Things I Did in 2022 - Tiny Prussians

I don’t think I’m going to do a full year in review blog post, but I will do a few posts to highlight some projects and directions that seemed fruitful to me.  3D printing was definitely the big thing of 2022 for me, and while it was often enormously frustrating, it also opened some doors, including the possibility of doing SYW battles in a big way.

In 2022 I agreed to help Henry Turner by printing and painting some figures from his recent 6mm/15mm Seven Years War Kickstarter, in return for a discount on the range of STL files.    Henry sent me some files, including these Prussian musketeers, which you see here.

 The figures print in strips of four, including one strip of musicians (seen above in the front left of the second base) and below on the far left, and a command strip.  I would say that the detailing is comparable to Baccus, and while these figures look lumpish and squat when scaled up, at 6mm they look fine.   Fairly easy to paint and they look good when based, using the same size bases I use for my 6mm Napoleonics and with my scenery.  There’s definitely a large battle project here if I want to pursue it.

 

If there’s any downside to 3D printing, it’s simply the time cost of cranking out figures - a print run of this size, assuming it all goes smoothly, is a day to set up and print, and another to clean and cure the figures.    It may be easier to just order some starter packs from Baccus, and then flesh them out with prints as I choose to.   At any rate, this project was a successful proof of concept.

Blessings to your printers and brushes!

MP+

 

Foundry Prussian Dragoons: Regt. No. 1 (Von Normann)

The next unit to be mustered into Prussian service is Dragoon Regiment No. 1 (Von Normann), the last of my brushwork for July.  This unit is made up of 13 Wargamer Foundry figures, including one based individually for small-scale shenanigans using rules such as Sharp Practice.

As is my method for 28mm SYW figures, these are painted using Foundry tri-tone paints on a black undercoat, in my own rough approximation of the Dallimore method.    The flag is from my go-to guy for SYW flags, Madrid’s Adolfo Ramos.  Four of these figures have been half-painted and lost in a box for the last 5 years, and rediscovering them recently got me serious about including them in a batch of Foundry figures languishing in my Pile O’Shame.   Some of them may actually be Russian dragoons, the labeling on the packages was unclear, but a dragoon is a dragoon, I think.  There are some tell-tale flaws that would tell the knowledgeable SYW game that these are slightly off - the Normann Dragoons had a red pompom on either side of their tricorn, which wasn’t cast with these models, and so I decided to leave well-enough alone.

Otherwise they are lovely figures.  I like how the saddle and equipment is cast on the rider, though occasionally there’s not a good fit between the rider and the horse.

I’ve been very intentional about putting my all into painting my Seven Years War figures.  With other periods, and certainly with other scales, the three foot rule of good enough on the wargames table is fine, and there was a useful discussion of this rule on the most recent Yorkshire Gamer podcast.   However, I want the SYW to be my showcase period, the elaborate uniforms and the colours practically demand maximum effort and as much talent as my aging hands and eyes can muster.  In fact, I went so far on Twitter recently as saying that unit for unit, the SYW is more aesthetically pleasing than Napoleonics in the larger scales.    Feel free to report me to the Heresy Police.  :)

 Here’s a madcap, hell for leather fellow, his tricorn long since lost in the charge and just wearing his protective harness, tearing around looking for someone to bash.  If he survives, I’m sure he’ll attract Frederick’s attention for his bravery and for the shapeliness of his calves.  I’m currently reading Tim Blanning’s biography of DAF, and he sends a lot of time detailing Frederick’s homoerotic tastes, whereas the late Dennis Showalter (bless him) merely mentions in passing that DAF was a bit grumpy towards women. 

With this project done, a unit of Victrix Early Imperial Roman cavalry has thundered onto my painting desk and is getting a more rapid brush treatment.   I hope to have some WIP pics of them here shortly.   What’s your current WIP?

Cheers and blessings to your brushes!  MP+

Seven Years War Prussian Mounted Command

It’s another Alte Fritz!

Continuing with brushwork completed in July, here’s a trio of 28mm mounted Prussian Seven Years War generals from Wargamer Foundry.   The chap in the centre of course, is DAF, though I’m not terribly happy with the degree of facial definition on the figure.  The foot version from Front Rank in my last post is better, in my estimation

On the other hand, I’m quite happy with the finished faces on the two accompanying officers.

