Battle of Mollwitz - Afterthoughts

After the battle, the victorious General Count Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg reviews his remaining forces on the snow-covered fields of Mollwitz

IN some ways it is easier to command the army that lost in real life.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but your predecessor will almost certainly have made mistakes - mistakes which you can avoid.
The chap commanding the army that originally won, however, can be in something of a quandary. If he follows the plan of the victorious commander, he knows his wargame opponent will be ready for him. But if he deviates, he risks throwing away his advantage.
I was able to improve the Austrian performance by not having my cavalry make futile frontal charges against formed infantry. The lesson that muskets beat sabres is not an easy one to learn, it seems, as the French were to make the same mistake at Minden.
My opponent in our refight felt he got several things wrong.
Firstly, but perhaps of least importance, was how he sent his hussars to their doom. His idea, he revealed, had been to hope the hussars could avoid my cavalry and cause confusion among the infantry around Mollwitz. But half a squadron of hussars was never likely to achieve much by itself and, as he admitted, he had failed to take into account the ponderous movements of the Prussian horse.
A more serious mistake, he felt, was to have advanced his infantry on too broad a front, making them vulnerable to both Austrian guns.*
Thirdly, and most seriously, was his decision to split his infantry, detaching two battalions - a quarter of his foot - to deal with my left-flank cavalry. If my horse had obligingly charged his infantry from the front, his decision might have been justified. But I had no intention of doing that, and my cavalry only closed in when one of his battalions became isolated. As my opponent observed: "The poor so-and-sos had two exposed flanks and an exposed rear - they didn't stand a chance."
At the time, he thought he was copying the successful Prussian tactic from the original battle. But what actually happened in 1741 was that the Prussian infantry as a whole turned to fight off the Austrian cavalry. Only after being successful in that endeavour, did the Prussians advance on the outnumbered Austrian foot.
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So our campaign to refight the War of the Austrian Succession has begun.
The 275th anniversary of the next battle, Chotusitz, is over a year away, which should give me plenty of time to get on with painting more figures.
I also intend to publish the latest version of the rules, and follow with rather more detailed explanations of the thinking behind their mechanics.
*Incidentally, among the changes I made to the rules shortly before the battle - minor tweaks are always going on - was a major one to make the artillery less effective. We felt guns had taken on a Napoleonic aspect in our playtesting, and it was necessary to rein them back. In the event, both armies' guns played a role that seemed well in keeping with the standards of the mid-18th century.

Battle of Mollwitz - The Refight (continued)

TURN NINE

The snow-covered battlefield at the start of turn nine

Both sides' artillery proved particularly ineffective this turn despite my gunners firing canister at almost point-blank range.
They had reason to be nervous - Prussian musketry came into its own, sweeping away the whole crew from one gun and reducing the other to 25 per cent effectiveness. My battalion of Karl von Lotheringen Foot was also destroyed.
My only consolation was that the battalion of von Glasenapp Foot that Frederick was with also suffered casualties and failed a morale test, despite the King's presence.
The other battalion of von Glasenapp Foot fared even worse. Charged in the rear by my surviving half-squadron of Modena Cuirassiers, they were wiped out to a man, although they did manage to reduce the cuirassiers to 25 percent effectiveness.
There was further bad news for Frederick when the remaining troopers of the heroic von Bayreuth Dragoons were caught in the flank and completely routed by my Liechtenstein Dragoons.
Units eliminated at the end of turn nine: four squadrons of Prussian heavy cavalry, the half-squadron of Prussian hussars, three battalions of Prussian foot; one squadron of Austrian heavy cavalry, two battalions of Austrian foot, one Austrian gun.
So the Prussians have lost 7.5 units out of a starting force of 16.5, meaning one more unit elimated and they will have lost the battle.

TURN TEN
The Prussian plight seemed well-nigh impossible of escaping, but there was early cheer this turn for Frederick when his grenadiers charged the crew of my remaining gun in the flank, automatically eliminating them (they had no friendly foot within 4cm).

The Prussian grenadiers charge my gun from the flank. In the background, but too far away to help, are the Nagy-Károly Hussars

There was further good news for Frederick when he managed to rally the remains of the von Glasenapp Foot.
There was no firing this turn as the Prussian artillery had no Austrians within range and I kept my cavalry out of musket range.
Units eliminated at the end of turn ten: four squadrons of Prussian heavy cavalry, the half-squadron of Prussian hussars, three battalions of Prussian foot (7.5 units in total); one squadron of Austrian heavy cavalry, two battalions of Austrian foot, both Austrian guns (5 units in total).

