The Leuthen Wargame

A detailed model of the famous Leuthen Church as rendered by Herb Gundt.

{NOTE: Click the pictures to enlarge the view}

At this year's Seven Years War Association, I hosted two wargames whose common theme was that both were fought in the snow: Mollwitz in 1741 and Leuthen in 1757. Since these battles also happen to be Frederick the Great's most famous actions against the Austrians, I thought that it would be appropriate to run both games on my winter terrain set up. I want to thank that master modeler and wargame architect, Herb Gundt, for making the buildings, roads, frozen rivers, trees etc from the photos of the actual churchyard and town, and for taking my sketches for terrain features and small buildings and making them a reality. The winter mats were made by a company called "The Terrain Guy" and he did a nice job of recreating the look of ground in the winter.

Alas, my colleagues in the SYW Association did not deem my games to be worthy of the "Pour le Merit" trophy given to the best game at the convention. I daresay that even the most unbiased observer who looked at all of the games would say that the Leuthen/Mollwitz games had the best looking terrain, the best painted figures, and an exciting game scenario that was not decided until the very last couple of turns. I think that any historical museum would welcome such a realistic display within its walls.

While I was very disappointed at this decision, on the plus side, I kept my losing streak of never having won the Pour le Merite trophy alive, the people who played in my games all seemed to have a good time, and finally, I know that I did my very best to present one of the highest quality games that was EVER displayed at the SYW Association convention, the likes of which are not likely to be seen again.

The Opposing Forces
Prussian Army
Prussian Infantry: 8 musketeer btns + 2 grenadier btns = 10 btns x 60 figures = 600 figures
Prussian Artillery: 2 10lb. howitzers + 4 12 lb. Brummers = 6 guns x 6 crew = 36 figures
Prussian Cavalry: 5 sqds light cavalry, 5 sqds dragoons, 10 sqds cuirassiers = 240 figures
Total figures = 876 plus command figures

There were four Prussian infantry players (3 + 3 +2 +2 btns per player) and two cavalry commanders for a total of six Prussian players in the game.

Austrian Army
Austrian Infantry: 8 musketeer btns (60 figs) + 1 grenadier btn (36figs) = 516 figures
Austrian Artillery 5 guns (4 x 6lbs. + 1 x 12lbs.) = 26 figures
Austrian Cavalry: 6 sqds light cavalry, 4 sqds Saxon dragoons, 12 sqds cuirassiers =264 figures
Total figures = 806 plus command figures

There were three Austrian infantry commanders (3 btns each) and two cavalry commanders for a total of five Austrian players in the game.

Scenario Notes

My thought was that it would be too time consuming to try to recreate the opening flank attack of the Prussian army on the Austrian left wing at Leuthen. So instead, I decided to fight the battle at the point where the Austrians had reformed their battle line, completely perpendicular to their initial deployment, around Leuthen and facing the oncoming Prussians. Thus, the forces could be relatively equal, albeit with a slight advantage in Prussian figures since the onus of attacking the walled churchyard was on them. This resulted in a highly competitive game on both cavalry flanks and in the center, where all of the infantry was deployed.

The Austrian Deployment
I will keep commentary to a minimum and simply post captions to the pictures that follow. I think that they do a nice job of conveying the action during the game.



The Austrian High Command observe events as they unfold, from the high ground behind Leuthen village. As Phil Olley says, "every wargame worth its salt should have a windmill on the table". I agree - windmill by HG Walls.


The Austrian left wing cavalry and infantry deploy and await the Prussian attack.


Austrian infantry (Front Rank figures) line the walls of the Leuthen churchyard. This was part of the two brigades that defended the center.


Another view of the Austrian center. Old Glory Hungarians on the right and Front Rank Austrians on the left. RSM95 limber team supports Front Rank Austrian artillery crew and gun.


Field Marshal von Piglet reviews his Austrian troops (at the request of Her Ladyship, Lady Emma Cuddlestone-Smythe). The picture also depicts nearly all of the Austrian infantry deployed in the center.

Prussian Deployment


Von Zieten's light cavalry brigade of Stadden hussars deployed on the Prussian right.


Der Alte Fritz confers with his staff before the battle begins.


The Prussian army deployment, as viewed from the left flank of the army.


Driessen's heavy cavalry brigade protects the Prussian left flank. Suren dragoons, Elite Miniatures cuirassiers.

The Game Action in Progress



Austrain hussars attack Zieten's hussars from the front, whilst the de Saxe Uhlans outflank Zieten and charge across the bridge, on the Austrian left (Prussian right) flank.


As you can see, the Austrians were getting the better in this melee. Eventually though, both cavalry forces in this sector neutralized each other.

With the threat of the Austrian light cavalry removed, the Prussians commenced their assault on the village. Their plan was to work around the left and right flanks of the Leuthen churchyard before launching the final assault on the churchyard itself. An interesting strategy that worked.

Prussian left wing pours into the town of Leuthen, having routed off most of the Austrian infantry on their right flank. Minden Prussian figures on the bottom left.


The Prussian left wing infantry also converge on the town after their cavalry won the huge melee in this sector.



Tom Miller (standing) leads the Prussian heavy cavalry brigade on the left against the Austrians and Saxons commanded by Bill Protz (seated wearing cap) and a gentleman named Rolf (seated in the background).


Tom's Prussians finally gain the upper hand on the Prussian left (Austrian right), which allowed the Prussian infantry to advance onto the town.


With both flanks caving in, the Prussian finally launched a direct assault on the Leuthen churchyard (after whittling down the garrison with several turns of artillery fire). Patience in a wargame can be a virtue, as the Prussian players demonstrated. The grenadier battalion in the front of the church were repulsed, but the Guard Grenadiers were able to rush through the side gate - although it took them 2 turns to push down the heavy wood gates as they forgot to bring their pioneers with them (this was determined by dice rolls each turn - bad dice rolling meant that the Guards could not enter the churchyard).

The game ended with a very convincing Prussian victory. The forces were fairly equal in size the Prussians having 10 battalions and the Austrians 8 battalions. I figured that the attacker needed some extra troops in order to have a chance of success. The cavalry forces were equal in size and there was a tremendous amount of cavalry "back and forth" in the melees that nearly lasted the full game.

The Prussian strategy of neutralizing the enemy cavalry on the flanks, then caving in both infantry flanks, then assaulting the churchyard, proved to be a success. I had figured that the Prussians would bombard the churchyard with the howitzers that I gave them and then send in the elite rated grenadiers to capture the church. You never know what your players are going to do in a game, but their strategy proved to be better than the one that I had envisioned.