50mm and all that!

IF you have ever tried buying toy soldiers in a toy shop, you will probably know it isn't as easy as it sounds.
I have lost count of the number of times I have visited Hamleys in London's Regent Street only to find "the world's largest toy shop" has none in stock.
Yes, Hamleys has "collectible toy soldiers," but these are in reality expensive model soldiers - lovely to look at but well beyond the budget of most wargamers.
The picture is much the same when I happen upon a toy store abroad. Last month I was in the upmarket Bavarian spa town of Bad Wörishofen. It has a well-equipped toy store spread over four floors, but again there were no toy soldiers. OK, perhaps that's not so surprising in modern Germany, but it was still disappointing.
I thought the same was going to happen this month with a visit to Jersey in the Channel Islands. While wandering in the capital Saint Helier, looking for a decent cup of espresso, I stumbled upon a promisingly large toy shop, only again to be frustrated.
But the next day - yesterday, in fact - I found a second toy shop, Bombola in Don Street, and bought the bag below for a very reasonable £5.99.

Green and tan WW2 Army Men

The figures are approximately 2in tall, so just shy of 54mm scale, while tanks and jeeps are to a somewhat smaller scale, as is traditional with this sort of plastic toy soldiers.
They are made in China, of course, but distributed by the Lancashire HTI group.
I will open the packet and tally the exact contents when I get back to London, but I am leaning towards working out a D-Day scenario for their first battle.

French Fini

TODAY I completed a battalion of Poitou infantry, which more-or-less finishes my French forces (especially when their Bavarian allies are taken into account).

Poitou Infanterie

Here is my full French army, with its Bavarian allies in support (the Bavarian units in the photo below are marked with a *).

Three 8pdr guns are at the front while lurking in the wood of fir trees are the Chasseurs de Fischer. In the main first line, from left to right, are Von Gschray Hussars (*), Royal-Cravate Cavalerie, Cuirassiers du Roi, four infantry battalions (Poitou, Wittmer, Touraine and Grenadiers de France), Gendarmes de la Garde, Colonel General Cavalerie and Bercheny Hussars. Between the two main lines is Maurice de Saxe, and behind him from left to right are Languedoc Dragoons, four infantry battalions (Alsace, Champagne, Navarre and Picardie) and Dragoons du Roi. To the rear are two squadrons of Hohenzollern Dragoons (*), two battalions of Kurprinz Foot (*) with a further half-battalion of Kurprinz Grenadiers (*) and the Prince de Soubise, and 9pdr and 6pdr guns(*).

Close-up of the centre of the Franco-Bavarian forces

Wargames Rules For Mid-18th Century Battles In Central Europe

INTRODUCTION
THIS project began as an experiment in using 10mm figures for old-school wargaming on a kitchen table.
Together with my regular wargames opponent, I refought the Action at Blasthof Bridge, aka the Battle of Blasthof Heath, from Young & Lawford's celebrated 1967 book Charge!
We had a lot of fun - me especially as I won with the supposedly weaker Imperialists - but there was no doubting that 10mm infantry are too fiddly for such use, being particularly susceptible to domino-style toppling.
Fortunately, at about the same time as this was going on I was reading Neil Thomas's inspiring wargaming books, which contain rules with an old-school feel but using multiple figures on bases.

