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Sunday 3 January 2016

Battle of Kolin - Part 2

My apologies for any typos and spelling errors on names and places (I can't pronounce them anyway). I noticed a lot in the final read through, but it really is not worth going back editing photos.


Starting positions


As discussed in the last post the game was set up with about half of the Austrian forces deployed on the hills, and the rest were marching across the rear, and not deployed (which was good as I was out of 'white' battalions).

The Prussians were mostly marching down the Kaiserstrasse. with just Schonaich's cavalry deployed to protect against Stampach's cavalry.

Game start time about 11:00
(Ooops - I have labelled 'Oak Wood' wrong - it should be the one in the distance!)

None of the players were SYW  'experts', and luckily none knew much about the battle. I gave them a quick run down of the prelude to the battle, explained that the whole board was swarming with grenz skirmishers, but that I would not represent them (it would slow down the game - and I have no figures yet - soon?). I did not mention that some of the villages were garrisoned, as Frederick did not think of it!

The two commanders were then asked to write simple orders for their commands.

  • The Prussians opted to march around the Austrian right with Zieten and Hulsen, with a frontal attach by everyone else.
  • The Austrians decided to hold as they were, but redeploy Wied's infantry to the area of the Oak Wood.

Zieten's hussars defeat Nadasdy's 


East of Kutlire Nadasdy's 6 units of hussars made a spirited attack on Zieten's 7 units of Prussian counterparts. (As you can see we are having to improvise with the cavalry, these should nearly all be hussars. We don't have enough hussar figures, as we have been waiting for the new ones.)

Game time 11:24

Unfortunately for the Austrians the superior tactics of the Prussians (dice) resulted in a comprehensive defeat, and the 4 remaining units went scampering back towards the gap between Oak Wood and Radowesnitz; leaving the 6 remaining Prussian units in control of the plain.

Game time 11:55

In the background can be seen Hulsen's infantry ready to exploit Zieten's sucess.

Schonaich attacks and defeats Stampach


Towards the west end of the battlefield Schonaich threw his two units of cuirassiers and one of dragoons into Stampach's two units each of cuirassiers and dragoons on Probertz Hill opposite  (improvising again - we don't have enough cuirassier figures - waiting for..............).

Game time 12:00

Yet again superior Prussian discipline (dice) allows them to defeat their Austrian counterparts and clear the hill.


Game time 12:24

However behind the hill is Serbellini with another to units each of Austrian Cuirassiers and dragoons, so the Prussian attack ran out of steam and Sebellini retook the hill.

Tresckow and Bevern attack on Austrian centre


The Prussian attack on the centre developed at the same time as Schonaich's cavalry attack, aimed at Andlau's infantry (on Przerovky Hill) and the grenadier reserve (on Krzeczor Hill), along with their two supporting heavy batteries. On the right can be seen Serbellini's cavalry back in possession of Pobertz Hill.

Game time 12:46

A general view of the battlefield at that time, as can be seen, the main Prussian attacks are developing, but the left wing flank attack has stalled.

Game time 12:47

Hulsen has delayed the attack on the main left flank attack, and committed his whole brigade to clear the grenze from Kultire, and also held back Zieten in support.

Game time 12:47

Tresckow and Bevern made it up into a firefight with the Austrians on the ridge, however the attack ran out of steam (it did kill off the grenadiers), and when the Prussians realised there were two more brigades of infantry in reserve behind the ridge they decided to call off the attack. (Sorry about photo quality, it is a zoom into a longer shot).

Game time 14:18

Pennavaire's cavalry make no impression on Puebla's infantry


Over to the west of the fiend Pennavaire rashly decides to try and break through the infantry of Puebla who are ensconced on Pobortz Hill with his three units of cuirassiers (one elite) and two of dragoons.

Game time 13:09

We lost count of the number of charges the elite cuirassiers made but due to the skill of both commanders (dice) the infantry held firm, but the cavalry took few casualties (must have run out of powder). They were still attacking when we finished playing!

Game time 14:22

Hulsen & Zieten  attacks on the Prussian right


After clearing the grenz out of Kultire Hulsen and Zieten finally put into motion the attack by the Prussian right flank.

Game time 13:44

However the grenz had done their job well and gained time for Wied to arrive on the flank with 7 battalions of foot to stabilise the Austrian right

Game time 14:19

The End


The game started to run out of steam about 14:30, we played on for another hour or so, but as players started to leave, I took over playing rather than 'umpiring' and only took occasional photos. The last photo I took was at 15:20, showing Bervern's infantry cresting Pobortz Hill, and seeing the massed Austrian reserves behind - enough is enough!



Conclusion

The Prussian attacks in the centre ran out of steam before their left hook got into motion, delaying to drive the grenz out of Kutlire really lost the Prussians any chance of success. Also, the attacks on the centre should have delayed to allow Hulsen & Zieten to get moving.

The Austrians were cautious with their reserve infantry, and only redeployed Wied to the right, keeping Sincere and Stahemberg behind Puebla and Andlau respectively, one of them should have been enough. If Hulsen had attacked earlier there is a good chance that the Prussians could have caused serious damage. But as in the actual battle, the Prussians really did not have much hope, as Daun could observe the Prussian flank march, and had the advantage of interior lines to redeploy his forces.

