CoSimG at the NATO Wargaming Initiative 2023 conference in Rome.

by Jorit Wintjes

From June 26 to June 28 the 2023 NATO Wargaming Inititaive took place at the Centro Alti Studi per la Difesa (CASD), located in the magnificent 16th c. Palazzo Salviati in Rome; see here for furter details and pictures. On two days, large numbers of wargames were run in which conference attendees could participates, and CoSimG had the opportunity to run a “classic” Prussian Kriegsspiel; below is an extremely brief report. The game was run on the historic 1867 Königgrätz wargaming map, using the 1867 Tschischwitz ruleset; see here for more information on this particular type of Kriegsspiel and an in-depth look at the map and some of the functions of the 1867 Kriegsspiel.

CoSimG used one of its standard scenarios involving two divisions on each side, but with a significant imbalance: while the Prussians mustered two infantry divisions of two infantry brigades, one cavalry regiment and three artillery batteries each, the Saxons only fielded one infantry division of two infantry brigades, half a cavalry regiment and two artillery batteries, but were supported by a highly mobile Austrian cavalry division of three cavalry brigades, each with two cavalry regiments and one battery of horse artillery on strength. Normally this is done with three tables, or even three different rooms, but due to the characteristics of the venue both teams had to share a table, which was divided in the middle by a screen; the facilitators had their map on a smaller table in the corner of the room. While perhaps not the best possible setup the room certainly made up for any deficiencies by sheer grandeur, which is only imperfectly conveyed by the picture below!

The overall setup in the room.

While the timeslot available of 150 minutes was well short of the time normally required for such a setup - after some initial explanation of about 15 minutes participants had a further 20 minutes to develop their initial plans, so in the end there were barely two hours available for running the actual battle - the wargame already showed some promising developments that would have resulted in heavy fighting for the key areas on the battlefield; this was due to the great commitment of the participants on both sides, who took up the challenge of leading 19th c. armies onto a battlefield some of them had seen for the first time (and by using a map following some rather quirky mid-19th c. mapmaking conventions at that!) with gusto.

Starting positions for both sides; Prussians (blue) on the left, Saxons and Austrians (red) on the right.

While the Prussians were tasked with capturing the heights around the villages of Problus, Nieder-Prim and Ober-Prim, the Saxons were defend them, supported by the Austrian cavalry. The first hour saw the Prussian infantry division 14 move eastwards with two brigades side by side from their starting positions on the heights overlooking the Bistritz crossings southeast of Lubno. Infantry division 15 pushed one brigade through the Hradeker Thiergarten towards Hradek, while the other brigade moved east of the Thiergarten southwards before turning eastwards and continuing onto Radostow. Meanwhile, the Saxon infantry division had with some haste occupied the high ground around Problus, Nieder-Prim and Ober-Prim and was preparing itself for defence. Of the three Austrain cavalry brigades one was kept in reserve near Stezirekt - a decision that would turn out to be of some significant importance soon -, while the two others made with great haste to Neu-Radostow and Hradek from their initial positions around Techlowitz. While the Austrians did not make it to Hradek in time before the Prussians entered the village, the Prussians moving towards Radostow were not quite as lucky and found an Austrian cavalry brigade blocking their advance. At the same time the other Prussian division moving towards Problus realized that the enemy had gotten their first.

Situation after about an hour - Austrian cavalry in Neu-Radostow and outside Hradek.

Resisting the urge to initiate a frontal attack - which had high chances of producing significant casualties set against lower than average chances of success - the commander if infantry division 14 weighed his options and came up with a daring plan: while his two brigades were to fix the enemy in position, a sqzadron of cavalry was to sneak through the Stezireker Wald and attack the enemy from behind. The squadron commander was, in true cavalry style, quite enthusiastic about the mission and trotted off with his men to glory or the grave. Indeed, unknown to the Prussians, the enemy divisional HQ was located on a hill just opposite the point where the squadron would exit the forest - and also unknown to the Prussians, they were sending their cavalry directly into the cavalry brigade serving as a reserve for the Saxon/Austrian forces! A sharp, brief engagement followed in which the Prussian squadron, facing odds of 4:1, was effectively destroyed.

Cavalry action - note Saxon HQ on hill overlooking Stezirek, and Saxon/Austrian reserve outside Stezirek.

While the situation around Problus had turned into a standoff, infantry division 15 was slowly pushing forwards, with the Austrian cavalry brigades trading space for time, and every now and then unlimbering their artillery to take a few potshots at the Prussian infantry. While Prussian losses were insignificant, the Austrians slowed Prussian progress down, and when the time was up, the Austrians still had a lot of space to trade and were about to take up positions near Techlowitz where due to the character of the terrain the combined batteries of two brigades would have proven a significant problem for the Prussians. Around Problus the Saxons held firm; as a result, the commander of infantry division 14, having learned of the failure of his cavalry attack through some survivors, decided to regroup.

Red map showing a clear picture of where the enemy was.

It was at that point that time was up. Both sides had shown some very clever handling of their forces, and both had struggled quite successfully with the fog-of-war the Prussian Kriegsspiel is so good at producing. While the timeslot was too short to reach a final result, it was quite sufficient to get an impression of the potential of Kriegsspiel-type wargaming.