French Revolutionary Wars Campaign - The Battle of Tourcoing 18 September 1793 #1 Intro

A little of what follows may be news to some of the players but it matters not in respect of either the campaign or the coming battles. Indeed, Saturday will see yet another large battle in our ongoing FRW campaign. On 16 September the French under Houchard and Souham achieved a practicable breach in the walls of Courtrai and demanded the surrender of the Austrian army. Terms were agreed and the entire corps under Coberg and Clerfeyt surrendered. The conditions were to include all Coalition troops within five miles of the city. The terms of the capitulation allowed the Austrians to march out with their personal arms, colours flying, officers with their personal belongings, but with minimal supplies. All their artillery was left behind as were a large portion of their cavalry mounts. They are to march to Ghent and have undertaken not to fight the French for two years. The Anglo-Hanoverian army had been on the point of relieving Courtrai but terms were agreed before they could intervene. Not wishing to be caught up in the surrender (ie be within five miles of the city) the Duke of York withdrew to Inglemunster.

Below are some images of the battle lines before the game commences. 

The Prussian right. The French have clearly refused their left.

The table from the West. Coalition forces on the left.

The Coalition centre

The French centre as seen from the Prussian lines 

The French right facing a large body of Saxons

The table from the East. 

But, before we get to the battle I need to bring the narrative completely up to date. The day before, on 17 September Campaign time Turcoing fell to the Prussians without a fight, possibly through treachery. The Austro/Saxon/Bavarian/Ragamuffin Corps has finally made it to the theatre of war. After an abortive attempt to besiege Lannoy (always difficult without any siege guns and associated ‘stuff’) they have joined the Prussians encamped a couple of miles northeast of Turcoing, who were licking their wounds after their brief encounter with Pichegru and Jourdan near Mouscron also  on 17 September. Unknown to the Coalition, thanks to some dismal scouting, ( the Republican army was originally wrongly reported as being the Emigre division operating out of Tournai - OOOOPS!) the new Army of the Scarpe, ordered to Flanders by Lazare Carnot and under the command of General Francois Severin Marceau-Desgraviers, had marched from Alsace via Douai intent on mischief. It fell in behind the Austrians and upon finding both them and the Prussians encamped outside Turcoing facing the threat from Pichegru and Jourdan, immediately attacked their rear.

So as of noon on 18 September we have the combined Prussian/Austrian/Saxon/Ragamuffin corps facing the Army of the Scarpe to their South. North of them, currently inactive, is the corps of Pichegru and Jourdan. Houchard with Souham and Duquesnoy are busy escorting the main Austrian army from Courtrai and the Duke of York has done the honourable things and pulled back to Inglemunster. The Army of the Conde is reportedly near Bruges. Interesting to note that Houchard was in the real world arrested and charged with treason at around this time. Will history repeat itself?

The Battle of Turcoing will commence at noon on 18 September 1793.

Italian Wars Mounted Arquebusiers

 

I finished these today. Twelve Italian Wars mounted arquebusiers. With a couple of exceptions to bring them up to strength as two six-man units, these miniatures are by Mirliton in Italy. I think they're really quite nice and certainly paint up easily enough. I'm not wholly convinced that this troop type didn't always shoot from the saddle. Mirliton must think the same as you get a mixture of mounted and dismounted castings which is a nice touch. These figures represent part of the Bande Nere after the death of Ludovico de Medici, also known as Giovani della Bande Nere, so are a bit late for my collection, but the figures are nice and I get to use the splendid devil flags from Pete's Flags. I thought I'd use largely darkish colours, primarily red and dark grey in contrast to my usual more colourful appearance of my other troops. Now its back to painting my Florentine football team.

A busy Saturday's Wargaming and stuff.

 On Saturday y I had a pretty hectic day and enjoyed myself thoroughly. From 10.30 till 4.00 I was involved, via Skype and YouTube,  in a 30 Years War game hosted by Steve in Lincolnshire, along several other 'virtual wargamers’ from the usual group.

Steve had set up a refight of the Battle of Nordlingen in 1632. In the real battle the Swedes took a right old pasting, so on the basis that I couldn't do worse I volunteered to be Swedish, joining Shaun and Dave. I was somehow elected to be Horn the Swedish CinC . Facing us were Paul, Nigel and John the Red as the not quite combined Spanish and Catholic League armies.  We were using  In Deo Veritas published by Helion. We even had the author Phil Garton in  ethereal attendance to offer help and advice as we'd only tried them once before. 

