Friday, June 23, 2017

Battle of Kolin, 260th Anniversary Edition - Prep

View behind Prussian right flank
The 260th Anniversary of the 18JUN1757 Battle of Kolin will be refought on Saturday, 24JUN2017.
Croats Garrison Krechor
The anniversary provides motivation to pull the 18mm SYW collection from its storage lockers and put it in action, once again, on the fields of Kolin.
Kolin Initial Deployments
Prussia in the fore, Austria on the heights
The game will be fought under the Honours of War rules.  With four participants, this should be an entertaining day on the field of battle.
Below is an Order of Battle for Saturday's contest.
Kolin OOB
To make the game manageable in an afternoon, the forces have been scaled down or bathtubbed a bit.  Each foot unit on the table represents about four battalions and each cavalry unit represents about a dozen squadrons.  Even with that, the game is rather large and deployments consume six feet of table space. 
The long, thin Austrian line
This is only the second or third time HoW has seen action on the table.  For two of the players, this will be their Baptism of Fire with the rules.  Now, to read the rules before the morrow.

Freddie will be on the attack to wrest control of the heights from Daun.
Can Frederick reverse history?
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36 comments:

  1. James FisherJune 23, 2017 at 8:16 PM

    Looking great Jonathan. It will be great to see the game unfold on your blog.
    (It just so happens that we have a game of Kolin planned for 8th July, using our interpretation of Zimmermann).

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 5:48 AM

      Thank you, James! I look forward to your rendition of Kolin using Zimmermann.

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  2. NatholeonJune 23, 2017 at 9:20 PM

    Looking forward to this Jonathan. Honours of War are an easy ruleset to pick up. In fact I think I'm going to go back to them as my preference for 7YW.

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 5:50 AM

      Nathan, Having only played a game or two of HoW, I await to see how the others take to it. It seems easy enough and no stand removal until the element is eliminated is my method of choice.

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  3. NormJune 23, 2017 at 10:31 PM

    Looks like you have a fab day ahead of you with some quality game time. I like the overall battle shot with everything labelled. Have a great day.

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 5:50 AM

      Even if I wind up on the losing end, a day spent with friends over the gaming table is a treat.

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  4. Matt CrumpJune 23, 2017 at 11:44 PM

    Good looking set up....a long way up those hills to attack !

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 5:51 AM

      Thanks, Matt! It is a long row to hoe for the Prussians in this one.

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  5. PhilJune 23, 2017 at 11:48 PM

    Great looking game, a beautiful garrison to attack!

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  6. Michal DwarfCryptJune 24, 2017 at 12:33 AM

    Really awesome looking game!

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  7. Der Alte FritzJune 24, 2017 at 5:00 AM

    Good looking game, hope the Prussians win.

    If it's not too late, a couple of suggestions: have your Colloredo division start the game on the March from the Austrian left towards Krechor; and secondly, place some sort of restriction to prevent the Austrian left wing from marching down Prez. hill to attack the Prussian right or else you will have a short game.

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 7:37 AM

      Thanks, Jim! I know where your sentiments lay, no doubt.

      As for your suggestions, notice that Colloredo is labeld as "(-)" on the deployment map. The bulk of his troops begin the battle off table and arrive on the far left flank. They will be making exactly such a maneuver as you describe to join Colloredo.

      As for the formation fronting the P. Hill, they are to hold their positions until "attacked" or until released on a later turn.

      Sometimes, you end up with a short game regardless of pre-game preparations. At least Freddie has an opportunity to make progress before the Austrian behemouth snaps into action.

      Daun will lose Army Morale Points if Krechor or the two hills are lost. Losing one or more of these three objectives (besides units lost) will put pressure on Daun.

      Appreciate your suggestions. Since I will likely be commanding the Austrian reinforcements, I hope Daun wins!

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  8. RodJune 24, 2017 at 5:50 AM

    Looks like it will be awesome Jonathan.

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  9. El GregoJune 24, 2017 at 6:32 AM

    A beautiful table! I have heard many good things about those rules, so it will be nice to see another report on them.

    Best of luck!

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 8:46 AM

      Thanks, Greg!

      If you have followed my gaming exploits for any length of time, you know that I need a good helping of luck to find success!

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  10. Scott MacPheeJune 24, 2017 at 5:00 PM

    They were a fun set of rules. Thanks for hosting! Your SYW collection is impressive!

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 8:31 PM

      Scott, glad you could get away for part of an afternoon! Appreciate the compliment on the SYW collection. Troops on the table today were not even 30% of the collection.

      You guys pick up new rules faster than anyone else. One turn through and all seemed to run smoothly. We should give them another go before too long of a lapse.

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  11. DartfrogJune 24, 2017 at 7:26 PM

    I had a great time as well. I am looking forward to trying these rules with another scenario.

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 8:37 PM

      Very good to see that you enjoyed the game! You were a double winner today. As I mentioned to Scott above, we should give them another run out before we forget what we learned today. I will look for another scenario.

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    2. DartfrogJune 27, 2017 at 8:34 PM

      Fortunately my opponent's massed artillery prevented him from maneuvering in front of it before the reinforcements arrived. I am thinking of giving the rules a try with my 6mm Napoleonics to see if they work well as fast play rules for the 1809 campaign.

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    3. Jonathan FreitagJune 28, 2017 at 7:01 AM

      I think this battle was won (or lost) with the Prussian deployments.

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  12. ChasseurJune 24, 2017 at 8:25 PM

    Looks beautiful! Good luck with the game :)

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 24, 2017 at 8:37 PM

      Thank you! The game was not as competitive as I would have liked...

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  13. Mark StrachanJune 24, 2017 at 10:58 PM

    Great lookinh table, Jonathan. I look forward to reading the report.

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 25, 2017 at 7:28 AM

      Thank you, Mark. I am backed up with Battle Reports, at present.

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  14. caveadsum1471June 25, 2017 at 3:03 AM

    Great looking table, I'm looking forward to the aar.
    Best Iain

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  15. Christopher(aka Axebreaker)June 25, 2017 at 4:35 AM

    Oh this looks to be good!

    Christopher

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 25, 2017 at 7:31 AM

      The nicely arrayed battlelines often do not maintain their elegance once the battle is engaged!

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  16. Ed MJune 25, 2017 at 2:37 PM

    Very cool. Looking forward to hearing how the rules worked for you.

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 25, 2017 at 3:49 PM

      HoW worked well. Very bloody but straightforward.

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  17. GonsalvoJune 29, 2017 at 6:42 PM

    Looks great, and good to the 18mm SYW figures on the tabletop; I eagerly await the dispatches!

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    1. Jonathan FreitagJune 29, 2017 at 7:22 PM

      Dispatches have been slow to arrive. We have had house guests all week.

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