As part of our continuing Franco-Prussian 'Black Powder/To The Last Gaiter Button' campaign, the French II Corps and III Corps continued their advance to attempt to hunt down the Prussian VIII Corps that had avoided them at Saarbruken.
The Prussians had chosen to hole up on the Oberlinxweileir, a long, broken and wooded ridge, to the south of St Wendle, they were ordered to dig fox holes and gun pits, but the ground was so rocky and full of roots that only limited shell scrapes and improvised pits could be dug.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/SaintWedle4.png)
The Prussians deploy their forces, a French Cavalry division had arrived at 10:00 hours, and after being briefly shelled had found dead ground to hide in until the rest of the French forces arrived.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/002.jpg) (French to the left)
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/003.jpg)
The Prussian line.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/004.jpg)
The two French corps arrived very differently, III Corps arrived along the Saarbruken road in Columns, having caught up with II corps on the march in, despite Macmahon carefully ordering the march to be timed. This was partly due to III Corps taking a more direct route along better roads and partly due to the French traffic control leaving Saarbruken!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/005.jpg)
II Corps arrived en masse, ready to advance in a broad sweep, and their first moves were very quick and effective.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/006.jpg)
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/007.jpg)
However, this was never going to last, as the enire French formation stalled the turn after, until Frossard, commanding II Corps took personal charge of 1st Division!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/008.jpg)
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/009.jpg)
The Prussian batteries were still ranged in on the route the French cavalry had taken, and their first volleys were devastating, forcing the 51st line to retire, and breaking the 95th in III Corps due to shear weight of artillery hits.
"It's an obscured target at long range, you'll need 6s."
*Sound of four dice rolling*
"Is 4 of them enough?"
"B****r!"
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/010.jpg)
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/012.jpg)
Despite a few stalls, II Corps carried on their advance.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/014.jpg)
Whilst III Corps tried to get organised, but again a French Corps advancing along a road ended up in a traffic jam! They had, however forced their guns up in front of their infantry, and even the dreaded mitrailleuse were able to fire for a few turns before jamming - dreaded by their crew as they try and get the things to work!
Le Boeuf "I'm holding them!"
Frossard in frustration "Take him out!"
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/017.jpg)
Sortly II Corps started to turn the flank of 15th Division VIII Corps, severely damaging the 15th Division Jagers, a blow from which they would never recover (it would have helped if they hadn't been left out on the flank exposed)!
2nd Division blundering usefully forwards helped here...
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/018.jpg)
The Prussian cavalry, stationed behind the ridge was almost committed to the right flank...
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/019.jpg)
As the French tried, time and again, to launch an organised assault on the Prussian positions. But had to rely on small arms and artillery fire to wear down the Prussians instead.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/020.jpg)
The Prussian flank
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/022.jpg)
Failing to get an organised attack, the French had to launch regiments in piecemeal.
This one actually failed to contact!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/023.jpg)
The Prussians tried to withdraw their troops (artillery limbering up), but orders to move off were never received. The gun broke shortly after as it sat limbered in the open in range of a whole French corps of shooting! The Prussian command ratings were 10 for Von Steinmetz, 9 for von Goeben and 8 for divisional commanders. No one rolled anything less than a 9 at this point, unless it was for moral, when it would be a 4 and a rout!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/024.jpg)
II Corps, II Division, failing again to attack!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/025.jpg)
At this point, Prussian 16th Division, seeing the position was not good, retired off the ridge. This was after the entirity of III Corps had failed to cause a single shooting hit for two turns!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/026.jpg)
The French Cavalry was brought up to try to clear the flank, and stayed there for the rest of the game!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/027.jpg)
The Prussian 15th Division failed to withdraw time and again, despite Von Steinmetz (army commander) and von Goeben (VIII Corps commander), both trying to get orders through to units. They Prussian line was so stubborn it held until it started to break, however, every time a unit managed to get out of it's shell scrapes, because it was now being enfiladed, they could not withstand the French fire and routed!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/028.jpg)
However, the French lost one battery to concentrated Prussian artillery fire at this point.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/029.jpg)
The Prussian Cavalry retired again to cover the retreat, but 16th Division needed time to reorganise after their withdrawal from the ridge, it was touch and go, would they get out without major losses?
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/030.jpg)
The French III Corps even took the ridge and started pouring fire down on the Prussians below (to no real effect it might be added)!
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/031.jpg)
The envelopment of 15th Division continued.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/034.jpg)
And the French tried to charge the 67th, but were stopped by closing fire.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/035.jpg)
The Prussian 15th division was now down to two units of infantry and about the break.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/036.jpg)
While 16th Division tried to retreat, followed by the French III Corps.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/038.jpg)
As the right flank collapsed, the Prussians withdrew on the left, the Corps and Divisional artillery were safely evacuated, but von Steinmetz had to be escorted from the field personally by von Goeben as he refused to withdraw until he knew his men were safe.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/039.jpg)
The collapse of the Prussian flank was now total.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/St%20Wendle%2017%20July%201870/040.jpg)
The French, with in excess of 3:1 odds, had broken the dug in Prussians for very little loss in 2 1/2 hours.
