Scenario thoughts

[Gary McClellan]

This is just my offhand thoughts on scenarios people may want to look at.  Take them for whatever you want.  I mention it, because I've been kind of surprised to see people on all kinds of different boards playing Hochkirch of all things.  The Prussians are outnumbered and surrounded, with Austrians coming from everywhere (Daun really doesn't get enough credit for that beauty).  There's a version with the Austrians being fixed for a time, but if you want competitive HtH play, it wouldn't be my suggestion. 

There are battles in the war that are so lopsided one way or the other, I'd put them fairly low on the list.  One can try to balance victory conditions, but they're still problematic:

Hochkirch
Moys
Maxen
Gross-Jaegersdorf
Kay-Palzig
Lutterberg

Then there's Rossbach(afternoon).  A wild situation. I'm not sure that anything resembling the historical rout of the Franco-Imperial forces is possible, but I do think it's possible for a badly outnumbered Prussian force to give the F-I fits.  They've got a very superior position at start.

All that said, my personal suggestions? (Pending all  you guys playing and giving feedback from someone not on the team  )

Prague (any version)
Kolin (any version)
Minden (either version)
Warburg (testers raved about this one)
Zorndorf

All the rest are somewhere "in between".  Some like Rossbach and Torgau are so weird that I expect pretty decisive wins in both directions, depending on how the game rolls.

There may well be some I'm forgetting, but those would be my personal first suggestions.

[Gary McClellan]

A few more thoughts, just from my humble perspective.  I didn't personally H2H test most of these (they were all done, just by different testers), but observations from the situation. This is my view of them on a competitive level.  Your milage can and will vary :)

I'll skip over the "AI rated scenarios, as they're mostly mirrors of the standard ones, with a few position changes to make life easier for the AI.

027: Lobositz.   I would guess it should be fairly competitive.  The Grenzers (elite light infantry) the Austrians have on the hill will give the Prussians fits. This one starts earlier, gives the Prussians more space to manuever and set up their plan.

028:  Lobositz (late).  Fairly similar to 027.  A bit shorter with the Prussians already in their deployment.

029: Reichenberg:  One of the smaller scenarios.  Pretty much a straight ahead slugging match.  The Prussian quality will tell, not a horrid place to dip your toes in through.

030: Prague (early)  A fairly wide open scenario.  The Prussians start in road march, with the option of swinging in and attacking from the north, or continuing Frederick's historical march and coming off the east.  I'd guess it should be pretty competitive in the long run.

031: Prague (early detached grenadiers).  Only real difference is that the Austrians are given 2 brigades of Grenadiers as separate maneuver units, at the cost of weakening all their parent units.  (Historically, the Grenadiers were with their units in this battle until they realized Frederick was flanking them. The grenadiers "told off" and became the first reinforcements to the exposed flank. )  

032: Prague (late)  This is a battle with the Prussians already in their attack positions and the Austrian line starting to reform to the E.  Should be a pretty solid, hardfought slugfest.  May be a hair pro-Prussian, especially if the Austrian is especially Charles-like.

033: Prague Fall of the Legends:  Smaller scenario of the first Prussian assault.  I'd say it's pretty even, though Prussian quality does tell.

034: Kolin (morning start).  Much like the early Prague, this one gives the Prussians more time and space to pick their point of attack.  Should be a tense, hard fought battle.

035: Kolin (late)  The Prussians have deployed for their historical attack on the Austrian right, and the Austrians have already pulled their reserves over.  A straight up slugfest.  Prussians need to win pretty quickly, or numbers will tell.

036: Second Prague (Hypothetical)  I'd suspect this one is going to be tough for the Prussians in the long run.  Large army coming from the E, with the army in Prague potentially releasing at some point.  They do have lots of heavy arty and ammo to compensate.  

037: Hastenbeck.  Tough one for the Allies.  The French have the outnumbered and flanked.  In testing, it was possible for the Allies to pull into the woods, but the VP hexes really mitigate against that.  Allies have a problem because their line of retreat runs through Hameln, so lots of VP over there which they don't have tightly covered.

038: Hastenbeck (French Fixes).  The fixes should slow down the French and give the Allies some help.

039: Gross-Jaegersdorf:   The local Prussian commander thought it was a good idea to attack a much, much larger Russian force.  The only "good" news is that most of the Russians start routed to reflect the confusion of the morning.  It becomes a race: advancing Prussians vs Russians trying to get some order on the field.   I'd guess heavily pro-Russian.

040: Gross-Jaegersdorf (short).  A bit later version, with the Prussians further forward, but the Russians getting sorted out.  Heavily pro-Russian.

041: Moys.  HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Ahem. Sorry.  Austrians jumping an isolated corps.  Turkey shoot for the Austrians.

042: Rossbach.  Full day scenario with the Franco-Imperial force off to the west of the Prussians.  The Prussians have quality, the F-I have numbers, and their position is not compromised the way it is in the other scenarios.  I'd guess a good fight, but not sure how the balance will go here.

043: Rossbach (afternoon)   Historically, Frederick really caught the F-I forces cold in a road march formation.  This one is a race.  Can the Prussians break the F-I down before they get their mess sorted out?  The F-I forces are pretty bad, so a mass rout is not impossible, but I expect this one to get wildly varying results in play.

044: Rossbach (cavalry action).  The first phase of the destruction of the F-I army was a short Cav clash.  Not many pure Cav on Cav fights, so of interest for that.  I'm not sure who has the advantage in the long run.

045: Rossbach (infantry action).  The F-I Cav is gone, and their infantry is firmly in the noose.  A thin line of Prussians against a huge block of F-I infantry in a march formation.  The Prussian cav is lurking to the S, but needs to regain good order (after the events of #44) before they can intervene.  Short and bloody.  Much depends on rout rolls.

