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.

Neither Up Nor Down

I understand that the publication of the above is imminent. I hope that is the case as this book is very appealing, to me at least, especially if its as good as Philip's previous book, 'A Waste of Blood and Treasure', being an account of the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799. My breath is suitable bated.

The Battle of Caesar’s Camp, 7 August 1793. A ‘What If’ scenario for the War of the 1st Coalition.

First of all, there wasn’t actually a ‘battle’ of Caesar’s Camp in 1793. There was however a skirmish near the village of Marqiuon some seven miles north east of Cambrai, as the outnumbered and dispirited French Armee du Nord slipped through the clutches of two encircling moves by the Anglo-Hanoverians under HRH The Duke of York and Prinz Josias von Sachsen-Colberg-Salfeld and escaped to fight another day. An account of what actually happened can be found here. The premis behind this scenario is that somehow the Coalition forces have actually got it together this time and are about to snap the jaws shut on the withdrawing French under the Irishman, the Brave Kilmaine. More about Charles Edward Jennings here. Kilmaine had recently been appointed as ‘temporary’ commander of the Armee du Nord following the recall to Paris and execution of his equally ‘temporary’ predecessor the Comte de Custine.

The Brave Kilmaine 

So can 24000 bedraggled French fight their way out of the jaws of the encircling Coalition forces and live to fight another day? We used General d’Armee again, easily adapted to the early French Revolutionary Wars. I have to say I do now remember why I was keen on going back to these rules as the use of ADCs is quite intuitive, and compared to my other rule set of choice Black Powder II you have to think much more making the games more of a challenge. We're also getting used to them which helps.

On Friday, Richard (The Brave Kilmaine) and Conrad played the French while Paul and Steve were York and Colberg respectively.  The French were deployed or waiting to arrive along the middle four feet of one long table edge, their objective being to exit from the opposite long table edge, a distance of six feet. The Anglo-Hanoverians entered on one short table edge while the Austrians arrived on the opposite short table edge.  My table is 14 x 6 to get an idea of the distances involved. When I rehearsed the game in my head and on paper the French had at least an even chance of escaping with enough troops and baggage to claim a victory, so how would it pan out in reality? Differently of course!

In time honoured fashion I will now allow the photos to describe events. Thanks to Richard for many of the photos. Between us we took almost 100 so obviously not all can be used, just those that help with the narrative. I think these are in the correct order as my incredibly clever computer decided to muddle them up!

The Anglo- Hanoverians arrive and make excellent progress in moving to cut off the French, except the Guards who were hesitant.

My temporarily re-flagged Hanoverian, previously English, battalions.

On the other flank the Austrians arrive. It is now a race against time for the French.

The French race forward, occupying the churchyard. Their heavy guns on the road will soon deploy to face the advancing English.

In the distance the still hesitant Guards! 

The leading French units emerge from the orchards and hedgerows surrounding the church.

The Guards' flank battalion, supported by Hanoverian light infantry, makes it as far as the windmill before the brigade again manages to become hesitant.

"Dress the line there! Sergeant, take that man's name for dying without permission!" The Guards are  busy keeping their dressing perfect while taking fire from the French artillery.

French regulars on the road escorting the portable golloutine.

The Brave Kilmain's infantry hesitate for several turns, many in the orchard obviously eating their fill of  pommes and poivres.

The Guards are STILL hesitant but doing it by the book and in perfect order!

The French Levée battalions forming an orderly queue.

The English brigade advancing towards the church.

Poor Brave Kilmain's troops were stuck in the orchards and hedgerows, unable or unwilling to advance.

Richard was struggling to get his troops moving due to a combination of low ADC availability and rubbish activation dice.

Meanwhile, much had been happening on the other flank. Steve's Austrians had advanced and crossed the stream. His artillery was taking heavy losses from the French horse batteries and was almost at the point of being dispersed. Sadly the Austrian cavalry and grenadiers were very slow in coming up in support of their more enthusiastic comrades.

The English cavalry brigade, a composite regiment of Royal Horse Guards and Lifeguards leading, followed by the Kings Dragoon Guards and three squadrons from various light dragoon regiments.

Conrad, Steve and me all deep in thought.

