Battle of Mollwitz

    Last night I put my new troops into battle.I used the HOLD THE LINE scenario; Mollwitz. For movement I used H.T.L. command points. Each army is given Command Action Points. To this the results of a dice rolls is added to it. The dice roll can add between 1 and 3 APs to the army's AP. In this game the Prussians start out with 3 APs, the Austrian 2 APs. For rules I used the BATTLE CRY variant for AWI Battles I have.

The Austrians are at the top of the board, the Prussian at the bottom. One problem using a different game board is that originally I was going to use my BATTLELORE board. However, I didn't have three building pieces for the town of Mollwitz. I took out my BATTLE CRY game, which had three building tiles but I was short three straight water tiles!

 The scenario description tells how the Austrian general Neipperg started the battle by attacking Frederick's flank with his cavalry. At first I wasn't going to read the description of the battle and just fight it my way. However, after reading it, the cavalry attack sounded like a good way to get the game going.  It was a good start for the Austrians; they wiped out one Prussian dragoon unit, and forced back both the other dragoon unit and an infantry unit, causing heavy casualties. The Austrian artillery hits a grenadier unit, costing one grenadier.

However, the Prussian counter attack in its turn eliminates one Austrian dragoon unit and kills General Romer, who was leading the charge. The loss of the unit count towards 1 Victory Point, the death of the General counts as another VP. The first side to lose 5 VPs loses the battle.

The Austrian cavalry eliminates the last of the Prussian dragoons and push back another infantry unit. The Austrian artillery continues to hit the grenadiers.

The Prussian right finally eliminates the pesky dragoons. The Prussian artillery  forces an infantry unit to retreat.

The Prussian right hits the Austrian leftmost unit hard causing 3/4 casualties. The Prussian artillery causes another infantry unit to retreat.

Austrian artillery counter fire forces one Prussian battery back.

The Austrians rally and push forward. One of the Prussian batteries lose 50% .

The Prussians push the Austrians back. The leftmost Austrian infantry unit is eliminated. The Austrians are down 4 VPs, the Prussians 2 VPs.

The Austrians won't give up and inflect 50% casualties on the left most Prussian grenadier unit.

At this point the Prussians make a big mistake. The grenadiers in the center move and blocks the line of fire on one of their batteries. The battery then advances, hoping for a clear field of fire next move.

At this point, the Austrians have some bad dice rolls. In the center one Austrian infantry fires on a Prussian grenadier unit. He rolls two "artillery"and one "crossed swords". With these rules crossed swords are ignored unless there's a general, or light infantry are firing. Meanwhile, another Austrian unit, who could either fire on the same grenadiers or the artillery, chooses the artillery, hoping for an easy VP. As can be seen, they roll two "infantry"and one "crossed swords"! If only they  attacked the grenadiers, they would have another VP.

The grenadiers in the center eliminate the Austrian to their front. The Austrians have lost 5 VPs  and lose the battle.


 The game was enjoyable. It played out in about a hour, including taking the pictures. With the limited time I have, these  scenarios will work out well. And they could be used for other periods with some work.