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Friday, April 4, 2014

Battle of Kolin with Maurice, Pre-Game

I have not hosted a game at my place in a long time so the game room needed a bit of organizing before I could host the guys on Saturday (photo of cluttered table spared...).

Saturday's game plan is twofold: field my 18mm SYW collection on the battlefield for the first time and give the rules, Maurice a first try.  This combination allows me to check off two activities on my To-Do list effectively killing to birds with one stone.

Since Maurice contains the scenario for the Battle of Kolin, that is the battle I will stage.  Taking the rules' recommendation of bathtubbing the forces down to a manageable size, each infantry maneuver unit with represent about five battalions or about 3,000 men.  If we had more players than one per side, I might consider dropping the game scale and fielding more units to create a much larger battle.  For an initial game trial, these forces should do.  Given that, the forces are:

Austrian

  • 2 Grenz Irregular
  • 1 Grenadier Elite Regular
  • 8 Musketeer Trained Regular 
  • 1 Elite Cavalry
  • 6 Trained Cavalry (2 hussar, 2 dragoon, 2 cuirassier)
  • 5 Artillery 


Prussian

  • 2 Grenadier Elite Regular
  • 5 Musketeer Trained Regular 
  • 1 Elite Cavalry
  • 4 Trained Cavalry (2 hussar, 1 dragoon, 1 cuirassier)
  • 3 Artillery 
The battlefield setup will cover the Prussian initial attacks against the heights and be fought on the end of the game table.  Play area will only be a modest 6 feet by 4 feet.

Although outnumbered, the Prussians will enjoy an advantage in quality and maneuverability given the National Advantages of Oblique Order, Lethal Volley, Steady Lads, and Great Captain against the Austrians' only National Advantage of Skirmishers.

Scott will be commanding the Austrians while Kevin will be playing the part of Der Alte Fritz.  To give the fellas a sense of the ground they will be fighting over, following are a few snapshots of the initial dispositions.
Looking west, Austrians on heights
Looking south, Prussians in foreground
Austrian right wing, anchored in Oak Woods and Krzeczor
Prussian center with grenadiers in second line
Austrian center
Krzeczor Hill from behind Austrian lines
Austrian cavalry in reserve
Prussian cavalry on Prussian right
Austrian cavalry on Austrian left
Austrian battle line looking from left wing east
We will see what surprises tomorrow holds.

21 comments:

  1. Beautiful, terrain and minis!

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  2. Great stuff. Looking forward to the next installment!

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    1. Thanks, Michael. For sure, there will be a follow-up post game.

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  3. Replies
    1. Me too! Hope you had a chance to read through the rules.

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  4. Nice looking figures. Just bought Maurice last week, looking forward to the next post.

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    1. Thanks, Dan! This will be our first outing with Maurice so we are looking forward to seeing how it plays.

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  5. That's a lovely looking collection! I'm interested how this goes as I really enjoy Maurice!

    Christopher

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    1. Thank you, Christopher! We will likely make a few gaffs with the rules during play although Scott is a wiz at assimilating new rules. Hopefully, no game changing errors.

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  6. Very attractive table and troops. I look forward to the battle report!

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    1. Thanks, Peter! Hopefully, the guys will enjoy the game.

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  7. Wonderful eye candy covering a gorgeous table! This is what we paint for, right? ;-)

    I'd put my $ on the Prussians. Lethal volley is, well, very lethal. Curious to here what you all think.

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    1. Thanks, Monty! I wouldn't put your money down on the Prussians so quickly...

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    2. There's a reason why I'm not a gambler or bookie. Yea, this is one of them. ;-)

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  8. This looks great. I am really sorry I had to miss it.

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    1. It was a good game and the rules were very quick to pick up. Had you been able to attend, I would have proposed two commanders per side. As it was, I umpired while Kevin and Scott slugged it out.

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