Richard launched several attacks against Paul's English and Hanoverian infantry, most of which were driven off. The last  assault however broke a battalion of the Hanoverian Guard, making the entire brigade 'Faltering'. I'm not sure I follow the reasoning behind an entire brigade of six battalions plus artillery being 'Faltering' just because one unit has been destroyed but its not the end of the world. Actually it is if the wrong dice score is thrown!

Austrian and French cavalry about to clash on the French left.

The Anglo-Hanoverians. The English cavalry on the left has moved right up to the  hedgerows. The Guards remain where they've been almost the entire game.

Conrad's light cavalry and dragoons emerge from the rear to threaten the Anglo-Hanoverians blocking the escape of their infantry.

While the Austrian grenadiers (three new battalions) advance.

Steve's infantry tried to charge the French squares, formed in response to the arrival of the Austrian cavalry, but failed to close to contact, only to be hit by Conrad's not very good heavy cavalry. However they were good enough to destroy the leading battalion and then charge on and force the second one back in retreat. Thankfully for the Coalition forces, the Austrians passed their 'faltering brigade' test. The French heavy cavalry brigade were not so lucky the following turn when they were charged by Austrian cheval legers, were defeated and became faltering. Conrad didn't have the ADCs to intervene so the brigade withdrew off the table, " sauve qui puet!"

French infantry supported by cavalry try and force the issue in the centre. 

The Austrian grenadiers deply into line then sweep forward, catching the French still in square.

In the centre again, the Hanoverians are forced into square and the French cavalry are unable to press home their attack. This is when the rout of the Hanoverian Guard I mentioned earlier took place. You can see them centre shot about to be hit by a French column. 

The Hanoverian artillery (newly painted) are blooded when they get the opportunity to shoot at the French dragoons to their front. The dragoons sensibly pulled back. 

Austrian grenadiers supported by uhlans surge through the French, still in square.

The centre now devoid of French troops who have swept off to the right of this picture before being halted by the Anglo-Hanoverians. Paul's skirmishers had managed to silence the French battery deployed in the road, but were held by the French in the churchyard.

Richard's infantry have been stopped and are unable to break through.

FIN.

We played 11 or 12 turns and rattled through the early turns without making more than a couple of errors with the rules. The outcome was clearly a French defeat as the Coalition forces had managed to cut off the French escape route. I probably gave the Coalition one infantry brigade too many but who knows? Had Richard and Conrad been more familiar with the rules and ADC placement I am certain they would have been able to achieve their objective and escape. Of course getting the ADCs in the first place would have been handy. They (the French) had plenty of time and space to advance and prevent the enemy from blocking their escape route but this time it didn't work out for them. When I rehearsed the game in my head I had put both French cavalry brigades on the table at the start of the game and used them and their supporting horse artillery to slow the advancing Coalition forces, thus allowing the infantry to push as far forward as quickly as they could. Never mind. As for the rules, they worked well, although I'm sure we still got a few other things wrong that we were unaware of (and still are!).  Oh, and the Brigade of Guards? They spent most of the game hesitant and didn't advance further than when we last saw them towards the start of this post. Thanks to everyone for the game, and Richard and Steve for the contraband, er cakes and scones.

Aides de Camp etc.......

Playing General d’Armee last week I realised that I didn’t have enough suitable English looking figures to act as ADCs for the Anglo-Hanoverians. With another game tomorrow I thought that was something I should rectify so dashed these off earlier this week in anticipation that they will be fully utilised. Why do I think they won’t all be required......?

Three new Anglo-Hanoverian ADCs. Left & right: Victorious Miniatures; Centre: Perry

I also found a bunch of resin FRW Russian gunners by STP Miniatures of St Petersburg. I don't have any need for another battery of Russian artillery for my Suvorov army (or indeed for The Helder) so had a quick browse through the library and decided to paint them up as Hanoverians. OK, they're not a perfect 100% fit but they don't have massively long pigtails (as worn by Russians of that era) so I think they do the job. I started these yesterday lunchtime and just finished the bases an hour ago so not bad. I've had to 'borrow' some cannon for the moment. The gunners came with three lovely resin cannon but theres only so much a mere mortal can do in such a short time.

These chaps take the field tomorrow so fingers crossed they make it through the day, eh lads?

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