This is a new project for us which we started at the beginning of the year - thanks to Santa!!
Not only did we have to paint the forces, but Claude had to make up a considerable batch of scenic items. Check out the trees, fields and walls in the pics below!
Needless to say I took on the task of painting the Prussian forces and those of their allies, whilst Claude was responsible for mustering the French forces. We agreed to use the Orbats for the Battle of Froschweiller, one of the opening engagements of the war, as the basis for our minis.
Claude had persuaded me at the end of last year to try 6mm, a scale I had not previously tried. After an intro game in the Sudan followed by a couple of epic clashes between Ceasar and the Celts, I was hooked!
Our chosen rules for the period are the Polemos set from Baccus, Franco -Prussian War Commandant de Bataille. If you have not seen a set, they are well worth a try.
We decided that our first few games would be purely used for learning the rules, as the approach focuses on command and control through a Tempo Point system that limits what you as the CinC can order your formations to do. It requires a fair bit of thinking and forward planning, and less concern with what the individual battalion, squadron, battery is up to.
For this game, Claude deployed a Corps of 3 Divisions, whilst I had to make do with a Corp consisting of 2 Prusso-Bavarian Divisions ( I knew I should have forgone that second glass of wine and stayed up last night finishing the rest of my Prussian battalions!).
So, below you will find a number of pics with captions of the game as it progressed.
The first 2 pics show shots of the terrain before we deployed. This is a 6' x 4' table. We have adopted the principle of area terrain, so the wood depicted in both shots is based on a felt base, the colour of which determines its density and the model trees can be moved as necessary to allow troops to move through it.
Claude deploys his central division, Chasseurs leading the way on the left.
My Bavarians deploy on the right of the battle line. For our initial deployment we agreed that all formations would be in column.
A view from behind the center of the French Line.
The armies square up on the extreme right of the French line (thats the frogs on the left of the pic!)
This is a pic of the Prussian Corp Commander stand, a couple of officers with 2 Uhlan escorts. The die sits in a small raised square to make it secure. It is used to donate the number of tempo points the commander has to use for that turn. Tempo points are expended to order formations to move, fire, attack, rally etc.
A view of the center from the Prussian lines.
On the French right, the Prussian Uhlans have seen off the French Dragoons. ( About the only success the Prussians had throughout the battle!!) The red crystals donate that the unit is Shaken 1 level.
The Prussian left flank deploys for action, its right flank anchored by the marsh and hill.
The French center deploys for action. The small dice infront of the units record the tempo points allocated to them by their divisional General.
The Bavarians on the right take a battering from the French battle line. The range of the French Chassepot rifle caused chaos as the Bavarians could not get close enough to engage the French effectively. You can just make out the smoke cloud infront of the Bavarian battery on the hill. The smoke marker means the battery has fired and cannot move or fire again this move.
A final shot from behind the Prussian center. Bavarians attempt to flank the French position.
The game came to an end with the Prussians and Bavarians severely shaken with their formations losing cohesion. Old Fritz had to concede the field to Claude, some hard lessons learnt.
Fritz
24th February 2013
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