TURN 11
By now it dawned on me that the fairly comfortable victory I seemed to be heading for was suddenly becoming anything but.
With my guns gone, I could not inflict any long-range casualties, and there were no inept Prussian horse left to chase. Instead I was going to have to trust to my infantry and cavalry to finish the job ... but that meant taking on the fearsome Prussian bluecoats.
But just as suddenly as I realised this, the battle was over when Frederick's von Grevenitz Foot, having turned to confront masses of approaching Austrian cavalry, were charged in the rear by my Los Rios de Guiterez Foot.
The badly outnumbered Prussians were slaughtered, bringing their army past its breaking point.

It's about to be all over

An aerial view of the complete battlefield at the end

Next: Mollwitz afterthoughts

Battle of Mollwitz - The Refight

A DAY late, but we are under way.
Here's my plan.
Clearly the Austrians cannot win a pure musketry duel, and I must make full use of my overwhelming advantage in cavalry.
In order to bring about a horse-v-horse confrontation with as little interference as possible from the Prussian foot, I intend copying a manoeuvre used in 1741 - namely sending my left-flank cavalry on a wide arc in order to attack their Prussian opposite numbers from the side.
My right-flank horse will be sent across the Kleinerbach to take on the Prussian horse there.
My infantry will await the onslaught of the Prussian foot. At least my guns should be able to rake the bluecoats with canister when they close to musketry range.
The figure of von Neipperg will be moved to join the hussars.

TURN ONE
Frederick's only moves were to continue getting his right flank into order. He has apparently decided not to advance until everything is ready.
(Something similar happened in 1741. The Austrians were not aware of Frederick's approach, and the Prussians could have attacked them in camp. But the King, uncharacteristically cautious in his first battle, stopped to get all his troops lined up in regular formations.)
I sent my cavalry off on their respective roles - the left wing to outflank the Prussian right, and the right-wing to cross the Kleinerbach.

Looking from behind the Prussian right. In the background the Austrian left-flank horse can be seen swinging to their left

The Prussian artillery, just within range of my infantry, opened fire, scoring a hit on the Deutschmeister Foot, who passed the subsequent morale test.
My guns, not being sited forward of the first line, were out-of-range of the Prussian foot. One gun was able to fire at the Prussian guns, but this counter-battery fire was completely ineffective.

TURN TWO
I ordered my infantry lines to fall back out of range of the Prussian guns, causing Frederick to order his guns to limber (this is shown by pointing the guns away from the enemy).
The only firing was by my left-flank gun, which scored a hit on one of the Prussian guns.
Frederick intriguingly sent his hussars obliquely forward, much to my puzzlement as I was not sure what he hoped to achieve by this.

The Austrian right-flank cavalry cross the Kleinerbach. Directly to their front is the half-squadron of Frederick's King's Hussars

TURN THREE
Frederick ordered his left-flank heavy horse forward, apparently trying to take advantage of the somewhat disjointed state of the Austrian horse crossing the stream.

Frederick's left-flank cuirassiers and dragoons advance

In the centre, I ordered my infantry to fall back some more.
The Prussians began a general advance, which brought their first line within roundshot range of my guns, the von Lehwaldt Foot suffering a hit.

Looking from behind the Prussian centre. The boulder next to the right-hand gun indicates it has suffered a hit

The view from behind the Prussian right

TURN FOUR
Frederick's guns, now within range of my infantry again, unlimbered. Meanwhile, my own guns failed to inflict any casualties on the Prussian foot.
On both flanks there was a clash of cuirassiers, with the Prussians losing the melee in each case. The von Buddenbrock Cuirassiers were particularly badly affected, losing 50 percent of their effectiveness.

Looking from the rooftops of Mollwitz village towards the advancing Prussian centre

TURN FIVE
On the Prussian left, the retreating Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers were caught from behind by my Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers. On the Prussian right, something similar happened as the fleeing Buddenbrock Cuirassiers were charged in the rear by a squadron of my already victorious Modena Cuirassiers.
This was rather careless by Frederick as, under our alternate-moving rules, he had time to get at least one unit out of harm's way.
In a development echoing what happened in the real battle, the two extreme-right battalions of Prussian foot turned to try to deal with the Austrian horse (a sign of General Field Marshal von Schwerin acting on his own initiative, perhaps?),

On the Prussian right, two battalions turn to face the Austrian horse sweeping by

A view of the general cavalry melee on the Prussian left

We calculated artillery firing before the melees, and with dramatic results.
The Prussian Lehwaldt Foot were reduced to 50 percent effectiveness, but managed to pass their morale test. Alas, the same could not be said for my Deutschmeister Foot who, taking their second hit of the battle, found their bravery deserting them and they promptly took to their  heels.

