French Revolutionary Wars game using Soldiers of Napoleon Rules

It must be well over a year since I had any of my French Revolutionary Wars collection on the table so last Saturday men were recalled to barracks and mobilised to have another game using the new Soldiers of Napoleon rules. Richard, Paul and Conrad have played a couple of times since I put on the War of 1812 game a couple of weeks ago so between us we had a much better idea of how to use them. 

For this game set in 1794’ish, the French Army of the Moselle under Lazare Hoche facing the Austrian Army of the Rhine under Gen de Kavellerie Wurmser. Still no sight of Napoleon anywhere. The orders of battle were adapted from a game we played three or maybe four years ago when we did Wissembourg (not the 1870 version). The French, commanded by Conrad and supported by John and Nigel were a hodgepodge of former royalist regular battalions and lots of volunteer and levy battalions of dubious quality that I classed as militia under the rules. The Austrian force included a brigade of Bavarians (‘cos I have some) and another of French Emigres. Both the latter two brigades were militia quality bar one tenuously better Emigre units. The Austrians were commanded by Paul, ably supported by Richard and myself (my second game, actually playing, in a row; what is the world coming to?). We had a plan which involved demonstrating on the right and in the centre while attacking on the left with the grenadiers supported by two batteries of heavy cannon. I don't know about the French plan, although I'm sure they had one.

Anyway, it was a simple encounter battle to further test the rules. Each side had seven brigades in three divisions. One brigade each had to be held back as a reserve to hopefully appear from turn 3 onwards. For those not familiar with these rules, they are card driven and so far I’d say they were quite innovative and challenging, especially for the CinCs as they must allocate cards to their subordinates who have to take what they are given. We’re still working on the best way to handle proper-sized multi-player games (the rules are aimed at one-on-one games really but there is limited provision for my-sized battles, ie big). So, in time honoured fashion here are some photos and a brief commentary on the game. 

The French hoards ready to sweep forward.                      

The Bavarian brigade resplendent in their silly Rumford uniforms. I love them.

Dipping their collective Bavarian toes in the river......

Conrad’s French horse artillery on the crossroads.

Richard on the left was leading an impressive assault force of four grenadiers battalions supported by two 12-pdr batteries.

Meanwhile Paul was on our right with a brigade of cavalry covering the extreme flank.

More of Paul's command in the centre.

I made an error loosely resembling the one made by Ambrose Burnside at Antietam 60-odd years in the future  when I didn't bother with the bridge but pledged very slowly across the river.

The French left.

More French under Nigel.

One of my brigade commanders.

The French quickly took control of the high ground at the crossroads.

French cavalry on their extreme left. The volunteer Hussars du Mort in black  supporting dragoons.

The Emigré Mirabeau Legion and Regiment de Bourbon (in green) fording the river.

The Emigrés about to assault the French-held village.

The rest de Bourbon failed to stop the former French regular battalion's counter attack and were pushed back.

 

The Austrian reserve cavalry smashed into the enemy dragoons, pushing them back in disarray.

The French centre.

More Austrian heavy cavalry on the right.

Richards attack was stalled and by the presence of enemy cavalry but his artillery made short work of the enemy guns.

Even Esme pretended to be shot!

My command figure dickering about in the river.

Looking along the Austrian line from the right.

Lots and lots of Austrians on horses.

The French reserve, three regiments of cavalry (Carabiniers and heavy cavalry)

Despite taking a hammering the French centre was holding and was probably too strong to tackle head on.

We called it a day when the Austrians were clearly romping ahead in terms of VPs. Although a victory for the Kaiserlichs the French were still in a strong position all along the line except for their left flank where the superior numbers and better quality Austrian cavalry were likely to roll up in time. But who knows….? The Emigrés did a good job on the left but the brigade was shattered after failing to take the town; the grenadiers had been stopped by the presence of cavalry on their flank but were still inching forward. My 'demonstration' in the centre had been slow and pretty pointless although the enemy had rushed their reserves into the centre, and my Bavarian brigade was still stuck in the river. 

As we'd run out of time and although there was no clear tactical advantage the Austrians were deemed the victors due to their far greater number of VPs. They were also likely to roll up the French left with five regiments of cavalry!

Another great game and a good run out for the rules. It was easy enough to fit the armies into the troop types and qualities dictated by the rules and we shall have another game this coming Saturday.

Another Emigre Battalion

A while ago I picked up a couple more bags of Northumbrian Painting Services 28mm Bavarians for the French Revolutionary Wars. These figures are cast wearing the horrible and wholly impractical Rumford uniform and they look great. I have four Bavarian battalions of them and a battery of cannon. However, this latest acquisition was made in order to produce a battalion of the Mirabeau Legion, which formed part of the Army of the Conde during the time of the War of the First Coalition. Click here for more info on Conde’s not inconsiderable little army.

