Chotusitz 1742. An old favourite

There are some battles that I go back to time and time again. One such is Chotusitz 1742. It was a contest between the Austrians and the Prussians during the Austrian War of Succession. For once, the battle starts with the Austrians in a better tactical position and on the attack. Frederick has been caught with a divided force and is racing to bring reinforcements to Chotusitz before Leopold's troops, already deployed there, are crushed.

Anyway, because family commitments will not allow more sociable gaming for the next two weeks or so, this time I'm going to fight this battle solo. I've been itching to get my Austrians into action for ages and I can use some of my new hills. 

Here is my set up for the battle, and no doubt an 'after action battle report' will follow. I've scaled it down slightly (to about four fifths of the units present) so that it fits snugly onto a 12 x 6. I probably need to add some more Austrian Grenzers and cavalry to get it better proportioned, and these are on my painting list.

The initial deployments. The Brezlenka stream and the boggy ground surrounding it make a very good 'hard' eastern table edge - it is on table but wouldn't all quite fit into the shot.

Waldow's cavalry command is emerging from the village of Chotusitz. I plan on starting the game with the Prussians on a turned, as yet unused, cavalry move in the open card so that Waldow can get this cavalry through the village and into the attack.

Leopold's infantry, vastly outnumbered and exhausted from force marching to link with Frederick has scrambled into a position just west of Chotusitz.

Frederick's command in its eventual historical arrival position and formation. 

I'm currently thinking about the best scenario options for this command group's arrival.

The battery deployed on the slight rise in front of Frederick's command belongs to Leopold.

Buddenbrock's Prussian cavalry deployed south of Cirkwitz Pond.

Facing Buddenbrock, at the top of a low ridge, is the bulk of the Austrian cavalry under Bitthyanyi. They are supported by some Grenzer.

All the high ground around Chotusitz is nothing more than a series of very low, gently sloping ridge lines. They will have no effect on movement. 

The Austrian infantry with supporting cavalry to their right face Chotusitz over some very flat ground.

I visited this battlefield several years ago. I don't recommend it unless you have lots of time to spare and are just tagging it to a visit to Kolin (Kolin is not too far away; time is much better spent there IMHO). Chotusitz is quite boringly flat fields (with few good vantage points) and has a military base and airfield on the ground the Austrian infantry had to cross - which further restricts its accessibility and interest.

On Google Earth, Chotusitz is roughly 49 56 52.34 N, 15 23 37.24 E. You can get a good idea of the terrain by looking at the road side views - pretty flat, lots of isolated trees and stuff; field boundaries were probably simple shallow ditches.

The Austrians look rather impressive when lined up. 

Anyway, I'll probably start re-fighting this battle early next week; with a few moves each evening until it's finished.

When it's done I'll probably write up the scenario properly and run it again for Peter and Graham to have a crack at. By then I will have added a few more Grenzer units and a couple more units of Austrian cavalry.

On the road again - this time to Chotusitz

Well the Ilkley Lads are out and about again this weekend. This time we don't have very far to travel. We are going to Fiasco in Leeds. 

My intention was to re-run the Lobositz game that won joint first for best demo at Derby earlier this year. Unfortunately the big car has chosen to go on holiday this week so I've had to come up with something less hilly - with less sticky-uppy terrain all round - so that it will fit into smaller transport. 

I've chosen to do an old favourite, the Battle of Chotusitz 1742. We are advertised (at Fiasco), as doing a Seven Years War (1756 -1763) battle, and Chotusitz is, of course, a battle from the Austrian War of Succession: However, most of the characters are the same; the tactics didn't change much in the intervening decade or so; I've always thought of the two Silesian Wars and the Seven Years War as a single war with a couple of intermissions anyway. 

I hope everyone will be forgiving.

So this is how the game has been set up. I've largely used overall numbers and overall frontages rather than counting regiments. The Prussians fielded 17,000 line infantry and the Austrians fielded 16,000. Cavalry was equal in numbers at about 7,000 a piece. For general deployments I am again indebted to Jeff Berry of Obscure Battles (The Battle of Chotusitz) for another piece of outstanding work. I have also used Duffy (of course) and Reed Browning's The War of the Austrian Succession.

The game starts with all of the Austrians fully fielded and ready to attack. Leoplold is deployed in readiness, as is Buddenbrock. Note that the fields are 'virtual', they are for aesthetics only and have no impact on the game. Also, I'm not sure if all of the trees will make it to the show it depends how many will fit in the box.

Waldow starts the game in the process of arriving in and around Chotusitz.

