MOLLWITZ - The Cavalry Storm

The action had only just kicked off in the last post with plenty of troops in motion but no firing or combat had occurred - see below for a reminder of the situation.

It was clearly going to be a while before the infantry on the two sides got to grips, but a tidal wave of Austrian cavalry was bearing down on the Prussian left wing.  

Turn 2: with charges, followed by normal moves, coming first in the turn.  The green-coated Sibyrskiy Infantry Regiment (IR) took the brunt of the first wave of Austrian cavalry charges, in the form of the Prinz Karl Dragoons and the Baranyay Hussars.  

The Sibyrskiy IR held its nerve, and its fire, to unleash a close range volley at the hussars, but the tension proved too much for those facing the dragoons who let fly at long range.  Despite this[1], two kills were inflicted on each cavalry units.     

Just along from this combat, the Austrian Fischer-Baranyay and Prussian Frangipani Hussar regiments (HRs) clashed in straight swordfight. 

This turn also saw both sides' artillery deploy and add their fire to the mayhem, albeit the Austrians guns ...

... were badly outnumbered by their Prussian opponents.

The losses from this fire were as yet negligible, however the Diesbach IR might not agree. 

After shooting was completed, it was time to resolve the combats.  The first combat saw mixed results, with the Baranyay hussars managing a draw ...

... but as can be seen from the above the Prinz Karl DR have left the fight, they had to rally back after losing their mêlée[2].

The other, all-hussar, mêlée vindicated Frederick's decision to shield his cavalry behind his foot as the Combined Fischer-Baranyay hussars trounced their opponents ...

... who promptly fled to the table-edge but as the losers of a combat they would have to withdraw again the following turn to leave the table and not return.

Elsewhere, the Prussian infantry continued shaking out into a battle-line for the assault on Mollwitz and Gruningen. 

The Austrians were still hastily taking position in and around Gruningen ... 

... but were already well placed to deny Mollwitz to the Prussians.

And so, as the Austrians brought up another wave of cavalry ...

... the second turn ended, with an update to the battle-map for the players to submit their orders for the next turn[3] (NB: dotted lines indicate firing).

With both sides now taking losses, I should point out that the armies will break if they lose more than half their strength in figures.  Thus, the Austrians will break after losing 211 figures, and the larger Prussian army after losing 250 figures.   

Losses after Turn 2:  14 Austrian vs 12 Prussian.

Turn 3: and the Austrian cavalry came on as strong as ever with fresh troops replacing those that had been rebuffed.

In the middle of the above image, the Hohenzollern dragoons (in red) can be seen crashing into the much-tried Sibyrskiy IR while the Baranyay hussars have left the fight to their heavier brethren and opted to fall-back and rally.  Closer to the camera, the Batthyányi dragoons (in blue), had declared a charge but can be seen to have failed to reach their target, the battery to their front.

The Batthyányi DR were severely punished for their reckless advance.

Also, as glimpsed in the distance in the first photo above, the Prussian Rechburg cuirassiers emerged from behind Pamplitz to take over that flank from the fleeing Frangipani hussars.  

Their opponents are none other than the Gendarmerie du Roi ...

... but the much-vaunted Gendarmerie, to their eternal shame, were whipped 6-2!

However, time was up for the Sibyrskiy IR as they lost a very close-fought but almost bloodless combat against Hohenzollern dragoons.

The Sibyrskiy, having fought two consecutive rounds of combat and being defeated now had to rally-back for three turns[4], which would eventually see them leave the field.  The Hohenzollern DR opted to rally-back (as the victors they had the option to rally in place) as with so many guns and muskets nearby they felt discretion was the better part of valour.

Away from the mounted mayhem, the artillery of both sides continued to whittle down the opposition ...

... and two Prussian infantry units stepped out towards Gruningen - see below.

The net result of all this is shown in the battle-map for Turn 3.

Losses after Turn 3:  32 Austrian vs 19 Prussian.

NB: the fleeing Prussian hussars and Sibyrskiy infantry will be lost once they leave the table in next couple of turns so the picture is not as bleak for the Austrians as it might appear.

