Battle of Lobositz 1756 : Seven Years War (and some other stuff)

Not sure why I am so busy at the moment, partly another week on holiday, more of this later, and the final days of my working life, more on that next week. Also the weather has been great so I have been doing plenty of cycling and walking……..oh and a trip to Claymore Show last weekend as well 🙂

Anyway hot on the heals of our Teplitz battle at Pendraken. Another SYW battle Lobositz, not sure this needs any introduction as I know the majority of you loyal followers are keen a knowledgable SYW gamers. Just in case though, Lobositz was the first significant battle of the SYW between the Prussians and Austrians, having invaded Saxony Frederick had the city of Pirna under siege. The Austrians looking to relieve their allies despatched a force and in a somewhat arrogant response Frederick moved with part of his army to attack the Austrians.

The battlefield for Lobositz was famously quite restricted by the high ground of the Lobusch Berg the Elbe River and boggy ground around Sulowitz. Despite the thick fog Frederick rashly threw his forces on the attack only to find he was facing a much larger force of Austrians than the thought. The Prussians gave it a good go but were ultimately beaten back.

For this battle matching my collection to the forces required I used the scenario in the Honours of War rule book, this is simplified but gives a fun representation of the challenges of the battle.

There are plenty of maps of the Battle, one of the key factors was fog on the day which prevented the Prussians from seeing the majority of the Austrian forces

This then is translated onto a 6 x 4 battlefield (really nice to have enough figures now to cover this size of engagement)

In the foreground the Prussian right wing under Bevern is pushed towards the heights of the Lobusch Berg. 

Austrian light troops await the assault dug into vineyards and the difficult ground covering the higher ground

The rest of the right wing of the Austrians under Lacy are lined up to the right of Lobositz itself

The Austrian left wing hidden behind the boggy ground around Sulowitz

The Austrian cavalry massed in the centre, historically this was what Frederick saw and thinking it the retreating Austrians pushed forward into a full assault

General Bevern’s infantry assault up hill to clear the Lobusch Berg

Musket fire opens up all along the battle lines

Prussian cavalry is pushing forward, whilst the Austrian artillery opens up

The Prussian artillery opens up in response

Forward !

A significant cavalry battle in front of Lobositz.

The Prussian reserve division has failed to get moving due to a failed activation

Here they are slowly marching past Wchintz

Having clashed with the Austrians the rest of the Prussian cavalry gets counter charged in front of Sulowitz

The Prussian reserves finally get moving but they may be too late

The Austrian right wing has been pushed back beyond Lobositz, but they aren’t enough Prussians to capitalise on the situation

After a fierce cavalry fight the Austrians get the better of it and push the Prussians back out of the battle

The Austrians are then able to bring their extra numbers into the battle and turn towards Lobositz

The final push by the remaining Prussian infantry but they can’t make any headway

and the battle comes to a close with the Austrians remaining in control of the battle and Lobositz itself

An excellent run out for the SYW collection, rules continue to work well an Austrian victory but I suspect that is often the case when re fighting Lobositz.

What else have I been upto you might ask.

Some excellent cycling in Derbyshire on a family holiday

A walking adventure 4 days walking across the Lake District visiting Roman forts (I will blog some more details of this walk sometime soon)

Plenty of lovely views in the Lakes

We also went upto Claymore wargame show in Edinburgh here were the pick of the games, this one has featured in WI

A splendid large scale battle

A lovely Arab assault

I did slightly more shopping than I should have picking up quite a few bargains from the Bring and Buy, a complete mixed bag but mainly dark age figures.

Some other stuff to blog up as well  but that will have to wait.🙂

Thanks for popping by 👍