Another battle a bit nearer to Cassel than last time: French/Dutch War 1672-78

Robbie and John came up this week for a game. I wanted to have another go with Impetus Baroque with my French and Dutch armies from 1672-78. Now, when Conrad and I played the other week using Pike and Shot I put ALL my troops that were currently available on the table. It didn't matter that it was a little crowded even on a 12 foot table, especially as P and S are pretty brutal and gaps soon began to appear in each army.

Baroque are another kettle of fish, especially as I added a further three squadrons of French horse to the armies; the Mousquetiers du Roi, Gens d'Armes de France and a squadron of standard French horse. This made the armies exactly equal in horse and foot, more or less equal in artillery but the French had a 4:2 advantage in dragoons. I don't like the way Baroque treat dragoons any more than I do in P and S. They can become battle-winning super troops rather than the jack of all trades chaps that they were in reality. By the late 17th C I believe they were beginning to be used more in the mounted battle line and to fight dismounted in close order where appropriate, for example holding a village, hedge line or a sunken road. Then again it's up to the players to make sure that they use all and any troops types in the fashion of the period rather than the within the parameters of the rules set.

So, to battle. Robbie and I were the Allies (Dutch/Spanish/Imperial) and John took the French. The objectives were simple. Control the entire length of the road including the bridge and two towns AND duff up the other side.

 The French right wing. Maison du Roi et al.

 The field of battle from the Allied centre. Dutch Horse in the foreground, behind which are a brigade of Dutch and beyond them the Spanish and Imperial contingents.

 The Dutch right: Horseguards, Lifeguards and the Guard Dragoons supported by a brigade of Dutch foot. Just in picture at the top are two battalions of the Dutch Footguards.

 The French infantry advance. These troops are on their right flank.

 My Dutch Horseguards and Lifeguards charged the French and drove the first

 line back.

 The Cuirassiers du Roi in the centre looking menacing.

 Both sides advanced in the centre and quickly got into musket range. Robbie's artillery failed to do any significant damage to the French.

 The lines close ever further and casualties mount. The sheep are unconcerned.

 The Mouquetiers du Roi clashed with my Horseguards in the swirling cavalry melee happening on the Dutch right. The Dutch were holding their own but were seriously outnumbered and the losses were beginning to tell.

 I even had to push my dragoons forward to deal with a brigade of French dragoons occupying the town. 

 The Gens d'Armes de France locked in melee with the Dutch horseguards. The latter were defeated and forced to withdraw. The other squadron of Horseguards (in the background) was in melee with some fresh French horse and also defeated. It wasn't going very well on our right flank.

 The battlefield from the Dutch right. Both armies were locked in combat, often at point blank range and not surprisingly the battlefield was becoming rather less crowded than at the start.

 The Dutch Footguards had foolishly tried to occupy the churchyard but were forced to pull back. The other battalion was able to deliver some very effective fire on the French foot and horse before the brigade was broken. On the hill in the foreground, the Gens d'Armes de France had followed up into the disordered Dutch Mackay's Regiment whom they pushed back and then broke.

 More fresh French horse avoided any casualties from the Dutch Brandenburg regiment when the latter failed to score a single hit at point blank range, even with the advantage of first fire!

 On the Dutch left, Robbie was holding the French infantry, which included several Guard and Swiss battalions, even managing to route the Gardes Suisse. The French drove the Spanish dragoons out of the town but the Spanish foot were made of sterner stuff. Gaps were appearing in both lines. Unfortunately one of these gaps made room for the Cuirassiers du Roi who were revving up their horses for a mad charge on Robbie's weakened centre.

 Back to the Dutch right, just before it totally collapsed!

We called it a day as we were running out of time, declaring it a French victory. I enjoyed the game immensely as I don't mind loosing when playing with two (though I say so myself) spectacular armies. Hopefully Robbie and John will also have enjoyed their day.

Next time though I will have to think hard about the wisdom of putting literally every figure I had on the table. Its 12' x 5' so I don't think it was too crowded. And they didn't really do sweeping flank moves in the late 17hC, not during a battle anyway, but maybe in the run up to one.

After a few minor repairs to pikes and flags this lot will be going back to barracks for a while as its about time I planned for a Seven Years War or War of the Austrian Succession game again. No game this coming week as we're off to Antwerp for Crisis and a long weekend.

Heat, fly spray and the Thirty Years War again.

After the beating the Imperial troops under Robbie had last week using Pike and Shot I offered to restage the game this week but using Impetus Baroque. It was relatively easy to rearrange the orders of battle and unit composition in order to make the switch and there are suggested 'army lists' in the back of the rule book to help with troop factors and capabilities. Now, I am not a particular fan of Army Lists but these were handy for getting troop capabilities right(ish) within the context of the rules although I did make some changes based on my own reading and understanding of TYW Swedish and Imperial forces. The problem we had last week were the maxim gun-armed Swedish shot (well that's what I'm sure Robbie thought they had). The Swedes should have fire superiority but not the way Pike and Shot suggested it should be reflected with three sub units of shot to each pike block. But thats another discussion entirely.

Anyway, the orders of battle were re-jiggled and all was ready. Paul joined Robbie on the Imperial side while John and I reprised our roles leading the Swedes, with me as CinC again.

