A Great SYW Miniatures Collection - Fontenoy

The French Gardes Francaises and Suisses deploy between Fontenoy and Bois du Barry.
French cavalry backs up the infantry in the center.

From time to time I would like to post pictures of other people's collections of wargame figures that really stand out in my mind. So today, let's start with a look at the collection of UK wargamer Steve Langen, who has built up an incredible collection of War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748) French and British armies. Nearly all of the figures are sculpted by the talented Richard Ansell in 1/56 Scale (approximately 30mm tall) and include Minden Miniatures and Crann Tara Miniatures and some Fife & Drum Miniatures artillery equipment.

Steve recently refought the Battle of Fontenoy (1745) and was kind enough to let me post pictures of his magnificent collection of miniatures and terrain pieces.

A description of the French battle line, stretching from the Redoubt d'Eu on the left, to the town of Fontenoy in the center, and on to the town of Antoing on the French right. The pictures are posted in order from the French left to the French right.

Aeriel view of the French deployment at Fontenoy stretching from the Redoubt d'Eu at the top of the picture to the left of the woods; the French Gardes brigade and cavalry defend the gap in the center; the town of Fontenoy on the middle right; and more French in redoubts between Fontenoy and Antoing.

The French army's left wing was a strong position with the Bois du Barry woods to its front with two redoubts on the left. French light infantry were deployed in the woods and well placed to pepper the flanks of the approaching British with musketry. If the British survived the passing of the woods, then they would run into the Redoubt d'Eu, which could enfilade their attack on the right flank.

The Bois du Barry woods anchors the left flank of the French battle line.
The Arquebusiers de Grassines, light troops, defend the woods.

The Redoubt d'Eu is placed strategically at the edge of the woods
and can provide enfilading fire on any attack that comes in the center.

The French center stretched between the Redbout d'Eu on its left and the town of Fontenoy on its right. French general Marshal Maurice de Saxe correctly reasoned that the most likely point of attack by the British and allies would be in the center. Accordingly, de Saxe placed his best troops: the brigade of French and Swiss Gardes and backed them up with the cream of the elite French Household and line cavalry.

To the right of the Redoubt d'Eu we see the deployment of the French Gardes brigade,
backed up by  the elite Maison du Roi cavalry and other French cavalry regiments

Closer view of the French center at Fontenoy

Anchoring the French right flank was the town of Fontenoy. De Saxe had fortified the perimeter of the town and stuffed it full of cannon and French infantry. 

French infantry defends the town of Fontenoy.

Finally, the French defences behind Fontenoy stretched to the River Scheldt and the town of Antoing. The open areas between Fontenoy and Antoing were defended by more redoubts. French artillery was posted on the other side of the river, where they could enfilade and attack in this sector the battlefield.

The leader of the British and Allies (Dutch, Hanoverians and Austrians), the Duke of Cumberland, decided to attack the French center with his British troops, while the Dutch troops would attack the Fontenoy-Antoing position. The Hanoverians were placed to add weight to the British attack and to possibly attack the salient in the French line - the town of Fontenoy.

The British Guards advance towards the French center.

The British attack moves towards its date with the French center.

The defense of the Redoubt d'Eu

The French Gardes Brigade

The second wave of British support the first line of British Guards.

I hope that you enjoy this tour of Steve's collection of figures and terrain. I think that you will agree with me that this is an exceptional collection of painted figures. I can truthfully say that this may well be the best looking collection of mid-18th Century armies and figures. It sets the bar high for everyone else. 

I find Steve's collection inspiring and it gives me some ideas about things that I could do with my own collection.

Fontenoy AAR - Part III

The town of Fontenoy was garrisoned with up to three battalions of Austrians, two 3-pounders and one 6-pounder cannon.

The left flank of the Prussian Infernal Column had to pass by the town of Fontenoy, which was packed full of Austrians who were armed to the teeth. Cumberland/Frederick did not want to allocate the troops and resources that would have been required to take such a strong position as Fontenoy.

Accordingly, Frederick told off the Anhalt Dessau Regiment, or IR22, to demonstrate in front of the town so as to draw the attention of the garrison on IR22 instead of the Infernal Column.

IR22 advances towards Fontenoy. Aren't they a stirring sight?

There really wasn't much action on this part of the table. The Prussians advanced towards the town and lost two stands of infantry from its lead battalion, but their morale held strong. Once the Prussians reached the entrenchments, they were able to deal with the two Austrian 3-pounders and kill off their crews with musket fire. 