A thoroughly enjoyable game, and the rules worked well, giving a very realistic result. I will use them again for large battles.

Back to work tomorrow!

Saturday 2 January 2016

Battle of Kolin - Part 1


We have just had an enjoyable day re fighting the Battle of Kolin using the 40mm semi flats.

Setting up the Game

The table size?


This was the club 'Christmas Game', so I decided to put on something big for the occasion. To make the best possible impression I decided to find a battle which would need most/all the 40mm figures we have.

Having added up all the units we could field I decided we could just about fill a 16' or possibly a 20' wide board.

I looked through the books and came to the conclusion that Kolin would fit nicely onto a 16' x 6' table. There is an excellent description of the battle on Jeff Berry's Obscure Battles blog; which also has some useful maps and an order of battle.



As you can see the 16' x 6' table fits nicely over the map, so next to scale

Game Scale


Without going into too much detail, Having decided on the battle and table size, I arrived at the figure scale by looking at the frontages of infantry formations (deployed in line) as shown on the map, and then figured how many 160mm wide wargames units would occupy that same space on the table, which worked out at a 2/3 scale (i.e. 2 wargames units equals 3 actual battalions).


The troop density is about right, and the Prussians strung out in march on the Kaiserstrasse are the right length - so far so good.

Rules - King of the Battlefield


My preference for gaming the period is currently 'Field of Battle', although 'Maurice' are good for two player games. However as this was going to be a big game, with inexperienced players, and limited time I decided to go for the 'King of the Battlefield' rules; a few of us have played a 'practice games' with these rules and they seemed to be just the job for what was wanted.

The rules are actually aimed at 15mm games with lots of units, so we scaled up the distances in proportion to frontages, KoB uses 90mm frontages with moves in inches; whereas my units are on 160mm, so scaling up gives 160/90x25=44mm. I opted for 40mm as the basic distance, and made movement sticks to suit. The choice of 40mm was also influenced by the fact that it put the Kaiserstrasse just out of range of the Austrian artillery on the ridge.

The Armies


The actual battle was between Prussians and the Austrians, supported by a few units of Saxons. However we don't have enough of those types, so we opted to have the Russians support the Prussians, giving a dark hue, and the Austrians gained support from the French and Saxons, so mainly white.

Prussians
  • Infantry - 19,500 in 32 batallions, so 2/3 x 32 = 22 battalions
  • Cavalry  - 14,000 in 116 squadrons, KoB assumes 5 squadron units, so 2/3 x 116/5 = 15 units.
  • Heavy guns (battalion guns counted in infantry) -  28; KoB assumes 10 guns per model, so 2/3 x 28/10 =  2 batteries

Austrians
  • Infantry - 30,000 infantry in 51 battalions and 43 grenadier companies, so the equivalent of about 60 battalions, we used 39 (not all came on). 
  • Cavalry - 17, 700 in 171 squadrons. Austrian squadrons seemed smaller, so I assumed cavalry pro rata numbers. 17,700/14,000 x 15 =  19 units
  • Heavy guns  - 60; so 4 batteries (not all came on). 

So we had about 1,000 figures on the table.

I'll post a battle report in the near future............



Friday 25 December 2015

Merry Christmas!

Sorry, I did not get around to any festive photos.




I would just like to say thank you for all the help and support I have had over the last couple of years.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Steve

Friday 11 December 2015

Russian 'Hybrid' Cavalry - Painted

(Updated with extra photos 29/12/15)

I've finished the Russian 'hybrid' cavalry in the usual toy soldier style. I'm quite pleased with them, I think fitting the SYW infantry heads onto the Karoliner cavalry results in a fine set of figures.

Some of the details are not quite right, it depends how fussy you are - certainly an option for any 'imagination' armies.

My apologies for the photos, my wargames table and lights are not easily accessible, so just a lamp on the desk in front of the PC!

Cuirassiers


The Russian SYW heads are a great improvement on the original head, a bit larger and much more detailed.




Horse Grenadiers


No standard yet as I am waiting for it to arrive - only ordered it yesterday!

I think the grenadier head sits very well, and results in a splendid chap.






So if you have the Karoliner cavalry moulds and the new Russian infantry they are worth a play.


Presented with flags

(Added 29/12/15)

The cavalry have now been presented with their flags, and blooded on the battlefield.

The cuirassiers lead the cavalry

Followed by the horse grenadiers - what a large flag you have!

Cuirassiers decide charge Saxon grenadiers - not a good idea - they will learn!


Sunday 29 November 2015

Russian (Karoliner/SYW) Cavalry


Don't get too exited!

For the last couple of years, with the arrival of the new SYW range I have concentrated on the new infantry figures and held off painting any more cavalry waiting for the new moulds.

However, I could do with a few more units of cavalry for a game I am putting on over the Christmas break. The new SYW cavalry is some way off, so I decided to use old Karoliner castings that have been sitting in a box in the garage for the last few years.

