Franco-Prussian War
A great victory for Realism in French war paintings...
See above, v. below: https://battlefieldanomalies.com/the-battle-of-spicheren/00image002/
Ever since I got Neal Thomas' "Wargaming 19th C. Europe, 1815-1878" I've really wanted to try out the rules and the period. It is of course a lot like ACW but with a lot more cavalry, and depending on which period and armies the "feel" or nuance might be very different. I will recommend the book wholeheartedly, with the caveat that you must finish the rules for NT, as he could't be bothered to write in critical mechanics like how units contact one another, measure ranges, Line of Sight, etc. You will need my summary of these issues from this blog post HERE to do this quickly, but it is also a "most popular post" so you should see it at the right side bar, anyway!
In any event, a loooong time gaming buddy from my original game club has a pile of Franco-Prussian 15mm stored away, so I decided to put the rules RAW on paper, format them for easy understanding [plus translate from Brit to 'Merican] and give them a go. Unsurprisingly, he was willing to give them a go as unused lead gets a bit annoying, really.
As this was a quick experience of the mechanicals, we didn't spend time on a complex table or setup. There are four woods, two towns, one hill [under the matt to bottom right, you can see the shadow - it has an occupied town and gun on it]. No bothering with roads. I did dice on the Unit chart, and got 5 Infantry and one Cavalry for each force. The French then had three Artillery and one Skirmisher while the Prussians had two and two, respectively. Kevin took the French and I took the Prussians. The French end up with three Guard and two line Units that we grabbed from storage. The Prussians five line battalions.
Below, turn 3. The Prussians are pushing Skirmishers into the woods at right, the Krupp gun is covering the valley in front of the Town [an objective] while Cavalry lurk behind the hill. A Prussian Infantry is in support of the Town and Cavalry. In Center, a Skirmisher and Infantry are going to contest the woods near the French Town, while to left two Infantry and a Krupp are holding ground. It's not a very good deployment, really...
The French have Cavalry to right, supported by Infantry and Artillery [smoothbore Napoleons]. They are also pushing their lone Skirmisher into the center woods, while four Infantry and two Napoleons are pushing against the Prussian left.
Turn 3 closeup. Prussian Skirmishers [light blue] advance into the woods to disrupt the Napoleon and the opposing Skirmishers. Prussian battalion is on suicide mission...
Turn 3 closeup, Prussian Right. Holding the town, pushing in the woods. Not bad.
Turn 3 down the table. Looks like two French Guard, two Napoleons, and two Line battalions are advancing against the two floating Prussian battalions. Ugh!
Turn 6 or so, Prussians realize they are outranged and outnumbered and start pulling back to the right. They forced French deployment and delayed the onslaught, anyway.
Turn 6 closeup. Prussian columns marching right. They're taking some fire from the French line and Napoleons, but not a lot of casualties.
Turn 6 Prussian Right. Skirmishers force the French Cavalry back. French deployed and their Napoleon is taking some losses from the Krupp guns. Town is solidly Prussian!
Turn 9 or so, Prussian Left / Center. Well, after getting beat up some, the Prussians are deploying for a fight in the center woods area. Three battalions are contesting the ground with the town solidly French. One Prussian battalion has lost two stands, the others are stil. doing ok. French Guard on left lost a stand, and the center line unit is about to. French are still getting their heads wrapped around advancing, firing, etc. They've a long range!
Turn 9 Closeup. French Skirmishers [green hats] are doing just fine, thanks, as are the Prussian Skirmishers in blue to right. A Prussian advance in the woods is being worked on. Prussian battalion to left has lost two stands [they lost a stand, then failed morale causing another stand to be lost]. Opposing French have lost 3 casualties, the 4th will take the stand off. I'm not really seeing a way to take this town, despite having caused its occupying Infantry to lose a stand somewhere along the way.
One thing we noticed...fighting in woods drags things out with shooting, but charges can worked well enough.