The main feature of the early game, as previous games have shown, is the attack on Chotusitz by the centre and right wing of the Austrian army. The Austrian hopes of victory generally rely on defeating Leopold and Waldow before the bulk of the Prussian infantry arrives.

On the Austrian left, another large encounter generally beckons. 

Here the numbers (in heavy cavalry) are almost equal, and because the Austrians generally see Battyanyi's role as supporting the infantry, by holding their flank, it is generally (as historically happened) Buddenbrock who attacks. 

With all the open ground on which to fight, it tends to be a real ding-dong of a cavalry clash.  

A point of interest: The Duffy map shows the grenzers in this sector as looking rather insignificant; Jeff's map shows them as I have them here. If Buddenbrock doesn't attack, the Grenzers will pick his troopers off in short order fashion. I much prefer Jeff's interpretation - it forces Buddenbrock to do something.

The key to victory for the Prussians is the timely arrival of Frederick. If  the Austrians can swamp the Prussians around Chotusitz before Frederick arrives they have a chance of winning. 

Frederick's command will be deployed as shown, but he can't activate until the start of turn three. Then its a race against time - an early turn end will suit the Prussians down to the ground.

Chotusitz is a very simple, large scale, 'rescue' scenario and Frederick has the role of 7th Cavalry. I've fought this battle on many occasions and I've never been disappointed by it.

So that is what Graham and I are doing this Sunday. Fiasco is at New Dock Hall, The Royal Armouries, Leeds. Doors open at 10 am. 

It's worth a trip out, and you can combine the show with a visit to one of the finest military museums in the world (and the museum is free entry, of course). Ask your missus, if she would like to visit the sparklingly new John Lewis Centre (which opened with much fanfare in central Leeds a week or two ago) that should get you a pass out - the Armouries is just 15 minutes walk down the road. 

If you do drop in, be sure to drop by and say hello.

Chotusitz - Peter J as Prussia, Graham H as Austria

This is a short report on Wednesday's night's play. 

I have reset the table since the solo play test by advancing Chotusitz almost to mid table and sliding it towards Chirkwitz pond; Chirkwitz pond has been shortened to keep the gap between it and Chotusitz constant; The Brslenka stream has been removed from the flank edge of the table making even more room for the cavalry to operate here.

Graham wasn't going to hang around for the Prussians. 

Bitthyanyi, commanding the Austrian cavalry on the west wing ordered his men forward. 

Down the hill they went, all full of hubris.

Peter couldn't believe his luck. Buddenbrock's cuirassier came to meet them. 

It's normally Peter who is King of the Ones but on this occasion he defied the dice. 

Back up the hill the Austrians came, all full of holes. 

The only way Graham was going to get these Prussians from the field was to let them chase him. 

It was a disaster.

In the centre the infantry line belatedly began to push forward. 

As they advanced Leopold's Prussian's slowly back stepped to buy time. Leopold's troops had force marched to Chotusitz and had been downgraded accordingly - outnumbered and tired, not a great combination.

A unit of Austrain hussars fancied their chances against Leopold's isolated guns (top left). 

"Boom!" went the guns. "Ouch!" went the hussars. Graham began inspecting the dice he was using.

At the eastern end of the field the cavalry were trading blows punch for punch, though at the beginning of the encounter it looked as though the crown for throwing ones had truly passed to Graham.

The infantry battle in the centre began with both side's trading vollies as fast as they could reload. The Austrians began taking casualties but the weight of firepower was with them and the Prussians began to falter.

The Austrians broke into Chotusitz. 

The Grenzers began shooting at demoralised Prussian cavalry that was milling in the streets and preventing further advances.

In the actual battle Chotusitz caught fire. Every time a unit fires a volley from inside Chotusitz I roll a d20. On a result of 1 a fire will start. It will spread, on major morale cards, on a 1 on d6.

Then Leopold's line broke!

Graham had stopped rolling ones.

"Oi, now where do you think you boys are off to?"

That was a good point to end the session. We are part way through turn two and Frederick and his reinforcements are about to arrive. This is going to get very bloody.

A War of Austrian Succession Scenario. The Battle of Chotusitz

THE CHOTUSITZ CAMPAIGN
The Prussian army under Frederick the Great spent the winter of 1741/42 in Moravia; plundering it into a wilderness. Suffering constant harassment by Moravian guerrillas and Austrian regular light troops, Frederick was eventually forced to evacuate into Bohemia, and move to support his French and Bavarian allies operating around Prague.