Once that happened, the Anhalt Dessau - first battalion - moved in front of the entrenchments which oddly enough offered them some protection from Austrian musket fire. This is pretty much how the rest of the game went in this sector.

IR22 Anhalt Dessau regiment of two battalions launches an assault on the entrenchments at Fontenoy.

Things were pretty well in hand so the MacGuire Regiment was released from garrison duty in Fontenoy and sent to help the Austrian defense of the center ridge area.

Since they were not needed in the defense of the town, the brigade commander ordered the first battalion of the MacGuire regiment to depart from the town and redeploy in the gap just to the left of the town. The second battalion is barely visible in the upper righthand corner. They were held in reserve ready to enter the town if the garrison was having any trouble.

1st Battalion MacGuire Regiment marched out of Fontenoy's entrenchment and deployed as the right flank of the Austrian troops in the center. This was fortunate for the Austrians because the Prussian Winterfeld Regt. made a left wheel in the direction of the gap in the Austrian line (between the ridge in the center and the town) and MacGuire was there to stop them.

Late in the day, the MacGuires retired back towards Fontenoy in order to open up a lane for the Austrian cuirassier brigade that was moving up to attack the Winterfeld Regiment. The Anhalt Dessauers watched this development and decided that it would be wise to fall back so that the Austrian cuirassiers would not hit them in the flank after an inevitable win over the Winterfeld battalions.

The Alt Modena cuirassiers (blue flag and facings) and the De Ligne Dragoons (green coats) trotted forward to slaughter the depleted battalions of the Winterfeld Regiment.

Sometimes, though, things turn out a little bit different from expectations. Both battalions of the Winterfeld Regiment stood fast against the charge of the Austrian cuirassiers and won the cavalry versus infantry melees. They were, however, in "Shaken" morale status after fighting the melee, as are all units that survive a melee. This made them more susceptible to routing if they took more casualties and had to test morale again.

This is indeed what happened, resulting in both battalions of the Winterfeld Regiment routing to the rear seeking secour from the Austrian cavalry. Nevertheless, Frederick the Great was heard to say,

"Those men of Winterfeld's regiment are veritable lions in battle."

The Winterfeld Regiment, though severely depleted in men, somehow managed to fend off the attack of two Austrian cuirassier squadrons.

When the Austrian cavalry appeared on the battlefield, the Anhalt Dessau regiment retreated back towards its original starting position so as not to have its flanks exposed to a potential cavalry attack.

As the Anhalt Dessau regiment retired back towards its original starting point, they received the good news that the battle had been won in the center and that the remains of the Austrian army was in full retreat.

After the battle, the grim task of taking care of the fallen must begin. Casualty markers illustrate the ebb and flow of the battle.

Casualty Markers - why use them?

I know that some people have an aversion, for personal reasons, to using dead or wounded wargame figures and I completely understand that. Others don't see the value in taking the time to paint them when the same time could be spent on painting soldiers to march in our ranks.

However, there are other uses for the figures. I use them as markers - one casualty disk is placed on the table where ever a stand of figures takes place. For example, if a battalion of infantry has six stands of six figures, whenever the unit accumulates six casualties I remove the stand from the table and place a casualty marker in its stead. The marker does not follow the battalion around the table, but rather, it remains on the table ground in that exact spot where it was removed. This way, I can follow the course of the battlefield action and see where the hardest fighting took place. The picture above illustrates this and it is obvious where the heaviest fighting occurred - atop the ridge in the center of the battlefield.

This system is a bit more difficult for cavalry units.  I base my cavalry two figures to a stand and have 12 stands within each cavalry regiment. That would add up to many many stands needed to depict the cavalry actions. So instead, I use a horse casualty marker to designate where a cavalry melee took place.

Another use for the casualty markers is as a game token of sorts that can be used to determine victory conditions. For example, the side with the most markers on the table could be designated the loser or the number of markers could be but one of many factors that will determine the winner of the table top game. I sometimes use the red coated markers to show where a unit routed. The number of routs in the game could be another victory condition for the game.

Looking at all of the casualty markers in the picture above, it generates some ideas for after-battle vignettes such as civilians looting the dead, stretcher teams taking the wounded to the hospital area, some civilians digging a grave. Those ideas admittedly start to border on the macabre so I don't know if I would do some of them. Once I saw an ACW war game where there was a hospital vignette placed in an out-of-the-way area on the table. It had a pile of amputated limbs near a surgical table. That's too much for.

I'd be ok with a stretcher team of one soldier dragging off his mate in a blanket or a soldier giving a drink from his canteen to one of the wounded.

