Wollmitz Action --

The above photo is from the middle action of this past Sunday (June 15) quasi-refight of the 1741 Battle of Mollwitz as detailed in Charles Grant's "The War Game".

I say "quasi-refight" because we used smaller units (24-man battalions, 12-horse regiments) than Grant; and my "Tricorne Wars" rules instead of his . . . but we used a similar Order of Battle.

It should also be noted that one of the aspects of my "Tricorne Wars" rules is that each side dices to see which troops actually made it to the battlefield.

In the case of our "Battle of Wollmitz", each side suffered the loss of one light gun and a few stands of troops from various units.

We also used some of our own imagi-Nations -- the Principality of Saxe-Bearstein (in the Prussian position) and the Kingdom of Stagonia (as Austrians). The photo to the left shows a view from the Stagonian center looking out over the buildings of Wollmitz.

Furthermore, direct from Halifax on the eastern edge of Canada, Ross Macfarlane was kind enough to bring a battalion of his own troops, Sir Alexander Keith's Regiment, from Loch Sloy to aid Saxe-Bearstein in its campaign against Stagonia here on Vancouver Island (off the west coast of continental Canada).

Faced with such kindness, I gave Ross and his friend Tom (from Victoria) command of the Saxe-Bearstein/Loch Sloy troops.

Meanwhile Murdock had the bad luck to be handed control of the Stagonian C-in-C, General du Vile. He, perhaps suspecting that my sympathies lay with the opposing side, gave me command of Oppenkopf's brigade, guarding the far left flank of the army . . . with instructions to "Hold" and (later) to "Defend". Pete of Duchy of the North fame was given command of a Hussar brigade on the far right flank (see photo below).

Ross had overall command of the Saxe-Bearstein forces, including an infantry brigade on the far right (facing off against my troops) and a cavalry brigade in the middle of their position with his field artillery. On his left, Tom had two infantry brigades off-table . . . one of which entered in "brigade line" and the other in a number of columns behind them.

Perhaps it was this second brigade's strange manuevers (see the second photo above) that caused du Vile to order a massive cavalry attack (six of his seven regiments) with the hope of catching these troops in column.

Alas there were inevitable delays in overcoming the various brigades' inertia and by the time the assault reached the Saxe-Bearstein lines, they were trapped in a "killing zone" and were slaughtered almost to the last figure (note photo to the left showing them entering the trap).

General du Vile blamed the loss on an insufficient artillery train . . . but there is some doubt as to whether Koenig Maurice (the Vile) will accept this explanation.

Still, du Vile is a major noble in the Kingdom so the Koenig will find it hard to dismiss him . . . still he is unlikely to be given a major field command again anytime soon.

Anyway, except for Oppenkopft's brigade and one unit of cuirassier, virtually the entire Stagonian force was destroyed. While my forces were not ever committed to action, we tied up the entire Saxe-Bearstein right and denied them any part in their victory.

Nevertheless, as can be seen in this final photo, Ross and Tom seem to be pleased with the performance of the Saxe-Bearstein troops . . . as (secretly, of course) was I.

Finally, Murdock took lots of photos (which are generally better than mine) and will undoubtedly soon provide a fine account of the battle from his perspective. Keep an eye on his blog.


-- Jeff