Saturday, April 09, 2016

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.

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