DBSYW - Chotusitz (ish)

Played another playtest of DBSYW set in the war of Austrian succession loosely based on the battle of Chotusitz.

Prussian infantry and Austrian Cavalry were all rated as elite.

The Austrians have 14 elements set up on the table  and the onus is on them to attack before the Prussian reinforcements arrive.

The Prussians only have 6 elements on the table  with 7 more to arrive as reinforcements. However they have some high ground and the village of Chotusitz to defend. The Prussian cavalry is exposed with their backs to the pond.

The Austrian cavalry launch a ferocious attack on the Prussian cavalry and in the ensuing melees they easily push back and destroy the Prussian cavalry.

The Austrian infantry in the centre push forward and are soon trading musketry with the Prussian Infantry.

The Austrian grenadiers try to take Chotusitz but are beaten back and destroyed. The Prussian reserves have arrived and are now in supporting distance of the Infantry battle. Time is running out for the Austrians.

The Austrian cavalry now launch flank attacks on the Prussian infantry and although they destroy the Prussians guns are thrown back by the Prussian infantry and then destroyed by musketry.

The Prussian infantry are getting the upper hand with Austrian infantry struggling against the effective Prussan volleys. The Austrian cavalry are able to throw back the Prussian cavalry and stabilise their right wing.

With loses mounting the Prussians launch an attack on a shaken Austrian infantry uunit. They have the advantage 6 - 3  (shown by the black and white dice) The Austrian roll a 6 however the Prussians roll a 3 and the melee is drawn.  Both sides take a loss which destroys the Austrian infantry unit and takes them to 50% loses overall. The Prussians have lost 5 elements so a historic Prussian victory. But it was close.

DB SYW action

This afternoon I set up a quick DB SYW game using my small 6mm collection. The game looks a bit like Lobositz and featured the Prussians attacking the Austrians.  3 Austrian Infantry and 2 Cavalry behind the Morellenbach stream had to roll equal or less than the turn number on a D6 before they could cross the stream. The onus was on the Prussians to strike quickly whilst they have the numerical advantage.

The Prussians deployed ready to advance.

The Prussian advance into the valley as they attack the Austrian Grenz on the Losbosch to protect their flanks.

The Austrians roll a 2 on the second turn releasing the forces behind the Morellenbach stream. The Prussians are up against it so launch their cavalry into the attack. 

The Cavalry melee is initially successful however the Prussian Dragoons are driven back and are ultimately destroyed.

The Austrian commander supports his Cuirassiers who counter attack and drive off and destroy the Prussians cavalry.

As the cavalry battle continues the Prussian Infantry advance and engage the Austrians in front of Lobositz.

The Prussian infantry are a tough nut to crack as they destroy an Infantry and Artillery unit. However Prussian loses are mounting and the victorious Austrian cavalry are now attacking the Prussian Infantry in support of the remaining Austrian Grenadier unit. The Prussians loses are now reach 50% and the game is up.

Fun game done and dusted in an hour.

SYW 6mm Update

Since my last post I gave decided to go with slightly smaller 40 by 30mm bases for these 6mm chaps.

I have now completed enough figures for a small game of DBSYW.  All figures are from the Baccus range.  

First up the Austrians.

The Prussians include Kleist Jager as I had spare Austrian Grenzer figures.

I have also got some more unpainted figures and I will be adding extra units over the coming months.

SYW 6mm basing

Yesterday afternoon was a pleasant and sunny so I sat n the garden doing a spot of rebasing of my 6mm SYW armies.

That morning I had tried out different bases sizes by blue tracking unpainted figures down.  I came to the conclusion that I needed larger bases if I wanted an Infantry and Cavalry units to look the part.

For Infantry I went for 60 by 30mm with 20 figures in a line with a mounted officer and 4 extra figures with 2 behing and 2 in front of the battalion line. 

For cavalry I wanted to represent a unit with gaps and space between the squadrons and decided to use as 4 squadrons as the basic configuration. I know Prussian and Austrians both had more squadrons but in the end of the day the solution  looks ok.

This Austrian Cuirassier unit has an extra officer added and I will probably to this fir new units as I paint them up.

SYW - 6mm

I started a SYW project in 6mm over 5 years ago as a solution to losing my permament gaming table when we  moved house.  The plan was to build large units of 48 infantry and 24 cavalry figures and play the War Game on a kitchen table.