Looking from behind the Prussian guns. In the far background the surviving members of the Deutschmeister Foot can just be seen fleeing between the hussars and Mollwitz village

The melees were something of a disaster for Frederick with both his cuirassier squadrons wiped out. The Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers did as least inflict two hits on their attackers, only to see both hits cancelled by my producing a pair of 6s with my saving throws (cuirassiers have a saving throw from hits of a 6, thanks to their cuirass).
One small bright note for the Prussians was that the Porzellan Dragoons held their own against my Cordova Cuirassiers, each squadron inflicting a hit.
Units eliminated at the end of turn five: two squadrons of Prussian heavy cavalry.

TURN SIX
I moved the figure of von Neipperg to intercept the retreating Deutschmeister Foot, and he successfully rallied them.
My infantry hastily rearranged themselves to plug the hole in the first line, although the Karl von Lothringen Foot, in their eagerness, pushed further forward than their comrades (the move-variation rule coming into effect).
Both my guns fired canister, inflicting a hit on the Prussian right-flank von Leps Foot and the left-flank Brandenburg-Schwedt Foot. The von Leps passed their morale test but the Brandenburg-Schwedt, perhaps shaken by the fate of the Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers, broke and fled.
The Prussian guns had even more success, concentrating their fire on the Rios-Deutschmeister Grenadiers which, thanks to failing their morale test, ceased to exist as a unit.
On the Prussian left, the Porzelan Dragoons, suffered a second round of meleeing against the Cordova Cuirassiers and were also hit in the flank by the Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers. Not surprisingly, the dragoons were wiped out, but not before reducing the Cordova squadron to 25 percent effectiveness.
On the Prussian right, a squadron of my Modena Cuirassiers clashed bloodily with the von Bayreuth Dragoons. Each inflicted three hits, meaning there would be a second round of meleeing. Also on this flank, my other squadron of Modena Cuirassiers suffered a musketry hit from the battalion of von Glasenapp Foot that had turned to help out their cavalry. The cuirassiers failed the subsequent morale test, losing a further 25 percent effectiveness.

An aerial view showing the Prussian centre pushing forward while the Austrian horse are victorious on both flanks

Units eliminated at the end of turn six: three squadrons of Prussian heavy cavalry; one battalion of Austrian foot.

TURN SEVEN
A combination of musketry and canister disposed of the remaining von Leps Foot, although not before they had scored a hit on my left-flank gunners, whose morale nevertheless remained steadfast.
The Prussian left-flank von Glasenapp Foot also suffered a hit from canister, but passed their morale test.
Further to the left, beyond the Kleinerbach, the ponderous nature of the Prussian horse was highlighted when my Batthyány Dragoons caught the King's Hussars in the flank and destroyed them without suffering any losses.
On the other flank, the dragoon-cuirassier melee was again drawn.

Massed Austrian horse prepare to ford the Kleinerbach for an easy-looking prey in the shape of the retreating Brandenburg-Schwedt Foot

Units eliminated at the end of turn seven: three squadrons of Prussian heavy cavalry, the half-squadron of Prussian hussars and one battalion each of Prussian and Austrian foot.

TURN EIGHT
Another bloodthirsty round.
The Brandenburg-Schwedt Foot met their inevitable fate, at the hands of the Prinz Savoyen Dragoons.
It was also a successful round for the Prussian von Bayreuth Dragoons, who finally got the upper hand and eliminated a squadron of my Modena Cuirassiers.

Despite horrendous losses, the Prussian foot, with King Frederick in their midst, continue to close in on the Austrian troops in front of Mollwitz

Units eliminated at the end of turn eight: three squadrons of Prussian heavy cavalry, the half-squadron of Prussian hussars, two battalions of Prussian foot; one squadron of Austrian heavy cavalry, one battalion of Austrian foot.

To be continued

Battle of Mollwitz - Final Preparations

WE were not able to start our refight today, the 275th anniversary of the opening battle of the War of the Austrian Succession, but at least we did make the final pre-battle arrangements.
Firstly, my opponent exercised his choice to sink his identity in that of King Frederick and the Prussians. A strange decision for a huge Francophile? Not when you consider that for centuries it was the Hapsburgs of Austria, rather than a far-eastern province of the German-speaking lands, that was France's chief continental enemy.
That settled, we made our three allowed adjustments to the initial starting positions.
I withdrew the Austrian hussar screen and placed the squadron in the second line where it could be a reserve and support the front-line Deutschmeister Foot, moving the Marquis de Prie-Turinetti Foot and Karl von Lothringen Foot to make room.