Turn 4: and with the Austrian cavalry storm starting to blow itself out, Neipperg is left casting around for more squadrons to throw at the stalwart Prussian foot. 

With most of his cavalry committed or rallying, all he can do is push forward The Fischer-Baranyay hussars around Pamplitz but, worryingly, they will not be able to catch the Rechburg cuirassiers before they can rally - see the photo below which also shows the homeward bound Sibyrskiy IR heading towards the table-edge in the top-left corner.

But with Neipperg focused on overseeing his cavalry, the need to also direct the defence of Gruningen (out of command range) sees him forced to do so by courier which will mean the orders will be delayed.

Meanwhile in the ongoing cavalry attack, the Batthyányi dragoons reach the battery this time but only after taking horrendous losses from canister and some nearby infantry - c'est magnifique mais ce n'est pas la guerre[5].

The battery is overrun, but the greatly reduced dragoons are too short of numbers to take out all artillerymen, so the gunners, who luckily still include an officer will be able to rally after two turns and return to their guns.

As the Batthyányi dragoons are living their own Light Brigade moment, the Prussian Birkenfeld cuirassiers charge the Baranyay hussars through the gap in the line vacated by the retreating Sibyrskiy IR.

These fresh shock troops will prove too much for the lightweight hussars who are heavily defeated and forced to rally back.

At the other end of the line the Prussian infantry continue their advance ...

... with more regiments falling into line as they go.

The Austrians brace themselves as their artillery tries to even the odds; in the background a messenger hoves into sight - what will this betoken?

The battle-map for Turn 4 shows the Frangipani hussars leaving the table.

Losses after Turn 4:  48 Austrian vs 45 Prussian.

The losses have almost levelled up and with the Sibyrskiy infantry not yet off table it should get better yet for the Austrians.

Turn 5: and the Austrian cavalry assault is largely spent as the Fischer-Baranyay hussars are crushed by the Rechburg cuirassiers, and the red-clad Hohenzollern dragoons (middle distance) defeat the Birkenfeld cuirassiers who were caught while rallying from their victorious mêlée in the previous turn. 

Also, just visible beyond the Hohenzollern dragoons in the above are the Batthyányi dragoons, who for reasons which may never be known, chose to rally forward (in place) in front of I and II Max Josef IR[6].  The resulting musketry casualties see the Batthyányi dragoons go under-strength[7] and unlikely to take any further part in this battle.  

The Hungarian Andrássy infantry who had been trying to catch up with, and support, the cavalry assault ...

... arrived late, and on the receiving end of some spectacular shooting by the Prussian guns ...

... that saw their front rank shredded by the battery before them.

Elsewhere, the Prussian advantage in artillery was also steadily writing down the II Arberg IR by Mollwitz. 

But the traffic was not all one-way as the Austrian battery was inflicting heavy losses on the I Diesbach infantry ... 

... and their howitzer treated the Prussian guns to some pay-back.

So, as the remnants of the once proud Austrian cavalry fell back ...

... and the Prussian infantry pressed ever closer to Gruningen ...

... turn 5 drew to a close.

Losses after Turn 5:  69 Austrian vs 87 Prussian.

With the Sibyrskiy infantry finally falling off the table, the Prussian losses have leap-frogged their Austrian opponents.  But with Austrian edge in cavalry now largely expended the Prussian advantage infantry and artillery should start to make its presence felt.

To be continued ...

Notes:

[1.]  Casualties are halved when firing at cavalry and again when firing at long range.

[2.]  Casualties from firing at chargers are included in the comparison of casualties to determine the winner of the mêlée.  To win a side must inflict 50% more losses on their opponent that they suffered.  A further house-rule is that zero casualties are treated as 1 casualty for adjudicating the outcome of a mêlée.

[3.]  If anyone wants to see all the orders and individual unit outcomes then they can be provided in an Excel spreadsheet that was sued for the game.