Turn 9, Prussian Right. This went a lot better for the Prussians. The French Cavalry were destroyed and the Prussian Cavalry is threatening the flank of the French Guard battalion, backed up by the Skirmishers and an advancing Prussian Infantry or two. This also won't take the town, but advancing while causing casualties is always a good thing!
The rules played well! Some thoughts:
- There were still a few rule "exceptions" to mechanics that were unnecessary, and hard to remember, e.g. Infantry and Guns can TURN while in line/unlimbered, but only Infantry can Fire, but at a reduced rate. I'm uncertain this is either historical or efficient in game terms.
- But, there is so much LESS of this sort of thing than in other rule sets, that it's a big relief to play it!
- Probably the hardest thing to get one's head wrapped around is that there's a Change Formation Phase at the start of the turn. Game Design Convention has such things during the movement Phase, so I'll be interested in trying to understand why and see how it feels.
- Cavalry move only a LITTLE faster than infantry, which is odd. They do get to maneuver more easily.
- The Firing rules allow you to plink away sequentially at units until you get the result you're looking for, which gamers love and Kevin and I dislike - some Target Priority rules may be in order.
- I also find the presence of out of period, i.e. not Franco-Prussian, rules / troops / data distracting on the RAW writeup I did, so will remove all the earlier period references and chart modifiers from the charts.
- Also, there seems a needless amount of distinction over Dragoons, who have a lot of exceptions and don't seem very good, anyway! However, their rules do make me think that these would work for ACW battles with a few tweaks.
- I'd like to have some Rally Rules, similar to the ACW rules from Wargaming: An Introduction. Of course, this will lengthen the game a bit, but I like rewarding players who conserve their Soldiers instead of ruthlessly getting them slaughtered.
Overall, the rules were very clean. The few things that were a little bumpy are obvious and easily fixed. The lack of certain required rules has already been mentioned. However, the move / shooting / turn mechanics are quite solid, and present both sides with tough decisions. The French Infantry outrange the Prussian Infantry by 50%, while the Krupp Artillery outrange the French Napoleons by 100%, so both sides have to plan things out carefully.
It is certainly not possible for the Prussians to sit back in an infantry duel on open ground with their French counterparts, and the use of movement, supporting arms, etc will be required. The French meanwhile have to use their Infantry to do everything, with some close support from Artillery and maneuvering Cavalry to menace Prussian Guns.
Overall, the design priorities are very solid and well thought out, which is what I expect from Neal Thomas - the differences between the Armies is well presented in the design itself, as well as in the Army Lists. As always, there are few special rules and they are located in the scenarios and Army lists, not in the main body of the text. Nearly all are optional upon agreement of both players.
The execution of the design is a bit uneven; the absence of critical rules mechanics as always is inexcusable, and there are parts that could be simplified without any detriment to the game's play. The scenarios and army lists are also good. So overall:
Rule design: 9/10
Scenarios and Lists: 9/10
Mechanics:
Fire, Movement, Turn = 9/10
Line of Sight, Contact, Measuring, et al - 7/10
Background information: 8/10
OVERALL 9.2 / 10
Highly Recommended as an intro to this period, and a great price for a hardback at Abe books, et al. Looking forward to more playtesting!
Gentlemen, I think we have something I like better than Kriegspiel - finish it up!
Interesting, thank you. I have most of his rules, but not these, but you post has me reaching for my Napoleonic set, which I have not read in some years.
ReplyDeleteHey Norm,
ReplyDeleteI think these are very good. I have re-re-redrafted his rules from RAW to making a few mods, and of course adding in all the essentials as always. I intend to put into a post the choices we made for completing the rules. I will then backdate the format to the Napoleonic Warfare rules from that book, and the ACW rules in Wargaming, An Intro.
So stay tuned - a lot more is coming!
As for the 19th C. book, I think it is his best one, well worth getting for the scenarios and the design commentary. At the earliest, you can use it for Napoleonics since it starts with the wars of the 1830-48 and close order troops armed with smoothbore muskets.
Best, Alex