Kolin 1757

Jim's Prussians v. Steve's Austrians

Mark umpiring using CC M2M rules.

We used the scenario as recorded in the Camp Cromwell Minutes from 2003. 

The Austrians deployed first - Hussars on the far right, infantry in centre with guns, heavy cavalry on the left and Croats in the orchard & villages.

The Prussians put their Hussars & half their Cuirassiers on their right, their dragoons & the rest of the curassiers on the right.  The grenadiers were left of centre with a line dvision in columns on their left, and another supported by artillery on their right.

The Prussians advanced their cavalry on their left & advanced straight up the hill with their grenadiers with their supporting infantry on each flank.  They held their right back.

The Austrians pulled their Hussars back behind the orchard & attacked on their left.  They tried to support their right by transfering dragoons from the left, & turning their infantry on their left onto the flank of the Prussian infantry attack, but poor command delayed the process. 

On the Prussian left, the cavalry took a while to manoeuvre around the orchard, then were held up by the Hussars holding a narrow front.  On the Austrian left their superior numbers gradually made themselves felt and most of the Prussians were swept away, but that wasn't where the battle was decided.

The attacking grenadiers suffered casualties from the artillery & the Croats sniping out of the villages & orchard, but they shugged them off and charged home.  Their supports on their left went through the orchard and struck the Austrian infantry line in flank.  Steve was able to get one battalion & some dragoons to face it, but this removed support from the frontal attack & it broke through.  On the right of the grenadiers, the Prussian line protected their flank from the counterattack. 

Finally, the Prussian cavalry on their left broke through the Hussars and the Cuirassers cut loose in the Austrian rear deciding the battle for Prussia.

The battle was well advanced before I remembered to take a pic.  In pic 1 the Austrian counterattack is under way in the forground.  The Prussian grenadiers are enagaged on the far hill, the flanking infantry have entered the orchard, the cavalry on the Prussian left are behind the orchard & the Austrian infnatry counterattack is being met bya  thin blue line.  In pic 2 the Prussian right is a shambles, but the Austrian right is under greta pressure.  Pic 3 is at the end - the Austrian right was too late to save their right which has collapsed under the attack from front & flank.

The battle was a great test of the rules with lots of different combinations happening.  It ripped along nicely & had a good feel - it didn't show up any need for changes (other than taht the points system still needs work to make good troops cost more - which we already knew).  The Prussian attack was well planned & Steve was too slow to get get his left into action against the main attack.  Partly this was due to the command rules penalising the Austrians, but he also committed more on the left than he really needed to.