Marshal MacMahon sited his corps along a series of low hills in a position to stop the advancing Prussian army led by the Crown Prince. He was undermanned but strengthened his position with a series of scrapes. With an initial force of two infantry divisions and a cavalry division he hoped to hold long enough for a reinforcing division to make it to the field.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120928_222155-1.jpg)
French defenses
The Crown Prince lead the initial attack with two infantry divisions and counted on a nearby cavalry division and infantry division to march to the sound of the guns to support the attack.
The French had a chasseur battalion advanced in a village to slow down the Prussian advance. This was designed to occupy the Prussian's for a few hours so that the French could reinforce their weak left flank. This worked as the Prussians spent most of the morning attacking the village with at least a brigade and a half. The first Prussian attack faltered so they fell back, shot up the village with their artillery and then assaulted the village two more times before finally destroying the stingy Chasseurs.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120929_134205.jpg)
Only a few Chasseurs remain to hold the town.
In the mean time, the Prussians massed their artillery to fire long range against the French center. As the French guns could not reach the Prussians they resorted to a desperate, but brave cavalry attack. The French cavalry division had been on the left flank and had effectively slowed the Prussian attack on that flank merely with their presence. However, as the massed guns threatened to undo the French center, they were needed elsewhere. The French cavalry advanced quickly through the valley between the opposing lines (the Prussians had remained behind a series of low hills to avoid the French artillery and chassepot fire), turned toward the gun line and charged. The six batteries of guns all but destroyed the French cavalry.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120929_140510.jpg)
French cavalry division begins its death ride. Note the massed Prussian guns in the rear.
The charge did have a somewhat positive affect as the Prussians rearranged their forces to deal with the cavalry should they succeed. In doing so, they presented their flank to the French center who took the bait, left the safety of their defenses, advanced through the valley and charged up the other row of hills. Combined with a flank attack by the remaining cavalry units the French managed to wrest control of the ridge from the Prussians.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120929_151426.jpg)
The French charge the hill
By now it was early in the afternoon and the French were in for a fight on their left flank. The reinforcing division moved quickly to attack the Prussians who were reorganizing after taking the village. Attack led to counter attack as both sides moved reserves to shore up their defenses and reinforce attacks. A Prussian brigade had advanced into a salient to threaten the French rear line but was destroyed by a three pronged counter attack lead by the French zouaves.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120929_165256.jpg)
Prussian salient collapses! Note, the brigade is down to three stands out of 24.
By late afternoon the final Prussian reinforcements had arrived on their left flank and began a well organized attack on the French center and right flank. The Prussians pushed the French off the ridge and engaged a brigade who had held a wooded hill for most of the day. The Prussians combined an infantry brigade and cavalry division to chase the French back through the valley to their original defensive line.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120929_165307.jpg)
The French are pushed out of the valley.
By now it was early evening and both sides were at their breaking point. The Prussians rallied their forces but French morale was breaking and units began to abandon their forward positions.
The Prussians mounted a final attack with their cavalry division against the remaining French units in the center. Marshall MacMahon steadied his thinned forces against the attack but the number of horsemen were too much. Overwhelmed, the Marshal sought refuge with an infantry battalion but was killed as they tried to fight their way out of danger.
(http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/20120929_173533.jpg)
Sorry for the shaky image. MacMahon (large circular base) meets his fate!
As evening drew to a close both sides had had enough. The French abandoned their positions and withdrew from the field. The Prussians were beginning to fall back as we'll but retained sufficient forces to hold the field by nightfall.
In all, the Prussians lost about 20,000 men while the French lost a staggering 26,750 men and had a further 1,500 captured.
This was a game of, "To the Last Gaiter Button" which I played with three other friends. None of us had ever played it before but I needed to get in a play test before running a participation game in November at MillenniumCon. With two players per side each player comfortably managed roughly two divisions. One player had to leave early so that left the Prussians with just one commander toward the end. He could easily command the entire force.
After a quick explanation of the rules we played through twelve turns and the game to completion in about four hours. The guys liked the ease of the rules - the number of stands in a unit determines you need to hit, pass morale or leave broken terrain. There's no measuring to slow down a game. And importantly, the game produced many decision points to make the game interesting - where and when to commit troops, when to use a commander's influence to support morale, when to launch an assault or sit back and shoot at the enemy.
