prag. It looks like Freddie is off back to Saxony for the winter
So in an attempt to end on some sort of high point I set up a trap for that Hannoverian corps at Dusseldorf ... I think I have enough units in the region to offset the NM malus
and as France is the new hope, I allocate my increasing scarce engagement points (EPs - remember I lose these as the game mechanics restore a little of my NM) to them for reinforcements
and despite being cold, hungry and unpaid the Russians are really getting stuck in ... I think they like
fighting Germans in winter?
So Daun escapes, with actually quite a lot intact, so back to Prag to recover and reinforce, then I'll organise the Austrian army for the next campaigning season
as can be imagined the NM situation remains dire, but I'm still not doing too bad in actual combat losses so the Prussians must be suffering a bit
This was a bit of an opportunist action but I had to make at least one attempt
and my initial probes at Dusseldorf weren't a stunning success but I now have a lot of units ready for next term (assuming no unplanned snoozes), and the Hannoverians must have burnt off some of their ammunition reserves.
so, even more Swedes would like to join in ... and I found the comment about failing to win a bit unnecessary ...
So, I now think:
a) I may be able to gain the advantage on the Rhine, with some care I can chop up Cumberland's forces and then go on a gentle wander into Hannover and up to Bremen (to stop those British reinforcements);
b) despite my fears, I do still have a Russian army (if somewhat reduced), so Kollberg is still a valid target or the Prussians have to send something to that sector to defend it
c) Austria, here I'll organise the Army into two blocks. I'll send all the most damaged brigades and most likely to go inert leaders back to Wien. Then beef up the garrisons at Prag and Koenigratz (not least with leaders with the 'fort defender' trait as I have two of these). The rest of the army will then try to avoid combat with the main Prussian force. With luck two big well defended fortresses will take some time to reduce and in the meantime I may be able to muck up their supply lines (I still have a lot of Hussars) or to catch an isolated force.
... 1760 here we come