The Battle of Beaumont 1870 - Quick Strike Battle Report

The Battle of Beaumont took place in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. This game sees the French conducting a fighting withdrawal in the face of intense German pursuit. We used They Died for Glory as the rules for this 15mm wargame and the end result was a very close run contest. 

For more details, army lists and maps please check out Richard's blog posts on this game:

Battle of Beaumont - Part 1

Battle of Beaumont - Part 2

The Battle of Beaumont 1870 - Franco-Prussian action in the shed-o-war

Over the weekend the Rejects got together for another game of 'They Died for Glory' refighting part of the Battle of Beaumont which took place during the Franco-Prussian War. The game commenced a few hours into the start of the battle as the French began a fighting withdrawal and the Prussians did their utmost to catch and destroy this Corp before it crossed the Meuse. 

I was going to post a long, detailed battle report here...but I'm trying to knock a Quick Strike Battle report video instead. So in the meantime, I highly recommend checking out Richard's Blog My Wargaming Habit and his posts on the prep for the game and a review of the battle as it played out. I'm hoping to have my video ready by Friday or Saturday and of course, I will post a link to that here when I have it completed. In the meantime here are a couple of 'teaser' pictures of the game. 

They Died for Glory: Rules flip-through and Review

They Died for Glory is a set of rules written specifically for wargaming the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. This turning point in the development of modern warfare can be dramatically recreated on the game table with this easy-to-learn ruleset. Designed for 15mm figures the rules can accommodate larger or smaller scales and make refighting huge battles possible for any wargamer.

Embracing Defeat: How to stop worrying and love the game

Defeat is an inevitable part of a competitive hobby like wargaming, but it doesn't have to be a negative experience. Win, lose or draw I enjoy playing with toy soldiers, spending time with my friends and learning new stuff in the process. 

The Battle of Froeschwiller-Worth: Battle Report

A short Battle Report of a recent game set in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The Battle of Froeschwiller Worth took place on the 6th of August but both sides had been planning and preparing for a battle on the 7th of August. However, forward elements of the Prussian army began to engage the French around Worth and this eventually developed into a full-scale battle, that neither side was wholly prepared for. 

Richard's Battle Report of this game

Ray's Battle Report of this game

FoW 600pt Skirmish

I got a Flames of War game in on Saturday, the second of two games over the weekend! These small games were more about learning the rules than anything else but they were fun non-the-less. For both games I used the same forces facing off against each other but with slightly different terrain layout. We didn't use any of the scenarios from the rulebooks though, this was just a plain and simple fight to the death. As I said the real objective of the game was to get stuck into learning and understanding the rules.

US 2nd Armoured
Sherman Platoon (2 x M4A1 (76mm) Shermans) 230pts
Stuart Platoon (4 x M5A1 Stuarts) 250pts
Rifle Platoon (HQ + 3 Squads) 155pts

Panzer Lehr
Panzer IV H Platoon (3 x Panzer IV H) 285pts
Gerpanzerte Panzergrenadiers (HQ+3 Squads) 335pts

The 'table' size was limited by the actual dimensions of the table we were playing on; in this case 4' x 3'6". Not   ideal but beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes. I set up the terrain to keep things simple but utilizing enough features to give us a chance to get familiar with different types. Ray - my brother-in-law and opponent for the game - then chose which side to deploy.

One thing you'll see from the pictures is that we both seemed to have a case of mistaken identity. Ray played the US 2nd Armoured but was wearing last years Tankfest T-Shirt with a picture of Tiger 131 on it. Meanwhile I was playing the German Panzer Lehr but wore a T-shirt featuring the us/allied star star emblem.

Ray deployed his rifle platoon over a large area which reduced its effectiveness but also denied me lots of targets to shoot at (because of terrain) . His Stuart platoon was deployed on his right, opposite my Panzergrenadiers, but had to cross several areas of rough terrain to reach me. His two Sherman 76's were on his left flank facing off against my Panzer IV's.

Meanwhile I deployed my Panzergrenadiers and my Panzer IV's to guard the Left and Right bridges respectively. When we had finished deploying I gave Ray a chance to redeploy now that he knew where I was. He made some small adjustments, mostly to move units into better command distance. We then rolled to see who would go first and Ray one the roll.

On mass he began to move all his units forward. One of the Stuarts bogged down in the first movement phase and remained bogged down for most of the battle. We reckon the crew were having a cup of Joe and only rejoined the battle when they had finished! The rest of his forces had no such problem and his infantry made full use of the cover in the centre of the battlefield. I fully expected the first shooting phase to be relatively ineffectual as all his vehicles had moved and their Rate of Fire (ROF) was therefore reduced to 1. But Ray showed his natural luck with the dice and destroyed two of my Panzer IV's with his first round of fire from his Sherman's!

