Froeschwiller-Worth 1870

[Werthor]

Hi,
in 2013 at our club we had the idea to start a FPW project. I had the honour to prepare some bavarian, while other 3 guys prepared the wily "francais" and loyal prussians....anyway, we had some delay and incidents (the prussian player discovered that he was not very fond of 10mm scale after just painting few bases and gave it up) but we managed to finish the painting (almost) during 2014. So we are starting to play some scenarios using Bruce Weigle's 1870 rules.  I like a lot the scenarios of this ruleset as well as all the fluff, i find that the rules are not written too clearly, but the online faq clear all the obscure points. I just have some concerns about the basing we used: actually, just to have more mass effect, we had the idea to use FOW bases (51mmx29mm) putting  8/10 infantrymen or 5 cavalrymen or 2 cannons on them. The result was estethically  good, but required a lot of space making very difficult to handle more than few divisions in a standard 180cmx120cm table. Moreover, having such big bases altered some game mechanics, for instance the fire phase, beeing the most effective fire range just 76mm (3in). Anyway, too late to complain since i've based almost an entire bavarian corp and i'd prefer to eat them than to rebase!

As you will see in the attached photos, given the figure/scenics/space limitations, we refought just a simplification of the battle for the two villages of Froeschwiller and worth. The outcome was already written given the disparity of the forces, but the bavarians had many problems deployng their artillery and making good use of it.

[Werthor]

Other pics

[Hertsblue]

Interesting game, Werthor, although, as you say, the French are badly outnumbered. Look forward to seeing future battles. 

[Techno]

Looks fun ! 
Cheers - Phil

[Leman]

I really enjoyed playing Bruce Weigle's rules and scenarios, but eventually found them difficult to stage owing to the table size and the sheer number of bases required. I have recently switched to Bloody Big Battles which fights the FPW scenarios on a much reduced scale, so that Froeschwiller fits on a 180cm 120cm table (6'x4'). The largest division in any scenario is 7 bases.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good report, nice figures.
Good to see someone trying to get the gradient right too, it's a big escarpment the French were in!
Try the Volley and Bayonet pages, uber their scenario it breaks the major fights down nicely.

[Steve J]

IIRC Bruce does mention playing sections of the battle if you don't have the figures and/or the space.

[Leman]

Very likely to do that with my 10mm figures using the scenario breakdowns in They Died for Glory and trying out Field of Battle 2 and Black Powder as the rule systems.

[Werthor]

Thanks for all the comments; yes we tried to give a sense of the varying altitudes in the battlefield, since it's one of the main features of this fight. Of course we made a drastic simplification: we used just two altitudes while weigle's scenario marks 6/7 altitude gradients....anyway the scenario was fun and i recommend it to any FPW wargamer. Even if we like 1870 ruleset, I'm interested in trying black powder for FPW, but i wonder if it would work well with 10mm figures and, moreover, with our basing 

[cameronian]

Our 'show game' Froeschwiller from Carronade 2010, scroll down to mid page (this isn't normal standard BTW, it took months).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46755253@N00/sets/72157624019716420/detail/?page=2

[Hertsblue]

Like the "terraced" terrain. Avoids the 30-man bobsleigh syndrome on the steeper slopes.

[Leman]

Thanks for all the comments; yes we tried to give a sense of the varying altitudes in the battlefield, since it's one of the main features of this fight. Of course we made a drastic simplification: we used just two altitudes while weigle's scenario marks 6/7 altitude gradients....anyway the scenario was fun and i recommend it to any FPW wargamer. Even if we like 1870 ruleset, I'm interested in trying black powder for FPW, but i wonder if it would work well with 10mm figures and, moreover, with our basing 

The SYW works very well in 10mm with BP and I see no reason why 10mm FPW shouldn't work. The only problem might be having to sort out ranges etc. In SYW we play the game in centimetres rather than inches, usually on a 6'x4'.

[holdfast]

Froeschwiller is a big battlefield that is effectively divided into sections by the extensive and dense woods. So it is indeed perfectly possible to stage just one section. Bruce Weigle's maps are accurate and the next best thing to the Prussian General Staff history, and rather more accessible.
However, if you play just the middle you don't need Bavarians as they were on the northern sector, despite the positioning of their (very posh) memorial in the village.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Again, the memorials note where the men came to rest at the end of the action, not where the thick of it was.
Hence there are an awful lot of unit memorials at the top of the slope, despite most losses happening at the bottom or on the way up!

[holdfast]

Agreed. At Custozza, Mollinary and I had a heck of a job finding one of the (very few) memorials since there were a lot of trees on the ridge in question. In the end we just headed for the slight rise at one end of the ridge and there it was.