Other cleaner ideas would include broken cannon wheels and disabled wagons, maybe even an exploded ammo wagon or something like that to scatter across the battlefield.

Food for thought.

Fontenoy - Part 2, Battle in the Bois de Berry

Croats and Jager play The Most Dangerous Game in the Bois de Barry

While the main event was unfolding in the center of the war game table, one of two under cards was heating up in the Bois de Berry woods located on the right flank of the Prussian attack of the Infernal Column.

Historically, the woods were occupied by the Arquebusiers de Grassines - French light infantry - that held off Ingoldsby's brigade of British troops for much of the day. As a result, the Arquebusiers de Grassines were able to discomfit the British column as it moved towards the French center.

The Prussian player knowing this, deployed his jagers into two groups, one skirting up the periphery of the woods to protect the Itzenplitz (IR13) Regiment as it marched past the woods; the other group diving right into the woods in search of the inevitable Austrian light infantry that were frequently found in such environments. To add some weight to his attack, the commander of the jager contingent sent in a battalion of the Diericke Fusilier Regiment (IR49), looking very colorful in their bright orange togs.

Prussian jagers prepare to enter the Forest of No Return to screen the advance of the Prussian musketeers, seen in the middle distance of the photo.

Unbeknownst to the Prussian jagers, there was quite a surprise waiting for them, the  Redoubt d'Eu,  should they make it through the entire length of the woods.

Two battalions of Croats, in red and brown, waited in the woods for the jagers.

The Diericke Fusiliers (IR49) followed the jagers into the woods to lend the weight of steady formed troops to the  hunt.

The Prussian fusilier advance was relentless. The Croats could do nothing more than fall back. They took a volley of musketry which left them momentarily Shaken (see the red disk on the ground in the above picture).

Gradually, the Prussian fusiliers were able to push the Croats out of the Bois de Berry woods.

The Diericke fusiliers pushed their way through the woods, firing at the Croats and occasionally charging them. The Croats would melt away into the depths of the woods, but still the fusiliers came on until they emerged from the woods and found the Redoubt, and a battalion of the Austrian Luzon musketeers waiting for them, with muskets leveled.

However, the second battalion of the Itzenplitz (IR13) climbed the plateau in front of the Redoubt ahead of the fusiliers, so they took on the Austrians instead. The Diericke fusiliers formed into march column and moved behind the Itzenplitzers so that they could change into line formation and add more muskets to the fire fight.

Austrian Luzan regiment defends against the 2nd battalion of the Prussian Itzenplitz regiment, while more Prussian fusiliers march up the slope from the woods.

Marshal de Saxe pulled his wicker chariot up beside the Redoubt and watched the battle unfold in front of him. He had his escort squadron of uhlans to protect him.

Marshal de Saxe in his wicker chariot watches the enemy emerge from the woods.

At about the time that the Luzon musketeers and the Itzenplitz lads crossed muskets, the center of the Austrian battle line was collapsing and Marshal de Saxe gave a general order for the army to withdraw from the battle, covered by a still viable and largely untouched cavalry contingent.

I will post the Prussian attack on the town of Fontenoy within another day or two because I didn't want to make this post overly long.

 I am thinking that it might be fun to set up a very large wooded area on the game table and just conduct the fight in the Bois de Berry woods. I think that I have enough trees to cover and area of 6 feet by 4 feet for a small game within the game.

Let's Play Fontenoy!

Fritz & Staff at the Savage Swan Inn discussing battle plans.

I want to take a little bit of a break from fighting AWI campaign battles and travel back to Europe to fight some tricorn era battles, namely the Charles Grant scenario for Fontenoy. I will be trying out one of the two Grant scenarios for Fontenoy in his book, "Wargaming in History - Volume 2 - Dettingen, Fontenoy and Lauffeld."  I plan to fight the scenario "The Whole Battle" but leave out the Dutch contingent and their attack from the left wing of the Duke of Cumberland's Pragmatic Army. The book also presents a smaller scenario called, "The Infernal Column"

Since I do not have any British or French Minden figures painted, I will have to use the Grant devise of substituting other nations' figures for those of the actual forces in the battle. Grant pere and fils use this mechanism frequently in their battles and so I plan to do the same, using my Minden Prussians for the British and my Minden Austrians for the French.

Another view of Frederick at the town of Vezon, behind the Prussian lines.

