Adventures in North West France, 1870 ...

Keith and I continued our small Franco Prussian War games using Frank Chadwick's Volley and bayonet rules. The games are small because... well, we just haven't yet painted sufficient forces to fight larger battles, despite having bought a fair swag of figures more years ago than we care to admit. We fight our battles at half scale, using our 6mm armies built using figures from the Heroics and Ros range,

This scenario was formulated using an abbreviated version of the Road To Glory scenario system. Each of us ended up with a deployment that saw us remove our left wing after our first moves.

Initial deployment

The Prussian centre remained, with the army commander visible centre left

The French advance

The French commander launches an attack on the left of the Prussian centre. The aim was to get in before troops had established themselves (gone stationary)

The French first attack was repulsed

The Prussian commander pushed resources across the river, clearly determined to similarly attack the French left

Each commander had his reserves come on in the same turn, The Prussian commander pushed his reserve division towards his left to bolster his left flank. The French commander pushed his reserves towards his right, to threaten the Prussian left

The Prussian right advances, with the cavalry pushed across the river, with infantry support, to make a wide swing around the French flank

Meanwhile the French commander massed for an attack against the Prussian centre and left

The position on the Prussian left , seen from behind the Prussian position - the scale of the French forces and their attack is apparent.

The Prussian commander withdraws some of his centre brigades and infantry in the face of withering French fire

The Prussian right wing flank march bypasses the French left on the other side of the river

Prussian forces on the lft bank of the river ready themselves to support their flanking attack

Th French right wing attack goes in, supported by plenty of bronze napoleons, and a Mitrailleuse battery seen top centre

The Prussian centre reconsolidating

The Prussian cavalry top right has well and truly bypassed the French left. The French commander has withdrawn a Mitrailleuse battery and an artillery battalion to protect the flank (upper left)

The Prussian right flank attack about to go in

The Prussian left under attack. A French brigade that had occupied the centre high ground had been eliminated

Prussian forces cross the river, Prussian Cuirassiers seen top centre of the photo

Prussian centre right wth artillery stationary, ready to support the attack

The second wave of French attack on the Prussian left goes in - the effect is devastating

A Mitrailleuse battery ,moves forward and drives the cuirassiers back across the river

Prussian infantry cross the river to begin the attack

The Prussian left wing division suffers a morale collapse, so devastating are the casualties. The surviving troops fall back through the woods

The Prussian right wing attack goes in, supported by mo less that five battalions of Krupp guns

The French artillery is taken in the flank by the Cuirassiers, and eliminated. The infantry guarding the French left is routed back from its position

The Prussians take the position, and begin the unhinging of the French 'position magnifique'

At this stage the French attack on the Prussian left also runs out of steam as both attacking divisions have run out of momentum (in VnB terms they are both one casualty off exhaustion).

We agreed that the French position had been sufficiently compromised that they would abandon the position. Casualties were fairly similar, the bulk of the Prussian casualties coming ffom the left flank division that had suffered the morale collapse.

For a 'small game', this had so much nuance. We both noticed that as we become more familiar with the sub period and it's own rules nuances, we are each tending to have infantry go prone more often.

Wow, what a game.