Mollwitz 1741 – Twilight of the Soldier Kings

 

1st Silesian War

War of the Austrian Succession

 

The Battle of Mollwitz was fought by Prussia and Austria on 10 April 1741, during the First Silesian War (in the early stages of the War of the Austrian Succession). It was the first battle of the new Prussian King Frederick II.  Halfway through the battle following the defeat of the Prussian cavalry on the right wing, Frederick was advised to flee the field which he did.  However the Prussian infantry went on to win the battle under the command of Count Schwerin. 

 References

• Obscure Battles: http://obscurebattles.blogspot.com/2013/02/mollwitz-1741.html
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mollwitz

 Rules

This was the first game I played with the Twilight of Soldier Kings rules which I have reviewed in an earlier Blog post Twilight of the Soldier Kings – Review https://weekendwargames.blogspot.com/2021/09/twilight-of-soldier-kings-review.html

Players

As this was my first outing with these rules I fought this as a solo game, which was handy as I was able to stop and ask the author some questions via the user group https://groups.io/g/TwilightSK

 Battlefield

I set up the battle on my 6’x4’ table and attempted to put in a few of the key terrain features,  mainly the Kleinerbach river, towns of Mollwitz, Grunningen and Hermsdof and the central woods between the two armies. 

The Battlefield

Austrian Right Wing

Austrian Centre

Austrian Left Wing

Prussian Army

 

The Austrian cavalry wings advance while the centre holds.  The Prussians advance their centre.

Unable to force the Austrian advanced guard of Hussars into a charge the Prussian cavalry get themselves in a bad position with heavy cavalry to both flanks.

As the Prussian Hussars retire behind their infantry centre the Prussians charge into the flanking Austrian cavalry and infantry line.  Unfortunately for the Prussians formed 18C infantry with support are capable of withstanding a cavalry charge and the Austrian cavalry have strength in depth which will give them a clear advantage in the melee.

At this stage the Prussian left wing cavalry were loosing badly.  Their right wing was just starting to engage with the superior quality Austrian cavalry.

With both Prussian cavalry wings in the process of being beaten the Prussian centre advanced.  The Prussian moral failed on both wings who retired from the field. The position seemed lost.  The Prussian army was forced to make as moral save or be defeated. Which they succeeded! 

At was at this point the Austrian General know he's made a mistake.  The Prussian infantry were greatly superior to the Austrians with a marked superiority in moral and rate of fire (iron ramrods v wooden ones) and more training.  The Prussian volleys destroyed or broke the first three Austrian brigades and the rest fled. 

Summary

A historically correct result and due to historically correct reasons, i.e. the superior rate of fire of the Prussian infantry.  In my mind this was a strong indication that the Twilight rules reflect the period vey well, based on a sample set of one battle 😃.

Twilight of the Soldier Kings - Review

 

Rules

I have played one game with the Twilight of Soldier Kings rules which I purchased from the Pike & Shot society but looking today I could not see them on their site but I did see then on Amazon.co.uk  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-Soldier-Kings-Frederick-1730-1780/dp/1916343503

Scope

These rules cover the Seven years War (SYW) and the War of Austrian Succession (WAS).  You can play them with any scale but they are ideally suited to 6mm.

Design Philosophy

The rules are quite innovative and take the approach that moral is the most important factor.  For example, there are not firing rules but rather your opponent must make a moral roll when they are in firing range of your muskets.  The rules assume that your troops will engage their enemy.    The question is how do the enemy react?

“In war, moral power is to physical as three parts out of four.”

Napoleon

 Command

I like the way command works in these rules.  Wargame rules seem to fall into two schools, some such as Polemos Ruse de Guerre and Blucher etc limit the number of commands points available to a general and thus force the player to prioritise which units get moved.   Some rules allow all units to attempt to move but it’s not guaranteed, this is the approach taken by Black Powder, Honours of war etc.

In Twilight any unit making a basic “advance in a straight line” move can do so freely but as soon as it gets more complex you have to roll for the order to be performed, sometimes there may be several rolls, e.g. ignore the enemy artillery bombardment, change formation and advance over the stream would require 3 rolls and could result in a unit changing formation reaching the stream but stopping before crossing. Typically one roll is required needing a 3-6 on a D6.

 Period Specificity

Some rules can apply to a very broad period, such as Blackpower and other are more focused to their time period, such as Honours of War.  The Twilight rules are very focused on the Seven Years War (SYW) and War of Austrian Succession (WAS).  There are sister rules for War of Spanish Succession & Great Northern War and also the 30 Year war.  The rules contain lists of troops by nation and by year for the periods covered.  The stats for the troops reflect their ability in each time period. For example, the superior firepower of the Prussian infantry over the Austrians in the early years of the WAS are recognised.