The tabletop layout that I am using is shown in the two pictures below. The Austrians are defending a ridge that provides some dead ground that will hide their troops from the view of the Prussians. Anchoring the Austrian left flank is the Berry Wood and the Redoubt d'Eu. The woods is teaming with Croat light infantry (substituting for the Arquebusiers de Grassin) that will pose a tactical problem for any attackers.

The Austrian center is manned by two battalions of elite grenadiers and four more musketeer battalions. All of the Austrian cavalry backs up the Austrian center.

Anchoring the Austrian right flank is the fortified town of Fontenoy.

Area of the battlefield where the British "Infernal Column" attacked the French position. In this case though, the Prussians are standing in for the British and the Austrians for the French.

Aerial view of the Fontenoy battlefield with annotations.

Here are several views of the town of Fontenoy. The Austrians have spent considerable time improving the defenses of the town with entrenchments and abatis. The town may hold up to three battalions of infantry.

The town of Fontenoy has been turned into a stronghold with entrenchments and abatis. The town can hold up to three battalions of infantry. Fontenoy anchors the Austrian right flank.

Austrian reserves await orders to enter the town.

Front view of Fontenoy, from the Prussian point of view.

The Austrian cavalry is deployed in the center and is hidden from the view of the Prussians in the area of dead ground behind the ridge. The Austrians have 10 squadrons (12 figures each) of cavalry.

Austrian cavalry is positioned behind the ridge in the center of the Austrian battle line, awaiting orders to engage the enemy.

Maurice de Saxe devised the cunning plan to draw the Prussians into a battle on ground of his choosing. He expects the Prussians to attack straight up the middle, so he has created a number of little surprises for the attacker. As the attacker marches into the center of the Austrian line, he will find that his troops are subject to an enfilading fire from the artillery positioned in the Redoubt d'Eu and from the town of Fontenoy. Light infantry in the Berry Wood will also pepper the Prussian soldiers in the right flank as they march towards the center.

Maurice de Saxe has a bad case of Dropsy, so he has to conduct the management of the coming battle from a wicker chariot.

The Redoubt d'Eu anchors the Austrian left flank.

Austrian center looking at the Prussian deployment. I added a back table for the Prussian cavalry after the initial set up and posting. This alleviates the traffic jam of figures at the table edge on the main table.

The Prussian deployment is fairly straight forward - they will simply attack in the center and hope that might of arms will force a break through of the Austrian center and win the battle. The Prussians have placed their best infantry - the Guards, in the center along with four battalions of musketeers.

The Prussian Guards (IR15/II/III) will lead the attack on the Austrian center today.

The Prussian left wing, shown below, will merely demonstrate in front of Fontenoy to keep the attention of the garrison on them, rather than on the main attack in the center.

IR22 Dessau protects the Prussian left flank and faces the town of Fontenoy.

The Prussians have seven squadrons of heavy cavalry in the center, deployed behind the infantry.

Next in line come the Prussian cavalry - 7 squadrons.

The Prussian cavalry awaits in reserve on the back table near the town of Vezon.

Prussian Jagers will enter the Berry Wood and flush out the Croats.

Prussian Jagers prepare to enter the woods to flush out the expected Croats.

I plan on playing Fontenoy as a solo game over the coming weekend and I will post a lot of pictures of the battle as part of the post game report of the action.

So what do you think, does this look like fun?

Minden Black Hussars

HR5 von Reusch "Black Hussars"

Soren Christensen sent me a photo of some of the Minden figures that he is working on as part of a project to recreate the Battle of Hohenfriedberg in 1745. These are wonderfully painted figures that deserve to be seen by a wider audience, so I am posting the picture on my blog.

Here is a link to Soren's blog:

Black Powder Wargames Blog

Click on the above link and spend a little bit of time scrolling through some of the earlier posts about the SYW and the Great Norther War in particular.


Speaking of Hohenfriedberg, here is a copy of the famous Richard Knotel drawing of the Prussian cavalry presenting captured colours to Frederick after the battle. I wish that GMB Designs would make some of these Austrian flags, which you don't see very often.

Richard Knotel's Hohenfriedberg drawing.

The picture also tempts me to paint some Bayreuth Dragoons in the white coats that they wore at Hohenfriedberg.

Mollwitz Game - Part 2 Conclusion

Prussian general staff congratulation King Frederick on his victory

We left off the other day with two game turns under our belt: the Austrian and Prussian cavalry were whaling away on one another while the infantry were still marching into musket range. The Battle of Mollwitz continued today and reached a conclusion within six game turns.