As you may know I was hesitant about a grid based game but having read a few AARs of TTLGB I decided to give them a try. After my first game I can say that I am very pleased with the game. It has good pace, present the players with challenging decisions and produces an entertaining game.
More pictures can be found at my photobucket site http://s1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/ (http://s1166.photobucket.com/albums/q602/Grenadierbooks/)
Tom
Great report Shecky !
Very enjoyable.
Cheers - Phil.
Excellent Shecky - nicely done & good to hear that you got on well with TTLGB as well (I've just bought it) :)
Great great report, full of lovely pictures and great narrative!
Love the French death ride,what that they ever achieved anything like that in 1870...Those are HUGE losses, both corps would be shattered by that, and the loss of Macmahon would have been a devastating blow to French morale. At least he would have died a heroes death!
Love hearing you like TTLGB, it's giving me hope and further inspiration for my campaign!
Superb report Shecky! Glad you and your mates like TTLGB - it sounds like you are getting out of it just what we did, simple mechanisms but difficult decisions. I think you'll find it interesting to watch everyone's learning curves as they play it a second and third time. Keep the reports coming, please!
Mollinary
Good-looking game, Shecky. The casualties seem a tad high ,though.
Oh, and a mini-tripod would cure your shake problem. :)
Excellent!
Nice one ;)
Very interested to read about a set of rules I hadn't come across as although I like Principles of War for my FPW engagements they lack a bit of period flavour. Might have to give these a try although I am not a big fan of the 'square system'
Can anyone explain the square system in these rules please? Is it the same as that in Square Bashing and other PP rules?
Le Manchou.
It is the same system I used in my Franco Prussian Gravelotte St.Privat of a couple of years ago, which has a couple of threads on the forum. Yes, the system is similar to Square bashing from Peter Pig. Key characteristics, as I see them, are:
a) Each 10" square is one km. You can alter this if you wish to suit your own table. As ranges and move distances are all in squares it shouldn't matter;
b) Each square is given a terrain classification which affects line of sight and casualty modifiers, and movement. This affects everyone in the square, no more is he, isn't he, in that wood.
c) No measuring. Movement is from square face to square face, no diagonals. This is the only element of artificiality to the gam, but it has its merits. Simplicity, making you think about flanks of formations and positions, and planning ahead for how to defend them. It takes ages to alter either the alignment of a position once taken up or the direction of an attack after it has been launched - so plan well! They are fun, cheap (they contain a good campaign system as well) and challenging.
Mollinary
Cheers Mollinary
I have some TSS terrain tiles kicking about that might fit the bill but are a bit on the big side (12"x12"). I will keep an eye on ebay for a cheap set ;)
Noshed,
I'd go with your TSS tiles if I were you. As I said, with no measuring, and as I didn't say (!) , with a limit to the number of units you can deploy in each square, it shouldn't make a lot of difference. The rules are designed for corps on corps battles (but we have played bigger games) and five to eight foot table should do this well.
Mollinary
Wait, I severely over estimated the number of troops each stand represents.
After taking out the hits to artillery and recalculating with the correct number of troops per stand the new loses are:
The French casualties were about 16,000 with another 1300 captured out of about 30,000 engaged.
The Prussians lost about 13,400 out of about 38,400 engaged.
That's still a lot but if you consider the French lost an entire cavalry division the the number of infantry casualties were about the same.
So, it would be written up as a massive French victory then! ;)
It certainly would be in Le Monde and Le Figaro ;)
Quote from: mad lemmey on 30 September 2012, 09:24:16 PM
So, it would be written up as a massive French victory then! ;)
;D
Hi Shecky
Great description of the battle you played - very much in the style we hoped that it would like a page/chapter from a history book
Glad you redid casualties - bloody enough as it was
You got to the essence that while the rules are very simple the squared system allows you to make the big decisions - where to advance, when/where to create your battle-line, when to attack and when to delay and await reinforcements and the rules make reserves so important as when you do not have any you really are doomed
Bernie
one of the three designers of TTLGB