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January 11, 2022 · 3:17 pm

The Battle of Mollwitz 10 April 1741

The Battle was fought by Prussia and Austria during the First Silesian War (early War of the Austrian Succession). It was the first battle of the new Prussian King Frederick II, in which both sides made numerous military blunders but the Prussian Army still managed to attain victory. This battle cemented Frederick’s authority over the newly conquered territory of Silesia and gave him valuable military experience.

Over the last few weeks I have been pulling together the final items needed to play out on the table top the scenarios from Frederick’s War part of the Hold the Line boardgame from Worthington Games. I have grown to like these games as they give me more control over the units as apposed to Command and Colors games which relies on having the right card in your hand.

So recently I painted some river terrain, woods and town markers. The trees were made out of pipe cleaners and I think look great at this scale. The river and buildings are items that I had printed out.

I had planned to attempt to play the game as a solo game but luckily Taff was able to pop over for a game.

Well we both enjoyed the game and at time the tension of allocating the Action Points was high. It was great from a strategic point and we both agreed that it gave a better game than C&C games from a command point of view. We still intend to play C&C as they are a good fun/frustrating series of games.

The game played out in 90 mins. The Austrians got off to a strong start with their heavy cavalry securing their left flank, eliminating some Prussian Cavalry. The Prussians bought their remaining cavalry, located on the other side of the river over the bridge and charged the Austrian light Cavalry on the right flank. This was supported by the Prussian Elites(Grenadiers) taking up the centre ground. Turn 11 it was all over. As in the original Battle, following a dodgy start the Prussians finally made their superior command structure count and took the win 5 victory points to 4.

Figures are 6mm Baccus.

The mat is homemade with 5″ across the flats.

SYW Boardgame – FREDERICK’S WARS

Last night my wargame nemesis, sorry buddy Ian came over for our regular Monday game. We try to play something that is easy to set up and play in 90 mins. This approach introduced me to boardgames in a way I have never viewed them before.

Recently Ian introduced me to memoir 44. I have to be honest, out of all the Command and Colors games this one is my least favourite. I have not done well playing it but I think it has been down to cards and limited unit numbers. In last week’s game it was all over in two turns as I had no cards to move my right flank units into cover and had to watch my slimy snake, sorry nemesis, sorry wargame mate! Ian, rolled over them with his tanks.

I just wished I could choose where to deploy orders and challenge myself tactically rather than applying the luck or lack of it based on the cards I got.

I remembered a boardgame called Frederick’s Wars, hold the line by Worthington games. Anyone who has played a C and C napoleonic version will pick up on the system.

What is good is that each turn, each side rolls a random die to determine the number of additional Activation Points they get on top of your Generals basic. These are then spent to move, fire, melee or rally units on the table. The board size is exactly as per C and C 13×9 hex.

When I bought this game 5+ years ago I was lucky enough to also pick up the additional add-on for the battles of the Jacobite Rebellions, an era that I have always been interested in.