The Russian and the Austrian Seven Years War Armies show off

... the finishing of the Austrian army creeeeeps ahead slowly ... so I just took the opportunity to show off my 2  7YW armies on my 2 6x4 boards ... just for personal psychological self motivation ...

Archduke Carl‘s Infantry regiment and then some ...

The regiment was raised after the War of Austrian Succcession and served in the Seven Years War at the battle of Kolin, Breslau, Leuthen, Hochgiersdorf, Torgau and the storming of Schweidnitz. Yet again I only choose them on aesthetical reasons for their wonderful uniforms. I also painted some 6pdrs and a command stand and a Staff officer/command token. I'm working further on some more gins from Front Rank and Wargames Foundry as well as the fabulous Hungarian Huzzars of Nadasdy ... more to come ... :)

Re-inforcements are coming! - Hungarians!

Joseph Esterhazy regiment (I.R 37) - raised during the War of Austrian Succession, it participated in the Seven Years War in the battles at Prag, Breslau, Hochkirch and Liegnitz. I chosen them mainly because of the nice uniform. ... I also started the  Erzherzog Carl(I.R. 2) ... indeed also because of the nice colour combination. As most miniature provider sell Austrins SYW infantry with PomPoms -  I was naturally going with the 1762 uniform versions.

The Austrians are coming - The Deutschmeister Regiment

Its been a looong time since  I posted newly painted regiments. Mainly amongst other reasons I was painting SYW Russians whos uniforms look all the same anyhow... but now as I succumb to the Habsburg bug yet again (Yep, I count the Great Italian Wars Landsknechts under Maximilian/ Charles V to the Habsburgs as well!), I paint the Seven Years War Austrians.

My first regiment were the IR 1 the "Kaiser" Regiment which were quite  generic in their uniform a bit red the rest white, white and more white ...

Therefore the second had to be somewhat different! I choose the Deutschmeister, IR 4 (I know the numbering came later, but its useful). The Name stuck after their first colonel Franz Ludwig, Duke of Bavaria, who was actually a Hochmeister Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, the "Deutsch-ritterorden", hence the name. From their regimental history it becomes quite clear that they quickly became distiguished, a Leib-regiment, they fought the Turks and along with Prinz Eugene from Savoy, they pop up all the way through the main theatres from 1700 onwards.

So I made the decision to paint them a bit differently. The Austrians regulated and re-organised their appearance of their army at the end of the war (1762), basically to make them more"uniform", but also to save money - Maria Theresia was (or still was) like most of her allies and opponents more or less broke. So all the colourful trousers and  coats insides dissapear and all we have left is (coloured) cuffs and lapels only with some pompoms on the hat to distinguish. What I realised then was that most of the suppliers sell the later variant (with the pompoms) which is funny as it just covers the last two years. So out with the dremel and and in dark blue they got drenched, my Deutschmeister would wear the "old" unifrom!

The regiment distinguished themselves at the Battle of Kolin 1757 for repulsing the Prussian Line. Also Major Count Johan Soro with a battalion of grenadiers repeatedly attacked, despite having received a shot in the leg, he remained at the head until he fainted. The brought him back to the field lazarett were he again clear returned back to the regiment, where he finally lost his leg through a cannonball! - So I decided to let him be the leader of that regiment and "dremeled" his right leg to a "wooden" one. I somewhat know that I need such dedication in my new Austrian army, haha!

Also as my regiments need 24 minis and  I wanted to field them in Austrian Succession style AND Seven Years (after Lobositz) style I added a 4x4 of Grenadiers. (It also Gives ma a good excuse to raise 5 regiments to have a single Grenadier one ... I know ...)

the whole lot

The command base with Count Soro in the front, in the back a generic command base

The Grenadiers upfront

The Grenadiers back

Austrian war of Successions modus of deployment

Seven Years war modus of deplyment

1757 – the attack of the Killer-French-Horse-men, Seven Years War, 28mm another test game

This time we had another test game of my Seven years war rules , "Seven Years" in 28mm. Angus was digging his French out and some Hanoverians and some Prussian Cavalry, and I sponsored some Hessians and some guns. A bigger hill and some small rivulet meant some terrain, but not too much to hinder our testing. Me and Alisdair were in for the Allies, while Angus and Bart were fighting for the French. 