Earlier this year I treated myself to the Foundry Horses Paint Set.   I wanted to up my game painting horses, not my favourite task, really, and decided that it would be a good incentive for me.  I’m reasonably pleased with the results.  When I added the two rather greyish highlight tones to the black horse on the right, I wasn’t at all confident with it, but here it looks fine to me.

Several of you were kind enough to rise to the challenge in my last post and take a guess at which map I used as the inspiration for the map on the 3D table I printed for Front Rank Freddie.   No, it’s not the classic Diplomacy map, though that’s a fine guess.  It’s actually the map from the award-winning game Friedrich (Histogames, 2006) which is a very clever and elegant design for 3-4 players using a map that cries out to be used as a miniature wargames campaign setting.   

 Thanks for looking, and for the comments and encouragement.     In my next post, I’ll finish off showing July’s brushwork and some more SYW Prussians for my slowly growing army.  

Cheers and blessings to your brushes,  

MP+

 

Der Alte Fritz! SYW Prussian Command Vignette

Hello dear friends and readers:

July was a busy month with travel and family commitments, and precious little blogging, but a lot of Seven Years War brushwork to show you in this and the next few posts.

Here’s a Prussian command figure, Der Alte Fritz himself!  The figure is by Front Rank, one of a four casting foot command set.  Black undercoat, painted using the Foundry tri-tone paints and system.

I wanted Fritz to have a table as a focus for the command group vignette, and found an STL file from Vae Victis called The Cartographer’s Table which of all the 3D tables I found was the most interesting.

The book (Voltaire, perhaps?), the map and the compass, all point to the image of Frederick as the Philosopher Soldier King.

The sharp-eyed and sharp-witted among you may recognize the map unfolded on the table.   If you recognize it, leave a comment (hint, think of a related board game).

The staff assemble to hear Frederick’s complicated plan (another frontal attack with horrendous casualties?  a flank mark starting hours before dawn through unreconnoitred terrain?  Do tell, Your Majesty).

 

Something about the expression and face on the chap in the blue cape reminds me of Derek Fowld’s character on Yes, Minister.

Cheers and thanks for looking, more Prussians coming soon!

MP+

Getting to Grip with Honours of War

Hello friends:

As I’ve said here recently, the SYW painting muse has captured my attention lately, and her sister muse of SYW gaming paid a visit recently.    As I’ve been slowly painting Prussians and rebasing a rather old collection of Russians, I’ve been slowly getting to know Keith Flint’s Honours of War SYW rules, published a few years ago by Osprey.

SYW was one of my early gaming loves, and back in the day the group I hung out with had two favourite rules.  The grognards all liked Phil Barker’s Wargamer Rules 1685-1845 (WRG), while the young turks preferred Tod Kershner’s Warfare in the Age of Reason rules (Emperor’s Press).  Both were hugely influential rules in their day, and I suspect most people would point to Black Powder as their most prominent heir and successor.  I confess I’ve only played BP once and didn’t find it terribly compelling, but can’t offer a fair and comprehensive opinion.

I had been following Keith Flint’s wargames blog for some years and so was tracking his own SYW rules and even received a playtest copy, though at the time my life was complex and my gaming time quite limited, so I put it aside,   I was also discouraged by the fact that the National Characteristics didn’t include the Ottomans, as for some reason I’d found myself with a Turkish horse and musket army.  

Recently I’ve been rebasing my Russian SYW troops from their WRG-era bases and putting everything on standard size bases, since most rules these days seem basing agnostic and I can’t be bothered cutting fancy and precise bases for skirmishers vs heavy cavalry.   I sound like a grumpy old git, but there you go.   Feeling that I’d made enough progress to get some troops on the table, I divided my Russians into two forces, each of two very small brigades, just to push some figures around and get a feel for the rules.

Clearly wanting to modernize their thinking, the Russian army stages a mock battle on the drill fields outside Moscow.   Both sides have a brigade of two horse units, and both have a brigade with two batteries, a light infantry regiment, and a line regiment.  All units are rated as Standard and all commanders are rated as Dependable, just to make the test drive easier.

In some of the reviews I’ve read, people don’t like the initiative and command and control,system, and others like it.  I'm in the latter camp.  I liked the uncertainty of which brigade gets to move first, which breaks up the chess-like feel that SYW games sometimes have.   I also liked the fact that an average or good commander might get two moves in a turn, vs another brigade’s none, which introduces a very fluid feel.   