Meanwhile, the Austrians stripped their Bohemian garrisons to form an army with which to resolutely attack and destroy the Prussians. Unfortunately the Austrians chose the politically favoured Prince Charles of Lorraine to command the army; an appointment that would hinder that ambition.

With the Austrians marching behind him, Frederic decided to concentrate a Chudrum 70 miles east of Prague. Here he mistakenly assumed that the Austrians would not seek a battle and instead march to relieve Prague. To prevent this, he decided to take one third of his army and block the main road to Prague. He ordered his second in command Crown Prince Leopold to follow with the bulk of the army next day.

Frederick had played into the Austrian's hands. Prince Charles now found himself between two outnumbered Prussian forces with the opportunity to defeat them in detail. For one crucial day the Prince hesitated. This gave Leopold time to hasten towards Frederick, who realising his mistake, about turned and marched back in frantic effort to reunite his army.

The Prussians managed to concentrate at Chotusitz just as the Austrians came into sight. Prince Charles had missed his chance, but he pressed his attack regardless.



INITIAL DISPOSITIONS AND SCALES
The deployment map shows the battle as set up for my own 25mm figures on a 10’ x 6’ table where a typical 4 stand unit has a frontage of 16cm.

Each unit represents approximately 2 cavalry regiments or 4 infantry battalions. Consequently the troop ratios are slightly out, especially with regards to the cavalry formations of either side.

Although most troops have been positioned as they were at dawn, some flexibility has been used to help the scenario flow more easily. This is especially true of the main Prussian infantry command (Command D) which if deployed historically would still be in the process of taking up its formation. To balance this it is deployed somewhat further back.

DEPLOYMENT MAP


MAP KEY.
Prussian:
Command A: 3 units. A Dragoon, B Cuirassier, C Hussar. (Representing: 3 Cuirassier and 2 Dragoon regiments and 1 large regiment of Hussars.)

Command B: 3 units. D, E Line infantry, F Heavy artillery. (Representing: Leopold’s 9 Line infantry battalions and a battery of guns.)

Command C: 3 units. G, H Cuirassier, I Dragoons. (Representing: Buddenbrock’s 4 Cuirassier and 2 Dragoon regiments.)

Command D: 7 units. K, L, N, O, P Line infantry, J, M Grenadier. (Representing: Frederick’s 5 Grenadier and 18 Line infantry battalions.)

Austrian:
Command A: 3 units. 1 Grenzer, 2 Cuirassier, 3 Dragoon. (Representing: 2 Cuirassier and 2 Dragoon regiments plus Grenzer.

Command B: 8 units. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Line infantry, 16 Howitzers (Representing: 13 infantry regiments and artillery.)

Command C: 5 units. 11 Hussar, 12, 15 Cuirassier, 13 Grenzer, 14 Dragoon. (Representing: 1 hussar, 3 dragoon and 4 Cuirassier regiments plus Grenzer.)



NOTES ON TERRAIN
Although Duffy’s map shows contours, having viewed the ground I can assure all that, this battlefield is dead flat. It is so flat that they built a military air base on it. Only at the Brslenka Stream does the ground slope downwards to any degree which is probably why this area was quite boggy. Cirkwitz Pond is much smaller today than then, but it is still an impassable lake surrounded by trees.

SPECIAL RULE FOR CHOTUSITZ VILLAGE
During the battle the village of Chotusitz was fired, possibly by Austrian Grenz troops or howitzer fire. The resultant smoke caused all kinds of problems. To simulate this each player has a Special Event card in his deck. When the card is turned the player has the option to make a fire test on one village section. The test is made by rolling one die and on any odd result the section catches fire. Any occupants of a fired section must immediately evacuate it. Fired village sections produce smoke that drifts 12” inches down wind. Any troops in this smoke are ‘out of command’.

THE HISTORICAL BATTLE
The battle opened with the Prussian cavalry attacking the Austrian cavalry on both wings. On the left they eventually routed their Austrian counterparts but galloped off in pursuit. On the right initial success turned to rout when the reserve lines of Austrian cavalry counter attacked. By 09.30 the cavalry action had ended.

Meanwhile, the Austrian and Prussian infantry had become engaged around Chotusitz. Initially the Austrians were successful. Chotusitz caught fire, and the Prussian infantry under Leopold was forced to withdraw shaken and disorganised. The fire then came to the aid of the Prussians. The Austrian infantry became lost and confused in the smoke.

The bulk of the Prussian infantry under Frederick's personal command had hither to remained unengaged. Frederic now ordered them to advance and wheel onto the exposed flank of the Austrian line. Prince Charles, belatedly realising that his chance had been lost, ordered his army to withdraw.

