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.