As others have noted, the game uses the same results table for Fire and Melee combat, which combined with fairly few factors makes it a quick study.   Units are rated as Inferior, Standard, or Superior, depending on their troop type and national characteristics.   Units suffer degraded performance once they take thee hits from shooting or melee, must retreat at four hits, and are removed from the table at five hits. Here hussars (Front Rank) and my newly painted cuirassiers (Foundry), each already with two hits, collide, each deals three hits, and both units are done.   It’s all quite bloody and fast.  I might have rated the hussars as Inferior and the Cuirassiers as Superior, just to make it more interesting.

You'll see a bit of a WRG hangover in these bases, as the hussars on the left are based on larger bases to depict light cavalry, while the figures on the right are on the generic 40mm square base that I now use for all my stands.

Another feature about the Fire and Melee table is that it uses average dice.  I had to beg some off a kind friend, as I'm not mentally agile enough to adjust the dice AND the modifiers in my head.  As my friend warned, don't let those average dice get mixed in with your regular d6 dice or you could have poor luck rolling sixes when you need them!

What keeps units on the table is their ability to rally if not closely threatened by enemy units, and especially if close to their Commanding General (a clever mechanic is that each turn players can relocate their Commanding General, which can aid a key part of the battle by increasing a brigadier's performance and helping units in the Rally Phase at the end of each turn.  Units with four hits must retire from the fight and reform, which takes time, provided that they are protected by fresh units, which is another nice mechanic.

The line regiment on the right in this photo will lose the fight because it’s being whittled down by one of the guns to the left and by the fire of the light infantry.   As some players have noted, light infantry can seem unduly powerful in this game, unless one remembers that they should usually be fielded as small units and as Inferior troops, so they shouldn’t be left in the open.   Here I had meant to retire the lights through the line infantry on the left, but at the key moment discovered the rule preventing voluntary interpenetration of units if they begin their move within 20cm of an enemy unit.   This is why we train, to learn things like this.

Luigi the Catbeast of Muscovy declares ENDEX and all troops return to barracks for extra vodka while their officers must attend a long and tedious AAR conducted by the Observer/Controller staff.

People have been writing reviews about HoW for a few years now so I have little to add that’s new.  Quick final thoughts:

- Simple, highly playable rules that still give a convincing SYW feel.

- I like the Command and Control and Initiative Rules, very clever and they give a very fluid feel that would keep players on their toes.

- As others have noted, it’s a game that I think is best played with large numbers of units.  With only 6 units a side, as I found, it’s over very quickly and the tactical choices are fairly limited.   I think the simplicity of these rules makes them a good choice for larger battles.    I’m starting to regret my choice of 28mm for this period, but I’m too far in to go back on that decision.

- These rules are well supported by the author and have their own forum, which isn’t true of all the Osprey blue series rules titles I’ve seen.

I’m pretty sure I’ll have more to say about these rules in posts to come as I get more units on the table.  

Blessings to your dice rolls!

MP+

 

New Troopers for the Czar: Foundry SYW Russian Cuirassiers

There was much excitement here last week as a small package from Madrid arrived in my post box.   I’ve become a tiresome convert to Adolfo Ramos’ flags, I think he’s simply the best in the business, and his presentation flags mounted on poles with the tasselly things are the bees knees, if you don’t mind paying a little more and waiting a little longer.  This is my third order from Adolfo and I’m a huge fan.

All of these are for SYW units in the painting queue, starting with the newly finished Kievsky Regiment of Cuirassiers.    Seeing as the standard bearer is cast holding the standard pole, I ordered the 25 and 15mm versions to be cautious, and was pleased that I did so, for it was the 15mm flag that fit.

 A warm spring day on the parade field as the newly raised unit is mustered into service under the watchful eyes of several generals.

 Father Piotr Mikhailovich blesses the banners and prays that they will fight well for their God and for their Czar.  The Orthodox priest is a figure painted and given to me years back by my friend and podcast partner James Manto.

 “May God bless you with good dice rolls!"

 The regiment passes in review.   These are Foundry figures, I purchased six of them years ago in a bring and buy, and recently bought another six to make up the unit when the SYW bug returned.     I think Foundry SYW figures are even better than Front Rank for the detail and animation of the faces.

 

This regiment gives my Russian army some badly needed hitting power in its cavalry arm.  Now back to the Prussians who have several regiments and a battery in the queue, along with impatient Alte Fritz and his staff! 

Thanks for looking.  Blessings to your brushes!

