Sunday 31 October 2021

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 😀




31 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Neil we are enjoying the SYW a lot at the moment so I’m sure more battles to come

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  2. A fine SYW battle in grand style, Matt!

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    1. Thanks Dean more to come at some stage 👍

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  3. Matt, this is such a pleasure to see. Again, you present a magnificent display of wargaming beauty. Love the photography and the 10mm battalions arrayed for battle look great.

    Having fought Kolin more than once (in 15mm, however, and one BMU per regiment v two for you), I know exactly the issues that Frederick faced. I have yet to see a Prussian victory in any of my Kolin refights.

    Brilliant stuff!

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    1. Thanks Jon, very kind comments, it was a pleasure to play even if the Prussians were up against it. I do think one day we might reset but give Fredrick greater flexibility or play it as a what if he had managed to get around the flank ?

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  4. Thanks Matt for putting together such a comprehensive AAR with tons of pics. The grand sweep of battle is very attractively conveyed.

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    1. Thanks Norm glad you enjoyed it, in the post battle analysis we felt we should take one of these battles to a show next year if things settle down ?

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  5. Loved playing the battle, nice to win, my 1st in 7YW, which seems about right. The cavalry charges were joyous and I was pleased with my feint on the left, worked perfectly, although I don't think it made much difference. Can't wait for the next one

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    1. The thunder of galloping cavalry. A deserved win for the Austrians who managed their advantages well 👍 Hochkirch seems a good option but I’ll do some research

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  6. A fantastic looking game Matt…
    10mm certainly gives the feel and look of a large battle…
    I’m almost tempted….. almost 😁

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, yes when we started on this project we wanted a slightly different game /feel where given the constraints of my gaming space we could recreate most or all of certain historical battles. The 10 mm allows this without getting into micro scales. I am very tempted however, by 6 mm. I think I would summarise 10 mm as a gamers scale but perhaps not a painters scale. You are too good a painter for this scale 😀

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  7. A fine looking game there Matt, that's a scale l would need to do a similar looking spectacle in my smaller space 🤔

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    1. Thanks Phil yes every scale has its benefits, I’m really enjoying the balance 10 mm gives, I am very tempted in the future to do something Napoleonic in 10 mm but I’m not quite ready yet ?

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  8. Wow, gorgeous and spectacular report, a fantastic Kolin refight, love the beautiful lines of cavalry...

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    1. Merci Phil, the abundance of cavalry in SYW and the extra space provided by the scale is really fun to game with it allows a feel of space to actually charge across the battlefield 👍

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  9. What a stunning looking game Matt and here is the thing - I initially assumed you were doing such a large game using 10mm figures but looking at the images on an iPad without benefit of magnification, I started to think these were actually 28mm figures - they look really good!

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    1. Thanks Keith you are very kind, I can confirm they are 10 mm and I don’t have a 40 foot gaming table 😀 the beauty of this scale is the table is 8 foot by 5

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  10. That's a great spectacle you put on there Matt and lovely to see the Austrians give the Prussians a bloody nose. Usually in my games it's the Austrians who fail to get moving whilst the Prussians seem to whizz around the table with complete ease. Lovely to see your 10mm figures getting an outing once again:)

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    1. Thanks Steve, I think I mentioned above we downgraded the Prussian leadership for this battle as I have read that the organisation and chain of command broke down. In hindsight of course this was a bad idea and it was unfortunate that the Prussians as well as their other challenges got the worse of the activation rolls ! Luckily I was able to enjoy the demise of my Prussians with good humour 😀

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  11. Splendid looking sweeping view of a game! The scale works really well and your troops and scenery are lovely!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain I am certainly considering 10 mm for some future projects ? Possibly the ECW there’s an idea

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  12. What a spectacle, great to see large scale gaming....
    Lovely troops and looked like a fun game to play.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stu glad you like the spectacle that was the aim when we started the project. The was fun despite the uphill challenge for the Prussians

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  13. A splendid rendition of the battle Matt. Much too small a scale though for my old eyes if it came to painting.

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    1. Thanks David , for painting and I know I have said this before it isn’t really much different, and in many respects it is a mental approach not trying to achieve perfect painting rather an overall effect. I paint mine with the same brushes and the exactly the same approach as 28’s, I’m less careful. If you like painting buttons then 10 mm is a bad scale👍

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  14. Kolin obviously is one of the classic battles of F II. I love your representation of the landscape: the villages, the roads, the hills and woods.

    I just answer to your question: "River Beczvarks-Bach?" That doesn't make sense in German. "Bach" is "stream". Therefor it would be better to write "Beczvarks-stream". In Germany we don't write "Fluss" (river) very often. But we have many streams which are called "XY-bach".

    But back to the battle: Kolin is very difficult to win for the Prussians. However that's the same with Kesselsdorf for the Saxons and Mollwitz for the Austrians. There are some much more balanced historical battles - especially when you start it early in the battle. Leuthen for example would be interesting if the scenario starts when Frederick is arriving in the area and not, when he already had moved around the allied flank and could break into the weak allied flank.
    Some aspects of your game are looking interesting. What if the Prussians could occupy the Oak wood with well trained infantry? The Austrian flank would be in some serious danger and the Austrian would have to charge the wood with infantry.

    Thank you for presenting your great game.

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    1. Thanks you so much for taking the time to comment. I apologise immediately for my lack of knowledge of German I was a poor linguist at school 😢 much better at geography and science. I will have foolishly copied it with really understanding. As to the battle glad you enjoyed. There is certainly several options for Kolin and we will play it again at some point. The most likely option for the Prussians I think is to assume the Austrians were either slow or didn’t notice the outflank leaving perhaps a substantial amount of their army stuck over the river. The Prussian turn their right flank and then the battle would be one fought over the river , this would make a very good and equal contest ? Hopefully you have seen our Leuthen battle from a couple of months ago ?

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