Lobositz 1756

Since I started to read up on the Seven Years War (SYW)  I have had an interest in refighting Lobositz, which took place on the 1st Oct 1756.

Lobositz was Frederick the Great's first battle of the Seven Years War. As a battle it was a small one, 26,000 Prussians and 31,000 Austrians, It has been generally awarded as a Prussian victory on the grounds that Frederick held the field but it was probably a strategic victory for the Austrians. Overall I'd call it a draw. For more information see:

•  http://obscurebattles.blogspot.com/2014/07/lobositz-1756.html 
• http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1756-10-01_-_Battle_of_Lobositz

My friend John Dance decided to try the Honours of War rules (See Amazon) and set up the battle using the Order of battle from the Obscure battles blog, but scaled down to 1 unit for every 2 at the battle.

The Battlefield

• The Lobosch Berg occupied by Austrian Grenz is the hill in the far back of the table.
• The thick blue river on the back right is the Elba which is uncrossable.
• Lobosite is the large BUA middle right.
• The Moreellebach  (a small river with fishponds and marsh) is the green & blue line in the right foreground.
• Austrians on the right (East) and Prussians on the left (West).

The view west from the Austrian centre.

View from the Prussian centre (looking East) showing the early cavalry engagement in the distance.  The cavalry fight was brutal and fast. It resulted in a Prussian win although not without recieving a beating.

The Grenz were driven off the Lobosch Berg  far quicker than planned, mainly due to very aggressive movement orders from the King.

Having seen the centre take a historically correct bloody nose the Austrian left wing advanced across the Moreellebach.  At this point we ran out of time and could see that the next phase would be a battle running East-West accross the battlefield.

Comments

The battle fought like the actual battle, partially due when they close.  The range for canister seem too long, especially with heavy batteries. I think this is something we will reduce for our next game.  More lethal guns maybe better for a full size battle with 20+ btn in an attack but smaller 10 btn attacks will be disproportionately impacted by a heavy battery. 

John and I with two additional friends are going to refight the Battle of Kolin next.