Refighting Hohenfriedberg (part two)

The Prussian army consists of King Frederick (rated exceptional), seven battalions of regular foot, 1.5 battalions of grenadiers, one unit of jäger, four squadrons of cuirassiers, four squadrons of dragoons, two squadrons of hussars and three guns.
The Austrian army consists of Prince Charles, 10 battalions of regular foot, one battalion of grenadiers, one unit of grenzer (light infantry), three squadrons of cuirassiers, one other squadron of heavy horse,  five squadrons of dragoons and other medium horse, two squadrons of hussars and three guns.

Overview of the battlefield as dawn breaks with the armies already very close to each other

Looking from behind Pilgramshain and the Austro-Saxon left

Looking from behind Günthersdorf in the centre

The situation on the Austro-Saxon right

For a battle not involving British troops, Hohenfriedberg is surprisingly well-covered in English-language publications.
As usual I will be relying mainly on the accounts of two historians: Thomas Carlyle, who walked the battlefield while preparing his biography of Frederick, and Reed Browning, whose book The War Of The Austrian Succession came out in 1993. There is also a short account on Wikipedia, a surprisingly full one at BritishBattles.com and another one online at   https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Hohenfriedberg
All the units on my battlefield are Pendraken figures painted in the uniforms of the three countries, and in several cases I have managed to put regiments in more-or-less their exact positions on the battlefield.
For example in a prominent position on the Austrian right are the Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers and Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons, whose defeat by Prussian horse led to the wounding and capture of an Austrian commander, General von Berlichengen, who was later reprimanded by Frederick, tongue-in-cheek it would seem, for verbally abusing his captors.

In the front line of Austrian horse beside the hamlet of Thomaswaldau are the Hohen-Ems Cuirassiers (right) and the Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons (left), and between them are the Liechtenstein Dragoons

The battle is considered to have been quite a close affair until the Bayreuth Dragoons, an oversized regiment of 10 squadrons, held back in the centre for just such a moment, charged into a gap in the Austrian infantry line and began a general rout.

Frederick, on a grey charger, can be seen attached to the Bayreuth Dragoons in the rear

Victory in our refight, in which I will be up against my regular wargames opponent in our continuing campaign of recreating the War of the Austrian Succession, will be decided as usual on army points.
The relevant rule in Game Of Kings reads: "Total each side's army points at the start of a battle using 3pts for a general, 2pts for a foot battalion and 1pt for each other unit (including light infantry) ... an army loses when its army points fall below half the starting total."
In this case, Frederick's half-battalion of grenadiers on the Prussian right will count as an 'other unit'. So the Prussian army points are: Frederick (3), seven battalions of regular foot (14), 1.5 battalions of grenadiers (3), one unit of jäger (1), four squadrons of cuirassiers (4), four squadrons of dragoons (4), two squadrons of hussars (2) and three guns (3). That is a total of 34pts.
The Austro-Saxon army points are: Charles (3), 10 battalions of regular foot (20), one battalion of grenadiers (2), one unit of grenzer (1), three squadrons of cuirassiers (3), one other squadron of heavy horse (1),  five squadrons of dragoons and other medium horse (5), two squadrons of hussars (2) and three guns (3). That is a total of 40pts.
Prussian foot, excepting the jägers, get a +1 modifier for musketry throws.
Grenadiers in both armies count as elite, as does Prussia's Garde du Corps cuirassiers, who are on Frederick's right supporting the attack on the Saxons, and Austria's Modena Cuirassiers, who are in reserve with Charles behind Thomaswaldau.
The river can only be forded by cavalry, and it takes them a complete turn.
The hamlets played little part in the battle - they were apparently too insignificant, among so many troops. to be garrisoned. Accordingly they provide no cover but do affect line-of-sight. and they slow movement by half.
Charles's forces were somewhat demoralised by the realisation they had been caught on the hop - not for the first time - by their enemy. Frederick has the initiative for the first five turns, which gives him the right to go first or second in those turns, and any Austro-Saxon unit having to take a morale test in those turns suffers a -1 modifier.
By the way, reports of the sizes of the two armies nearly always show the Prussians having a huge preponderance in artillery. This is usually the case in the War of the Austrian Succession, but it is because the numbers include tiny battalion guns which were given to Prussian infantry. It is partly to account for these that I give Prussian infantry a +1 modifier (but the main reason is that Prussian foot were the best in Europe).

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.