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Background

A key road somewhere in Southern Germany. An Austrian advance guard clashes with a British force left to guard the line of communications

Setup

The table was dominated by the village and farm of Mollwitz through which the important road runs. The British deployed on the north of the village in a fairly standard manner, while the Austrians deployed to the south in echelon.

Although quite large terrain features, neither the woods nor the hills played any real part in the battle.

The Battle

In the first few turns the British declined to move at all, except for some shuffling for position and decent lines of fire (presumably in accordance with a pre-ordained plan as Brian insisted throughout that he intended to use "taktiks"). The Austrians advanced manfully, led by the Grenadier battalions, followed closely by the German fusiliers. The Hungarian fusiliers held the village while the Austrian cavalry went on a long flanking maneuver.

The cavalry of both sides ended up clashing just north of the church where the British dragoons were initially seen off and then soundly defeated by the Austrian light horse.

Meanwhile, the Grenadiers had gone into the fray, unsupported and (foolishly) changing formation immediately in font of the guns. As the victorious cavalry came charging in on the flank of the now exposed British infantry both I and Brian (and all onlookers) expected the game to be up right there and then, but a combination of the Grenadiers weakened by fire and some truly atrocious tactical decision making from yours truly resulted in a resounding defeat. The British formed square saw off the cavalry and then chased after the Grenadiers, who were subsequently cut down.

In response I finally remembered to move my artillery. It was attached to the German fusiliers as the British line charged in and canister raked the l9ines. This, and some stout hand-to-hand work by the fusiliers saw off the British who fell back on their own line. Heartened by this sight (and assisted by the eventual recovery of my cavalry) everybody piled in to the British. The result was this time a foregone conclusion. Unable to form square because of the attacking infantry and with only one (damaged) battery left which had fallen back to the woods on the northern table edge. Brian's infantry finally succumbed to the attacks of all my cavalry and 24 companies of fusiliers!

Debriefing

Yet another good game (either we're only reporting the good stuff or we're the greatest bunch of gamers ever). Brian didn't really have a cunning plan I suspect (except perhaps for wait and see) and he was seriously outnumbered so didn't really stand a chance. I on the other hand had a classic cunning plan in mind all along. Strategically the attack in echelon was sound and eventually won the day. Tactically almost every decision I made (except charging the cavalry early on and charging the British line at the end) was atrocious. Unfamiliarity with the rules, overconfidence in my abilities and underestimation of my opponents all combined to make the game last longer and be much more enjoyable than it could have otherwise been. Brian could have (with perhaps just a couple of battalions more and with some deft maneuver rolls at the critical time) had me, but in the final analysis he didn't. More by luck than judgment probably!

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