Fought the battle of Spicheren again yesterday, using BBB, after about 10 months since its last outing. As the French I made some silly mistakes, but fortunately towards the end of the battle the Prussians were evidently tiring and it became difficult to move their troops. Consequently the French hung on to three objectives for a very hard fought draw. However, my mistakes:
*Starting a number of French units in march column. They were immediately hit by Krupp artillery fire as I had erroneously assumed they were far enough away.
*Attempting to push the French artillery too far forward - hit whilst limbered.
*Occupying the Rotterberg. Sounds obvious, as the French had occupied rifle pits there, but in reality, at the scale of the game, this overcrowds the Rotterburg. Sacrifice it and hold the area around Spicheren and also the Giffert woods as there is more room for manoeuvre and more cover.
Consequently I think I was quite lucky.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2049_zpsd12wwweg.jpg)
French troops around Spicheren
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2048_zps2q4wkvz2.jpg)
Forbach
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2046_zpsdinrawur.jpg)
A general view looking down the valley towards Saarbrucken.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2051_zpsvmzayeqs.jpg)
Prussian troops massing to attack the Giffert wood area, and down the valley to Stiring Wendel.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_1815_zps4x6wdm5n.jpg)
General Frossard.
The schoolmaster serves another lesson! Well done sir. Great report.
How did you deal with the altitude changes? ;)
Any train on those lines is in trouble.
Great to see your lovingly crafted Spicheren layout get another outing. Hard-fought draw - always a popular result!
Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/
Looks great!
Quote from: FierceKitty on 12 September 2017, 10:23:31 AM
Any train on those lines is in trouble.
Indeed! although the lolly stick approach does enable the lines to bend and give the impression of a raised trackbed, this one providing level 1 cover.
looks really nice.
I honestly thought the rail tracks were one piece castings, so interesting to find out they're on wooden sticks.
What are the figures 6mm Irregular? (this is a guess)
Quote from: mad lemmey on 12 September 2017, 09:28:03 AM
The schoolmaster serves another lesson! Well done sir. Great report.
How did you deal with the altitude changes? ;)
The fleece was laid over cardboard which had been cut out to the shapes shown on the scenario map. The first layer on the table is some redundant styrofoam terrain squares. The cardboard terrain was then secured to those by the judicious use of long map pins, and the throw then went over the lot. Rivers, streams, roads and most of the trees by S&A Scenics, plus some trees from TimeCast. Town buildings are 3mm from TBM, Spicheren is a single piece from the Peter Pig Hammerin' Iron range, other buildings are unknown very small metal 6mm and Paper Terrain 3mm, railway is 3mm Paper Terrain on lolly sticks.
Steep and gentle slopes were dealt with simply by having a copy of the map next to me.
The figures are a mix of Irregular and Heroics and Ros. I happen to think that the Irregular figures work particularly well with BBB, although they do need a 30mm frontage to save cutting up the figure bases. The command is a Napoleonic command base simply given a paint job and a tiny bit of scalpel work on Frossard's head gear. He has a couple of members of the Guard Guides assisting him.
Superb Leman. Thank you
Stylish as always, Leman. Bravo!
I particularly like the vignette where one of General Frossard's is giving the dispatch rider's horse a sugar cube! Sweet! :)
Cracking!
Love the paper terrain rail line - very sneaky idea :)
Looks very good indeed. =D>
Good stuff, Andy. Still to play my first BBB game. :)
Lovely !
( BBB is really a good game ! )
Not really my thing, but very impressive!
Love the set up!
When I looked at this post FSN had been the last poster, and I was not aware of the Spicheren battle. So seeing FSN and Spicheren in the same post I put 2 and 2 together and getting 6.5 I assumed this was some form of deviance Nobby was into! ;D
Very cool! I could almost smell the black powder...
Wait, nope thats me... BRB taking a shower
Cracking looking game.
Quote from: fsn on 12 September 2017, 06:34:58 PM
Not really my thing, but very impressive!
There is a big American tank on the actual Spicheren battlefield (a Chaffee I have been informed), as well as some WWII German army graves.
The second half of the second revisit to Spicheren took place this afternoon. The French snatched a dramatic win right at the end of move 8, although the Prussians did manage to seize and hold Forbach, thus depriving (historically) the French of many of the supplies prepared for the invasion of Germany. I had to say that as I was commanding the Prussians.
Frossard did manage to make the most of his position magnifique, cramming thousands of men on the edge of the ridge overlooking the Forbach valley and destroying completely three strong Prussian units with combined Chassepot and artillery fire.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2060_zpsj8c1smpc.jpg)
However the Prussians had sent a very strong unit up into the St.Arnual woods, which would have put them in the rear of the aforementioned French, but Frossard had quickly despatched troops to counter that move.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2059_zpsy8pub5ps.jpg)
A right old dingdong ensued with the Prussians finally being ejected from that victory position in move 8. Meanwhile the French cavalry attempted to outflank the Prussian gun line on the Drill Ground, but were countercharged by the Prussian hussars, thus saving the guns.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2062_zps1bjgnx7j.jpg)
The Prussians who had entered the board west of Schoneck found passing through the wood quite slow work, at one point rolling snake eyes for a complete standstill. They launched a charge in move 7, but were thrown back by Chassepot fire
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/BBB%206mm%20armies/IMG_2061_zpsuhp7orsy.jpg)
They tried again in move 8, having recovered their order and fought their way into and then held Forbach as the last gasp of the game. However,
having lost the Pfaffen Wood, what could have been a draw became a French victory.
Sounds a hard fought battle. Not sure when I'll get to play BBB again, or even 1871 for that matter :(
1871 looks like it could be a Christmas affair for me. My next outing is Froeschwiller, again twice with two different opponents, then I shall be working on the 10mm Schleswig-Holsteiners and their Hanoverian allies, whilst playing some more 3mm ACW and possibly some Basic Impetus 2.
Great looking game. So nice to see a French win!
Cracking sounding game! Vive Napoleon!
A good looking game, hard fought :)
:-bd :-bd
Hello again Roy. Next time out is Froeshwiller. My job to set the table, but troops will be Mike's 10mm FPW.