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Post by paintdog on Aug 15, 2020 1:34:58 GMT
As all of you are undoubtedly aware, Friday was a public holiday here for the EKKA.....though it is not happening thanks to Covid.
This presentsed an opportunity for a SYW game. Four of my pals have signed on. My thought is Lobositz.
What I intended was to NOT announce to all which battle it will be as the foundation of the real battle was that Frederick thought he was attacking a rear guard until the fog lifted to reveal the entire Austrian army.
Two of my pals commanded the Prussians with the following orders:
Your mission is to defeat the Austrian rear guard as quickly as possible in order to cross the Elbe River and defeat the Austrians.
The other two were the Austrian commanders, ordered to: Hold the Prussians for 8 Game Turns & withdraw in good order. Although I prefer to take a side, I've decided to umpire as this is the only way you can duplicate the surprise factor & not make it look as if I'm stacking the cards in my favour. Of course, once the game begins, I will be strictly neutral & just facilitate the game play. I'm sure my pals will enjoy the battle.
The game turned out very well. TBH I got so involved I didn't take an entirely coherant set of photos but this is what I remembered to snap. The battlefield:   Terrain was on the side of the Austrians with the swampy ground between the villages of Sellowitz & Lobositz being a real challenge:  As per the real battle, the Prussians entered in march formation & only seeing part of the Austrian army (the majority were concealed by fog) thought it a mere rear guard to be brushed aside. On Turn 2, I placed the hidden Austrians on the table. The Prussian commanders were surprised but not dismayed. Frederick, cheering the troops on:  Unlike the real Frederick's plan, The Prussians mounted a pincer attack on the all important road to Pirna:  .  Although trying to ignore the Grenzer posted on the Lobosch hill, the Croats made a nuisance of themselves:  Much like the historical Lobositz, the Prussian cavalry was roughly handled, several regiments fleeing the field:  The Austrian cavalry, not without loss, triumphed:   Having delayed the Prussians for those vital 8 Game Turns, the Austrians withdrew:   Like many wargames, this was a work in progress. You'll notice that I had to use French SYW artillery as I don't have nearly enough Austrian gunners & that O'Donell's Cuirassiers have a squadron of empty horses (3 figures to modify from various Zvevda sets). Still an enjoyable re-fight of one of the more important battles of the SYW. My friends commanded their respective armies with great skill, good humour & a definite appreciation of the finer points of C18th military strategy. donald |
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Post by borodino on Aug 15, 2020 17:47:06 GMT
superb, the proof by the image that we can the SYW at 1/72.
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Post by minuteman on Aug 15, 2020 18:46:18 GMT
Another great looking SYW game donald, thanks for sharing the photos. You have certainly cracked on with those Austrian Cuirassiers and they stand out in their white coats and big horses. Did they perform valiantly as expected on the tabletop?
At this rate you will have covered the major battles of the SYW in a lot less than seven years!
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Post by paintdog on Aug 15, 2020 20:35:28 GMT
Thank you, gentlemen. Next SYW battle (if not the next game), should be this one: www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1757-04-21_-_Combat_of_ReichenbergI'd like to - somehow - get some more Austrian artillery & another set of the Airfix Nap. Hussars to convert to Austrian SYW ones. The O'Donell cuirassiers did well in their first outing. They lost a few men to the Prussian artillery but charged a unit of Prussian dragoons, routing them & then having the good sense to halt & maintain the Austrian line. Essentially, that finished the Prussian cavalry & meant an Austrian victory. Think what they could do if all their horses were "filled"? I'll start the final 3 figures today. donald |
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Post by paintdog on Aug 16, 2020 8:18:56 GMT
A couple of shots from the battle to make our HaT host happy (the majority of the infantry were the ecellent HaT figures). All are from the climax of the battle when I was too excited to take pictures - luckily one of my pals did.  
donald
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Post by davidmac on Aug 16, 2020 15:08:32 GMT
Looks like fun!
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Post by pinotnoir on Aug 17, 2020 0:19:03 GMT
Wow! Great looking game.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 1:05:30 GMT
Marvellous looking game Donald, super photos.
Those additional ones of the Prussian break-through are tops. Masses of beautifully painted figures 'going at it' to the 'death'. Only to be available for the next game. What wargaming is all about!
Regards, James
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 1:12:53 GMT
[Aside to DB: Only in Quainsland could the Royal Queensland Show be made into the acronym EKKA! A hecka an exhibition, no doubt]
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Post by paintdog on Aug 18, 2020 7:06:37 GMT
How kind you are, James. I'm not sure my efforts deserve "beautifully painted" though.
The degradation of the word "Exhibition" to "EKKA" is indicative of a rather cavalier local approach to linguistics.
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Post by mason toy soldiers on Aug 20, 2020 15:55:35 GMT
Wow, these photos are fantastic. Love your figures. Great job!
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Post by paintdog on Aug 22, 2020 5:40:42 GMT
Wow, these photos are fantastic. Love your figures. Great job! That's very civil of you. Thanks to HaT, infantry for the two armies aren't a problem....however artillery & cavalry are a challenge.
I'm up to my final 3 Austrian cuirassier modifications:
My project of turning Zvevda Napoleonic Saxon cuirassiers & their GNW Swedish dragoons into a unit of SYW Austrian cuirassiers is slow work. I'm on the final 3 figures but I am clearly getting cocky. As if head, torso & leg swops weren't enough, I tried out an arm swop - putting the dragoon firing a pistol arm on a figure: You can see the initial pinning before I put super-glue in the join:  There's always a bit of a gap, so I use white glue to fill it:  Making sure the riders fit the horses (the dragon legs are too small for the large cuirassier horses so need modifying):  The all-important undercoating: 
They look OK but are too much work. I'll wait for HaT to release some cavalry figures in the near future..... donald
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Post by paintdog on Aug 22, 2020 5:53:07 GMT
A photo of part of the cavalry clash, with the incomplete cuirassiers (note: 1 squadron of empty horses):  Their opponents are, of course, HaT Prussian 1806 dragoons with a hat swop. These make, IMO, very useable SYW dragoons. The extra tricornes supplied in HaT SYW Prussian infantry sets were absolutely indispensible. donald |
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