The Legion wore black with pale blue facings and breaches, a cracking combination of ever there was one. There are actually loads of illustrations of the Legion on the t’interweb showing a wide variety of uniforms (almost all with the same colours) but with different headgear. I already have a battalion painted up wearing Tarleton helmets but there are plenty of pictures showing them wearing the silly yet striking Romford helmet.

Figures painted and based by me. I also painted (badly) the flag.

I’m going to have a further delve in the depths of the lead mountain to see if I can find a few more suitable figures to do a unit of light cavalry and maybe some chasseurs. Oh, and a battalion of grenadiers using up some FRW grenadiers that’ll look just like the man in the top picture.

Hanoverians for Flanders 1793-95

I’ve been scrabbling around trying to finish a couple of units for the Hanoverian contingent for my Flanders 1793-95 games.

First up the 3rd Cavalry Regiment. These are Eureka miniatures, painted and based by me. The flag is temporary until I can get round to sourcing one or over painting this one.

Next, also done by me, a couple of bases of skirmishers representing the rifle companies of the 14th Light Infantry. I've no idea what make the figures are but they do the business. I've got some Austrian landwehr to paint as the rest of the regiment - same uniform more or less but blue/grey jackets.

I'm working on the 9th Light Dragoons using very old Hinchliffe One piece casting British AWI light Dragoons, and a battalion of Emigres are almost done.

More French Revolutionary Wars units

Several more units have returned to the Burrow this week and I've been busy basing them up in preparation for a game on Saturday. They were all painted splendidly well by my mate Barry and based rather less splendidly by me. The castings are Eureka Miniatures and the flags are by Adolfo Ramos.

Austrian Hussar Regt No 2 Erzherzog Josef Anton (I think)

Austrian Dragoon Regt No 3

French Chasseurs a Cheval

I decided to go with 24-figure regiments, or at the least the capacity to do so if I wanted, as they look rather good en masse.

The Battle of Turcoing, 18 May 1794 (18 Floreal II)

The first game of the year took place on Saturday. I'd promised a while back to set up another French Revolutionary War game using General d'Armée. Any actual resemblance to the real sprawling two-day battle was largely in my head apart (mostly) from the troops involved and the general layout of the terrain. I'd just received the latest offering from Vae Victis that focussed on Turcoing and included a board game, which was helpful in the set up stage. An account of the actual battle can be found here. I chose to attempt the attack by the Duke of York's Anglo/Hanoverian/Hessian corps on Day 2 as I could almost recreate it battalion for battalion. Orders of battle for the game are at the end of this post.

The lads at the Durham club have been trying out the rules without much in the way of universal acceptance so far, while John and I had played them a fair bit when they first came out and quite liked them. John the Red and Paul Stevenson took the French while Shaun and I were the Allies.  In time honoured fashion the photos below will hopefully show how the game developed. As usual, neither commanders' plans stood up to first contact with the dice. For reference North is roughly where the French right wing were deployed. Obviously South is the opposite corner. The figures are all mine, and yes I know some of the movement trays have yet to be "scenified" but there's a limit to what can be done and my priority had been reflagging some British battalions as Hanoverians.

The armies at the start. The French on the left . The Allies chose to leave the Hanoverians off as a reserve. All our cavalry was on our left, the English foot in the centre and the Hessians on the far right. 

The French right, a brigade of veteran infantry (legere and grenadiers) sported by a brigade of light cavalry.

Facing the troops in the picture above were two  brigades of Allied horse; one English, the other Hanoverian (with Prussians standing in as Hanoverian dragoons).

The English cavalry, r-l: Light Dragoons, Dragoon Guards and Household Cavalry.

This French horse battery started knocking lumps off my cavalry, while Paul immediately ordered all his infantry into square. The French cavalry hid.

In the French centre six battalions of infantry began a slow advance covered by a swarm of skirmishers.

On the Allied right the Hessian brigade would, I assumed, make short work of the French opposite them as they were all classed as recruits.

The French Levée cross the stream behind another swarm of skirmishers and a battery of 8pdrs.

Stung by the artillery fire the English cavalry charged the enemy and succeeded in driving the French skirmishers back so I ended up right up close to the French squares and their cannon! The Household Cavalry actually hit a square but bounced off. I'd taken pretty heavy casualties on my cavalry for no obvious nor immediate gain, but we jumped a few hedges, caught a fox and even after the cavalry withdrew the French remained in square for the whole game just in case I tried it again.

The Royal Horse Guards bounce off the French square.

The Hessians were struggling. Their pitifully small number of jager had been dispersed by the more numerous French skirmishers, leaving the line battalions vulnerable to an intense and costly exchange as the two leading Hessian battalions were worn down. The Hessians repeatedly threw badly and lost fire discipline to add to their misery.

An overview of the battlefield about half way through the action.

Back over on the other flank the Hanoverian brigade had already been summoned from the reserve and was advancing very slowly towards the enemy, hindered by the Allied cavalry that was trying to reposition itself. At least the Hanoverian light infantry were able to engage in some long range fire with the French skirmishers and whittle their numbers down significantly.

