The Battle of Leuthen (or a bit, anyway)

[Ochoin]

In what is my first Seven Years War game in some years, I decided to fight Leuthen. The whole battle is beyond my scope in terms of space, time & figures so I planned a scaled down version of Frederick the Great's masterful outflanking attack on Nadasty's corps on the Austrian left flank.

The table was already sey up when the participants arrived.

A panoramic view from the north end


and the south end


The Prussians heavily outnumbered the Austrians but had the difficult task of fighting through to the outskirts of Leuthen by game turn 8.






The "hook": masses of Prussian cavalry & the Grenadier brigade.





Part of the centre, where the Prussians needed to capture a forest & the small village of Sagschutz.





The Prussian left flank where the Garrison battalions & ex-Saxon fusiliers were meant to feint towards Leuthen.

The Prussians advance, with Fred. the G. looking on.






The Austrians were waiting





Pandour were sent to garrison Sagschutz



And Leuthen village.




The Austrians counter attack


The off-table Austrian cavalry arrive (apologies_ I forgot to photograph them on table!)




The weaker Garrison & Fusilier brigades crumble



The Prussian cavalry is repulsed & history is reversed.

donald

[PaulRPetri]

Donald that made my day!!! What a great set up. Your army is magnificent!! Ten out of Ten!!

Paul

[Michael Robert]

Hi Donald,

great display. Now we now where you put your odd Panonian and Croatian.
We see far too few 7YW dioramas - OK, the choice of figures remains still limited.
I enjoyed your pictures a lot, but don't know how you were able to reverse history
The famous oblique tactic and all the initiative was with Fred.

Many greetings
Michael

[Ochoin]

Hi Donald,

I enjoyed your pictures a lot, but don't know how you were able to reverse history


Many greetings
Michael

Thank you for your kind comments, Michael.

Don't blame Frederick the Great for the outcome.
I set the topography up as a reasonable copy of the real thing. The armies were scaled back but in roughly the right proportions & types (eg Prussian artillery far outnumbered Austrian). The two forces were placed in their historical positions.

....and what followed was a result of my poor decisions. I had decided that to win, I had to arrive at Leuthen village in game turn 8. Partly because I did not press on as fast as possible & partly because of my opponents superior tactical ability (they're both ex-army officers & I'm *not* Frederick!) by Turn 8, I was still fighting some distance (say half a kilometre from Leuthen).

The game ended there. If it continued, the huge Prussian army would have overwhelmed the Austrians but that wasn't the point.

Often, in wargaming, you have objectives that don't simply mean "destroy the enemy". Napoleon said, "Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go." This game was about time.

donald

[C M Dodson]

Very nice indeed although the weather looks particularly mild for December!

I think your troops are lovely especially for a period that is under represented by the manufacturers.

There is a nice ‘feel’ about your action and the ground level shots are atmospheric.

Very nice indeed.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Ochoin]

Very nice indeed although the weather looks particularly mild for December!

Chris

Thanks, Chris. You raise an important point: battles on snowy battlefields.

I once thought, given the clement weather basing of my figures (mostly green), placing them on wintery tiles or a snowy cloth would look ridiculous but I've seen photos of games where the terrain is indeed, white, whilst the figure bases aren't.

And these look OK IMO.

At some stage, I'll build a winter topography but I'm not there yet.

regards donald

[MABO]

A big clash of two massive armies. I really like it. And I agree with Michael, the 7YW could be presented more often.

[Ochoin]

A big clash of two massive armies. .

Thank you for your kind comments.

Two boxes of SYW figures arrived today so my (Austrian) SYW army is about to get bigger.

I'm thinking of maybe doing a bit of Lobositz or possibly the whole of Rossbach next.

There's so many SYW battles waiting to be re-fought.

donald