Tried a refight of Borny using Black Powder last night, Prussians had two Corps under two players to try and break through my French line.
They failed!
They tried to take either flank, but the French shooting, combat, and save dice were magnificent, and the Prussians right Corps were awful! Their morale roll was an average of 4! Yep, on 2d6 they got 1 x 9, 3 x 2 and 6 x 4! Two whole divisions closed into assault, each unit taking two or three casulties from closing fire, then lost every combat (despte being Large March column vs Lines), forcing break tests.
Even the French Currassiers managed to charge without getting shot to pieces!
A few photos (apologese, these were from my phone camera, and I ran out of power halfway through the game):
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Borney/IMG20110526_002.jpg)
Looking down the French line, the gap was shortly plugged by Corps Artillery and the Chasseurs were thrown forward to snipe and destroy Prussian Artillery batteries.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Borney/IMG20110526_003.jpg)
Laippisets's Brigade, in Reserve,.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Borney/IMG20110526_004.jpg)
French Cavalry in Reserve, Forton's Division is facing the wrong way to show they haven't managed to get out their tents yet!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Borney/IMG20110526_006.jpg)
The Prussians finally get some troops in table (so many of their movement orders failed it was embarressing)
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Borney/IMG20110526_007.jpg)
The Prussians advance like this on both wings, hoping to turn the French, it didn't work!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Borney/IMG20110526_008.jpg)
Prussiand attempt a charge, shortly after this my phone ran out of batteries and the Prussians broke!
Both Mitrailleuse jammed on their first shots, prompting lots of cat calling from the Prussians about not reading the instructions! Then they both rolled 1 to unjam, then 2, then 1, then 2, and so on, even more cat calls about 'Read diagram 6, subtable 2, no you've got it all upside down!'
In the end the French lost 1 Regt de Ligne, and 1 Unit of line had pulled back to rally, a lot more French units were under heavy and sustained fire from the Prussian left, but the Prussians by this point had lost 2 battereis of artillery and 8 units of line infantry (including the Oldenbergers who, when Their general tried to rally their shooting losses, blundered and charged the French line, on their own, it was short lived and lethal), a broken Prussian Corp meant that the assault had stalled and the French had protected their line of retreat! Great game, would have been a lot harder if the Prussians had rolled decent dice!
Look good.
IanS
That looked like a good game Lemmy. Makes a change to see the French win. Having said that, I played an opening battle a couple of weeks ago. One Prussian corps in Alsace got suckered into fighting three French corps. It was so messy the second Prussian division didn't make it onto the table before corps morale collapsed.
DP
I'm trying to influence the biys at the club to play some more games as an ongoing campaign, just need lots more French and another dozen Corps of Prussians! ;D
Trouble with 1870 Prussians v French is the number of guns the little blighters can field. Used to play it in 5mm many years ago but found that once the German gun-line formed you could, as they say, "kiss your ass goodbye". :(
To avoid the massed guns problem the French have to get behind a ridge, or play with the benefit of hindsight and distribute their reserve artillery before a battle starts and push them forward to hit Prussian artillery as it debouches piecemeal onto the table. It's wargaming though, and not historical, if you do that. Having said that all wargaming, bar future stuff, suffers from benefit of hindsight. Anyone out there any ideas on making 1870 French more effective?
DP
I agree with all the above points, but so far they've played out about right (we swap sides regularly so we can iron out faults)
When we modified the French for Black Powder we made them 'unreliable' meaning they have to beat their moral roll of commit to action, also we gave them a 36cm rifle range, meaning that the Prussians always have to take at least one turn of fire before they can charge in (Dreyse on have a range of about 12"), plus they are rated as 'sharpshooters' allowing them to re-roll on missed dice in firing, that really adds to their stopping power.
Prussians heavy artillery is rated as howitzers, so firing 2d6 at all ranges, rather than 3/2/1 for short/medium/long and a -2 on saves, but was largely ineffective on Thursday due to amazing French saves (lots of 6s)