I have recently be playing DBN with my old 15mm Napoleonic collection and I am about to play test DBSYW. Rather than use my 28mm collection I thought this would be an opportunity to use the 6mm SYW collection. For DBSYW I plan to use 2 bases to represent a unit.

Well I undertook a quick review of what I had and of course I quickly decided that I needed some more units.  

First up some Prussian Grenadiers of the Braunschweig-Bevern Infantry Regiment. 

For the Austrians I have added some Grenadiers of the Deutschmeister Infantry Regiment.

And finally some Prussians of the 3rd Dragoon Regiment.  Freshly varnished with a coat of gloss varnish.

Thoughts on gaming the SYW in 6mm

Having played my first game with my 6mm figures I have today reflected on how the game played using Charles Grant War Game rules

Firstly we used cms instead of inches. This worked very well with movement rates and ranges looking and feeling right. I used a 2ft square piece of mdf and this equated to a 5ft square table.  This means my humble kitchen table using 6mm will represent a 15ft by 8 ft table if using 28mm figures. Plenty of room to refight Mollwitz, Lobositz and Kolin.

The other point is that I can use my small painting table for small games.  My next game is set up and I plan to play this with my son Max tomorrow

Secondly I had to adopt a number of amendments for the smaller scale chaps. I am not sure the Artillery stick and cannister cone is going to be work. I may try making some scaled down versions to see. For this game we used the artillery rules from 'Charge'.

Another considerstion was how to represent Officers and how to cause loses.

For Infantry I am going to check if an officer is lost for every 6 rankers lost.  If a 5 or 6 is thrown an officer is lost however he can be saved on a saving roll of 5 or 6. If an officer is lost a second roll is made and if a 6 is thrown the CO is lost with the resultant -2 to morale checks.

For light Infantry and Cavalry both are organzed in squadrons and companies of 6 figures. For every figure lost a die is rolled with the same 5 or 6 officer lost with 5 or 6 saving throw.

In melee is a bit more complicated. So here is an example. Two squadrons are engaged in melee - 6 figures a side.  4 melees sre fought as rankers vs rankers. The final 2 melees are officer vs ranker. If side loses its officer the unit is lost and removed from play.

Last game of the year

My younger brother Matthew is visiting for New Years Eve with his wife. As the wives and children were out we decided to have a SYW game using my 6mm collection.

Matthew was my regular opponent when we were kids and this was our first game in some 20 years.  I commanded the Prussians and had the simple objective of capturing the village of Ilklewitz. It was to prove a tough nut to cracking. 

The Austrians deployed their artillery and infantry in the village.  The Grenz were on the Austrian left with their Cuirassier in reserve.

Without any artillery to support the attack I decided to launch my infantry and close as quickly as possible with the defenders in the village.

My cuirassier on my right also took the initiative and charged their opposite numbers. One of my squadrons catches an Austrian squadron at the halt.

My infantry are able to close to musketry range before the Austrian artillery cause any casualties. Both pieces missed with their two first shots.

The Grenz finding no opposition in front of them deploy out of the woods.

My Infantry advance to close range before opening fire against the Austrian artillery and infantry. This initial volley proved to be less effective than I had hoped. It was not helped when 2 of my volleys cause 7 hits against an Austrian 6 figure volley unit only for one figure to be hit 6 times.

Undeterred one of my infantry unit, despite losing its CO, charges into the village. It was to prove the Prussian high water mark.

My second battalion however does not receive the order to charge and with the Grenz now on their flank and causing more loses reach 50% casualties and forced to withdraw.

The battered Prussians realise the game is up and concede.

We used the War Game rules with some house amendments and substituted cms for inches.

More 6mm Austrians

I have finished a few more Austrian 6mm figures over the Christmas break.

First some Austrian command stands seen here posing in front of my first home 6mm trees.

A closer look. I used one pence pieces for both the command stands and trees.

I am planning a small game with my son Max in the next few days and I only have one Austrian Infantry unit painted up. So I decided  to add a couple of companies of Slavonisch-Peterwardeiner Grenzer.

My 6mm collection armies are slowly growing. For the Prussians I have 2 Infantry units and a Cuirassier unit. For the Austrians I have 1 Infantry and 1 Cuirassier unit supported by 2 guns and 2 companies of Grenz.

Enough for a small game using the War Game rules.