Bismarck’s Wars, Fire & Fury, 10mm 

Sean opted for the Franco-Prussian War this week, so I selected this battle, fought on October 1970. It was meant to be the French break-out from Metz, but in the end it became an exercise in farm-grabbing, to secure supplies for the besieged French army. So, it was unusual in that the French were doing the attacking, with two divisions leading the assault, one regular, and the other the Guard Voltigeurs. The game was to be played out on a 6×4 foot table.I say ‘was to be’, as I turned up and set everything out, only to learn that Sean, the French Commander, had fallen and hurt his ankle, so was staying at home. It seemed a shame to pack everything away, so after seeking tactical advice from others I ran it as solitaire. This was fairly straightforward, as I just followed the historical French plan. If in doubt, I rolled a die to decide what would happen, and in the end the game pretty much played itself.  The French had two divisions, the 4th on the left and the Guard Voltigeurs on the right, formed into a makeshift Corps led by Marshal Canrobert. Each division had four regiments, a gun battery and a chasseur battalion, with the Guards rated veteran and the line troops experienced. The objective was to capture four out of five farms (numbered 1-5 above), and hold them by the end of the game. Facing them was General Kummer’s Prussian 3rd Reserve division of two Landwehr brigades, each of two regiments – one rated experienced and the other green. They had three gun batteries attached. Holding the far right flank was another regular regiment from the 18th Brigade. Coming on as reinforcements was the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Brigade – actually a small two brigade division. The zig-zags on the map show field entrenchments. Its years since I’ve played a solitaire game, but my yardstick was ‘What would Sean do?’. Sean likes charging things, so I was sure he’d go all-out from the start. So, the two divisions advanced from turn 1, with the 4th heading for the woods north of Woippy, and the Guard Voltigeurs towards the three farms north of the Laonchamps Chateau. The French artillery – including the Corps reserve – limbered up, ready to exploit the success of the advance. On the western side of the battlefield, north of Woippy, the first wave of the French infantry drove the leading Landwehr regiment out of the woods, and sent it in retreat back past the Prussian reserve line around the farm. To the east, between the railway and the River Moselle, the 2nd Guard Brigade charged the Landwehr between farms 1 and 2, and after a fairly hard-fought struggle the Prussians were driven back. So far so good. On the right Farm 1 was secured by the French, but Farm 2 was a tougher proposition, as it was garrisoned by the 10th Jaeger battalion, which threw back two assaults by the French 3rd Guard Voltigeurs. Actually, I was using zouave figures to stand in for them. This proved a pretty tough nut, so the French called up the Guard artillery, while the voltigeurs recovered, and prepared to launch another assault. Elsewhere though, the advance continued. On the French left the 4th Division hit a speed-bumb of their own. Farm 4 and the adjacent orchards were held by a Landwehr regiment which threw back the first French assault. Undeterred, the French committed the division’s 2nd brigade, which formed up on the left of the 1st, and the attack was renewed. In all, three French regiments were attacking one Prussian one, while the last French battalion and the chasseurs to the west occupied the enemy there. At that point the Prussian cavalry reinforcements arrived, but they didn’t really have anywhere to deploy, with marshland on their left and woods to their right. So, they stayed in reserve, ready to canter to a threatened spot, then dismount to form a firing line. To the south, apart from the Jaegers holding Farm 2, the 6th Landwehr BDe. were reforming their line north of Farm 2. It was just as well, as that’s where most of the French guards were heading.Over around Farm 4, the French assault went in, led by the 4th Division commander, General Levassor-Sorval. I’d rolled a die to see what the French would do, weighting the odds slightly to accommodate Sean’s penchant for charging. Charge they did, but were met by a ‘schnellfeur’ of close-range needle-gun fire, and two of the three regiments were disordered, and didn’t charge home. Outnumbered, the third French regiment was  fairly easily repulsed. The French had suffered heavy casualties in that assault, and now all three regiments were quite badly battered – in fact one was ‘worn’ and two of them were ‘spent’. So, Farm 4 remained firmly in Prussian hands.,Over to the east, the French occupied Farm 3, but an attack further to the north was repulsed with heavy casualties, as was a third assault on Farm 2. It was clear the French army was spent, and wouldn’t get any further. So, I called it a day. The whole thing was an interesting exercise, and while I much prefer playing against a real opponent, my solitaire experiment worked fairly smoothly. It also produced the historical result. This isn’t surprising, as by using the historic events I was able to ‘pre-programme’ the French, and so only had to really worry about making decisions for the Prussians. Still, once Sean recovers I’d like to try this again,  to see if he can do better than Marshal Canrobert.

Tags: Fire & Fury