THE VILLAGE OF LEUTHEN
Since I was a kid I have always been fascinated by a fantastic diorama I saw on the booklet Rossbach and Leuthen of Osprey Publishing and later also on internet.
It is about the attack of the Prussian on the village on Leuthen on 5th December 1757 reproduced in the Plassenbug Zinnfiguren Museum.
Here I publish one picture of it. I really liked the deep formations of the Roth Wurzburg Regiment inside the courtyard of the church.
I came up then with the idea - between others - to reproduce the very attack of the Prussian Infantry towards the church and the village itself.
Reproducing doesn't just mean that is would be a static diorama, but a wargame diorama, where to mix up the beauty of a diorama with the taste of playing a wargame.
I chose also this episode of the famous battle because actually it is possible to recreate that salient with a relatively low numbers of figures.
It is about the attack of the Prussian on the village on Leuthen on 5th December 1757 reproduced in the Plassenbug Zinnfiguren Museum.
Here I publish one picture of it. I really liked the deep formations of the Roth Wurzburg Regiment inside the courtyard of the church.
I came up then with the idea - between others - to reproduce the very attack of the Prussian Infantry towards the church and the village itself.
Reproducing doesn't just mean that is would be a static diorama, but a wargame diorama, where to mix up the beauty of a diorama with the taste of playing a wargame.
I chose also this episode of the famous battle because actually it is possible to recreate that salient with a relatively low numbers of figures.
Usually in all the wargame you can see on internet reproducing this battle, it is possible to see that the main focus in on the church, while the village is less considered (habitually just 2 or 3 houses); at the contrary I found really challenging to try to recreate the village itself.
Firstly I considered the paintings of the battle: the church is open to the ground and that makes me think that the village at the epoch had just one main road, with 2 rows of houses At the same time, I checked on google map and I saw that nowadays too the village is quite little, and its extension in limited. I do think that the core of the village at the time of the battle was no more long of 700 meters X 100 deep. (even less). It is possible that there were some farms in the distance, so stretching the extension some 1 km, but - I repeat - the core of the village where the battle took place was probably less.
Firstly I considered the paintings of the battle: the church is open to the ground and that makes me think that the village at the epoch had just one main road, with 2 rows of houses At the same time, I checked on google map and I saw that nowadays too the village is quite little, and its extension in limited. I do think that the core of the village at the time of the battle was no more long of 700 meters X 100 deep. (even less). It is possible that there were some farms in the distance, so stretching the extension some 1 km, but - I repeat - the core of the village where the battle took place was probably less.
I started with researching which was the typical house of the epoch in the village: usually they were build of wood (and still now in southern Poland is very easy to enter villages with homes all built up in wood); I reproduced then the homes, with the roof still with snow, and with a basement in stone or bricks and the rest in wood. I also extended the width of the roofs and I set up fences, behind which the Austrians set up their hastily prepared defense of the village.
The Imperial Regiment Roth Wurzburg (glued on a fix base or 5 papersoldiers) defends the village itself.
The Imperial Regiment Roth Wurzburg (glued on a fix base or 5 papersoldiers) defends the village itself.
The number of papersoldiers I used to defend the Village reflects exactly the real number of men at the battle. For instance, here above, it is possible to see a captain indicating to the troops the approaching Prussians (top left) or a NCO leading the rows (on the right)
Above: a Lieutenant is indicating the direction to shoot. Next to him 3 NCO's. On his back a Captain with other 3 NCO's
Here above a more detailed view of the defense of the Village. It is also possible to see the Commander of the Roth Wurzburg battalion in the background, next to the Leibfahne (the flag of the regiment: a bòack double head eagle on a white field)
Another picture to show the details of the home: the roofs are covered of snow, the walls are done of wood and mud, with a fence surrounding the farm. Using a 5 papersoldiers base allows the player to adapt the troops to the real situation, perfectly simulating the details of the real battle. I actually preferred this rate (5 papersoldiers/base) than the previous one (used for the Romans) of 10-12 papersoldiers/base. It is also possible to array the troops in this way not only in line, but also in column or adapt them, like in this case, to defend a village, fitting the array of the homes