Two of Neil Thomas's inspiring books

I like Thomas's simple writing style and the ethos behind his rules, and I freely admit the rules I am presenting here owe a lot to him. But I am also indebted to other classic wargaming books including Joseph Morschauser III's How To Play Wargames In Miniature (particularly chapter X - The Roster System), Donald Featherstone's War Game Campaigns (chapter 7 - The War-Game League), Keith Flint's Honours Of War (Movement Phase) and many more: HG Wells' Little Wars, Terence Wise's Introduction To Battle Gaming, Charles Grant's The War Game, Charlie Wesencraft's Practical Wargaming For Fun, Philip Sabin's Lost Battles ...
The list is almost endless and I am lucky enough to own all these books, many in first editions.
ORGANISING AN ARMY
I want my forces to be describable in the same way as a real 18th-century army, ie consisting of so many battalions of foot, squadrons of horse and guns of artillery.
Accordingly the basic units in my rules are battalions, squadrons and guns, but each taking the place of several such real-life formations.
One of my pet peeves is when a wargamer goes to tremendous efforts to paint his figures but ruins the effect by mounting them on bases that act as obtrusive pedestals rather than a barely noticeable balancing aid.
Now, I accept no one could accuse me of going the extra mile in my painting efforts - I am satisfied if the effect from a distance is good - but I do spend that little bit of extra cash to get the thinnest possible bases.
That's why my figures, which are from Pendraken, are mounted on 1mm-thick galvanised steel bases from Products For Wargamers. Each base is 40mm by 20mm, apart from a general's base, which is 20mm square.
Infantry battalions have 16 muskets arranged in two ranks on two bases, plus an officer figure. I write "officer" but it could be a drummer or a sergeant with a halberd. Light infantry have six muskets in loose formation on two bases, plus an officer.
Cavalry squadrons have six troopers in one rank on two bases, plus an officer. Light horse are distinguished from heavy by being in a more ragged formation as well as having smaller mounts.
An infantry battalion's bases are set in a single row, while cavalry are usually placed one behind the other to reflect, as Thomas points out, the tendency of mounted units to keep a reserve. Light horse, however, may deploy in a single line to screen other troops from fire.
A battalion or squadron at full effectiveness will have its officer directly behind the centre of the unit.
When a unit suffers a hit from firing or meleeing, move the officer to the right to show that the unit has lost 25 percent effectiveness. This does not mean it has lost a quarter of its numerical strength but rather that its effectiveness has been reduced by a quarter.
When a second hit is suffered, remove one base and place the officer directly behind the centre of the remaining base. A third hit cuts the unit's effectiveness to 25 percent and is shown by removing the officer. A fourth hit removes the remaining base.
An artillery piece and its crew also use a 40x20mm base, but with one of the shorter sides as the front. I originally added horses and limber on a further base, but came to the conclusion that they take up a disproportionate amount of space. A gun's lost of effectiveness through hits can be shown by adding discreet markers.
If all this sounds a little complicated, I hope the photo below of French foot and horse, together with allied Bavarian artillery, will shed more light on the subject.

In the front line, reading left to right from the trees, the Touraine foot are at full strength, the Champagne have lost 25% effectiveness, the Alsace have lost 50% and the Wittmer 75%. In the second line, again scanning from the left, the Dragoons du Roi are at full effectiveness, the Colonel General Cavalerie have lost 25%, the Cuirassiers du Roi 50% and the Royal-Cravate Cavalerie 75%. On the hill is a Bavarian 9pdr gun without a team of horses and limber, and a 6pdr with.

An army has lost when its number of units, including the general, falls below half the starting number. Please note that this would not mean half the army had been destroyed - rather that half the units had lost any practical fighting effectiveness.

TURN SEQUENCE (but see COMMAND & CONTROL below for an intriguing alternative system)
1. Dice for the right to move first. The winner moves a unit, then the opponent moves a unit, and so on alternately until both players have moved as many units as desired. I call this semi-simultaneous movement, and it might mean one player moving several units in succession if the opponent has fewer to move.
2. Calculate musketry and artillery fire, all of which is considered simultaneous.
3. Calculate the result of hand-to-hand fighting.

MOVEMENT
Regular foot in firing order, ie in line in good order and so able to fire volleys: 6cm
All other foot: 8cm
Limbered guns: 6cm
Heavy horse: 10cm
Light horse and generals: 12cm
It takes a complete turn for foot to adopt firing order, and they may not fire that turn.
Guns take a turn to limber or unlimber. Pivoting a gun counts as movement (artillery may not move and fire), but can be done as part of unlimbering. If limbers are on the table, they are there for aesthetic reasons only and cannot be fired at or used as cover. They should be moved out of the way if other troops want to use the space they are occupying.
Troops may wheel up to 45 degrees without penalty. More than 45 degrees usually requires half a turn. However, an about-turn of 180 degrees is free, but a second in the same turn is penalised as for a wheel of more then 45 degrees.
All troops can pass through friendly light infantry without penalty providing they have enough movement to take them beyond the light infantry. Similarly, light infantry can interpenetrate any friendly troops.
Charging, ie movement intended to result in a melee, must not involve a wheel of more than 45 degrees, and any such wheel must occur in the first half of the distance covered. Only one unit can contact each face of an enemy unit.
The Variation
Wargamers are happy to use dice to help determine the outcome of firing, meleeing and morale tests, but movement is usually treated with a precision more suitable to chess.
I think this is unrealistic. A general could order troops to advance but he could not exactly calculate how long a regiment would take to follow his instructions.
Accordingly, roll a die every time a unit is moving 75 percent or more of its movement distance for that turn.
6: add 25% to the distance covered
2-5: no change
1: subtract 25% from the distance covered
This simulates terrain fluctuations and other unexpected matters that affect movement but are out of a general's control. It should be ignored if the result would be ridiculous, eg a unit advancing to defend a river bank being forced to enter the water.
Terrain
Players should decide before a game how hills, woods, rivers, etc affect movement. Alternatively, the effect of, say, a river can be determined by dicing when a unit reaches the river's banks.

