Gridding The Tables

HERE is how my double-table looks with a 12x10 5in grid.

I added the markers, which are beads from Poundland, in a rather rough-and-ready manner - more precision will be needed when setting up the playing area in earnest.
More scenery is also needed, as well as more figures painted, but the next photo gives an idea of how Project Kaiser will appear nearer completion.

Tight Fit

MY new wargaming table has arrived, giving me a total playing surface of approximately 6ft x 5ft.
As can be seen in the photo below, the two tables make for a somewhat cosy setting in my flat, but the tables are foldable so they will not pose a problem when stored away.

The tables in my sitting standing room

One table proved plenty big enough for my 10mm armies, but my 54mm toy soldiers need more space to give of their best.

Our 10mm refight of the Battle of Chotusitz was easily accommodated on a single table

The Battle of Eckwelt, fought using my random terrain generator and a 'new' command & control system, also fitted well on a single table

The good news, from a financial perspective, is that my decision to buy an oversized gaming cloth when I had a single table has paid off handsomely as it easily covers both tables.

Green for Go

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.

Adding The Armies

AS very much expected, my opponent, a dyed-in-the-wool Francophile, chose to take the Franco-Bavarians, and to sink his identity in that of his hero, Maurice de Saxe.
I was tempted to put the famous von Kornberg is charge of the Pragmatic Army as he served me so well in winning our refight of Blasthof Bridge from Charge!, and in leading the Austrians to victory over Frederick's Prussians at the Battle of Christmas Eve (both engagements were covered extensively in my previous blog).
But the Pragmatic Army was really a mostly British-run affair, so I plumped for being represented on the table by the illustrious figure of King George II.
We diced for choice of long side, and I won 6-5 after the first roll resulted in a 6-6 tie (perhaps the dice should have been checked at this point for loading).
I chose the side with the Einsamenhügel, and we proceeded to make sketches of our intended deployments before enacting them on the table.

The Pragmatic Army

Because I had the Einsamenhügel in my deployment area, I went for an aggressive formation as I was able to site my two batteries of Royal Artillery on the crest. From there they could survey the whole battlefield and be high enough to fire over friendly troops in front of them, at least until the armies came too close together.
In the front line, left to right in the photo, are Austrian Csáky de Keresztszegh Hussars and Modena Cuirassiers. Then come four battalions of British foot: Royal-Buff Grenadiers, Royal Foot, The Buffs and the 5th Marines, and on the extreme right is a squadron of the King's Own Horse.
Both the Modena and King's Own squadrons have cuirasses, and the combined grenadier battalion counts as elite for morale purposes.
The 5th Marines are a tribute to my paternal grandfather's regiment (he was a sergeant in the Royal Marines and won numerous fencing trophies at The Royal Tournament). They count as regular line infantry but can also fight as light infantry if needed.
In the second line, again left to right, is a second squadron of Modena Cuirassiers, a battalion of Dutch Buddenbrock Foot and, after the guns, two Hanoverian units: a battalion of Friedrich Wilhelm von Klinkowström Foot and a squadron of Von Aldeleben Dragoons.
My opponent, whom I shall refer to as his chosen alter ego Maurice for the rest of this battle report, selected an even more aggressive line-up, no doubt worried about my terrain advantage.

Looking from behind the Pragmatic lines to Maurice's Franco-Bavarians

In the front line on the far left are three squadrons of horse:  Bercheny Hussars, Cuirassiers du Roy and Colonel General Cavalerie. Both the squadrons of heavy horse have cuirasses, and the du Roy are elite. Maurice has positioned himself with them.
Between these cavalry and the two batteries of French 8pdrs are two battalions of foot: Grenadiers de France and Picardie. The Grenadiers are elite. Behind these battalions are two more: Navarre and Champagne.
Maurice has tasked the Bavarians with holding his clearly refused left flank. There are two battalions of Kurprinz Foot and two squadrons of Hohenzollern Dragoons.
There is a general view that the firepower of British foot at the time of the War of the Austrian Succession was superior to that of most other nations, but almost certainly not a match for the Prussians.
Accordingly, for this battle at least, the four battalions of British foot will have a 50:50 chance of adding 1 to every musketry throw.

The Set-Up

WE had a lot of fun using my random terrain generator to set up the table for its first battle.
The dice decreed two rivers, two hills and a built-up area, and we also let the dice decide where the rivers would flow, the size of the built-up area, etc.

Nearest the camera is the fast-flowing and high-banked Passer River, which turned out to be impassable to troops, and in the centre is the Einsamenhügel.
On the far side of the table is the spa town - little more than a village, really - of Bad Wörishofen, which is set on the Wörthbach River in the shadow of the Kneippberg.
The Wörthbach is impassable to artillery, except via the bridge, but can be crossed by infantry in one turn and cavalry in half a turn. Infantry would lose firing order while crossing.
The Kneippberg is steep, slowing troops to half speed, even while going directly downhill.
The Einsamenhügel is by no means so steep, slowing troops only by a third, and not at all if going directly downhill.
In practice, bearing in mind the size of the table, only the Einsamenhügel is likely to come into play.

Christening The Table

I WILL be christening my new wargaming table with a battle, set in the 1740s, against my regular wargames opponent.
As the guest, he will have choice of sides but since he is a huge Francophile I have little doubt which side he will pick as the battle will see the Pragmatic Army taking on a force of Franco-Bavarians.
Each army will consist of a general, five battalions of regular foot, one battalion of grenadiers, four squadrons of heavy cavalry, one squadron of hussars and two guns, but there will be some differences between the troops' capabilities.
I will also be using my random terrain generator, modified to take into account the larger dimensions of my new playing surface when compared to the kitchen table we had been using.
The table is 6ft by 2ft 6in and the battle is being fought in central Europe, somewhere east of the Rhine.
Random Terrain Generator
1. Mentally divide the board into 12 sectors (two rows of six) each 1ft by 1ft 3in.
2. Roll a die for each sector, a 4, 5 or 6 indicating a terrain piece.
3. If a terrain piece is indicated, roll again: 1-hill, 2-water (stream, river, lake or marsh, etc), 3-wood, 4-built-up area (anything from a farmstead to a walled town), 5- Player A's choice, 6-Player B's choice.
If the exact nature and size of the feature cannot be agreed by the players, more dicing will be necessary. This is also a good way to decide the route a river takes across the board.
Note that on average a battlefield generated under this system will have six terrain features but a stream or river might well run through several sectors while still counting as a single feature.

New Table

MY new, 6ft, foldaway, wargaming table arrived today - excellent value, in my opinion, at £32.22.

The ability to fold the table away and stash it behind the screen (shown at the back of the photo) is crucial when living in a one-bedroom flat in central London
 

Two battles I fought with my regular opponent on my kitchen table - a refight of Blasthof Bridge from Charge! and an Austro-Prussian affair entitled The Battle of Christmas Eve - were detailed in my previous blog.
Both battles were a success but it was apparent I would need a bigger playing surface to avoid any possibility of edge-of-table flank effects.

The table covered in a green cloth with some scenery and a few Austrian troops

I should be able to fight large battles in 10mm on this table without a feeling of constricted space.