Bart was in charge of the French Horse and charged the allied counterpart (played by Alisdair) head on. I was actually surprised that our flank was holding three turns, given Bart reputation with cavalry and that Alisdair was (relatively) new to these rules. Then after some clashes (that might have gone even the other way) and fights the Allied flank broke, and my Hessian centre brigade had to wheel to block the oncoming enemy.

Meanwhile our other effort to advance and to "amuse" the French enough to charge, was hindered by the lack of available "staff officers", as we needed them to save our guns and wheel the centre. Which then Angus took the opportunity and peppered the advance with counter fire and artillery salvos, which in turn stopped our momentum. In the end we attacked gallantly, but on top of this malleure, fortuna left us in the exact moment before touch down, when we needed staff officers for multiple charges or fast "forced marches" the most. The result was inevitable and brutal, we had to concede defeat.

In the end, I was happy as the rules are sound and safe and the system is working. We just need to fine tune and test some other scenarios or situations (heavy terrain, skirmishing cavalry and Infantry).

Notes from this time Advanced orders "Forced March" and "Double Forced March" may not available for Artillery (maybe for attached light guns, maybe as an exception in scenarios  - the "Brummer of Leuthen", but thats it. Heavy artillery (siege guns and all 12pdr plus) should be AFTER first limbering immobile. Medium guns may just move like normal infantry when limbered.

Also the canister might need an extra boni, so here we go: Medium and Heavy Artillery shall have an extra +1 when facing enemies in short range.

Some critique was raised to make the firing less effective, but here I need to raise the "Smooth Game play"– joker. The first test plays were more historical but took longer. The Gentlemen of royal blood of these days might have had a whole day for a battle, in clubs you might find that reduced to 2-3 hours.

Next time we shall test the skirmishers a bit more and some build up areas and more terrain.

Angus Rap:

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/the-battle-of-zwieback-hugel-1759/

The French Horse is immediately moving ...

...crossing the river ...

and the French skirmisher trying to secure an advantage point ... 

The Hanoverians are marching up to the meet the enemy ...

The French Horse is there!!! A cavalry clash!

... and chaos ensues ...

... and the Allied left flank disintegrates ...

the last Allied Horse is isolated ...

the Hessian and Hannoveranian advance stalls somehow ...

...intense shooting ... the ranks a wavering but not faltering ...

... in the din of the battle at a crucial time the staff officers are missing!!!

the free French Brigade moves in for the kill ...

and a last attack of the French Horse breaks the galant Hessian Grenadiers ... game over ... full defeat

Seven Years

Today Neil and Sandy were doing me a favour and helping me play-testing my new Seven Years War rules. I choose them as they are the die-hard Seven years fanatics in our club, not a month is going by without them re-addressing the European balance of Fredericks time. They play 15 mm, which is good as I can test right away more brigades in one go. Sandy came with his French while Neil brought his Prussians. The game has just two phases, command and one insanely big melee and fire phase, hey it IS a battle after all, confusion is inevitable. The command system one can push the pressure on certain parts of the battle line, or counter them or rally troops. After the first action of a unit there is the possibility of an counter action (if circumstance applies) which keeps the player engaged even in the other players turn. The whole is just two matrix engine, with a fire and a melee chart.

So Sandy was moaning as the French suffered from a less flexible command system than the efficient Prussians, but even so The French kept the pressure on to the point that the Prussian were just immobile and rallying eventual upcoming losses. The adhoc scenario rules for the river in-between might have been a bit too distractive, but in the end I think the two veterans of linear warfare were quite pleased. The overall system works, no major hick-ups, it needs little more brutality in the fire chart ... well OK... which is good as I toned it down a bit in my solo test token games in the first place. Also the rallying shall be a bit more difficult, a step I might follow just a little bit ... its good to have a battle a club night and not within one hour ...

I'm looking fwd for the next test game ...

Neil Prussians can‘t get over the little river without disorder 

The French line fire and get disordered as well ...

Finally the French are able to form a counter attack on that flank ...

After two insanely weak Prussian attacks low dice rolls against double sixes, Neil has to retreat again ...

the cover

an example for a communication line

A map of some  of the battles ...