The game was great, as was the usual sledging and banter. The Swedes did rather better than in the real battle, helped by the very late arrival of most of the Spanish! Whether we'd have won in the end is one of those great unknowns.  Now, readers may recall I reviewed these rules some months back, with the caveat that I had yet to play them. Well, I have now played them twice. I liked them and some of the mechanisms are great, but overall I don’t think they’re aimed at large multi player games such as we all play, especially in the Burrow. They’re more of a club night or competition game. On that basis while I might see how they work for my 1670s armies of perhaps my Poles, I think the search is still on for a suitable set of rules for the 30 Years War.

The technology involved in delivering the game to us all worked really well with no interruptions which is always a bonus.

After a short break I joined up via Zoom with the Virtual Wargames Group, hosted by Phil Olley. This gathering has been going on since lockdown and has a solid core of maybe 25 members from all over the world, e.g. the UK, Europe, the Philippines, Australia and several time zones across the USA. Each week we participate in a ‘show and tell’ of members’ current projects, as well as presentations by individuals on a recent battle, campaign or project. We also have breakout rooms to discuss topics selected by the group or by Phil. These are great as it allows us a window into people’s hobbey rooms that Would otherwise pass us by. Equally great are the opportunities to chat with fellow war gamers from across the globe. We’re all equally obsessive towards our hobby. 

Amazingly I didn’t finish anything last week. Not a single thing. There’s loads nearly done so with a bit of luck this week will be different. We also have a campaign game this coming Saturday, which could be a cruncher. Austrians and Prussians v the French this time. I can’t wait. 

French Revolutionary War Campaign: The Prussian operation to raise the siege of Courtrai. Or not...

 Yesterday (Saturday in case I’m late in posting this) I set up another remote game via Skype, tins cans and string. Readers may remember that in the French Revolutionary War campaign I’ve been running the Austrians found themselves besieged in Courtrai. The Prussian contingent was the closest Coalition force and had been marching towards Courtrai for five (campaign) days. Alerted to their presence in the area General Houchard, commander of the French Armee du Nord, ordered the best part of two divisions under Generals Pichegru and Jourdan to intercept the Prussians. The uncertainties faced by both sides, ie the fog of war,  led to some blindfolded fencing between the opposing forces. The Prussians plonked themselves on the road between Mouscron and Courtrai (see map) on  15 September and awaited the advance of the much feared Prussians. On 16 September FML Knobbelsdorff was only 10 miles or so South of Mouscron and was aware of the presence of the French blocking his route to Courtrai,  but rather than a rapid advance to catch them, timed his advance so as to give himself a full day to attack, thus essentially delaying battle until the following morning. Unbeknown to the Prussians this gave the French time to prepare some earthworks for their artillery and for a further brigade of infantry to join from the troops remaining at Courtrai which had been despatched by Houchard the previous day. Click here for an overview of the campaign map.

So on the night of 16/17 September the opposing armies were encamped only a few miles apart. Vigorous and effective patrolling by the Prussian light cavalry gave them the upper hand the following morning the French positions were known to Knobbelsdorf in some detail,  before he had to deploy his troops for battle. By 10.00 on 17 September the Prussians were deployed and began their attack.

Seeing that the Prussians had refused their left flank and relying on the hope that the Prussian attack would be slow and uncoordinated, Pichegru ordered his right flank to advance rapidly and threaten the enemy rear and lines of communication, while shifting his remaining troops to the right, over the causeway covered by his artillery and cavalry. The French would then use the causeway as a barrier to hinder any Prussian attempt to attack them. Knobbelsdorff’s plan was to try and outflank the enemy left with a wide flank attack, but his chief of staff argued that this would split his army, allowing each half to be overwhelmed by the then superior French. A compromise was reached where the flanking movement became a proposed hammer blow against the French left by over half of the army, while the remainder pinned the enemy centre. Speed would be vital to the Prussians if their plan was to be wholly successful, otherwise the French would be able to reposition their forces as per their plan. As usual both sides' plans went out of the window once battle was joined, so I shall allow the following photos tell the story.

The French army stretching away into the distance, taken from their right flank

The Prussian left, having elected not to deploy any troops beyond the causeway and ditches as these were thought to be significant barriers to movement.

The Prussians positioned their reserve artillery on a hill in the centre of their line. An ideal position to bombard the French with impunity.