[4.]  After a mêlée, both sides must rally for the number of turns that the mêlée lasted but the loser must rally for one more turn after that.  Units that have not finished rallying may not receive orders and shoot and fight at a disadvantage if attacked.

[5.]  Actually, the full quote is: C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre: c'est de la folie ("It is magnificent, but it is not war: it is madness").

[6.]  My large 80-figure regiments were split into two 40-figure battalions, denoted by the prefix I and II for the first and second battalions.  The first battalions can be identified by the presence of the grenadier company.

[7.]  Units go under-strength when they fall below half strength if infantry or one third strength if cavalry.  Units that are under-strength must withdraw for two full moves (6” if in a town) and may never advance closer to any enemy.

MOLLWITZ - The Way Ahead

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2022]

In the last MOLLWITZ post I described the inspiration, and setting up the table, for a planned refight of the game as featured in Charles Grant's book 'The War Game'.  Then calamity of calamities my opponent pulled out on the eve of the game with eye troubles - I'm please to say he has now fully recovered.

So, what next?  I asked a few friends if they could fill in but it was too short notice for them to rearrange their time.  Not wanting to pack everything away unplayed, I contacted some fellow bloggers to see if they would be interested in playing by email, and they said yes!  HURRAH!

David of 'Miniature Minions' took on the mantle of General Neipperg in command of the Austrian army, and Matthew of 'The Hinton Spieler' agreed to command the 'Prussians' as Frederick II, albeit David adopted his own soubriquet.  A quick check with the wife and I had permission to monopolise the dining room table for the next week or so to run the game, running a game with one player in the US and another in NZ, time-zones were always going to be a problem.

To help the players, I drew up a spreadsheet for order and created a PowerPoint Battle-map that I hoped would give a better overview of the action than the photos I planned to take - Austrians at the top and Prussian at the bottom.

The colours of the unit symbols are linked to their uniforms to help identification, and the unit names were listed in the plan in the last post, but copied in here for convenience.

The rules for this game were 'Charge' by Brigadier Peter Young, albeit modified slightly be me.  The biggest change is the way orders are given to units.  In 'Charge', every unit has an order written for it every turn; I changed this to orders remaining in force until changed and limited the number of orders that could be written in any turn to the number of ADCs[1] accompanying the general.  Orders sent to units with 30" would arrive immediately, if further away a messenger figure would be dispatched (moving 30" per turn) and the orders would take effect in the turn he arrived.  

As I was going to interpret the orders written during the game, I request each player to write an order of the day outlining their scheme of manoeuvre, which they did.  First von Neipperg (aka von Hohendavid) ...

... and then King Frederick II.

With both players clearly entering into the spirit of the thing, and orders submitted by email for the first turn (all units start the game with orders) ...

Orders Received for Turn 01

... all was looking good and it was time to 'open the ball', and immediately the Austrian cavalry surged forward with murderous intent seeking to exploit their advantage in the arme blanche.

The Prussians on their side of the table had foreseen this and had already ordered their cavalry to shelter behind the infantry and let the irresistible(?) waves of Austrian cavalry break themselves upon the immovable(?) rock of Prussian foot.

This left a light cavalry action between both sides' hussars as the only cavalry clash in the offing, with Austrians having a two-to-one advantage.

At the other end of the line, both sides infantry advanced, the Austrians to occupy Mollwitz and Gruningen ...

... and the Prussians to drive them out.

In the centre the Prussian infantry and guns had formed a formidable line.

So, with the armies in motion and about to engage ...

... and the positions updated on the map ...

... I'll end this post here on a cliffhanger awaiting orders for Turn 2.

Next Update

This will come soon, but I am still undecided on how much detail I should include; comments on readers' preference for either a blow-by-blow account or brisk outline of the flow of battle would be very welcome.

Notes:

[1.]  ADCs can also be used to rally units, taking command and calling some men back to the colours (i.e. recovering some losses).  Especially useful if a unit has lost all its officers and become unable to obey any orders.  ADCs, once expended like this may not be recalled and thus the number of orders a general can issue is permanently reduced.