Franco-Prussian War w' "1871"

Bruce Weigle, Gentleman Gamer Extraordinaire and all-around wargame expert on the 19th C.'s wars, published numerous rules which have by far the best wargaming look at the Italian War 1859, Austro-Prussian War 1866, and Franco-Prussian War of 1870 [click]. In addition, he threw in the Second Shleswig-Holstein War of 1864 in the 1859 rulebook [yes, it *sounds* like an Imagi-Nation War, but it's real!].  

With the popularity of the quick-play 1871 rules, he then made new QRSs for the other sets.  The 1871 set of rules has been lingering around for me to try out for a while, but I have always been sidetracked with my own set of rules, "Kepi & Picklehaub", which have been lots of fun to play and develop.

Enter local NJMS [click] gamer from NJ, Dave R., who is the 'other' Franco-Prussian War wargamer in the group [besides me].  He had run a Battle of Worth 1870 [click] game that I was unable to attend.  As I'm a genuine FPW fan, he invited me over at a later date since he still had it set up.

He uses a large piece of "fur" cloth over books, which shapes nicely. While I find it a bit dark to look at, the net effect is quite "naturalistic".  For the scenario, he chose to use about half the available Prussian artillery as this is early in the battle; also, too much artillery makes it too easy for the Prussians sometimes, he said. Seems likely.

Below at Table North end, looking East, the Bavarians [Prussian allies] are forcing the river against French opposition [foreground].

Table Center. French defend the river being crossed by two Prussian formations.  The Prussian batteries are at picture top, but they are rolling poorly against the French. They in turn have infantry in an entrenchment at center, supported by infantry and guns farther back.  My goal was to move up and have a more solid line closer to the Prussians as they crossed.

 

Table South, Prussians forcing a bridge. Just over it to left, the French occupy a wood, and have some infantry regiments moving against it from the town. 

In the foreground, I am racing reinforcements to the South end, as the Hanoverians are already across and entering on a road.

More Table South. Zouaves and Ligne / Chasseurs defend a woods just over the bridge.  They sent the Prussians packing a few times, disorganized, retreating across the river from whence they came. A lot had to do with Steve's rolling.

Prussian jagers across the river, opposed by French Chasseurs south of the wood. French general is upside-down as he got whacked gallantly leading the defense.  I'll be rolling to replace him.

Moving up to Table Center again, the Prussian Horde advances, supported by many batteries on the heights behind them [to right].  

1871 uses a Unit = Regiment of three battalions level of play, so should be considered an Operational Level of game. Each Unit has 6 stands, each 2 are one Battalion. So you can sorta see that 6 Prussian Regiments are crossing, each of 4-6 bases. This is a Division.  Ground scale is about 1"=100m, just like my game.

Dave uses smoke puffs to show Disorganization. French fire has been pretty effective, more so than in the real battle. This - again - is mostly caused by the fact that the French aren't getting Suppressed enough by Prussian guns.

Below, the determined stand at the Table South Bridge continues. Zouaves have again beaten off a Prussian attack.  French Fire has not been getting a lot of casualty results, but it has delivered a lot of Suppression resulting in the Prussians losing their orders and also retreating. This has slowed them down and disorganized them. This in turn results in more opportunities for the French to Fire at them.

Table Far South, the corner of the board south of the bridge above. The Hanoverian advance is being strongly opposed by French cavalry supported by some guns and infantry. I felt that as they were already across the river [off table] they represented a significant threat and acted accordingly, throwing my Reserve Heavy Cavalry brigade at it. Unfortunately, they declined the opportunity to charge!

Table Center. All but one of the Prussian regiments has been forced back - Vive La France! Vive Napoleon le Gros!

The following turn, the French did a number on the Hanoverian heavy cavalry, then both sides rallied back to their starting positions. I'm sorry I doubted you, guys...!

In the Center-north, the Prussian Horde advances upon the French, but is again repulsed [note the many suppressed 'puffs'].

Table North, the Bavarians continue to advance against the Thin Blue Line. I've sent reserve cavalry there, but they aren't able to do much in such tight space.  They are delaying the Bavarians, however, while the French infantry sort themselves out.

At this point, the Prussians were clearly not going to make their time hack, which was to take the highest hill by Turn 12 [or 15, I forget].  The biggest factor appears to be appalling rolling by the Prussian artillery, despite it being plentiful, it didn't have enough effect on the French guns and infantry to allow the Prussians to roll forward like they did historically. This allowed the French to successfully get a lot of push-back results, resulting in Prussians losing orders, having to be ordered again, fall back then advance again, etc.

Ultimately, the Prussians should take the near side of the hill.  Historically, if the French had performed better operationally, they may very well have received solid support from a nearby Corps and held the Prussians here in this deadly steep valley. 

In game terms, if the French retreat to the defilade side of the hill, the Prussian artillery advantage is nullified, and the French infantry [much of which is elite in this corps] could hold the Prussians.

As a playtest, we went back and forth about a few aspects of the rules.  My main suggestions were:

- simplifying move math [change move rates so divisible by thirds, e.g. 8" to 9"]

- modifying the Combat Results Table to get rid of the "no effect" line

- making commander intervention a bit more dangerous.

Overall, I still feel like the rules are a bit too complicated, with unnecessary gradations of effects that could be settled with a die roll.  However, they are manageable and have good feel.

Dave went on - thanks to the brilliant input from his playtesters, no doubt - to win an award for the game at Cold Wars.  Maybe that makes ME the 'other' FPW Wargamer in the group!