Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: Jemima Fawr on June 26, 2022, 10:35:13 AM
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We decided to do something special on the Jubilee Weekend. Normal people would have gone outside, enjoyed a barbecue and a few beers with family and friends... Being wargamers, we decided to eschew sunlight, shut ourselves indoors and refight the Battle of Leuthen.
The Scenario: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2022/06/19/the-battle-of-leuthen-5th-december-1757-a-scenario-for-tricorn/
The Game: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2022/06/26/the-battle-of-leuthen-5th-december-1757-the-refight/
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/4929/IO1huw.png)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/5602/s4iPpc.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3249/WTl3sU.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/2742/VKAWSA.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6851/wY73lX.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5999/I06lGD.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/8427/Ybcgg8.jpg)
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Great looking game! Great AAR! Thank you for sharing!
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Wow! That is very, very impressive. I had to barbecue with family in sunlight. You didn't miss much.
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Thanks fellas! :D
Yeah, that was my opinion as well. I got the "But it's a bank holiday!" comment, but I pointed out that we'd both have those days off anyway, as I work shifts and she now works part-time! >:(
I love living dangerously...
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An impressive arrangement.
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Nicely done
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JF - great game and lovely write up on the blog.
If I observe rightly, you had no roads? If this correct, was there a reason?
I only ask becasue I am generating a belief that roads are not generally of any tactical relevance on the field of battle. I'm more inclined these days to believe their real relevance is at the grand tactical/logistics level. So I was wondering if it was a deliberate choice as I assumed there would normally be one running through the village.
I could discuss further but don't want to hijack your thread.
Lovely photos as usual.
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Cheers fellas.
I decided to leave the roads off, partly as I wouldn't have enough to cover the table and partly as the terrain was covered in fresh snow and I assumed was frozen solid, so mobility wouldn't really be an issue off-road.
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I only ask becasue I am generating a belief that roads are not generally of any tactical relevance on the field of battle. I'm more inclined these days to believe their real relevance is at the grand tactical/logistics level.
Although I do use roads on my tables, I agree with your general conclusion. Most roads in this period were bad and served only to get wheeled transport from one place to another (no hedges, fords & bridges over streams, etc). Certainly massed troops rarely stacked up on them - you only need to look at Frederician approach marches in Duffy books to see that.
For civilians, usually travelling as individuals or in small groups, roads are vital of course: Given the propensity of humans to become confused and lost they serve to direct you from A-B with little planning or thought and that was, historically speaking, the single most important purpose of any road or track, and why sign posts are so important even today. Field officers, in charge of ordering a direction of march would find them useful in a similar manner but, to move parallel to a road going in the right direction would be good enough.
Just my two penneth on the interesting subject of roads in wargames. :D
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Wow! Now that was a battle! Well done, particularly if you like the Prussians...
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Thanks fellas!
Yes, I'd agree that while roads were certainly essential from a strategic standpoint during the period, they were tactically insignificant and are essentially just table-decoration.
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Well, that was some sight and enjoyed the AAR too. Thanks!
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So mich eye-candy. :P :o
That’s why you start collecting model soldiers not realizing you‘ll need the odd 40 years to be able to field such a force!
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Fantastic table, miniatures and AAR. :-*
Those poor Austrians got rolled. Not much they could have done. The Prussians at their finest.
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Thanks fellas!
Yeah, the Austrians were on a very sticky wicket right from the start and their appalling dice-rolling only made matters worse! lol
Re painting-time; it's not too horrific if you stick at it. I find that an objective (such as a planned game) helps the mojo. All of the Austrians and 90% of the Prussians were painted in just two years from 1995-1997 (the Austrians being painted by 'Osmoses' of this parish, whose amazing 6mm and 28mm Samurai can often be seen on the 'Adventures in the Far East' thread). I painted the Wurttembergers in November 2020 and the Bavarians (plus a few remaining Prussian units) in January 2021. I then added the last Prussian cuirassier regiment and some battalion guns for both sides last month.
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Every time I see Leuthen on the table, i remember my first intro to 7YW gaming about 30 years ago. I had not really paid much attention to the period and had only just started Napoleonic gaming but it was at a con and the guy setting up the game was having difficulty getting someone to play…so what the hell, he gave me the Prussians and took the Austrians and the troops looked pretty. He quickly explained the rules (which enabled me to grok that Prussian infantry could move and face a flank by 90 degree turns faster than Austrians.
We had a hidden ahistorical setup (i am not even sure it was a historical refight of a particular battle) using note cards with some dummies, and some guidance that i had to put cards down over the whole of the front. I put every dummy card allowed on the left flank, some weak troops in the center, and basically piled everything into the right flank. My Austrian opponent had a balanced line across the whole front, with a small central reserve. He, the Austrian player, was a bit off put when we revealed the cards and actually put troops on the table and saw what i had done…seemed i had, in my ignorance, done exactly as Fred the Great had done at Leuthen! The battle was not pretty as my forces just steamrollered down a hook onto his flank from the first turn on. My greatest miniatures moment ever and the host complimented me for channeling Freddy so well. He certainly hadn’t pulled punches.
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Superb! :)