They Died For Glory gets an outing

Game at Stephens today and he decided to give his 10mm Franco-Prussian forces an run out with venerable They Died For Glory rules.

Stephen set up scenario and let me pick sides (jolly decent off him) and so be a masochist at heart I chose the Prussians who were as ever on attack.

French also as usual ensconced on a wooded hill top in command of a village ie standard formidable defensive position.

I had 16 Regular Line Battalions, 1 Jager Battalion and 4 Batteries of 4pdrs the French had I think 12 Battalions and 2 x 4pdrs and a Millatruse.

Been ages since we used They Died For Glory but a fairly simple set at heart and soon got into flow of the rather unique interactive sequence of play and systems.

Only a couple of queries arose and most discussion was about whether or not to use the optional/alternative -1 for Long Range firing.

In end we thought it aided attackers as with the generous shooting ranges (12" for Needle Guns and 18" for Chassepot) it is difficult to close with enemy which is were Prussians shine as they generally get more dice in melee which is their forte whilst French are supreme in shooting with longer range.

Game went pretty much as expected with Prussians advancing in Deep Columns into a storm of French fire (with 2 Operations per turn this allowed loads of shooting) with lots of casualties and units forced to go Prone (equivalent to Disorder) which requires an Operation to be expended to Stand Up.

Had forgotten that any Infantry in the rules can use Skirmish, so was relying on my single Jager to perform that roll, which would have lessened casualties somewhat but still a tough ask to advance uphill across open ground.

I had massed most of my infantry on right to try to take 'open' half of ridge but things went awry when single unit failed a Morale Test which caused cascading tests on rest of Brigade and 6 units Fell Back/Routed !

FPW period is in many ways WW1-lite (lacking the artillery mass) and rules certainly reflect the high casualty rates.

Great to see the toys on table (mix of Chariot and early and later Pendraken)

Prussian mass in no mans land and taking losses from get go, the French right looked even tougher with units in woods which meant Prussians could not really engage in shotting except at short range (not great from Column anyhow)

A wall of French volleys

Single Jager Battalion reduced to half strength

Deep column formations with Prussian guns unlimbering in support

 

Field Of Battle 3 - Froeschwiller 6th August 1870

 

Another game using FOB3 today at Stephens this time a Franco-Prussian War bash using his 10mm forces (been a very long time since we used these).

Scenario was based on action in the central sector of Battle of Froeschwiller (Worth) in 1870 with Prussians (moi) attacking defending French (Stephen).

Prussians had a D12 CinC with an Average Deck the French had a D8 leader and a Poor Deck.

Another fun game with the French Chassepot rifle showing its prowess (especially in hands of several crack French units) with greater range than Needle guns of Prussians and backed up by the Mitrailleuse batteries.

Prussians could avail of Company Columns but with reduced firepower.

Prussian artillery out ranges French but is not on table at start (arriving on 2nd Move card) so had minimal effect on proceedings. 

Both sides have a Rapid Fire card in deck usable for Prussian guns and for French musketry and Mitrailleuse 'reloads' respectively.

Prussians on my left and centre could not close to firing or indeed charging range due to French fire but several Prussians did engage on my left but were rebuffed by superior French troops.

A Brigade of Bavarians on extreme left were most successful managing to get to grips with several average French units and pushing them back from wood edge but with several casualties suffered.

The French firepower reduced Prussian Army Morale pretty quickly and Prussians succumbed on first Army Morale test.

First time we have used FOB for the period and they worked well as usual and giving decent feel for period nicely showing the differences in weaponry, they felt on a par with 'They Died For Glory' our previous go to set back in the day.

Prussian Brigade advances on right on Company Columns

Central Prussian Brigades advance with Bavarians 

Quiet before the storm of fire from French lines 

Casualties mounting as cavalry reserve arrives (fairly ineffectual in period)

Prussian artillery Brigade deploys with heavy guns engaging at long range, Prussian foot suffering

Prussian right wing attack stalled by long range French firepower

Rules for various periods

List of rule sets for other periods occasionally game such as Thirty Years War, Franco-Prussian War, American Civil War and Modern period games.

My go to sets (ie those I will happily have a game but which scratch differing itches)

Untried sets

Franco-Prussian 10mm game using They Died For Glory

Had a game at Stephens today and he picked a game of Franco-Prussian War using his newly expanded 10mm collection (we bought some of these between us some 20+ years ago !! but I swapped my Prussians for his WSS French).
We used They Died For Glory rules (which we had last used 20 years ago as well).
Stephen set up an attack defence game and I selected Prussian attackers.
I had two Divisions worth of Infantry  (only 1 on table at start) with 6 Artillery batteries in support (also off-table at start) and 2 Light Cavalry Regiments.
A dug-in French Division oppossed with support some Artillery and a Millatreuse.
Lovely figures a mix of old Pendraken and Chariot miniatures with a lot of newer Pendraken added.
We found the rules rather bloody (more so than we remembered them to be) especially using alternating Impulse system as French got to Fire twice which with 6 dice per unit firing twice proved pretty devastating to Prussians.
I tried several formations but was soon apparent that a mix of skirmish and deep column (a form of attack column) was best as deep column and line just too easy to shoot up and slow.
As my second Division and the Artillery arrived things looked up for Prussians as bulk of French fixed in place.
We were going to change to the semi-simultaneous option of play sequence as we felt it would give attackers better chance as they get one shot back potentially).
But real life took over as a phone call from one of Stephen's daughters cut game short as he had to take her to Hospital as she had cracked/split a tooth and it was causing her a lot of pain.
We are keen to try the period again but most likely will use Field Of Battle next time.


Prussians initial Division deploys...er....initially

French dug-in in 'trenches' and built up areas

The initial attacks go in and suffer high losses

Prussian 2nd Division and Artillery arrives