MP+

SYW Prussians Finished: Foundry Musketer Regiment 2

It’s ben a while since I finished a complete unit, but today I commissioned this unit into service, Frederick the Great’s Muskteer Regiment 2 (Kanitz), 31 28mm castings from Foundry.   I’ve given them a level of attention that I don’t usually pour into my large batch painting, and I’m reasonably pleased with the result.

These first two photos tuned out quite well, thanks to a trick I learned while listening to Ken Reilly of the Yarkshire Gamer podcast interview Australian painter and game Stephen Wold (@oldwargamer on Twitter).  Stephen mentioned that one of his secrets was using a laser printer to create a background, some photo of a sky cloudscape found on the web, and put it at the back of a lightbox alone with some basic terrain like a fence or hedge.  I stole this idea totally, using a backdrop of hills and clouds, and then scattering tons of my basic flocking mix around the figures.  A bit of styrofoam created an elevation for some contrast in the heights of the figures.   Stephen said that this is a simple trick to make ordinary figures jump out at the viewer, and my goodness, it worked a treat!

 Of course, the old saying is faces, bases, and flags.  Not sure about the bases and the faces, but for the flags I like to pay for the best, and the best I know of are done by Adolfo Ramos in Spain.  For the SYW period, I like to put six figures on a base, to capture the sense of close-packed ranks that you see in period paintings and woodcuts.

For uniform guides, I used the excellent Kronoskaf website and its entry on this regiment as well as Haythornthwaite and Fosten’s Osprey book, Frederick the Great’s Army (2), Infantry.  The regiment was first raised in 1655 and had significant battle honours during the SYW, including Gross-Jagersdorf and Kundesdorf.

This was my first unit to be done consistently using the Foundry paint system.  Honestly, there are times when I wondered if i was wasting my time trying to achieve their desired effect on the wood stock of the muskets, the gun metal of the musket barrels, or the black leather of the cartridge boxes.   I am happier with the three tone red on the cuffs and turn backs, and the Foundry flesh tones are enjoyable to work with, though next time I’ll work harder on the eyes, which I think as done here detract from the overall look of these figures.

 

 I had quite a lot of fun painting this senior NCM and basing him singly as the RSM, in case I want to use these figures in a Sharp Practice game.

The Seven Year War was one of the first periods that I started wargaming in, and still appeals.  While I’ve decided to do Napoleonics in 6mm, 28mm seems like the scale I want to work in for this period.    I have some Foundry Russian cuirassier on my workbench, and then a battery of Front Rank Prussian guns to do next.

Cheers and thanks for looking.   Blessings to your brushes!

MP+

An Unexpected Kindness: The Sudden Descent of Black Kinch's Legion

There are moments when the kindness and goodness of people leaves me overwhelmed, ridiculously happy, and renewed in my faith in humanity.  

I’ve mentioned here before that Madame Padre and I have some turbulence ahead of us.   Mme. had recent surgery which revealed cancer ( difficult phrase to type), and we are currently waiting for an appointment with an oncologist to conduct an assessment and determine a plan of attack.  We are fortunate in that our impending posting and move (just 15 days now until we take possession of our new house, and 20 until our stuff arrives there) will place us closer to Toronto and its excellent hospitals, so Kay will get the care she needs.  I should say that her spirit is nothing short of indomitable, and she inspires me continuously.

On Friday a mysterious package (the best kind, really) arrived on our doorstep, from Mr. and Mrs. Kinch in Dublin, Ireland.   I suspect they would prefer this to go unacknowledged, but it was a very thoughtful gift of some books on Irish gardens and flowers to solace Mme. during the long months ahead.  These from Mrs. Kinch, and a very kind gift indeed.

Also enclosed were these splendid 28mm figures from CK, who tells me he needs to divest himself of them lest he “have to start a whole 28mm collection”.   Well, I am happy to help him avoid that fate, even if it means opening up my home to “this scabrous pack of dastardly mercenaries”.

I am certainly no expert, but what appear to be Tarleton helmets gives them the look of dismounted dragoons, possibly from the American Wars.  They are splendidly done.

 

The Black Kinch leading his men forward.  I am told that “The history of ‘Black Kinch’, as he was known, is a catalogue of horror, republicanism, bigamy, murder, licentiousness and general misbehaviour.  He was most recently employed by the American rebels, but will take his dollars where he can."