MUSKETRY
All foot and light horse, except for lancers, can fire within a 45-degree arc of the front of their base.
Musket range: 8cm
Carbine range: 6cm
Roll one die for each 25 percent of a unit's effectiveness remaining and in a single line of bases, ie the rear base of cavalry in a normal two-deep formation cannot fire.
Scores needed for a hit:
Regular foot in firing order: 4-6
Light foot: 5-6
Horse, and regular foot not in firing order: 6
Subtract 1 from the score if the unit moved this turn.

ARTILLERY
Canister range: 0-6cm. Roll one die (halve the score if the unit's effectiveness has been reduced to 50% or  lower).
Roundshot range: up to 24cm. Roll one die and halve the score (halve again if unit effectiveness is 50% or lower).
Halve the final score to get the potential number of hits. Fractions are rounded to the nearest whole number, but an exact half is diced for with a 50-50 chance of being a hit.
Dice for each potential hit, needing a 4-6 to score a hit on foot or horse, a 6 if the target is a gun.
A gun on a hill can fire roundshot over the heads of friendly troops who are at least two contours lower and are nearer the gun than the gun's target.

MELEES
A melee happens when the bases of enemy units come in contact.
There is no bonus for charging (the precise details of how units came to clash is considered a tactical detail below the control of an army's commanding general) but there are restrictions on who can charge whom.
Foot may not charge horse.
Artillery and light infantry never charge and never inflict casualties in a melee. The one exception to this rule is that light infantry in a wood or built-up area melee as regular foot.
Artillery may only be charged if it has no loose-order foot within 4cm. Artillery is automatically eliminated in a melee.
To resolve a melee, roll the following number of dice per 25 percent of a unit's effectiveness remaining.
                            Enemy unit
                            Hvy Cav...Lance...Other Lt Cav...Cl Ord Inf*...Cl Ord Inf#...Lt Inf
Own unit
Heavy Cav                1              2                 2                     1                    3             2
Lancers                      1              1                 1                     1.5                 4             4
Other Lt Cav             1              2                 1                     1                    2             3
Close Order Inf          1              1                 1                     1                    1             1
*in firing order and attacked frontally.
#all other close-order infantry.
Frontally-charged foot may always fire before the melee starts.
Throw an extra die per 25 percent effectiveness when attacking in flank or rear, on higher ground, defending a river bank or defending a built-up area from troops outside the built-up area. These bonuses are cumulative. Round up or down as for artillery fire.
Each potential hit becomes an actual hit on a throw of 4-6.
After a round of meleeing, the side suffering more hits that turn, including any inflicted by firing, retreats a full move, with the usual possible distance-variation adjustment, and ends with its back to the enemy.
If the number of hits is equal, there will be another round of meleeing on the next turn.
A retreating unit is eliminated if its retreat is obstructed by another unit that is not light infantry or artillery. If the obstructing unit is of the same side, it must take a morale test unless it is a mounted unit retreated into a by a foot unit.

SAVING THROWS
A hit suffered from firing or meleeing usually reduces a unit's effectiveness by 25 percent, but some troops get a saving throw.
Roll a die for troops behind cover, cancelling a hit on 4-6.
Cuirassiers get an extra saving throw thanks to their armour, cancelling a hit on a 6.

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 he 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.
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.

RETREATING UNITS
A retreating unit will be diced for at the start of each subsequent turn, 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.

