Mollwitz Demo

With the Sittangbad Demo game at Partizan in 2006 being so well received, the following year the group was expanded... not just in numbers, but also in terms of wit, repartee, and wargaming celebrity quotient by virtue of the fact that we roped in Charles S Grant and Stuart Asquith to join us! Charles also brought with him several hundred other fellows in the form of the original SSMs as shown in the book The Wargame - those very same armies that we had all been looking at on those hallowed pages for so many years.

And so it was that on the morning of the show, we all opened the boxes of figures with trembling hands...
... for this time we were recreating the main battle from The Wargame: Mollwitz.

Henry Hyde, master photographer, captured the action on film during the day...

Below: the team: (l to r) myself, John Preece, Henry Hyde, Stuart Asquith, Charles S Grant, Steve Gill.



Below: it looks as if Sgt Gill is bellowing at Pte Asquith and Pte Preece to sort their dressing out... Actually, I'm sure there's a different explanation, but....

 
Below: the iconic image of the day for me... just after setting up, and seeing all the massed ranks and columns of VFS infantry marching on towards Mollwitz.






Below: All day, the game attracted comment and many admirers. Here I am deep in conversation with Alan Perry. Nick Elsden another member of the OSW yahoo group is also in picture between Steve and Stuart, whilst Charles explains some finer military point to another interested bystander.

Below: Henry and Steve devise ways to win the cavalry action on the VFS left wing, whilst their adversary in this part of the battle, John Preece, eaves drops in the background!


5 comments:

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Wow! What a way to start the day. Coffee and. . . Mollwitz!

Best Regards,

Stokes

warpaintjj said...

You don't post much but when you do...
Thanks a lot for this treat Phil,
best wishes
JJ

Scheck said...

Wonderful battle, great pictures! Are they all in 28- 30mm? They look a little bit bigger.
Peter

Archduke Piccolo said...

Those big battalions have a presence all their own, don't they just!? A fine memorial for the author of 'The War Game'.

Phil said...

Thanks all. I think what makes the SSMs look so good in mass battalions, especially the VFS attack columns, is that marching pose... very much a purposeful march-attack. There's nothing like large units of figures in identical pose.
Peter: the figures are "30mm". The vast majority are Spencer Smiths, although there are some Staff Officers that are Surens and Staddens.
Thanks for your comments.
Phil