 Extras

There are multiple scenario books with orders of battle, maps and battle specific rules. These are great even if you don’t play these rules. The basic rule book contains a number of scenarios to get you started.

Scale

Units are brigades rather than battalions which allow the biggest battles of the period  to be fought on 6’x4’ or 8’x4’ tables.  All measurement in the game is by base widths which means as no rebasing is necessary. (Which is always nice). ).  A small battle such as Mollwitz approx. 20,000 per side will need 12 to 14 units per side.

Combat and Casualties

Units take 2 or 3 hits before they are destroyed.  Casualties are whole units rather than figures.  

 Things I am or were not sure about…

The rules do not allow light cavalry (hussars) to frontally charge regular troops.  My initial reaction was troops will do what they are told.

A cavalry officer who isn’t dead by 30 is a coward.

– Napoleonic cavalry general Antoine-Charles-Louis, Comte de Lasalle (1775-1809)

However having consulted far bigger brains than I, it would seem that Hussars did not go around charging formed troops in this period, at least not very often.  Frederick instructed they form the 3^rd line behind Cuirassiers and Dragoons.  There is a period record of a couple of times hussars charged like dragoons but the fact this was reported suggests it was not common.  Having considered the above I think I’m happy for my hussars to support heavy cavalry and receive charges rather than initiate them.  It will force me to use hussars as they were used rather than as a wargamer.

 The distances used in the rules for movement and firing are accurate to the scale of the units.  My infantry brigades are 120mm wide (2 x 60mm).  An advance in line is 60mm forward and enemy react to musket fire at 60mm.  My only issues with this are, a small error in measurement can have a big effect and I feel like I could fight my battle on a toilet seat rather than spread across a wide table.  I’m more drawn to 12cm moves and 12cm firing ranges.  However….I have only fought one battle so this may just me being use to other rules.

Summary

These are rules with a strong period flavour.  They play quickly and do not require much bookkeeping. They allow you to refight all of the battles of the period.  I feel they may be a "marmite" rule set, people will love them or hate them.

Kolín on 18 June 1757 - Blucher

 

The Battle of Kolín on 18 June 1757 saw 54,000 Austrians under Count von Daun defeat 34,000 Prussians under Frederick the Great during the Third Silesian War (Seven Years' War). Kolin was Frederick's first defeat in battle. It forced him to raise the siege of Prague, to abandon Bohemia and to retire to Saxony.

References:

• The very enjoyable Obscure battles  blog http://obscurebattles.blogspot.com/2014/11/kolin-1757.html
• The outstandingly good Kronoskaf reference site http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1757-06-18_-_Battle_of_Kolin

Blucher rules.

The Blucher rules Blücher – Honour – Sam MustafaPublishing LLC are intended for Napoleonic campaigns and battles but with adjustment seem to be fine for the Seven Years War (SYW).  As a rule set they are very easy to learn and allow you to fight major battles such as Kolin with ~90,000 troops.  The rules use a random number of command points, rolled by your opponent, so a general is never sure how much of his force he can move and is therefore required to focus on the most important units first.  Units (Brigades) have a combat rating (Elan) which is worn down in combat.  In these rules your Elite brigade will start as more effective than a regular line brigade but after a combat or two they will have fallen well below the fighting effectiveness of a, average or even poor quality fresh brigade.

Rule changes

Cavalry in the SYW were not the force they were in the Napoleonic period.  This was due to a combination different cavalry tactics and better drilled infantry.   Infantry in the SYW & WAS did form square, just not very often and usually when guarding a flank. 

 I do not apply the rule that unprepared infantry when in combat against cavalry, must re-roll its successes for its combat score.    I keep the rule that attacking cavalry Re-Rolls Dice against prepared infantry must be re-rolled. 

Players

I played this game in July with my good friend John Dance and it was wonderful to have a face to face game after such a long break. John commanded the Austrians and I the Prussian underdogs.

Battlefield

I set up the battle on my 6’x4’ table and attempted to put in a few of the key terrain features,  mainly the village of Kreczor/Kutlire and the Swedish works as well as the central Przerovsky hill.

Battle

The Prussian plan was to refuse their right flank and push the left flank through the Austrian right.  The Austrian plan wasn’t to wait for the Prussians but to advance their centre and left flank and roll up the Prussian right.  

The Blucher rules meant at the Austrians were not sure what types of troops their were facing on the Prussian right.

 Unfortunately the Prussians found the ground  leading up to Kreczor/Kutlire slow going and the advance was very slow.  The Prussian left wing cavalry had a hard fight with their Austrian counterparts.  Although the Prussians won, they were a spent force.

The Austrian assault on the Prussian right wing was much more successful and began to drive the Austrian right wing into the Prussian centre.  

An historically correct result with the Austrians defeating the might of the Prussian army.