Pages

Saturday 18 June 2016

Battle of Chotusitz

Last weekend I spent a very enjoyable weekend with a group of gamers from the AMG (A Military Gentlemen) group, which is a group of gamers with a general interest in 18th Century Gaming.
http://amilitarygentleman.blogspot.co.uk/
A group very worth joining - to do so you will need to buy the book 'A Military Gentleman' from the above website - a very nice book - but not cheap.

Over the two days we played the Battle of Chotusitz twice, using the 40mm semi flats on a 12'x6' table. The table was of a size which allowed us to represent each of the units shown on the map below with one of my gaming units of either 16 infantry or 8 cavalry.


Figures were a bit of a hotchpotch:
  • There were 16 units of Austrian infantry, of which about half were my new SYW Austrians and Hungarians - the remaining units being white coated French.
  • The 17 units of Prussian infantry were all blue coated 'Prussians', again about half new and the rest 'Karoliners'.
  • The 25 units of cavalry were just a mix of what we have (not helped by the fact that I left 6 units at home!). Like many of you I am waiting for the new Cuirassiers.
The initial Prussian starting  positions are shown below, however we did remove the two long ranks of foot which were still on the march when the battle started. Only the exposed units of Leopold's foot, the 24pdr battery and Buddenbrock's foot were available when the battle started.


And the long lines of Austrians eager to crush the Prussians in front of them before Frederick arrived with the bulk of the infantry.


I took a few photos, but not really with sufficient regularity to describe the game, so I will just show a few shots of interest.

Part way through the cavalry melee on the west of the field. The Austrians are gettingthe better of it, but there is no way I can tell you who is who!


In more detail - just to show off my new Russians (Austrians today).



And at the other end of the field, east of Chotusitz, another very confused cavalry melee  - again I can't remember which units were Prussian and which Austrian!


And the Austrian infantry assault on the centre, after seeing off Leopold they are confronted by Frederick's infantry lines.


The situation just prior to the end of the second game. The infantry in Frederick's 'square' is pretty much all that remains; Leopold's infantry and most of the cavalry having been swept from the field. Shortly after this point the far end of the square caved in under a combination of short range musketry followed by a charge of the Austrian cavalry; at which point we called it an Austrian victory.


The games were played with the 'Field of Battle' rules, which allowed the games to be played to a conclusion on both days. The card driven approach gave rise to some odd/amusing swings in play, which most players enjoyed.

There are some more photos on Mark Dudley's blog:

And just something which might be of interest - Chris has found space in one of the moulds for an officers head without a hat - oh the shame!


10 comments:

  1. Super setup; nice to see the 40mm's in action

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Allan

      Thanks, it is not often we have space to do them justice.

      Steve

      Delete
  2. A very nice looking game. Proving that lots of smaller units can look just as good as those in the hobby that use
    'big battalions'.
    John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John

      After years of gaming I have come to the conclusion that lots of small units give a more interesting game than a few large ones. And if you use a lot of them you still get a good visual effect.

      Hopefully in a year or so, after the moulds are available, we will have massed ranks of cuirassiers to make the cavalry look right.

      Fancy a game next year?

      Steve

      Delete
  3. It looks like a very good showing. The collection is impressive when turned out for a mass showing.

    The head is a good idea and a useful addition.

    I am also looking forward to the approaching cavalry.

    How did everyone take to the use of sabots?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The movement trays were popular, and considerably speed up play. The trays are lined with metallic sheet and the underside of the figures have magnetic sheet, so they are pretty stable.

      Provided the trays are painted to match the figure bases I think they look fine.

      Delete
  4. Steve,
    It was great to finally meet you at the weekend, I really would have liked to fight in your game, and worse I would really like to have an army like yours and Marks. A wonderful battle, well done.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now that's my idea of a classic wargame.

    I like the Prussian cuirassiers! The new heads make a big difference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, it really is the best way to use them!

      The larger heads really do improve the cavalry, I've now done 4 x 8 man units.........however........the Cuirassiers are Russian - I did not realise my painting was that bad :-)

      Delete
    2. Its not your painting, its my ignorance. I've dabbled a bit in French vs Pragmatic army during the Austrian Succession but never paid much attention to tbe SYW in Europe, esp the Prussian stuff. At least I recognized that white coats meant cuirassiers!

      Delete