Here we have the French left, anchored on a hastily dug redoubt for a company of 8pdrs. Beyond the guns are four brigades of French hussars, dragoons and chasseurs a cheval, most of which were still carrying losses from earlier engagements.

This is the Prussian right! Three large regiments of cuirassiers and dragoons and nine battalions of infantry supported by two companies of artillery.

This is a shot taken of my computer screen showing John the Red (in the red) and Shaun helping to move the troops. Note the croupiers stick being used by Shaun.

The Prussians began a general advance along their whole line. Here, the 'advance guard' brigade of fusiliers and fedjager move slowly towards the French.

On the centre and right both infantry brigades advanced rather more slowly that the overall Prussian plan called for. The one on the right contained two battalions of Guard (IR15) and strangely elected to march through the woods, slowing it down significantly. The Prussian heavy cavalry thundered slowly forward, a fearsome sight no doubt.

The Prussian KR 7 has just charged and driven off a regiment of enemy light cavalry but was unable to exploit this victory. The other regiment (KR11 Leib Karabiniers) were in support and took heavy losses from French artillery. With hindsight they probably should have charged as well.

A shot down the line from the Prussian right, taken at about the same turn as the cavalry melee.

Meanwhile over on the other flank the French cavalry brigade was hesitant and very slow to advance. Both they and the infantry were supposed to be advancing quickly to swing round on the Prussian left wing. At this rate the battle would be over before they were in position.

The French reserves belatedly arrive. A motley bunch of old regular battalions and newly raised volunteers.

The action in the centre, so far confined to skirmishers trading shots with each other and some long range artillery fire.

A French battery on the causeway caused a few casualties on the Prussians, but not enough to stop their advance .

This sturdy looking redoubt housed a battery of 8pdrs which proved very effective against the Prussian centre, almost singlehandedly halting it.

The Prussian cuirassiers and dragoons had the French commanders worried due to the size of the regiments. The cuirassiers on the left drove off a regiment of chasseurs a cheval but were unable to exploit their victory. The other cuirassier regiment found itself pounded by two companies of French horse artillery and was forced to pull back with very heavy losses.

The Prussian right from a different angle. Their cavalry were simply not aggressive enough, but these things happen in war(games).

French horse artillery pound KR11 Leib Karabiniers, forcing them to pull back.

On the Prussian left their light cavalry failed to move to start with. when they did, they ignored the Prussians coming up on their left (wisely so) and proceeded to deploy in the centre ready for a lightning charge.

Prussian reserve artillery; two batteries of 12pdrs. They were hesitant the first move and in subsequent turns caused more casualties on themselves through very low dice scores and 'fatigue casualties' than they did on the enemy!

The Prussian attack in the centre grinds slowly to a halt.

The commander of the Prussian right wing marched his infantry (including two battalions of IR15 Garde) through a wood, effectively taking them out of the battle.

Prussian skirmishers and horse artillery trading ineffective shots with the French.

The Prussian reserve brigade of three grenadier battalions was deployed in the rear of the right wing and failed to move until turn 4 due to poor command rolls. 

At this point (after lunch in real time and T4 in the game) the Prussians had a staff conference (implying a prototype version of Skype no doubt) and decided to withdraw as more French infantry was now arriving and the Prussian numerical advantage had been lost. I was happy for the game to finish where it did in the context of the campaign. Dave as the Prussian CinC had a fairly good plan but it was badly executed by him and his subordinates. We were using Gen d'Armee as usual and the plan had been to give the infantry 'assault orders' in T1 and then they could be  left to goose step forwards and do their stuff, while the cuirassiers etc. launched themselves at the enemy cavalry. 

Mind you the French plan went out of the fenestre as well due to some critical poor command rolls on their right and their inability to actually follow Pichegru's orders quickly enough to redeploy.  A shame really. The Prussians missed their chance of victory by not attacking the previous afternoon/evening when they had superiority in numbers, and by not following the plan the next day they were scuppered.  In some ways this turned out to be a Valmy Part Deux, which is an ok result. At least the Prussians were able to extract their army without any pursuit by the French who were very wary of doing so.

Man of the Match goes to Kaporal Wilhelm Schussel (look it up). who dropped more cannon balls on his and his mates feet than were fired at the enemy.

Many thanks to everyone who took part (Steve, Richard, Dave, Paul & Nigel) and for John and Shaun for adopting the 'Battle of Britain fighter control room' job of moving the figures around as my back and general immobility was getting in the way. Big thanks to Mrs Carryingsonupthedale for keeping the technology going, and since then working out a solution to do it better with fewer issues.