The Karoliner cavalryman K-931 is a nice figure (possibly not quite as stylish as the old HE version, but much more suitable for fitting in with the new range), and I already have a few units of them in my Karoliner/French army.



Although a nice figure, with the small head and hat it will not really fit in with my new infantry units, so I decided to have a play and see what this figure looks like with the new heads.

The Karoliner range have their belts on the outside, so are only really suitable for Russians and some cuirassiers, so I decided to do a Russian - probably cuirassier! I used the Russian officer's head, as this has formal curls, and also a large cockade on the front.

The head cuts off very easily with a heavy duty knife, and leaves a wide enough area to drill to accept the peg on the head. The fit is bang on, and if you use some thick super glue there is no need for any filler.


I think the more detailed and head and larger hat (the heads are cast in Model Metal for more detail) really bring the figure alive. I was so impressed that I decided to try a horse grenadier with the Russian grenadier head, which I think is also a good fit!


And even the trumpeter (K-931) and standard bearer (K-933) are easy to swap heads.


I have a small unit (8 troopers) of each on the painting table, I will post some pictures when they are finished.

I hadn't really noticed before, but these figures, particularly the trumpeter must be wearing very tight corsets to get a waist like that!

I'm sure the new cavalry will be an improvement on the Karoliners when they come out, and are needed for all the nations with the sword belt under the coat. However if you want to get some more mileage out of those old Karoliner moulds, or like me have some castings hanging around, this is worth a try.

After all...........if you look at the first few posts on this blog; when I first contacted PA all I wanted was some new heads!

Thursday 5 November 2015

SYW range is going digital!

First Sculptures

Chris Tubb (the sculptor) has decided to move to digital sculpting, as you can imagine there is quite a learning curve involved. This has contributed to the slowing up of figure production, but should pay dividends in future.

Changing to digital sculpting part way through the range needs to be done carefully. In order to 'calibrate' the digital design, rather than go straight to the cavalry it was decided to produce some French infantry to get the proportions, and 'feel' right.

The approach he has taken is to manually sculpt an 80mm infantry torso to mimic the pose of the figures already done, and then 3D scan this to form the basis of the new digital sculpts. The first figure digitally sculpted is a French Infantryman advancing, he is shown below with an Austrian in a similar pose for comparison (I know the Austrian grenadier should have a sabre, but it is a similar pose).



The pose matches quite well. Looked at side by side there is quite a difference due to the clean nature of the digital sculpt, however I doubt that would be anything like as obvious in a painted casting.

The musket is probably a more realistic thickness, but i just wonder if it might benefit from thickening up a bit?




Chris is planning to 'print' the figure in the next few days, after which he will make me a mould and I will cast some up to see how they look in the tin.

If you have any comments PLEASE let me have them, and I will pass them on.


Release of French Infantry?

It was originally planned to release the cavalry next, however with the move to digital the plan was side tracked (to a great extent by me), in order to try and get the feel right.

With the French so well advanced, after some test casts have been done it might be worth finishing off a French infantry range and get them into production, I would suggest a couple of moulds as discussed back in August.

Mould 1

  • Rank and file (turn backs) advancing - as above
  • Rank and file march attack (turn backs)- arms changed on above
  • Tricorn - fusilier - as above
  • Tricorn - grenadier
  • Bearskin with bag - grenadier

Mould 2

  • Drummer (no turn backs)
  • Officer (no turn backs), there was a suggestion that he could double as standard bearer - anyone have any ideas on pose?
  • Tricorn - officer
  • Bonet de Police
  • Bearskin with no bag - Cuirassiers du Roi (if it will not fit in the cavalry mould)

Mould 3

Easy to add an 'early' version of mould 1 with no turn backs for WAS etc.


Comments


The change to digital is happening, and if not done right could spoil this range. Your comments are important and welcome, so please make them, they will be listened to.

Cartridge box and sword


Rahway commented on the depth of the cartridge box, I thought it looked shallow as well and discussed with Chris, who sent me an additional image from the rear, the depth is OK.


The images seem to have some quirks, for example the base above looks tapered, but I am assured it is not!

The image raises another point we have been discussing. Putting the sword outside the coat leaves a large gap between the sword and leg, details like this may be OK for commercial spin casting, but not for producing the home casting moulds, there are not many options to make it suitable for home casting:

  • Fill in the gap, less work but could be ugly
  • Make the sword septate and glue on

We think that a separate sword is the answer, as:

  • It will look better, even if a bit more work
  • Later in the war the fusiliers did not carry swords so not needed anyway
  • For grenadiers and early war it can be glued on
Has anyone noticed he has two bayonets, one on the musket and one in the scabbard?

Saturday 17 October 2015

Irish TV visit to Prince August factory

For any of you who are interested here is a link to an RTE visit to the Prince August factory.

RTE programme

There is not much relating to the SYW range, but there are a few glimpses of the moulds being made. The process requires the masters to be repeatedly pressed between the rubber blanks, which explains why the figures have to be very robust.



There is also a lot of coverage of the Waterloo display, this is very impressive, but staging it has been the main reason why the production of the new SYW moulds have been so slow!