NATIONAL/ARMY CHARACTERISTICS
Decide these on a battle-by-battle basis.
For example, Prussian foot at the Mollwitz refight added 1 to musketry throws and suffered no penalty for wheeling. Prussian horse in melees inflicated a hit on a throw of 5-6 instead of 4-6, and all wheeling cost half a turn.

RANDOM TERRAIN GENERATOR
For battles that are not historic refights, I like to use a random terrain generator to set the battlefield.
Because my figures are 10mm scale, and the move distances and firing ranges are suitably small, my 6ft by 2ft 6in table might seem overkill.
In fact I deliberately went for an oversize table to prevent the flanking edge-of-the-world effect that in my opinion spoils too many wargame set-ups.
Anyway, here is how the random gterrain generator works for battles set in central Europe.
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 4-6 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.

COMMAND & CONTROL
Old-school wargames traditionally featured no restrictions on the number of units that could move in a turn.
Then Phil Barker and the Wargames Research Group pioneered the use of pips (Player Initiatve Points). These limited the number of actions a player's army could perform in any given turn, and it is a system still popular today, although it is not favoured by Neil Thomas.
I sympathise with both sides of the argument, and I also very much like the thinking behind Bob Jones' Piquet set of rules. They use packs of special cards to govern how units move and fire.
However, Piquet in my view is unecessarily complicated and it has long been my plan to simplify the process as part of devising a wargame in which as many actions as possible are automated while the player (or players) sits back and watches history unfold.
I am still working on that project, but meanwhile Bob Cordery in his recently published The Portable Wargame has devised a Piquet-like system using ordinary playing cards.

Bob Cordery's The Portable Wargame is the latest addition to my wargaming library

He uses it for solo battles but I think it could work just as well for normal games, and I intend to try it with the help of my regular wargaming opponent.
Here is the system, which I have slightly adapted to suit my circumstances.
Begin by allocating one player's army the red cards and the other the black ones.
1. Take the number of units, including the general, that the red army has, and divide by two, rounding up if not a whole number. The result is the army's median playing-card value.
2. Remove from two packs of ordinary playing cards the red median cards and the ones imediately higher and lower.
For example, if the red army has eight battalions of regular foot, six squadrons of horse, three guns, a light infantry unit and a general, it has 19 units, giving a median value of 10 (9.5 rounded up). Accordingly, remove the red 10s, 9s and jacks, giving 12 cards in all (remember, we are using two packs).
3. Repeat the process for the black army, giving a further 12 cards. Add two jokers, and shuffle well.
4. At the start of each turn, reveal the top card. The colour and number indicate who gets to activate how many units. For example, a red jack would mean the red player can activate 11 units.
Ignoring the usual TURN SEQUENCE, the player first fires any guns, each firing counting as one activation. Once the artillery has finished, he uses the remaining activation points to move units. Note that he must first move units that are retreating. Once he has used his activation points, or runs out of useful moves, musketry fire is calculated for any of his units that want to fire, and then any melees are resolved (neither musketry fire nor meleeing requires activation points).
5. Turn over the next card, repeating until a joker is revealed. A joker ends the turn, after which all the cards are shuffled and the next turn starts.
Here is an example.
Red has 19 units, as detailed above. Black has a similar army, but without the light infantry, and so has 18 units, giving a median value of nine. Accordingly, the black 9s, 10s and 8s are used, along with two jokers.
Turn One.
After the cards are shuffled, a black 8 is revealed, giving the black player eight activation points. He fires one gun, which can just reach the red light infantry, but inflicts no casulaties. He then orders six infantry battalions and a squadron of dragoons to advance,
The next card is a red 10, giving the red player 10 activation points.This is followed by a red jack, giving him a further 11 activation points. Another red jack follows, giving the red player a further 11 activation points, and then a joker, ending the turn.
Note that a general attached to a unit does not need to be separately activated - it can move with the unit.
One modification, suggested by Bob Cordery, is to take into account the skill of an army's general. For example. if the red army above had been a Prussian one led by Frederick the Great, its median value could be raised from 10 to 11.
Clearly the system can, like Piquet, lead to wild fluctuations in fortune. Bob Jones, and presumably Bob Cordery, would argue that this might seem unfair, but that the end result is more like what happens in a real batttle.
We shall see ...

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.
*********************************************************
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.