A Bloody Big Battle at Frœschwiller

Having taken it into his head to collaborate on a project to produce a version of the Bloody Big Battles rules for the Tai Ping Rebellion and to base up his Tai Ping and Qing forces for this system, my son wanted to test out the original rules and roped me in to help out.   The selected battle was the early engagement in the Franco-Prussian war at Frœschwiller.  He printed out a set of graphics for the French, Prussian, Wurtemberger and Bavarian forces and stuck these onto the bases that his 15mm figures will eventually go onto.  We cut out strips of paper for roads and rivers, made up the topography with my cardboard underlays covered by a 4' by 6' felt mat, laid out the mass of forest as best we could with felt overlays and our limited supply of trees, and finished off with printed out towns and villages.

Not having a good impression of the Franco-Prussian war as a balanced conflict for the purposes of wargaming to begin with, I was even less enthused when I drew the counter to be the French commander, Marshal MacMahon, who would be having to face 140,000 Prussians and allies with only 35,000 of his own troops.  My gloom was deepened as the implications of the massive superiority in the Prussian artillery arm and the difficulty of moving my men around given their passive state and the effects of terrain on movement dawned on me.  I'm afraid my doleful demeanour cast a dampness over the whole proceedings.

Under the scenario rules, the Prussians would score 1 victory point each for capturing Frœschwiller (in the centre of the board) and Reichshoffen (at the centre of the French baseline), an extra point for getting Frœschwiller by turn 8 and another 1 if less than 4 French infantry units were still in good order by the end of turn 10.  The French are not given victory points, just allowed to claim a draw if the Prussians have only 2 victory points or less by the end.  Given the slow Prussian build up, this gives the Prussians a lot of complications to deal with despite their numbers.

The starting positions.  French outlined in dark blue with white numbers. Group 1 is the main position around Frœschwiller, looking east to Wörth where a Prussian advanced brigade has arrived (light blue 2) and north-west to Langensulzbach where a couple of Bavarian brigades are by the river crossing (light blue 1).  French Group 2 is an advanced brigade overlooking the town of Gorstett across the river where another part of the Prussian advance guard has arrived.  French Group 3 is a couple of infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade in a narrow valley.

The initial deployments were determined by the scenario rules.   The French plan was to move the reserves in the valley to the south through the woods at the head of the valley to reinforce the centre, leaving only the advanced brigade to cover the flank.  This lasted until his first movement phase.  In their phase, the Prussian force had increased substantially.  In the centre they had started to cross the river at Wörth but at Gorstett had run into a traffic jam as the brigade already in the town decided to down tools for a bit.  To the north, the Bavarians tried to move over the river but were successfully discouraged by the French artillery. The French in the valley decided that they quite liked it there as well.  Exasperated with their inaction, the Cavalry commander decided to move forward to support the advanced brigade, only to discover that cavalry does not move very far up steep wooded slopes.

The position at the end of Turn 2.  In the south, French cavalry are creeping uphill to support their forward line but the Prussians in Gorstett remain in a traffic jam.  At the head of the valley, two French brigades are struggling to get through the woods to join the main force around Frœschwiller.  This is now faced by three big Prussian brigades with a fourth coming up behind and an artillery battery established on the hills behind.  In the north, the Bavarians continue to get themselves mixed up.

The Prussian advance in the centre was premature.  Their artillery had not yet softened up the French and the latter were far enough forwards to be able to fire on the Prussians before they could get into dead ground at the bottom of the slope.  Both leading Prussian brigades were disrupted.

During French defensive fire in Turn 3, one of the Prussian Brigades takes heavy losses and is marked as spent.  It never recovers.

After initial success, the difficulty of the French forward position becomes apparent.  They are exposed to fire from the Prussian artillery and the lay of the land prevents them concentrating fire on the Prussians massing before them.  Concerned at the movement of the French from the south to reinforce the centre, but seeing them held back by the woods and their inertia, the Prussian commander decided to increase the pressure on the centre and ordered his men forward into an attack up the hill, while at the same time his southern wing is able to get into position and launch an attack on the isolated French brigade facing it and, to the north, the Bavarians finally get themselves together and across the river.

The view from behind the Prussian lines during Turn 5.  An assault has gone in against the French centre and against the southern flank.  Artillery is pounding the French in Elsasshausen and the Bavarians are across the river and working their way around the French northern flank.

The French managed to push back the first attack on the centre but could not inflict the casualties needed to seriously set back their assailants.  On the south, they were losing men rapidly and the cavalry that had finally got to the top of the hill decided that this was not the place for them, heading back to head off the threat from a small Prussian cavalry force trying to sweep round to capture Reischoffen.

The Prussian Crown-Prince arrives and is given a briefing by the subordinate who has been directing things hitherto.

Pressure builds on the French defenders as disruption and low ammunition reduce the chances of halting the Prussian attacks from Wörth and the Bavarians start applying heavy pressure to the north.

To the south, Prussians close in on the few French that remain.

By the end of Turn 7 the Prussians had broken French resistance in the south but their assault in the centre was running out of steam.  Another brigade had become spent after the French finally managed to concentrate fire on it from their newly arrived reinforcements from the south.   Casualties for the French were beginning to mount from Bavarian fire in the north, however, and a fresh Bavarian division was moving up there as well.

In turn 8 the Bavarians attacked the French flank in Nehwiller and the French do not manage a very good defensive fire roll.  However, it is not enough for the Bavarians to drive the French out of the village as they do badly in the melée that follows!

At the end of Turn 8, the Prussians are not in position to attack Frœschwiller.  While their flanking movements and massing of artillery render the French position indefensible, they are not close to breaking enough French units to secure any victory points so far and at best will be able to salvage a draw.  Dismal MacMahon is disappointed in his expectations of a rapid defeat!

So, a conclusion far from my starting expectations.  I have to say I did very little to reach this result, making poor use of MacMahon to overcome the inertia of my men.  Rather it was the impetuous attack of the Prussian centre that gave the game away.  A single turn of patience while the Prussian guns dealt damage to the forward French line and the result could have been very different.

While we had a few uncertainties over the rules - and realised afterwards that we had misunderstood how to handle silenced artillery - generally we found them easy to follow and quick to play.  If only the French commander had had a more cheerful and sporting disposition it would have been a most enjoyable game.