Lobositz refought.

 After basing up my 6mm Seven Years War toys I had myself a battle. Being quite partial to the Battle of Lobositz as a scenario I set it up before deciding which rules to use.

Honours of War and Black Powder were the main contenders but I fancied something different.

I have seen people using One Hour Wargames for bigger battles but couldn't face tracking fifteen hits on forty plus units. I then found a post on John Acar's blog in which he discusses units breaking on just three hits link so I thought I would try out his ideas.

One Hour Wargames doesn't feature command figures and I already had a bunch of generals and brigadiers on the table. A quick fix came to me whereby each turn I would roll for initiative and then one commander would move and fight his units then the other side would choose a commander and so on till everyone had acted. 

Here goes...

Bevern's men taking hits in their assault on the Lobosch.

A cavalry clash is imminent.

The cavalry battle ebbs and flows and units are taking damage.

The Austrians are crossing the Morellenbach.

The infantry clash begins.

Lieutenant General Keith supervises his artillery from the Homolka Berg.

Austrian Cuirassiers charge into a fine looking unit of Russian Horse Grenadiers painted by none other than Richard Couture of Kronoskraf.

Russians at Lobositz fighting alongside the Prussians???, sshh!.

The Horse Grenadiers survive though and the cavalry battle rages on.

Draskowitz and his Croats are still holding the Lobosch.

Having crossed the Morellenbach Kollowrat brings his Austrian infantry into the fight.

Lacy's Austrian infantry are outnumbered but still hanging on.

Fredericks cavalry have won the cavalry battle but are now threatened by Kollowrat's infantry. 

The fight for the Lobosch is going very badly for the attackers.

The Prussian infantry begin to fall back under the Austrian pressure.

The failure to take the Lobosch and the relentless advance of the Austrian left forced the Prussians to retire.

Victory to von Browne.

The rules worked exceptionally well and I will definitely use them again soon. The game was fast and exciting and I enjoyed the decisions of which brigade to activate next.

Great stuff!.

I got myself a little treat the other day in the shape of some Army of the Dead for Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

They were a cinch to paint, grey primer and a bit of white dry brushing. I tried the blue-green wash malarkey years ago and didn't care for it so I kept it simple this time.

I put a spooky filter on the photo.

I'll have to get them into action soon.

Lobositz in 6mm using Commands and Colors

I had a great game today using my modification to Commands and Colors Napoleonics to refight the Seven Years War battle of Lobositz.

 Here is a view of the set up, Austrians at the top and Prussians at the bottom.

 Austrian Croats occupy the Lobosch.

 Austrian Cuirassiers given to me by Richard.

 Much of the Austrian army is behind the Morellenbach.

 The Morellenbach I counted as a fordable river.

 Beverns infantry are tasked with taking the Lobosch.

 The Prussian centre.

 A couple of Richards Russian Generals lead the Prussian cavalry as I was short of Prussian ones.

 Frederick the Great and Field Marshall Keith survey the battlefield.

 A closer view.

 A view down the Prussian line.

 And a view down the Austrian line.

 A Prussian cavalry charge as the Austrians attempt to cross the Morellenbach.

 Hard fighting on the Lobosch.

 Last card of the game!. Played by the Prussians.

 They take the Lobosch.

 And push the Austrians into the Elbe to win the battle.

 The Austrians never really got across the Morellenbach.

And the Austrian centre was very depleted with both Von Browne and Count Lacy dead.

A cracking game, for my references I used Keith Flints Honours Of War rulebook and Kronoskaf. here

A very generous gift

 A very fine gentleman named Richard sent me these from Canada free of charge!. Look at them all!, there's hundreds of them.

 The generosity of our wargaming community is a wonderful thing.

 They are Irregular Miniatures SYW Austrians and Russians.

 There are loads of Russian guns.

 And Austrian ones.

 Loads of cavalry too.

 Russian infantry.

I particularly like the Horse Grenadiers in the blue coats.

They will need some re-organisation to match my existing collection, but WOW this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.

Commands and Colors Seven Years War in 6mm.

Twenty five years ago or thereabouts I bought a pair of 6mm Seven Years War armies from Irregular Miniatures and painted three quarters of them. Many times I've thought about finishing them but never did until last week.

Nowadays it is so much easier getting painting info on the internet. One of the reasons I stopped painting them all those years ago was that I didn't have a guide to painting the flags. I got all I needed at Kronoskaf, link a fabulous website.

Another reason I stopped painting them was a lack of rules that suited the 6mm blocks. Nowadays I could use Black Powder, Honours of War or a modified version of Napoleonic Commands and Colors. Being a huge fan of Richard Borgs Commands and Colors system this is what I did...

 I just made up the scenario, though I would like to attempt some historical re-fights too.

 These are some shots halfway through a game, Prussians defend the church.

 The Irregular Miniatures blocks fit onto my 90mm hex board very nicely and I'm sure I could use them on the game board too.

 An aerial view of the battle.

 Frederick the Great watches the action unfold. He and his aide are Heroics and Ros artillerymen.

 Prussian Musketeers.

 Austrian Bethlen Hussars.

 Croats skirmishing for the army of Maria Theresa

 Austrian Dragoons, I painted them all in green coats for ease of identification much like the blocks that come with the boxed game.

 I enjoyed the game so much I quickly set up another.

 Commands and Colors battles aren't easy to write up because they have many moves involving just a few units, but they certainly make an exciting game with a plausible narrative.

 So I'll leave you with a few shots of the toys deployed for the battle.

Now I'm off to play it.