The rules used were Der Alte Fritz Rules for SYW Games, which are my own rules that I have been using at conventions for nearly fifteen years. You can download a free copy at the Fife & Drum Miniatures website

I played the game solo and before anyone wonders if Der Alte Fritz Himself can play it straight with the Austrians in a solo game, let me review my solo gaming methodology.

Simply put, I place myself in the shoes of either side and ask myself, "what would the Austrians want to do and what moves would be to their best advantage?" I do the same for the Prussians. I figure that if I temporarily  do what benefits the side that I'm moving figures and firing weapons for, then an impartial result can be achieved. Finally, I do not care which side wins when I play a solo game. While I prefer the Prussians, I find it interesting when the Austrians can give Frederick a surprise pounding once in awhile.

Let us go with the game report, told mostly through the picture captions. At the start of Turn 3, with my Austrian hat on, I decided that sitting back with my infantry and waiting to get gunned down by the Prussian infantry was not profitable. With that in mind, my plan for the Austrians (who were outnumbered in infantry 9 battalions to 6 battalion) was to extend the front battle line of battalions and seek a place where I could place more muskets to bear on the Prussians than they could train on me. So on Turn 3, the grenadier battalion on the Austrian right flank moved out of the second row and extended the first battle line. The 1st battalion of the Josef Esterhazy (Hungarians) likewise did the same on the Austrian left flank.


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The Esterhazy regiment forms column and marches off to the right end of the Austrian battle line.

After deploying into line on Turn 4, you can see how the Esterhazy regiment could potentially flank the Prussian far left flank of their front battle line.

On the Austrian right flank, the grand cavalry battle continued. Prussian cuirassier regiment CR1 Krakow took on the red coated Austrian Saxe Gotha Dragoons and was getting the better of them. In the background though, the second squaderon of CR1 was surrounded by Austrian cuirassiers and cut down to the man.

Another cavalry scrum in the same vicinity was more evenly fought: Prussian CR8 von Seydlitz cuirassiers on the left and the Alt Modena Austrian cuirassiers (in blue facings and shabraques) on the right.

By Turn 4, both sides' infantry were finally in musket range (foot move 8-inches in line formation) and from this point on, winning the initiative each turn (via a dice off of both sides, high die wins) was important. We use an IGO/UGO systems: if you choose to move first, then you can only fire second, after your opponent fires at you. So if you really need to move first, you surrender the firing initiative. Most of the time, you want to move second and fire first.

At the end of Turn 4, the Prussian left hand brigade has siddled sideways to the left  to counter the  Austrian  extension of their front battle line with the red trousered Esterhazy regiment. A bit of a gap begins to form in the Prussian center as a result of this movement.

The Prussian lefthand brigade continues to veer to the left, but this time it is done with purpose so that the  IR5 Alt Braunschweig battalion can move from the second line forward into the gap.

On Turn 5, the cumulative effect of musketry and 3-pound battalion guns had caused the  Austrian 1st btn of the von Sprecher regiment to rout, running straight through the red legged Hungarian 2/Esterhazy, which was directly behind them. Their rout carried them right into the face of the Austrian commander von Neipperg inside the hamlet of Mollwitz.

The 1st btn of the Esterhazy continued to siddle to its left to outflank the IR1 von Winterfeldt regiment's second battalion. IR1 swung back in response, creating a kink in the battle line.

Over on the Prussian right flank, all of the Prussian cavalry (save for one squadron shown at the lower right) had been run off the field. The Austrians began to reform their heavy cavalry to take a run at the Prussian artillery battery in front of them.

A view of the field at the start of Turn 6. You can see the gap in the center of the Austrian battle line. Off in the upper right corner, the Austrian cavalry threatens the Prussian right flank regiments.

Austrian heavy cavalry

Austrian cavalry goes crashing into the Prussian battery. The left most cannon stopped the understrength squadron of red coated Austrian Saxe Gotha Dragoons, while the right hand section of guns actually won the melee with the fresh squadron of Schmerzing Cuirassiers. The dice gods did not look kindly on the Austrians this day.

On the Prussian left, things are at a stand-off, although a fresh battalion (2/IR5) provides back up in the second line, whereas the Austrians no longer have a reserve second line.

At the end of Turn 6, Prussian musketry from the Righthand brigade has obliterated the Austrian left brigade. With no center or left, things look grim for the White Coats today. Von Neipperg decides that it is pointless to keep charging his cavalry into the Prussian wall of muskets, and with no center, he orders a general withdrawal from the field.

King Frederick is congratulated by Marshal Schwerin (right) for his victory.

A nice ground level photograph of the Prussian king and his staff.