046: Breslau.  Tough one for the Prussians.  Seriously outnumbered and on a pretty wide frontage.  They do have some creeks that they can use for the defense, but I'd guess pro-Austrian in the long run.

047: Breslau (Austrian Fixes)  Probably closer to even, but maybe still a bit Pro-Austrian.

048: Borne:  Another pure Cav battle.  Probably pro-Prussian, but feel free to prove me wrong :)

49: Leuthen: Full day, the Prussian army is on the road from the W.  The Austrians have numbers, and I doubt players will be as dumb as the Austrians and let Frederick maneuver as he will.  Somewhat Pro-Austrian I would guess.

050: Leuthen (late).  This is the setup for the historical attack.  Frederick's in a radically advantageous position.  Austrians have numbers, but there's a real risk of getting chewed up bit by bit without getting their numbers to play.  I'd guess mildly pro-Prussian.

051: Krefeld  Allied forces have the advantage in the west, but still a tough situation.  I honestly have no clue how the H2H balance will play out on this one. Heh.

052: Krefeld (alt)  The Allied forces are now concentrated, but that is both good and bad.  I still have no clue.

053: Sandershausen:  Short, straightforward.  Allies have a mixed force, but lots of very poor troops.  A routfest either way.  The only question is "who will rout first?"  I'd guess pro-French, but could be wildly variable depending on rout rolls.

054: Zorndorf:  This one was more or less a draw in reality, and the forces are well matched here.  Should be one of the more even H2H.

055: Zorndorf (hypo north approach).  Still pretty even forces.

056: Gross Cammin (hypo).  Basically, the same forces on a different part of the map.  I think the Russians are a bit more strongly posted, but still pretty even.

057: Lutterberg.  Badly outnumbered allies, with a flanking French column to boot.  Heavily pro-French

058: Hochkirch:  Austrians launched a concentric attack on Frederick.  Heavily pro-Austrian.

059z: Hochkirch (Austrian fixes).  The fixes should help the Prussians, but probably still not enough.

060: Bergen:  Fairly straightforward fight, but I'd guess pro-French in the end, but not heavily.

061: Bergen (short) See above.

062: Kay Paltzig.  Think Gross Jaegersdorf... except the Russians aren't surprised.  Heavily pro-Russian.

063: Minden:  A fairly good standup fight.  The Allies have a few less troops and longer lines, which will make things harder for them.  I'd guess slightly pro-French.

064: Minden (fixed units).  This one has lots of fixes on both sides, which will make for a more confused fight.  Still though, I'd guess it continues to be slightly pro-French

065: Kunersdorf:  Heavy slugfest.  Russians have some exposed guns which will be a good VP pool for the Prussians, but they'll take a chunk out first.  I'd guess evenish to pro-Russian

066: Kuh Grund: Short scenario of the key part of the battle.  Hopefully evenish.

067: Maxen.  Entirely pro-Austrian.  Prussians pretty much lost this entire force killed or captured.

068: Maxen (Austrian Fixes).  Not enough help.  Still pro-Austrian.

069: Corbach:  Allies on the defensive against a superior French force.  Somewhat Pro-French I'd guess.

070: Corbach (slower french reinforcements).  Hopefully makes this one about even.

071: Warburg:  In testing, this one came out fairly even.  

072: Liegnitz:  Half the Prussians are fixed, but they still have the advantage overall I think.

073: Liegnitz (Prussian Release).  I put this one in mostly for people who might be otherwise inclined to game the fixed units.  Still pro-Prussian.

074: Torgau:  This one is a doozy.  The Prussians are split with the Austrians on a hill between the two wings, but are outnumbered overall. On the other hand, the Austrian position has no depth at all.  It could go either way at the drop of a hat.

075: Torgau (early start).  A bit more time for the Prussians to maneuver.  Otherwise, what I said on 74 applies.

076: Torgau: The sheep ponds:   A scenario of the southern attack by the Prussians.  I'd say pro-Prussian overall, but not wildly.

077: Freiberg:  Prussians have quality, positions on both sides are pretty spread out.  Even to pro-Prussia.

078: Freiberg (Prussian fixes).  Hopefully this makes it even.


Well, those are my thoughts from the design and testing, and I'm sure that you guys will leave enough egg on my face to eat at IHOP for a year :)  

Have at it.

[jim pfleck]

Thanks!

[Laborde]

Just grabed the game, thanks for the info Gary...

[Laborde]

Played and still playing some 7YW pbems with default options:

-029.The Battle of Reichenberg - April 21, 1757
-053.Sandershausen - July 23, 1758
-033.Prague The Fall of Legends - May 6, 1757
-071.Warburg - July 31, 1760
-076.Torgau The Sheep Ponds - November 3, 1760

Tbh, most were defeat for me (as my opponents played so well i guess so i hit rough weather lol ^^) but most or all scenarios i played so far generated excitement. After having and played so many charge charge nappy titles, a different style and era game helped me to have what i was looking for for a jts musket type game. Brilliant manoeuvres, smoky musket duels, rare but effective charges, careful cavalry movements, attentive arty deployments, necessity of fresh reserves...

* My favorite so far is 071.Warburg and my ranking would be like that:

JTS 7YW Scenarios (pbem):
1) 071.Warburg - July 31, 1760 (28 turns)
2) 029.The Battle of Reichenberg - April 21, 1757 (20 turns)
3) 076.Torgau The Sheep Ponds - November 3, 1760 (12 turns)
4) 033.Prague The Fall of Legends - May 6, 1757 (10 turns)
5) 053.Sandershausen - July 23, 1758 (14 turns)
...

Congrats to the creators of 7YW. 
Will give more opinions on scenarios rankings after playing more pbems.