The Nagy-Károly Hussars have taken their position in the centre of the Austrian second line

Frederick decided to extend the right flank of his front line so his grenadiers could take up firing order. The von Buddenbrock Cuirassiers moved to the right to make room for this and the von Leps Foot, with the figure of Frederick in attendance, moved out from behind the massed Prussian guns.
Because only three units may be moved in pre-battle adjustments, Frederick was unable to unravel his second line where one battalion of von Glasenapp Foot had to remain out of firing order.

The rearranged Prussian right flank

Battle of Mollwitz - The Set-Up

YOU might think that when refighting a historic battle, the terrain should be laid out first, followed by the troops.
But I believe a better way is to first lay out the troops in their historic starting formations, or at least at the point where you wish to start the refight, and then make the terrain fit around them.
Mollwitz was fought in mainly open country. Even though it was nearly the middle of April, there had been a fairly heavy fall of snow overnight. This was enough to interfere with long-range vision but otherwise had little effect, with Frederick's well-drilled infantry reportedly advancing as if on a parade ground.
Accordingly I have decided the only difference the snow will make to the rules is to deduct one from every die thrown for artillery roundshot (the deduction coming before the score is halved to reckon the potential number of hits).

Bird's-eye view of the battlefield from behind the Prussian lines

The Kleinerbach on the left is a minor stream that can be crossed by horse and foot in a quarter move, without disrupting formation, and by guns in a half move.
The trees along the Kleinerbach have no effect on movement or firing, but the copses between the lines and behind the Prussian army count as cover, slow foot to half-speed for any turn spent partly in them and are impassable to horse and guns.
In the background is the village of Mollwitz - now Małujowice in modern Poland. You might just be able to make out traces of snow on the roofs (actually a sprinkling of talcum powder).

Close-up of the Austrian army

Screening the Austrian forces are the Nagy-Károly Hussars.
In the front line, reading left to right from the Kleinerbach, are the Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers, Cordova Cuirassiers, half of the artillery, Los Rios de Guiterez Foot, Deutschmeister Foot, Rios-Deutschmeister Grenadiers, the rest of the artillery and two squadrons of Modena Cuirassiers.
In the second line, again reading from the Kleinerbach, are the Prinz Savoyen Dragoons, Batthyány Dragoons, Marquis de Prie-Turinetti Foot, Karl von Lothringen Foot, Liechtenstein Dragoons and Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons.
The Austrian commander, von Neipperg, is with the Lothringen Foot.

The Prussians

The Prussian artillery is concentrated to the front-right of the infantry.
Behind them, left to right in the photo, are the von Buddenbrock Cuirassiers, Leps-Glasenapp Grenadiers, von Leps Foot, von Lehwaldt Foot, Brandenburg-Schwedt Foot and, beyond the Kleinerbach, Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers and King's Hussars. King Frederick is with the von Leps Foot. Note that the grenadiers are not in firing order but, like the infantry battalion directly behind them, are bunched together - a formation caused by the Prussian senior officers not leaving enough space between the cavalry flanks. This mistake was apparently a result of distances being misjudged because of the glare of the snow.
The Prussian second line, again left to right as we are looking at them, consists of von Bayreuth Dragoons, two battalions of von Glasenapp Foot, von Röder Foot, von Grevenitz Foot and, again beyond the Kleinerbach, the Porzellan Dragoons.
The national characteristics, for want of a better term, in force for Mollwitz will be as detailed in earlier posts, namely that Prussian foot add one to musketry throws and suffer no movement penalty for wheeling, while Prussian horse take half a turn for any wheel and inflict melee casualties on a throw of 5 or 6 instead of the usual 4-6.
Before the refight starts, each player will be allowed to adjust the starting position of up to three units. This is done by first writing the planned adjustments down on a piece of paper so neither player can react to the other's changes (at least not before the refight properly gets underway).

The Battle of Mollwitz

TOMORROW sees the 275th anniversary of the Battle of Mollwitz - the opening major clash of the War of the Austrian Succession.
It should also see the start of my refight of the war, which will consist of recreating the major battles from the key central European theatre of the war on or as close to their 275th anniversaries.
I hope to refight each battle against my regular wargame opponent, using a campaign system adapted from chapter seven of Donald Featherstone's 1970 book War Game Campaigns.