I’m sure that his crimes are such that BK would like to put some distance between himself and the scenes of his crimes.   Fortunately I have a 28mm 18th century Russian army that is recruiting light infantry to seize the Crimea from the Tatar and Ottoman hordes.   Perhaps a fat sack of rubles and the promise of Ottoman plunder will keep his rogues and rascals by his side.   As an added bonus, the green uniforms will fit in well.  Here Captain Smironov and Father Mikhail swear Black Kinch’s Legion into the Czar’s service.

I should get some more of these chaps, if I can find out who manufactures them.  It would be nice to have a whole unit - I can imagine Black Kinch attracting riffraff from Muscovy, thugs from Belgrade, dock sweepings from Naples and the very worst kind of Cossacks to his ranks - provided of course that they are suitably uniformed.  A very kind and welcome gift, so thank you so much, dear Kinches.   I am sure I will have stirring tales of BK on the Steppes to regale you with in the months to come.

MP+

Kitten On The Keys, A Weekend Scrap, And Some Dragoon Goodness

It’s been rather hard to get any blogging (or painting, or writing, or housework, or …) done lately, thanks to our newest family member, Luigi, who is the most alpha-kitten I’ve ever met.  No shrinking violet, he wants your attention NOW, whatever you’re doing.

Saturday evening I did manage to get over to my friend James’ place for an evening scrap.  His friend Patrick kindly put on a very interesting interwar game between rival Chinese warlords, the Zhilli and the Fantien as I recall.  Since the Zhilli were attacking and had lots of men, I volunteered to lead them to glory.  Patrick used Paul Eaglestone’s World Aflame inter war rules, published by Osprey (now Bloomsbury, I guess).  I found these rules quick to learn, simple and playable.  Patrick added some chrome in the form of random events at the start of each turn - I think the rules for keeping track of ammunition and ammo resupply may have been his as well.   The attacker’s objective was to capture an enemy aerodrome and its three precious aircraft and western round eyes pilots.  My plan was to throw as many men as possible against the least anchored end of the enemy line and get in with the bayonet before they could shred me.  The plan worked surprisingly well, and led me to wonder if the rules underestimate the lethality of infantry weapons, especially the two HMGs that James used to enfilade me?   Or maybe his die rolling just sucked.

Here my infantry swarm the enemy trenches and put them to the cold steel.  Figures are all painted by Patrick, a mix of 20mm plastics from various companies with some head swaps.  They looked quite convincing from the nothing I know about interwar Chinese warlord armies.  Some of the fellows lying down at the top end of the brown swarm are from my unfortunate “bullet magnet” platoon whose job was to soak up the fire and let the other lads get stuck in.  Hard duty, but they did their job.  The trenches are also scratch built by Patrick and look rather good.

My glorious infantry advance across the bodies of James’ two reserve platoons, which were caught in the open by my mortars and shredded rather badly.  I quite like the red fish tank ornament across the road.  In the foreground is half of my armour support, an armoured car whose crew went a bit wobbly on me at first but got their act together eventually.  My other tank, a Renault, was driven off by a field gun whose crew were subsequently bayonetted after they refused to turn their coats, despite my generous offer of a dental plan (you join us and we don’t pull out your teeth with rusty pliers).  In the background is a CFB Suffield coffee mug doubling as an aerodrome water tank.  At this point James conceded, and his western pilots at the aerodrome happily agreed to fly for the Zhilli Air Force … they didn’t bally care who they dropped bombs on, as long as they got gold, girls, and white silk scarves.  Woof!

 Changing the subject, here are the ten Front Rank SYW Russian dragoons I finished painting last week.  Participants in the Analogue Painting Challenge will already have seen them.  Here they are, borrowing their battlefield of MacGillicuddy’s Corners (still ongoing) for their class portrait.

I bought about five pounds (weight, not currency) of unpainted SYW Russian cavalry figures off a fellow just before Christmas, including these ten Front Rank dragoons.  Most of the figures, as far as I can tell, are Front Rank,  which is fortunate for me as most of my Russian infantry are Front Rank as well.   To my mind FR is the gold standard for the period - I love the Foundry 28mm SYW Russians and the Crusader range looks interesting, but FR are big, burly sculpts with just a touch of Old School about the poses.   The only problem is that the range hasn’t been added to since I started collecting these figures in the 1990s.