The Prussians were retreating, with 15th Division in full rout.
Overall, a massive improvement on Saarbruken! They also captured the main depot town of the Saarland of St Wendle. Prussian VIII Corps is now severely damaged, will it be able to continue until reinforcements arrive?
Vive la France! A nice report once again and things not looking good for the Prussians at present...
A great report of a sad day. You need to get those Krupp dice changed - at least I think that's what I heard a Prussian calling them over the ether!!! :D ;) ;)
Mollinary
Great stuff Lemmey !
Cheers - Phil.
Great battle, and very interesting basing. It is great the campaing map!! seems a exciting campaing
Great battle, Lemmey. I've always liked your "action" basing. Though how the French managed to get a 3:1 advantage over any part of the Prussian army remains a mystery. :o
Mostly because the Prussian army hasn't finished deployed yet, just wait! :d
Ah, so Les Francais are being lured in to a trap? These Boches are damned clever, nay fiendish even :d.
Excellent report Lemmey. I see you're using the big moss green fleece (from Amazon?) as a playing mat, I bought two and am currently conducting an experiment. I place a high emphasis on the aesthetic appearnce of the table, its a personal thing but the problem hitherto has been that big purpose built boards take forever to build and are expensive, so I need an alternative. The plan is to buy one of those HUGE sheets of poystyrene insulation (8x6 I think) and use it as the base, then construct hills and so forth from sheets of thinner foam or poly, tack with UHU POR (and I do mean just tack) then lay fleece over contoured table, secure with LONG dressmaking pins (about 2") then spray with a dilute solution of ... and this is the problem, what? I need something to stiffen it slightly which will be completely washable afterwards in a normal washing machine. When wet, tamp into the contours, when dry mask and lightly apply with a sponge or small compressor, yellow, beige, different greens etc to look like fields, villages, woods etc. Roads can be damped and pressed then lightly painted, all paints washable (children's poster from early learnng centre). I reckon on doing a complete board, start to finish, in a dry weekend. Problem is what to use as the stiffener (no, not Playboy!), PVA probably wouldn't wash out completely, I did think of sugar or syrup in water, any ideas?
Excellent report, thanks for all the pics!
8)
Thanks guys,
Cameronian, to be honest, I have no idea to your query! Most standard PVA is soluble, but you need to soak it in cold water first.
That is a small selection from all my terrain kit is on table, the cloth is a friends 'FLUFFY GAMES W**KSHOP' mat over FOW rule books and army books. Then with my hills and tree bases on top for second contours.
I would love to have better terrain in 10mm (my 15mm stuff is amazing), but it's just moving it all. I have half a garage full of it, (enough for 7 6x4 tables 15mm WWII and 1 vietnam, plus a good deal of ancients 15mm & 28mm stuff too, oh, plus my 10mm AWI stuff)! Since I play at a club some 10 miles from where I live and I like to supply my own figures and terrain, so long as it looks good, in my eyes it is okay, but there is only so much you can fit in a Skoda!. The roads last night I'm not particularly happy with as I'm a) missing a box of mine b) forgot to buy any masking tape as a stand in! ;D
Looks wonderfull!
How does the Gw battlemat behave? I have read here and there that it's the one thing from said company that doesn't 'stink' ;D
I'm on the lookout for something, and think their price is right, but i'm not sure.
What is this green fleece everyone is talking about ?
It's overpriced for what it is, but it actually works well as an 'over throw' to make hills etc.
The other one I believe is this from AMazon, Nik Harwood is the man to ask.
Think it's something like this, they usually use the non-fluffy side: http://www.amazon.co.uk/EXTRA-LARGE-THROW-BEDDING-ONLINE/dp/B0055PNRU0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358020900&sr=8-1-fkmr0 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/EXTRA-LARGE-THROW-BEDDING-ONLINE/dp/B0055PNRU0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358020900&sr=8-1-fkmr0)
Thanks!
I think it's fairly reasonably priced, if you factor in the free shipping they provide!
Quote from: mad lemmey on 12 January 2013, 08:02:28 PM
It's overpriced for what it is, but it actually works well as an 'over throw' to make hills etc.
The other one I believe is this from AMazon, Nik Harwood is the man to ask.
Think it's something like this, they usually use the non-fluffy side: http://www.amazon.co.uk/EXTRA-LARGE-THROW-BEDDING-ONLINE/dp/B0055PNRU0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358020900&sr=8-1-fkmr0 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/EXTRA-LARGE-THROW-BEDDING-ONLINE/dp/B0055PNRU0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358020900&sr=8-1-fkmr0)
Yup thats what I bought, less fluffy side up, I'm sure that with a bit of spray and a bit of poster it'll look the biz.
Oh, BTW, have you read Frank Henderson's SPICHERN (Helion) ?
No, it's on my wish list! Just wish someone would pay attention to it! ;) Any good?