The French right and much of the centre was pinned by the presence of the Hanoverian dragoons brigade to their front.

Shaun's Hessians were in danger of being overwhelmed as their casualties mounted. I thought the effect of swarms of skirmishers on 'old school' lines of infantry seemed pretty accurate as with the demise of their own skirmish screen there was little the Hessians could do by way of an effective response. This allowed John's columns of Levée to get dangerously close.

The leading Hessian battalion taking all the damage was effectively pinned and its losses soon exceeded the magical '12' resulting in their dispersal (rout). This made the brigade 'faltering'. 

To add insult to injury the French had pushed their artillery right up in support of their attacking infantry.  All now hinged on whether Shaun would pass the Faltering Brigade test at the start of the next turn......

Back over on the left, the Hanoverian dragoons were ordered to charge the French in order to buy some more time. The skirmishers were driven off and as expected, the dragoons bounced and were forced to retreat.

The English cavalry had finally sorted itself out and were filtering around the left of the advancing Hanoverian infantry.  The light infantry were supported by a battalion of combined grenadiers, but the rest of the brigade (which included an Emigré regiment, were lagging behind. At least the Hanoverian artillery had been able to deploy and was taking pot shots at one of the French squares.

The faltering Hessians failed their test so it was 'Sauve qui peut!' The brigade legged it rearwards.

The table at the end of the game.

We had managed eight or nine turns as we bumbled through the game and the rules. The end result was a marginal French victory. The Hessians did rally but were obviously very brittle but generally the rest of the army was in good condition. OK, the English cavalry had taken heavy losses, as had a battalion of English flank companies holding the centre all the while bombarded by a battery of French 12pdrs.  The Anglo-Hanoverians in the centre and on the left (12 battalions in all) could have launched an attack but with the demise of our right wing, that didn't seem to be such a  good idea, especially as the French skirmishers had pretty much dispersed our screen and their admittedly poor cavalry were not yet committed to the battle. It was a good time to conclude the game, and I doubt anything significant could have been achieved by an advance at this late stage, even one led by the Brigade of Guards!

With hindsight I know we got a few things wrong with the rules (let alone tactically) but I enjoyed the game thoroughly. I am of the opinion that they do produce a good game and there is plenty to think about. Black Powder, (which I have no real issues with and they remain my 'go to' set for really big multi-player games) General d'Armée are not, but once you get into the flow and become familiar with the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the General d'Armée they provide the basis for a really challenging game. They take a bit of getting used to but thats why were using them for this game. I like the ADC tasking rules as well as the way charges are resolved prior to contact (if indeed there is any contact). The ADC availability rolls at the start of each turn usually saw fewer French than Allied aides being on hand to deliver orders, something that disrupted the French a fair bit. That said, despite having the ADCs, our ability to throw 1s and 2s during the activation phase meant that much of the Allied army was hesitant when we actually needed to do anything! Amusingly, the battery of Royal Artillery and the Hessian battery lost more men to fatigue (i.e. resulting from very low dice scores) than enemy fire. Actually it wasn't very funny at all. The French seemed intent on giving their artillery bombardment orders whenever they could, which was especially annoying on our left flank.

Anyway, I enjoyed the game and like the rules, and everyone else enjoyed the game too, so thats what is most important. We learnt some stuffs the next game ought to flow much faster........I hope.

As promised here are the OoB used in the game. I deliberately made the English cavalry pretty good and the French pretty poor. Obviously each infantry brigade had the appropriate number of skirmish bases as their integral screen.

COALITION FORCES:

Cavalry Bde (British): 
Light Dragoons, Elite, Battle Cavalry
Household Cavalry & Kings Dragoon Guard, Elite, Hvy Cav.

Cavalry Bde (Hanoverian)
Dragoons x 2, Hvy Can

Infantry Bde (British)
Footguards x 3, Elite, Flankers Btn, Elite, 6pdr battery

Infantry Bde (British)
Line Btns x 3, Flankers Btn, Line

Infantry Bde (Hanoverian)
Guard x 2, Elite; Line x 2, Grenadier Btn, Elite, Emigré Btn, Large, 6pdr battery

Infantry Bde (Hessian)
Line Btns x 3, Fusilier Btns x 1, 3pdr battery


FRENCH:

Cavalry Bde:
Cavalry x 2, Battle cavalry, Recruit
Carabiniers, Battle Cavalry
4pdr Horse Battery, Elite

Cavalry Bde:
Chasseurs a Chevel & Hussars x 3, Campaign Cavalry
4pdr Horse Battery, Elite

Infantry Bde:
Combined Grenadiers x 1, Veteran
Demi-Bde Legere x 3 btns, Veteran

Infantry Bde:
Demi-Bdes x 2 (6 Btns), Line
12pdr Foot Battery

Infantry Bde:
Levée Btns x 7, Recruit
8pdr Foot Battery