My first turn saw my Panzergrenadiers consolidate their position along the river bank either side of the bridge on my left. My remaining Panzer IV's decided to hold their position and maximise their ROF against the advancing Sherman's. This paid off as one Sherman was left burning by the end of my turn. By this stage I was getting worried, my Panzergrenadiers looked incredibly outnumbered facing most of Rays Rifle Platoon and the Stuarts. But I (and Ray) underestimated the high ROF of my MG Teams when stationary and dug in. By this stage all the Stuarts (baring the one still having breakfast at the rear) were in range of my Panzerfaust teams and a large number of his rifle teams were also within sight of my MG's. Within two rounds all but one Stuart were in flames and four rifle teams had been killed. The American right flank was disintegrating.

The last couple of turns of the game were just a drawn out death rattle for the Americans as the panzer IV's finished off the last Sherman and the Panzergrenadiers began pushing across the bridge and outflanked what was left of the US Rifle Platoon. My troops didn't escape unscathed but by concentrating my forces against rays strung out rifle platoon I was able to gain local superiority and roll up his line.

This game was purely an excuse to learn the rules, especially for my Brother-in-law as he's not played any wargames before. I think we learned a lot with this small game and we certainly felt like we covered a lot of the rules and clarified our understanding of them. I've never been the sort of person that finds it easy to sit down, read rules and absorb them 'dry'. I'm much more of a hands-on kind of person. The Flames of War rulebook is a hefty 258 pages and just looking at it makes me want to go back to firing rubber bands at my figures to determine victory instead of rolling dice. Playing through the rules and taking our time to absorb them has helped us both. Now we need to follow up with a larger battle to ram home what we have learned.

They Died for Glory

On Saturday Posties Rejects gathered in Faversham for a bit of Franco-Prussian action. The battle being fought was The Battle of Faux-Illy on the 1st September 1870. This was a fictional re-fight of the Battle of Sedan in which the French found themselves surrounded by the Prussians and fighting for their lives.



The French Imperial Army have been marching to and fro with the aim of relieving the siege at Metz but have now been completely surrounded by the Prussians. Its late afternoon and all the french need to do is hold back the Prussians until nightfall. If they can hold open a corridor (including the heights at Faux-Illy) they can escape during the night. The French players had a tough fight on their hands, battling on two fronts simultaneously against overwhelming numbers. However the caliber of the troops in their forces were much higher than those of the attacking Prussians.

The Prussian infantry have advanced faster than their artillery and now surround the French, occupying high ground on both the Eastern and Western flanks. For the Prussians it came down to a decision whether to launch an assault immediately or wait for the Artillery to arrive. As night will arrive soon time is of the essence but there is a lot of ground for the infantry to cover before battle is joined. If they can occupy the heights at Faux-Illy they will have the french at their mercy.

The real Battle of Sedan resulted in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and practically decided the war in favor of Prussia and its allies. Defeat at the Battle of Beaumont presented an opportunity of the Prussians to end the war decisively. The Meuse Army and the Prussian Third Army - commanded by Field-Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and accompanied by Prussian King Wilhelm I and Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck - cornered MacMahon's army at Sedan in a massive encirclement battle. The French lost over 17,000 men killed and wounded with 21,000 captured.

Our fictional recreation of this battle again saw the use (and failure to use) Prussian artillery as vital to the outcome. It arrived from the second turn onwards but only if the relevant general/player could answer a question from an Osprey quiz book! This was a rather fun way to decide on reinforcements and created quite a lot of laughter in the process.

Richard with the rules "They Died for Glory"



Both forces of Prussian infantry decided to press into the assault bringing the artillery into action as and when it arrived. However Myself and Dave on the Northern edge of the table decided to keep our artillery limbered and rush it forwards. One of our victory conditions was to get artillery onto the heights of Faux Illy and at the beginning of the battle this looked like a realistic possibility. However the French defence in the north proved stubborn and the heights were never truly threatened. The result was that two batteries of Prussian artillery (one on the East and one on the West of the French) remained limbered and unfired throughout the battle. Had they been deployed their use may have proved crucial in breaking the deadlock and enabled the Prussian infantry to capture the heights. 

Meanwhile on the southern side of the Battlefield the Prussian advance was slow but relentless throughout the game. In particular the South Eastern Prussians under the command of Mark turned the French flank and were within a gnats whisker of meeting up with the South Western Prussians under Fran (the Angry Lurker). Time was against us however. Night was rapidly drawing the game to a close and - back in the real world - we needed to wrap up the game to return to our respective partners before our dinners were 'fed to the dog'.

These rules were very enjoyable to play and for a newbie like me were easy to understand and learn. I certainly found them easier to grasp than Fire and Fury which we played for an ACW battle last year. At the end of the game I think everyone agreed this was a good game and a good set of rules to fight it with. Richard put on an excellent game and I think everyone agreed his umpiring skills were top class.