Fredrick the Great ? a disaster at Kolin in 10mm

 After the Battle of Prague where I might argue Fredrick was a little lucky to beat the Austrians. The main Austrian army was stuck in the city. A relief force under Field Marshall Daun of about 50,000 marched towards the city in June. Frederick sent a blocking force under Bevern of only about 30,000 which he later joined. The two armies closed on each other in mid June. The Austrians initially deployed on a series of low hills partially protected by the small River Beczvarks-Bach ?

Fredrick sought to out flank the Austrians as he has done at Prague, was he over confident ? Gradually the Austrians seeing the attempted moved and reinforced the hills to their right (East). The details of the battle are well known, as the Prussians marched down the Kaiser-strasse they failed to get around the flank before embarking on a series of fruitless frontal assaults. The fighting was hard but Daun had the high ground, had numerical superiority and had more artillery in place ! Hard then perhaps to make this into a balanced wargame ?

I have used a number of sources once again Frank Chadwick’s battles of the SYW needs a shout out.

This is a useful map of the battle with our table roughly covering the highlighted area. We were playing this game indoors it obviously being too cold and very wet to be in the shed so we had a smaller playing area, I toyed with the idea of reducing the Regiments down to one base to give a bit more space but in the end we stuck with the 2 battalion model which looks more pleasing

The map converted onto the table, 8 feet by 5 at the wider section. Kaiser Strasse running down the left. Having looked at a couple of source there is some judgment about the positions of some troops and of course this is my usual massive simplification. I feel we managed the key elements though. The battle starts at the point the Prussian make their foolish early swing south. Effective there is little chance the Prussians can win this so we can them some small help. The Saxon and reserve Cavalry of which there is absolutely masses would only come on after turn two on a roll of a dice (Sod’s law they came on immediately on a six !) and Starhemberg’s Division is only just arriving behind Przerovsky Hill. We were using Honours of War and foolishly agreed that both Prussian and Austrians would require tests to activate. I lost count of the times the Prussians failed which given the uphill struggle they face didn’t help one bit 🙁 

Anyway war is not an equal sided thing in most cases and it was fully accepted that the Prussians would struggle, the battle provided no less fun for this fact. So onto the action

Austrian Hussars sent to hold the right flank around the Oak wood, already occupied by Grenzers and some medium artillery

Starhemberg’s 2nd Division marching on, they rolled a 6 first turn so were easily able to deploy into position

Prussian cavalry under Zieten tasked with taking the lead in turn the Austrian flank

Behind them other elements of the 2nd Cavalry Division and the Prussian infantry stretched out beyond them

Austrian left wing infantry under Puebla close to the village of Poborz

Austrian Cavalry and more Austrian cavalry oh look and more Austrian cavalry !

Andlau’s Division rooted to the top of Przerovsky Hill, this was the position Fredrick initially told his officers not to attack !

Prussians under Bevern near Brezan

So the action starts, the Austrians look weak on their right so Zieten as he did historically charges forward, but comes under attack form the Oak wood 

Massed Austrian infantry fire immediate shakes the advancing Prussians

The Prussian cavalry which had been travelling along the kaiser strasse turn off the road, there is obviously going to be. Big cavalry battle around the village of Brezan

Zieten is having some success and pushes back the Austrian cavalry

and he has support advancing behind him

Possibly futile but we have to try and clear the hill, Prussian infantry March up hill towards a solid mass of Austrian infantry who are supported by artillery ! It doesn’t go well

The Prussians fail some activations early on which as I mentioned above doesn’t help

Oh look more Austrian cavalry, Daun is commanding their advance and they are immediately sent to sure up the right flank, they get another six for activation and gallop right across the rear of the Austrian line

Austrian cavalry advance north towards Brezan

The same advance from a different view,

Puebla who initially advanced is pulling back in the face of massed Prussian cavalry

To the East Treskow’s Grenadiers have cleared Grenzers out of Krzeczhorz and have pushed up to try and take the Oak wood

The infantry are clearing the ground to allow the cavalry to get stuck in around Brezan

Much of the Prussian infantry has been forced back, it’s not looking good but we haven’t quite given up yet

The grenadiers have cleared the wood but then fail to activate to push forward

Behind the oak wood Austrian cavalry is looking menacing 

They are also generally heavier than the Hussars which Zieten is commanding 😬

Around Brezan the cavalry start to clash in a swirling melee

Prussian infantry open up with volleys where they can

Prussian Dragoons again try to take the Oak wood but make little progress

As both sides throw more cavalry into the maelstrom around Brezan it is still in the balance

Hulsen’s infantry division who were slow to start are now pushing up the hill

For a brief period the artillery is isolated and there is a chance

More cavalry clashing around the Oak Wood, the woods is finally cleared of Austrians but the Prussians have no infantry to take advantage 

The Austrians infantry of Andlau having had little to do are ordered off the hill and advance towards Brezan

The Austrian line is now stabilised although the Prussians have one more throw of the die

The Prussian cavalry on their left has been forced back

The battle around Brezan has also gone the way of the Austrians

There are just too many of them

A final shot from the west down the battlefield, to add insult the Austrian reserve cavalry didn’t even arrive in time for the battle !

Daun survey’s a famous victory

On the Kaiser-Strasse Fredrick jumps into his carriage to escape the field, Prussian infantry and Dragoons can be seen fleeing away from the battlefield.

Despite the obvious challenges for the Prussians which wasn’t helped by the 5 or 6 failed activations, a very enjoyable battle. With a historical set up it perhaps wasn’t surprising that things went the way of the Austrians. I was particularly pleased that the battle around the Oak wood almost followed the historical battle. I don’t think the failed activations made a huge difference but had the failed activations been the other way round that might have made it more challenging for the Austrians. I think at some point we will come back and refight but allow a non historical set up to see if given the position Frederick had a chance ?

Thanks as always for popping by 😀