I finally finished writing up these battles.
The Battles of Froeschwiller and Spicheren
The two battles of Froeschwiller and Spicheren were based on the maps and the entry times from Bruce Weigel's 1870 rules. The rules used were my adaptation of Russ Lockwood's "Snappy Nappy", which I call Sappy Nappy for the FPW. We fought both on August 27, 2016 (it has taken me this long to write them up). The actual battles occurred on August 6, 1870. The table setups are in the pictures from Photobucket.
Each board had a time limit and objectives for the Prussians. For Froeschwiller they had to reach Froeschwiller and at Spichern they needed to reach Forbach. Both boards had a time limit of 12 turns. I needed to increase the movement distances from my rules to make sure the attackers could actually reach their objectives, but it meant the Prussians needed to be aggressive.
The Froeschwiller board had 2 French and 2 Prussian gamers. Spichern had one and one.
Entry times and entry locations for units were also taken from the 1870 rules. The unit sizes were modified for my stand scale.
Some different conditions applied; for Spichern only the 3rd Division of the French was immediately available. The other two divisions were in reserve and could not move until within the Prussian fire zone or rolled a 1-3 on a d10 on the first turn, adding 1 each turn thereafter. So as can be seen, the Rosenberg the Foundry and the village of Stirling Wedel were held by the French. As it happened the dice were with the French; both divisions were released on the first turn.
See the pictures of the battle of Froeschwiller:
http://s915.photobucket.com/user/kiptrexel/library/Froschwiller%20game
Some of the pictures are out of order, but I have numbered them. I was umpire and jumping between tables to take pictures with my iPhone. Evidently I was not as steady as I thought. Sorry for the blurry shots.
For Froeschwiller (Worth) the 2 northern bridges were not passable until repaired. This left only one bridge usable for artillery and cavalry. In order to repair the bridges a pioneer company needed to be able to cross the river (fordable for infantry and pioneers) and on the turn after arriving they could attempt repairs. More than one company could work on the repair. The bridges had 10 damage points that needed to be rolled off using a d6. For every company able to work, roll a die; the number was subtracted from the damage until it reached zero.
Again the dice were with the French as even with 3 companies working on the middle bridge and 2 companies on the southern bridge it took 3 turns and 4 turns respectively for the Prussians to repair the bridges.
The combat for Froeschwiller did not go well for the Prussians. On the right a Bavarian division got across the river to let the pioneers start the repair. However the French were able to hold the Bavarians by using the under strength 1st Division (they had fought and lost the previous day in the actual campaign so I reduced the number of effectives available).
A Prussian brigade also forded the river at the middle bridge, again to allow the pioneers to start repair. Because of the late repair of the bridges the Prussian artillery did not make it across until late in the game. Essentially they were stymied in the center and the right. The French had stayed out of range of the Prussian artillery on the heights opposite.
Things went better on the left where the Prussians were able to come across in force and started turning the French right flank. However, they ran out of time before their presence could be felt in the center, the main French position. The French right flank traded space for time effectively.
See the pictures of Spicheren:
http://s915.photobucket.com/user/kiptrexel/media/Spicheren%20game/6%20battlefield_zpsudyrf2i8.jpg.html
Spichern was a hard fought combat with the Prussians advancing and attacking quickly. The French put up a magnificent defense of the Foundry in front of Stirling Wedel, throwing back several assaults using the village for cover and the support of artillery and mitrailleuses.
The Prussians tried to flank the defensive position at the village on both the right and left, but were thrown back and/or eliminated on both flanks. The Prussians ignored the Roteberg, it being very steep and also entrenched. However, when Prussian cavalry tried to attack up the left side of the Forbach valley, they were taken in the flank by troops from the high ground and eliminated.
The left flank next to the woods saw several cavalry attacks and counterattacks, with the French ultimately prevailing.
Here also the Prussians ran out of time. The narrowness of the Forbach valley was a major constraint to their attacks, as was the early release of the French reserves. The Prussians could never bring their superior artillery into action and were stymied by the chassepot, the mitrailleuse and the artillery.
Both boards finished at the same time so the rules were effective in this respect. This is the third time most of the players have used these rules. Some were modified from the last game to enable troops to last longer. This was a tactical game whereas our last was a campaign in a day (report in Batreps).
Enjoyed your write-up and all pictures, kept. Your two tables look amazing and really capture the look and feel. Well done.
Since Leman introduced me to Weigel's "1870", it's been my FPW (Summer/Fall) go to single source. Even if you don't use the rules, the OoB, maps and tactical appreciations are worth the price.
Both look brilliant
Good to see some FPW action again. Very well presented.
Great reports, I also played both battles (Froeschwiller twice and Spicheren three times) but with 1870 rulebook and found out they are interesting and balanced. It's more difficult to win as the Prussian if you are a beginner as the good use of artillery comes with experience and is key to victory. Bruce Weigle did a new QRS for 1870 some years ago and I find it more historically accurate (it makes the Prussians stronger).
Great looking games and love playing this period.
Let's have more Kipt. Happy New Year.
Good looking games :)
Good to see Geo-hex still in use, I visited the guy who made it while on a trip to the US. I brought my set home as excess baggage. Check in staff look excited until they weighed it ;D ;D ;D
How did you make the railway lines ?
They were scanned and printed. Not three dimensional.
Then cut out. Bare minimum actually as I have N gauge track but this was set up at one of the participant's house. I didn't dig out my track when we transferred the terrain and troops to his house.
Looks very nice!