 Sadly the figures I purchased did not include any command figures so I will have to remedy that at some point.  They’ll do for now.   I shall probably go with FR for the command figures, just to give this unit a uniform look.   I would like to get some of the Foundry dismounted Russian dragoons (the madness never ends)for skirmish gaming using the TFL Sharpe Practice rules, but that’s a longer-term project.  The decision to sculpt these fellows hiding their muskets rather than swords is interesting, and suggests that they are about to dismount - riding around with a musket in your hand doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless you’re going to use it as a lance.  And why do the muskets have fixed bayonets?

In the absence of a command stand, Sgt. Kropotkin will lead them out on patrol.

There’s something almost Zen-like about painting the same figure in the same uniform over and over again.  I found I had to parcel it out over time - red turn backs one night, buff cross belts the next, and so forth.  To speed the process, since I am a slow painter, I decided on only three basic colour schemes for the horses, and gave them all black tails and manes.  I tried to compensate by washing the first coat with Army Painter Strong Tone and then wet blending two lighter shades, so I am pleased with the quality of the horses, even if they lack variety.

It helped my productivity too that the Russian Dragoon wears a simple uniform, no elaborate shabraques or lace and piping.  However, the cornflower blue coat with red trim gives a very bright and pleasing look.
 

Powdered wigs or not?  I decided that powder might be all well and good for those fops in the Horse Grenadiers and Gardes aux Chevaux, but not for these hard working troopers out on the fringes of Mother Russia.  They all got their own hair colour, but curiously I decided to paint the queues in black.  Not sure what I was thinking there.

These fellows give my SYW Russians some badly needed cavalry capability.  The same lot I purchased also includes Horse Grenadiers, so I may try to get them done before the Challenge is over.

Thanks for looking.  Blessings to your brushes and die rolls!

These figures bring my 2015 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 3; Mounted Figures: 10

20mm 

15mm: Armour/Vehicles: 5

6mm:

Kilometres Run: 66

Thesis Pages Written:  72

Saturday Painting Desk

I was hoping to have my 28mm Front Rank Russian SYW Dragoons finished last week and entered in the Painting Challenge on Thursday (my day to enter work in the Challenge).  So close, but the thesis claimed much of my time this week.  Hoping to have them off the sticks and onto bases tonight.

I hope your own work is going well.

Blessings to your brushes!

MP

Saturday Painting Desk

28mm Front Rank Seven Years War Russian dragoons.  These chaps have been camped on the painting desk for a few weeks now.  Hoping to have them done by early next week.



Cheers and thanks for looking.
Blessings to your brushes,
MP

Tuesday Boardgame: Leuthen by Victory Point Games

 

In my last post here, I said I was celebrating the anniversary of Frederick the Great’s victory over the Austrians at Leuthen.  I’ve had a chance to play it through once now, and it’s a terrific game, though I suspect it is far more entertaining as a two player game than when played solitaire, and I’ll come back to that in a minute.

Leuthen is a design from Victory Point Games, a company that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know in the last few years.  They have an eclectic range of games, made to very high graphic and material standards.   One of the things I like about VPG are their jigsaw cut hard mounted maps and their thick, laser-cut, beautifully printed counters, so just setting up and playing a VPG game is very satisfying visual and physical experience.  For Leuthen they recruited Frank Chadwick, a legendary game designer associated with one of my favourite old school companies, Games Designers Workshop who has won the Charles Roberts award three times.  I didn’t know until now that he is also a best-selling SF writer, with a  series of novels set in his Space 1889 universe.

The box art describes Leuthen as a game for ages 13 and up, with a complexity rating of 3 out of nine and a solitaire suitability of 5 out of 9 (which I think is generously high), and suggests that the game can be played in 40 minutes.  Certainly it could be explained and played to a conclusion in two hours, I think.

One of the design problems for a war-game of Leuthen is that Frederick’s Prussians were able to surprise a larger but strung out Austrian army and defeat it in detail.  Chadwick solves that problem with two sided counters, which hide a unit’s actual strength and identity until it comes into contact with an enemy unit.   Also in the mix is a large number of Dummy counters for the Prussians, and a few for the Austrians.  The Austrian player sets up first, his units all face down (you can see below that the yellow Austrian counters with the eagle and bayonets are not yet revealed).  The Prussian then sets up his force, also with his units face down. so the Austrian player doesn’t know where the actual weight of the attack is coming from.  The Prussian player moves first and has just six turns to win.  I don’t know a lot about the OOBs of the two armies, but my sense is that the game is set at the brigade level, so if a player years to recreate the exploits of the Potsdamer Grenadiers, he will likely be disappointed.

