Battle of Hochkirch 1758 : Seven Years War (take two)

Last minute editorial note, clearly I have played too many games and my memory is worryingly poor as after we played and I had written this post up I realised we played the Hochkirch scenario back at the start of 2022.

Having fought the Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf, Frederick moved his army back south to confront the Austrians. He had become contemptuous of the Austrians ability but paid the price at Hochkirch. Having detached various elements of his army the Austrians with a much larger army caught him effectively encamped and strung out close to the village of Hochkirch. Outnumbered by at least 2 to 1 the Prussians fiercely contested the ground but eventually were forced to fight a withdrawal.

The Austrians attacked at 05:00am when the Church Bells at Hochkirch rang

We would be using Honours of War again with our 10mm figures. I have once again used the excellent scenario from Frank Chadwicks Battles of the Seven Years War as the starting point for our battle. There are also a number of really useful maps on the internet. The challenge of course in what is really a one sided battle is getting some balance in objectives. The Austrians who are on the attack have several objectives, to take the two defended ‘fieldworks’, to capture the town of Hochkirch, to defeat as many of the Prussians divisions as possible and or to cut the Prussian line of retreat to the North. The Prussians have to stop all of the above 🙂

One of the excellent maps which I have used for the setup

Converted onto a 5 x 8 table, the cards show the dispositions of the various Divisions, whilst the Prussians are all on the battlefield at the start, only about half the Austrians the rest arrive with an element of random delay using D6 roles. The only Austrian reserves which were really delayed was Buccow’s Cavalry Division coming form the North. We had just enough troops to field both armies in full 🙂

The Austrian Left Corps under Generals Forgach and d’Annse leading the assault on Hochkirch in the early morning

Prussian guns open up in defence, with General Zieten’s Cavalry Division screening Hochkirch to the West

The Prussian Advance Guard to the north General Seydlitz’s Cavalry Division between Rodewitz and Wawitz

The Prussian advance guard infantry holding the fieldworks across the River, they are faced by the massive Divisions of the Austrian Right Wing, under Generals d’Arberg and d’Urfel, they fire their cannons but then immediately withdraw to take up a stronger position across the river

The Austrian right swarms into the field works bringing their artillery up with them.

Looking south the Prussian artillery has opened up along the line the Austrians are looking to break through the gap between the river and Hochkirch, potentially cutting the Prussian line in half

A closer view of the action around Hochkirch

Volleys ring out from the fieldworks south of Hochkirch and from the village itself

Aware that the Austrians are encircling the town Prussian cavalry fans out the block the advance

With support for the village the Prussians are able, for now, to prevent the Austrians breaking through

Austrian infantry has now captured Niethen but they come under heavy fire from across the river and are forced back

The Prussian advance guard have regrouped across the bridge and are holding, the Division of Gen Wuerttemberg has also arrived to shore up the defence

The Austrians eventually bring their artillery agains the fieldworks and Prussian infantry is forced to flee, they head North down their escape route and will eventually regroup

Prussian Curassiers holding the Northern flank 

Buccow’s Division arrives and a cavalry melee ensues after several roles for combat the heavier Prussian cavalry get the better of it

despite loosing a regiment they hold the ground and the Prussian left is safe for now, the Austrian infantry are making a bid to cross the river

The Prussians have now had to abandon the fieldworks to the south with the arrival of Loudon’s Corps, although not delayed they suffered a number of failed activation roles which significantly slowed them getting across the river.

The Prussians are still holding Hochkirch but only just, Zieten’s cavalry has slowed the Austrian encirclement but has now been wiped out as a division. (We play any Dvision loosing more than half its starting number is removed)

Some of the Prussians fleeing from the fieldworks bump into the Austrian infantry through the woods after a quick skirmish they are surrounded and finished off

Still the Prussians have managed to hold the gap between the river and Hochkirch exhausting an Austrian division in the process

In the final turns the Prussians are able to bring some cavalry up to screen any further withdrawal 

The artillery from the fieldworks are limbered up and make it away as they gallop through the streets of Hochkirch

To the north despite repeated attempts the Austrians have not been able to force a crossing of the river and the Prussian line of retreat remains open.

Austrians infantry menacing across the river whilst their artillery pounds the retreating Prussians.

A final shot of the Prussians holding the line of the river.

At this point we called it a day. The Austrians have taken both fieldworks and the village of Hochkirch has been abandoned, but only two of the seven Prussian divisions have been broken and the route for their retreat remains open. We judged this a minor and unexpected win for the Prussians. Think Martin has mentioned a couple of points we might change for any future battle. Making the rivers less difficult to cross being one ? In hindsight the Austrians did fail a number of command roles most notably this delayed large infantry divisions at the two extreme ends of the line, this is to be expected bunt did significantly hamper the Austrian attack reducing the benefit of their overwhelming numbers. The Prussians also failed several command roles especially in the Fieldworks to the south but, as they were defending they were still able to fire if not manoeuvre, so an advantage.

As hoped for this was a very enjoyable battle, providing a real sense of scale and period, it could easily have gone either way. The more of these battles we play the more I wonder why he was called Frederick the Great ?

Thanks for checking in 😀

Matt