 Battle is joined. I put all our horse on the right again supported by a brigade of lower-class Mercenary infantry. John's task was to push the elite veteran Yellow and Blue Brigades straight up the hill to dislodge the Imperial troops using their superior firepower and training. Mmmmm? Robbie had deployed his vastly superior cavalry on each flank, with Pappenheim's elite brigade facing my horse.

 In the centre one of  the three regiments making up the Blue Brigade advances supported by our artillery.

 The Blue Brigade reach the walled hills with the Yellow Guard regiment in support. We couldn't tempt the Imperial tercios across the fields. When they did advance we were to regret it!

 Pesky Croats on our right flank. The first regiment charged my Scots regiment in the flank but were held off and they in turn were charged and routed by my dragoon regiment. Sadly my dragoons were severely mauled in the process and retreated to the town for the remainder of the game.

 I underestimated the Croats and allowed (but not on purpose) their second squadron to hit my flank as I approached the Imperial dragoons in the woods. A bad move on my part.

 In the centre my horse and commanded shot advanced while a unit of Finns charged a disordered Tercio and actually drove it back twice before grinding to a halt. A second Tercio was advancing on our centre supported by artillery. Treks are very powerful units in these rules, as long as you can get them into melee and don't get shot up too much in the process.

 The Finns locked in combat while a squadron of Swedish horse flanks another Tercio.

 Imperial cuirassiers about to charge the White Regiment. The latter failed their test for defensive fire and were hit by undamaged cuirassiers. Fortunately the cuirassiers didn't get their impetus dice as they were facing pikes, so were held.

 One of the anomalies in the rules is that dragoons seem to a little too effective. On our left, a regiment of Imperial dragoons charged one of our regiments and held it until it in turn was hit in the flank. On my flank my battered Scots regiment was charged by Robbie's dragoons who eventually gained the upper hand and broke my unit. OK I chucked some bad dice but I don't think TYW dragoons would or could have achieved that much success against a veteran infantry regiment. Never mind, it didn't matter in the long run.

 On the left, John's demotivated Saxons had stayed put for most of the battle,  only advancing to line the wall-off field. Paul charged one regiment with his cuirassiers but they were repulsed by closing fire. He then charged his supporting regiment in. They hit and pushed the doughty Saxons back back but failed to break them.

 Back in the centre Robbie and Paul had finally realised that they would never win a firefight with the Swedes and advance towards the Blue Brigade, destroying one regiment in the process. They followed up and hit the Yellow Lifeguard regiment who just managed to hold the Imperial tercio.

 My mixed regiment of horse and commanded shot in the centre held off the Imperial cuirassiers while to their left my musket-armed regiment of foot were eventually successful, thanks to a flank charge by my cavalry, in driving back their opponents.

 My horse, having broken the foot which they'd hit in the flank followed through, rode over an Imperial battery and hit Wallenstein's Lifeguard at the halt. They drove them back for two consecutive rounds of melee before breaking them. There was now a massive gap in the Imperial line and both infantry brigades were shattered.

 Robbie conceded defeat at this point. His foot were shattered and his horse were badly mauled, rose on although Paul's horse on the flank were holding their own and driving the Saxons back.

 Wallenstein's Lifeguard hit by pursuing Swedish horse.

 Imperial Harquebusiers covering the withdrawal of their army.

 The Saxons on the Swedish left, still holding.

 Wallenstein makes his escape covered by his one remaining tercios.

 Gustav II Adolf did bugger all in the battle, mainly as I forgot I could use him proactively if I wished. In fact I actually forgot he was on the table at one point.

 I gave the Swedes one regiment made up solely of shot as I understand that as well as the commanded musketeers which were made up of 'surplus' personnel, some units had 'lost' their pikemen, the latter trade not being a popular one in the Swedish army.

 My German 'Green Regiment' bravely doing very little throughout the game other than cover my right flank after the Scots ran away.

 Another view of the German 'White Regiment' locked in combat with Imperial cuirassiers. 

 Rounding up Imperial stragglers.

The Colonel of the Scots regiment which ran away so ignominiously receives the judgement of the court martial.

Well, it was a great game and a tough one, but quite exhausting if only because it was a very hot airless day, made worse by the fact that the Swedes deployed chemical warfare in the form of some fly spray when several wasps had the temerity to fly in through the open window! 

We've not played with these rules for a while so were a little rusty but we soon got back into the swing. By lunchtime John and I thought that the Imperial army would be triumphant as it was pushing back our centre and had held up the flanks. All of a sudden it was another story as the Imperial centre collapsed in very short order and it was all over. Imperial casualties, in terms of losses, were pretty catastrophic at over 50%, but the Swedish losses were also almost 40%.

The sequence of play in Baroque took a little getting used to again but the game speeded up as the day progressed. Robbie was happier with the result than the previous week even tough the Imperial army still lost, but if I think that I was to adopt these rules permanently for the TYW I'd need far too much re-basing and reorganising. And I'd have to do my Poles too!

Next time I think we shall go back to the Seven Years War using Honours of War as its been rather a long time since the last time Frederick and Co were on the table.