Yes very, I was particularly struck by his careful micro-analysis of the terrain, did you know the iron works at Stiring were surrounded by stout metal railings ... ? thought not (neither did I ;) ), its a good buy, if you're gaming this period I would put it in the highly desirable/essential reading section.
In the middle of reading this now, having just read his shorter but nevertheless excellent book on Woerth. Can't recommend these two highly enough (although there are a couple of niggling misprints eg. 7th division referred to as 17th division and X corps shown twice on a map. Careful reading of the text shows that one of them is in fact IX corps). Also, for a break go for the Bavarians - different uniform and different colours. It makes a nice change. I found this when preparing my French for Montebello 1859 and then came to do their allied Italian light cavalry.
Blimey you're quick off the mark with Woerth, its only been out a few months unless you read it in the original.
Nah, got it three weeks ago and read it straight away. If you're looking for a cheaper version of Spicheren the Naval and Military press produce a facsimile copy but it's a lot harder to read than the Helion one as the type is very small in late C19th font and for some reason the maps are very small and almost impossible to read. It also lacks the contemporary illustrations in the Helion version. These are a goldmine in themselves showing how common the 1860 pickelhaub was despite the introduction of the 1867 model. It's easy to spot with the metal strip down the back. Thank goodness Pendraken produce a pack of 1860 pickelhaub wearing Prussians.
Quote from: Dour Puritan on 17 March 2013, 08:23:28 PMThank goodness Pendraken produce a pack of 1860 pickelhaub wearing Prussians.
How true! And they include a figure running with rifle at the trail, which is the best pose for Prussians of this period. I have lots of the 1866 figures for my armies, as they serve for both wars, but I must confess to a true heresy, Prussians without the brass strip at the back of their helmets have been seen in my 1866 forces. Oh Mea Culpa, mea maxima culpa!
Mollinary
Quote from: mollinary on 17 March 2013, 09:17:40 PM
How true! And they include a figure running with rifle at the trail, which is the best pose for Prussians of this period. I have lots of the 1866 figures for my armies, as they serve for both wars, but I must confess to a true heresy, Prussians without the brass strip at the back of their helmets have been seen in my 1866 forces. Oh Mea Culpa, mea maxima culpa!
Mollinary
Me too, Mollinary. I find it's just easier to be brazen about it. :P
Likewise, it's just unfeasible in terms of cost and storage to have two distinct Prussian armies for both wars. However, having seen the new C19th flags I will be ditching the 6mm ones I had originally bought and will be going for the new 10mm ones. Nevertheless I shall continue to hand paint my French as I like the way the metal flag folds. Another couple of months and I'll start getting some new photos up on the web. Although I tend to favour Bruce Weigl's rule system I also play Field of Battle. Has anyone mentioned that the period specific cards can be bought from Arts Cow in the US?
Yes the new flags look great, I know Maciek has been working on them for some time. I hope he goes on to do the Prussians and French as well. I am not sure exactly what size the flags finally worked out, but the samples he sent me seem to be slightly smaller than the Baccus 6mm ones, although superb in their quality of resolution. I am a bit of a stickler on flag accuracy, so really appreciate all that he has done on the designs, but my jury is still out on the size issue. I suppose I would go for more or less accurate size, if only the flagstaffs were the right scale. But for small flags, such a proportion of their size is on the pole that it just looks "wrong". I have seen many beautifully painted French Napoleonics let down by having tiny flags on tree trunk flagstaffs. Now Pendraken staffs are no treetrunks, but they are still out of scale. I think that slightly larger than scale for the flag compensates for this, and so would go for ones about 10-11mm on the staff myself. What do others think?
Mollinary
If it looks right, then that's fine for me. At this size, and many others for that matter, parts have to be scaled up for the casting process. The same could be said to be true for the graphics on flags. If we truly scaled the images, text etc on flags, I'm sure many would disappear when reduced to the 'correct size'.
You can find a link to the cards for FOB on their Yahoo group in the links section.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Piquet/ (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Piquet/)
Direct links.
Austrians
http://www.artscow.com/gallery/playing-cards/austrian1866fob-u7as57cqj7e6 (http://www.artscow.com/gallery/playing-cards/austrian1866fob-u7as57cqj7e6)
Prussians
http://www.artscow.com/gallery/playing-cards/prussian-1866-1870-fob-w6znj4jr8ceb (http://www.artscow.com/gallery/playing-cards/prussian-1866-1870-fob-w6znj4jr8ceb)
1870 French
http://www.artscow.com/gallery/playing-cards/french-1870-fob-g1fgjpx03444 (http://www.artscow.com/gallery/playing-cards/french-1870-fob-g1fgjpx03444)
These cards are for Cameronians FOB period variants for 1866/1870.
I'm a huge FOB fan and am working on it in 1/72 scale.
Thanks,
John
Cheers for that John. I couldn't remember exactly how I got them. Having used them though they are great fun and do provide some interesting and difficult to reproduce situations, eg. when my French gun line was taken in flank by Prussian cavalry because my opponent happened to get a good run of cards. This brilliantly reproduced the hidden ground effect of von Bredow's Death Ride at Mars la Tour.