By Jim Purky
Mollwitz has the potential to develop into a nice and juicy struggle between an army with superior cavalry, but poor infantry (Austrians) and one with excellent infantry, but truly rotten cavalry (Prussians). The battle itself is moderately large, but well within the means of most wargame clubs to represent every infantry and cavalry unit that was present on that day. For the Prussians, this would require 31 battalions of infantry, the equivalent of 6 cavalry regiments, and 20 gun castings. The Austrians would require 16 infantry battalions, 13 cavalry regiments and 7 gun castings. I would scale the gun models down even further, depending on how powerful artillery is in your favorite set of rules, but keep a ratio of three Prussian guns to every Austrian gun. A large portion of these might be small regimental guns. The following orders of battle will help you orgnize your forces for a tabletop relight of Mollwitz. The unit designations fellow the format used by Christopher Duffy in his various books about the Seven Years War, i.e. the name refers to the regimental colonel or Inhaber and the designations "IR" (infantry regiment), "CR" (cuirassier regiment), "DR" (dragoon regiment), and "HR" (hussar regiment) describe the type of unit involved. The information below is derived from Die Schlachten Friedrichs Des Grossen by Dorn and Engelman, as well as from Duffy's The Army of Frederick the Great and The Army of Maria Theresa. AUSTRIAN FORCES AT MOLLWITZLeft Wing Cavalry (General von Romer)
First line of Battle-Left Wing (Baron Goldy)
First Line of Battle-Right Wing (General Browne)
Second Line of Battle-Left Wing (General Kollowrat)
Second Line of Battle-Right Wing (General Kheul)
Right Wing Cavalry (General Berlichingen)
PRUSSIAN FORCESRight Wing Cavalry & Grenadiers (von Schulenburg)
First Line of Battle-Right Wing (von Marwitz)
First Line of Battle-Left Wing (von Kalkstein)
Left Wing Cavalry & Grenadiers (von Posadowsky)
Second Line-Right Wing (Prince Heinrich)
Second Line-Left Wing (von Bredow)
WARGAME MODIFICATIONSFor those who do not have all the above troops, Mollwitz can be played at half scale and perhaps produce an even better scenario. Reduce the Austrian forces to 8 btns. of infantry, 3 cuirassier regts., 3 dragoon regts., one hussar regt., and 3 medium 6 pound guns. Rate all infantry and artillery as average, hussars as average, and all other cavalry as "guard" i.e. the best morale rating in your rules. The Prussians can fight with one guard infantry btn, 5 elite grenadier btns., 8 elite musketeer btns, one line or average fusilier btn, average or line guns-6 heavy 12 pounders, and 3 militia grade cavalry units( 2 cuirassiers and I dragoon). The wide disperity in cavalry morale ratings should simulate the results at Mollwitz and give the Austrians some, albeit small, chance of breaking through the Prussian infantry formations. Make sure that your rules give a big firing modifier to small arms fire versus cavalry. Austrian and Prussian units should deploy as shown on historical maps. See any book by Christopher Duffy on the SYW for an example. Austrian artillery should start the game off board and may enter behind the village of Mollwitz on Turn One. A sneaky game judge may elect to allow the Austrians to divide Romer's command into two brigades, with one brigade deployed off board. On Turn One this brigade may enter the table on the flank of the Prussian right wing, within charge distance, to simulate Romer's charge into Schulenburg's flank. At half scale, most rule sets should allow you to refight Mollwitz within two or three hours. Battle of Mollwitz: April 10, 1741
The Action Begins The Austrian Cavalry Charge Momentum Swings to the Prussians Order of Battle and Wargaming Mollwitz Back to Seven Years War Asso. Journal Vol. VI No. 1 Table of Contents Back to Seven Years War Asso. Journal List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by James J. Mitchell This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. |