The cover of my copy of War Game Campaigns fell apart through frequent use

Since I will be hosting each battle, my opponent will have choice of sides (although his strong pro-French sympathies will often make this a foregone conclusion).
The winner of each battle will score two points, with a bonus point if a victory reverses the historical outcome. A draw will mean one point for each general.
Mollwitz, with the possible exception of the Battle of Fontenoy, is probably the most refought battle of the mid-18th century, largely due to the exciting version recorded in Charles Grant's book The War Game (a glance inside the front cover shows this sold for £3 when it was published in 1971).
He gives a good, brief account of the original battle, and an even easier-to-access one can be found at Wikipedia.
I will be basing mine largely on the accounts by Thomas Carlyle and Reed Browning.

I obtained Browning and Carlyle secondhand

The forces for my refight will be as follows.
Prussia:  King Frederick II, seven battalions of regular foot, one battalion of grenadiers, two squadrons of cuirassiers, two squadrons of dragoons, half a squadron of hussars and three guns.
Austria: Count Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg, four battalions of regular foot, one battalion of grenadiers, four squadrons of cuirassiers, four squadrons of dragoons, one squadron of hussars and two guns.
A word is on order about the number of guns (or batteries, if you prefer). I have seen refights on the internet in which the Prussians are given up to five times the number of guns of the Austrians. This is inherently quite improbable and seems to be based on including 3pdr Prussian battalion pieces as part of the general artillery.
The firing of battalion guns, at least in my rules, is subsumed within the rules for musketry, and in my defence I can point out that my numbers are not too far off the proportions of those used in Grant's refight. He gave the Prussians eight units of line infantry, two of grenadiers, two of heavy cavalry, one of light cavalry and three batteries. The Austrians consisted of six units of line infantry, one of grenadiers, four of heavy cavalry, two of light cavalry and one-and-a-half batteries.
Grant's forces consisted of 30mm Spencer Smiths on a table 9ft by 7ft. That is a substantial size of table, but the use of 30mm figures and the large size of Grant's units - a regiment of infantry was made up of 48 men and five officers - meant a considerable edge-of-the-world effect played its part on both flanks of the table.
My forces will be 10mm Pendrakens on a table 6ft by 2.5ft. These factors combined with my smaller units - a battalion of infantry consists of 16 men and one officer - means that whatever other criticism can be made of my refight, edge-of-the-world should not be among them.

Refining/Extending The Morale Rule

Currently the morale rule reads as follows:
MORALE
Test when a unit loses 25 percent effectiveness or more from firing or loses a melee.
Roll a die. If the following score is not made, remove a further 25 per cent effectiveness.
Elite: 3-6.
Regular: 4-6.
Poor, militia: 5-6.
A general may be attached to any unit. Such a unit adds 1 to a morale throw. The general may switch units but is eliminated if the unit it is with is eliminated.
A unit adds 1 to its morale throw if it has a friendly unit directly behind and able to reach it in two turns by normal movement (such a friendly unit can only give support to one unit). Exception: light infantry and artillery units cannot give support in this way.

There is also this related rule under melees:
After a round of meleeing, the unit suffering the most hits, including any inflicted by firing, retreats a full move - with the usual possible distance-variation adjustment - and ends the move with its back to the enemy. A tie results in another round of meleeing on the following turn.
A retreating unit is eliminated if its retreat is obstructed by another unit that is not light infantry or artillery.
If the blocking unit is friendly, it must take a morale test, unless it is cavalry retreated into by infantry.

I am now adding the following to the rules for firing (musketry and artillery):
A unit that loses 25 percent or more effectiveness from firing, and fails the resulting morale test, retreats a full move - with the usual possible distance-variation adjustment - and ends the move with its back to the enemy. Exception: not applicable if an enemy unit with which fire has been exchanged also loses effectiveness and fails a morale test.
A retreating unit is eliminated if its retreat is obstructed by another unit that is not light infantry or artillery.
If the blocking unit is friendly, it must take a morale test, unless it is cavalry retreated into by infantry.

Further, I am adding this:
A retreating unit will be diced for at the start of each move of retreat, needing a 5 or better to return to normal action. A general present with the unit adds 1 to the die throw.
Note that elite units are treated the same as other units - if they broke in the first place, something very serious must have happened to them.

The effect of this rule will be to reduce the gaping holes bereft of troops that appear too frequently on the table.