I am sure that we shall have another campaign battle in two weeks time so watch this space.

Fighting for Liberty, 1685

The full title of the latest from Helion's Century of the Soldier series is “Fighting for Liberty. Argyll and Monmouth's Military Campaigns Against the Government of King James 1685".

I’ve read a bit about Monmouth’s rebellion and remember fondly the kids’ Sunday evening series The Pretenders (not the Roger Moore one!) from 1972 when we had Harlech TV, but know next to nothing about Argyll.

The book (The 57th in the series!) follows the usual tried and tested Helion format, starting with the background to the political situation that led to elements of the ‘British’ establishment plotting to overthrow the unpopular, despotic and Catholic King James II. This leads neatly into a detailed account of the landings and progress of the rebellions in the West Country and the West of Scotland and the Government’s (ie James II’s) ruthless  response to both. The narrative is richly punctuated with excerpts of contemporary correspondence, and the bumpy courses of both campaigns are allowed to unfold in a readable and engaging way. I was left with thinking that Monmouth and Argyll were very close to success. As I’ve just said, James’ attempts to thwart the rebellion before it even started were draconian to say the least, but clearly unsuccessful in preventing the invasions. The progress of both Monmouth and Argyll’s campaigns are explained clearly, as are the various skirmishes and battles. We don’t just get a narrative written from the perspective of the main protagonists ( from both sides) but one covering the planning, recruitment and organisation of the armies, the logistics and sense of tension in the country that built up while James’ camp struggled to get a grip of the situation. Obviously the book devotes a great deal of space to the events leading up to Sedgemoor and the battle itself, and does so in great detail. The author also devotes an interesting chapter to James’ cold blooded and arguably less than judicial retribution against the rebels. Such was life in 1685. 

As we have come to expect, the book contains 16 pages of beautiful colour plates by Patrice Courcelle, of soldiers and colours, as well as many very useful maps and black and white illustrations and orders of battle. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can recommend it highly.

This week ........ I gave myself a fright! The Italian Wars collection on parade

I completed my fourth Spanish Colonella this week so I reckoned it was time for a little (?) parade. Primarily so I could take stock of what I have and what gaps if any require filling, ideally without having to buy any more little men. It might have started off being just for my Spanish but I thought what the hell and took all the figures out for the photo shoot. It’s clear I seem to have gone completely over the top, but if there was one benefit of the lockdown, or Great Confinement, its this. The photos are in no particular order.

The Venetians. A couple of infantry units to do.

A view along the lines, with the Spanish nearest the camera. Six more Jenittes almost done for the Spanish. 

My Swiss. I need some more. I really do. I have enough spares for another  large block of pike and some shot.

The French army closest to the camera. Sadly I could do with some more, especially Gendarmes and Gascon crossbowmen. 

My far too many cannon. 

The French again

Papal forces. Just about complete.

The Venetians again. Lots of Stradiots on the right.

Florentines. 

The figures are a right old mixture of TAG, Perry, Foundry, Eureka, Steel Fist, 1st Corps and Old Glory. There’s even some Mirliton. Bound to have forgotten someone. Almost all the flags are Pete’s Flags. I’m still plugging away through a modest “200 or so” (in case my wife reads this) figures. A few crossbowmen, Swiss and Landsneckts plus some more Gendarmes and lighter cavalry.

I don’t feel awkward about posting about my growing collection in whatever project I’m currently working on, any more than I do about anything else about my involvement in this super hobby. I am seriously fortunate to be able to enjoy the resources I have available. 

A few more for the Italian Wars

These units came to the end of the production  line this week and have gone off to join their respective factions to fight over Italy. First of all are six Eureka mounted 'archers.' While I've not really decided upon how to use these in a game I thought making them Neapolitan was as good an idea as any, to reinforce my Spaniards. Anyways, these are lovely castings so deserve a place somewhere in my collection.

Next is a block of 36 French pikemen with some arquebusier skirmishers to their front. These are Front Rank Figures, and I wish I'd not mixed all the different figure poses in the unit. But they're done now. I deliberately chose dark sombre clothing to go with the black and white flag of Piemont. 

I quite like the arquebusier figures. All the castings are from Front Rank's Wars of the Roses range, but I reckoned the older style armour wouldn't be out of place with a unit of French pikemen from the late 15th century.