 I tried to make things interesting by setting up the Austrians somewhat randomly, putting the units on the map as required according to their three corps groupings, but mixing up the dummies within each corps and placing them randomly.  That didn’t work so well, as I ended up with two Austrian dummy counters holding the key town hex of Leuthen, so I quickly did some redistribution.   I put all the Prussian counters facing uo, using the dummy counters when I could to bump into the hidden Austrian counters and reveal them.

 My strategy was to throw most of the Prussian weight at Leuthen and try to break the Austrian centre.   That worked fairly well.  While they are fewer than the Austrians, the Prussian units tend to have slightly higher combat and morale ratings, and more organic artillery, so they are more combat capable and rout less easily than the Austrians do.  The game uses a fairly standard ZOC system, and units have to pay a movement point to change facing at a rate of one movement point per hex side.  Since most units have a movement allowance of two, that forces you to think hard about facing, and to try as much as you can to protect a unit’s vulnerable flanks and rear.  For a fairly simply game, it does a good job of simulating the linear style of 18th century warfare.

I liked the use of cards to add some variety and nuance to the game.  The Prussian player gets to hold a hand of three cards, and the Austrian gets a hand of two.  The effect is somewhat reminiscent of the Command and Colours system.  Here I used the “Mollendorf Finds A Way” card to allow the Prussian infantry to ignore the defensive terrain combat bonus of the Leuthen town hex, which allowed the Prussians to capture it.

This photo isn’t very clear, but it does point to a key part of the game mechanics that is very clever.  Units are not eliminated or step reduced in combat, but if they are forced to retreat, depending on how bad the combat odds are, and what’s rolled, there is a chance they rout,  They can be rallied from rout, but every time that happens, the unit’s parent corps loses a morale point and the unit itself takes a permanent shaken counter.  So in this picture, the Austrian unit has a -1 to its combat value (on the left of the counter) and a -1to its morale (the number in yellow in the centre).  Here it’s being attacked by two Prussian units which is not good.

Here’s an example of how morale works at the corps level.  As the Prussians break through, more and more of the Austrian units are getting Shaken.  Here the Forgach unit of Nadasdy’s corps is shaken and on the edge of the map, with no where left to retreat.  If it retreats again, it is eliminated.  Beside it is another unit belong to Nadasdy’s corps, also shaken.  The Prussian Moritz unit is attacking Forgach.

The Prussian attack is successful and the Forgach unit cannot retreat off the map without being eliminated.  Each retreat or elimination drops the corps’ morale by one point, and Nadasdy’s corps’ morale now hits zero, which means his corps us demoralized.  

Corps demoralization is especially bad news, since all shaken units in a demoralized corps are removed from play.  Thus, in the above example, the Austrian Spiznasz infantry unit, also of Nadasdy’s corps, was shaken, and so it is also removed as are any other shaken units in that corps.  Any of Nadasdy’s units where are still steady now get a Shaken marker.   And it gets worse.  When a corps is shaken, the morale level of every other corps in that army is reduced by one, and if that takes a corps’ morale to zero, it too is demoralized, so the demoralization of one corps can cause a cascade event which can cause an army to unravel.

That is essentially what happened in my game, since the demoralization of Nadasdy’s corps caused the demoralization of Colleredo’s corps, and since a side loses when the majority of its corps are demoralized, with two of the three Austrian corps now pooched, that was a Prussian victory.

One thing you won’t find in the game is any command and control or unit activation rules. Chadwick’s designer notes argue that his approach instead is to give units low movement allowances, so once they are committed to combat, they are essentially committed until one side or another breaks, and so morale becomes a key part of the game system.

There aren’t a lot of paper and counter games of SYW battles, and this one is definitely worth getting at for fans of the period.  I think you’ll like the look and feel of the game, and you’ll find the challenges of hidden deployment and the fairly horrific consequences of corps demoralization to be interesting challenges to overcome.   The challenge for the Prussian player is to mass his small but superior force to maul the Austrians, while the Austrian player will want to husband his forces and commit then where he sees a chance to gang up on Prussian units.  Committing to low-odds counterattacks is a strategy of disaster for the Austrian.

The game’s rulebook promises that it is #1 in a series called Drums and Muskets, so let us hope there are more games in this series.

Blessings to your die rolls!  MP+