The battle will be fought on Wednesday 6th May 2008. A battle report will follow.

CHOTUSITZ - A short report on the first two moves of the solo game

 The Austrians pushed forward with their infantry. The gun line caused some confusion as the infantry moved to keep the fire lanes open.

After the I'd played this through I suddenly realised the Austrians were over egged in the artillery department so the problem will be less of an issue in subsequent re-fights.

 The Grenz on the Austrian left pushed forward to taunt the Prussian cavalry with a desultory fire.

 On the Prussian left Waldow's cavalry began to deploy....

 ....and with the aid of a Brilliant leader card, accomplished the feat with alacrity.

 On the Prussian right, as Buddenbrock came forward, the Austrian cavaly under Bitthyanyi descended the ridge to meet them and support the Grenz which were looking decidedly overexposed.

 On the Austrian right Liechtenstein's cavalry took the initiative. 

 It wasn't long before the cavalry action on both wings became a swirling melee of charge and counter charge. 

Things didn't progress very historically - the Prussians came off worst on both wings - but there is no accounting for some dice rolls!

 Turn two saw the Austrian infantry beginning to engage. It was at this moment that I began to see a problem with the set up. 

I realised that I had set up the battle with Chotusitz and Leopold's command too close to the Prussian base line. Although I had left the timing of Frederick's arrival vague, it soon became apparent that he would have no room to manoeuvre when he did arrive.

 Leopold's infantry began to scramble into Chotusitz.....

  ......before overwhelming numbers of Austrian white coats, admittedly with some casualties, smashed all before them.

 As turn 2 came to a close the cavalry battle on the right was finally resolved and the Austrians, much dispersed, had total control of this wing.

 The infantry assault on Chotusitz was about to begin.

You can clearly see, in this picture, the restricted space into which Frederick can deploy (between the road exit on the Prussian baseline and Chotusitz). When he arrives it will be immediately into the teeth of Austrian musketry.

 On the extreme right the Austrians prepared their cavalry to redeploy towards the left.

This picture shows another error in the set up. I chose to feature the Brslenka stream and boggy ground along the whole length of this end of the table. It took up too much room and made the deployment area between it and Chotusitz too narrow.

I could see that the game, due to the set up, would not work as planned so I called a halt to it. I will reset the table before attempting the battle again. Solo games have more uses than just to have fun.

I've decided to play it at almost one unit to one regiment next time. I've just got one more unit of Austrian cavalry to paint ( I painted two more last week), two or three units of Prussian infantry in tricornes (so I don't have to use fusiliers) and a unit of the Guard (3rd battalion in mitres).

Chotusitz. The Battle Report.

The battle opened with a Prussian cavalry advance. The Austrian cavalry responded with an advance of their own. The Austrian infantry also advanced but exposed their right flank in doing so. The Prussian Hussars, following up in the wake of their heavier friends, immediately exploited this by wheeling and charging onto it, with devastating results for the first Austrian infantry unit which could make no adequate response. They were ridden down and destroyed. Fortunately, the next infantry unit in the line fared better; it managed to hold the Hussars and drove them off with several well timed volleys of musketry.





The first clash between the cavalry was inconclusive, both sides inflicting and receiving losses. The cavalry, progressively becoming less numerous and more tired by the hour, hacked away at each other until the end of the battle. As historically happened they cancelled each other out.

Meanwhile, in the centre, the Austrian Infantry continued their advance on Chotusitz. A brief fire fight ensued with the outnumbered Prussian defenders. The Prussians were forced back whilst their supporting artillery, possibly badly sited or low on ammunition (Rolled D8 attack dice), banged away to no effect. The Austrians, seizing their chance, took possession of the village.





At long last Frederick’s infantry was activated (two advance cards were added to the Prussian deck. Until both had been turned Frederick’s infantry, command D, could not move). They now advanced with élan (rolling up 3 segment moves on the following 2 move cards) confronting the Austrian infantry and engaging with them in a fierce fire fight.





After forming a stable line the Prussians assaulted the village. Their first rush was checked so they withdrew, reorganised and attacked afresh. This time they threw the Austrians out of two village sections, occupied them and awaited the counter attack.





Both sides were now exhausted (morale chips swinging at zero for both sides). It was the Austrians who cracked first, failing their major morale check by more than 4 they withdrew from the field. Prince Charles called for his coach. The Battle of Chotusitz was over. A Prussian victory – just.

Figures: Old Glory and Wargames Foundry.
Painted by Olicanalad. Olicana Painting Services.